by Joy Finnegan | Oct 3, 2023 | Innovation
The Federal Aviation Administration is proposing a rule to limit the growth of new orbital debris and reduce the potential for collisions with spacecraft and satellites to promote a sustainable space environment.
If left unchecked, the accumulation of orbital debris will increase the risk of collisions and clutter orbits used for human spaceflight and for satellites providing communications, weather and global positioning system services.
The proposed rule would require commercial space operators to choose from among five options to dispose of the upper stages of launch vehicles. These include:
- conduct a controlled reentry;
- move the upper stage to a less congested storage or graveyard orbit;
- send the upper stage on an Earth-escape orbit;
- retrieve the upper stage (called active debris removal) within five years; or
- perform an uncontrolled atmospheric disposal.
By strictly limiting the uncontrolled reentry of upper stages, the FAA seeks to mitigate the risk to people on the ground and in flight due to its significant size and mass and the uncertainty of where it will land.
The proposed rule also would align commercial space orbital debris mitigation practices with those accepted by the U.S. government for its space missions.
As of July 2023, the number of orbital objects sized 10 cm or greater is estimated to be over 23,000. Recent debris projections estimate a total of one-half million objects sized between 1 and 10 cm on orbit, and over 100 million objects larger than 1 mm.
The 90-day public comment period will begin after the proposed rule is published in the Federal Register in the coming days.
by Joy Finnegan | Oct 2, 2023 | Innovation
Jamco Corporation is highlighting its Venture Premium Class Seat, which the company says was designed with sustainability in mind, while minimizing operational costs for airlines. Jamco’s Venture seat is made with a high amount of recycled material, is lighter than traditional seats, is easy to install and requires less overall maintenance.
Jamco’s Venture seat is manufactured from advanced patented panel composites, metal alloys, and plastics, making it significantly lighter than traditional seats while providing improved durability and maximum comfort. The extrusion and casting processes reduce the amount of material needed to manufacture Venture. Both processes are energy efficient, have a low environmental impact, do not produce harmful emissions, and do not require the use of toxic chemicals or large amounts of water. In addition, the design of Venture prioritizes reduced part count and minimizes decorative surfaces, resulting in a lightweight structure. Venture is proven to reduce spares, seat maintenance costs, and weight, resulting in the benefit of reduced operational costs for airlines.
With Venture, seats are configured so that every passenger has direct aisle access, fully lie-flat seats, and seamless surroundings including minimal trim due to the trimless patented co-cured backshell. Additional features include a capacitive touch PCU with customizable LED colors and button icons, customizable mood lighting, elegant leather upholstery, adjustable meal tray, and an up to 21-inch entertainment screen that is mounted such that the passenger can watch in-flight entertainment from gate-to-gate.
By design, the Venture seat is built to last and can be easily maintained for many years of service. When eventually the product is ready to be retired from service, a significant portion of the product can be recycled as its materials are easy to disassemble and repurpose at end of life.
Jamco’s Venture seat is a revolutionary product that demonstrates the company’s commitment to sustainability and reducing the environmental impact of flying. As global demand for air travel continues to grow, Jamco will continue to develop innovative products like the Venture seat.
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 27, 2023 | Flight Ops IT
Czechia-based airline Smartwings Group has selected the Conduce eTechLog8 solution for deployment across the fleet. The selection of Conduce was taken after fully evaluating the ELB market over a period of time. The evaluation process was both lengthy and detailed, including at one stage considering the option to develop an application internally.
Ultimately the selection of Conduce as its ELB provider was made for several reasons. These included the fact that Conduce had a wide variety of airlines, including scheduled, cargo, ACMI and specialist operators, giving Smartwings the confidence that the application could handle all the operations conducted across the Smartwings Group.
Petr Hutla, director of technical procurement stated that “By selecting Conduce to provide our ELB solution we know that we have selected an extremely competent partner to join us on the digitalisation journey. During our evaluation and selection process we saw Conduce grow and further develop its solutions as more and more airlines subscribed for the service. We are convinced that Smartwings will benefit greatly from the adoption of eTechLog8.”
eTechLog8 is part of a mission critical suite of applications and will provide flight crew, cabin crew and engineers alike with an intuitive, user-friendly electronic solution for the completion of flight logs, defect findings and actions, servicing and acceptance into service. Automatic data transmission from the tail-assigned cockpit devices will give MCC / MOC real time aircraft technical status. Also included is full integration with the fleet MELs along with interactive LOPA charts for cabin defect reporting. This will allow for greater efficiency during both the aircraft turnaround phase alongside the enablement of proactive planning for maintenance tasks across the fleet.
The project will also involve full integration with several of Smartwings existing solutions, including ACARS, CAMO/MRO systems and flight scheduling software.
“Conduce is very excited and pleased to welcome Smartwings Group as its newest eTechLog8 customer,” said Paul Boyd, managing director at Conduce. “The project will be to implement eTechLog8 across the four AOCs under which the Smartwings Group operates, thus further increasing the reach of eTechLog8 in Europe. We are very pleased to be working with such a dedicated team based in Prague.”
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 27, 2023 | Innovation
Coherent Logix has launched an advanced space processor, HyperX: Midnight. The technology is part of the company’s revolutionary HyperX architecture of C-programmable processors for Space 2.0 companies, military applications and terrestrial to satellite convergence.
Space 2.0 and Defense
Coherent Logix has been serving the Space 2.0 and Defense markets for 15 years. In these markets, high-performance computing (HPC) with low power draw and radiation hardening is the absolute key to success. With the release of HyperX: Midnight, Coherent Logix now leads the market with up to four times the computing throughput, half the power consumption and a 40 percent lower price point as compared to leading radiation-hardened FPGAs. This high-performance, low-SWaP (Size, Weight, and Power) combination is a game-changer for Space 2.0 companies and military applications, enabling far greater capabilities to be packaged in smaller satellite buss configurations, dramatically lowering launch costs and accelerating industry growth.
In keeping with Coherent Logix’ mission of “Redefining Hardware as Software,” HyperX: Midnight also brings software-defined operations, C-programmability and the latest in software simulation and debugging tools to the Space 2.0 community. Coherent Logix’ HyperX Studio design suite enables four times faster software development cycles as compared to the rigors of developing for FPGAs and offer full on-orbit re-programmability, so improvements can continue long after launch.
“With our HyperX: Midnight System-on-Chip, we are delivering definitive advantages in launch cost, time-to-market, and spacecraft functionality to our space and military customers,” said Walt Gall, CEO of Coherent Logix.
The HyperX family of System-on-Chip also includes processors for terrestrial markets that are harnessed with the same computing, efficiency, and programmability features. HyperX SoCs support market solutions across several sectors, including consumer electronics, 5G mobile infrastructure, video/broadcast infrastructure, machine vision, sensor processing and production-oriented AI. The company’s new models also decrease processing waste and meet consumer demand for green computing.
From early on, Coherent Logix has served as an architect and integral team member of the Advance Television Systems Committee’s (ATSC) standards committee, and a developer of voluntary standards for digital television broadcasting that helped to facilitate interoperability with other media.
With Coherent Logix’ technology, design engineers are no longer tethered to the traditional limitations of component design, and instead can build ‘best of breed’ ATSC 3.0 algorithms that fulfill today’s features and tomorrow’s innovations.
Connected Devices
“By 2030 there will be 29.4 billion connected devices on the planet and 16.2 billion of these will be new, and most will always be on,” said Coherent Logix CEO Walt Gall, Ph.D. “Devices make life better, but we can’t afford for them to make our planet worse.”
Design engineers at Coherent Logix are meeting the challenge of a connected future with HyperX processors that are software-defined hardware and offer up to four times the performance of competitors while consuming half the power. Like the human brain, the company’s processing elements consume power only when they are thinking, which is a tremendous advantage.
“Satellite/terrestrial convergence is a key theme in the industry,” Gall said. “With the addition of HyperX: Midnight, we enable development of software-defined solutions for security, communications, AI, and imaging that serve both Space 2.0 and terrestrial interests in one common effort. That is just one more example of how HyperX is Ready for Life at the Edge.”
by Joy Finnegan | Sep 27, 2023 | Avionics, Innovation
Greene Tweed is highlighting the availability of Xycomp DLF high-performance thermoplastic composite aerospace brackets, which the company says can endure the substantial demands of aerospace environments while offering significant weight savings over metallic parts. Greene Tweed aerospace production components have been flying since 2011 and at 35 to 60 percent lighter than competitive metallic components, the brackets are an excellent replacement for metal materials.
Greene Tweed’s proprietary compression molding system provides high performance solutions with increased part complexity. The aerospace brackets, which are used to join structural elements together, provide support, and hold essential components firmly in place, can now be produced in complex-contour shapes for near-net, intricate geometry with molded-in features such as bushings or attachment points.
The material meets fire, smoke, and toxicity (FST) safety requirements for interior aerospace parts, and offers excellent resistance to aerospace solvents, high temperatures, and high vibrations for extended component life. In addition, Xycomp DLF brackets can be recycled upon removal from an aircraft.
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