A key plank in the Donald Trump election platform was the widespread implementation of tariffs on goods imported into the United States. Historically, tariffs have been a popular strategy to boost domestic employment, but the globalized supply chains over the last 30 years have changed the way most production goods are manufactured. What happens to the cost of US production if critical inputs face tariffs?

A test case may be the Boeing 787 Dreamliner, a major commercial aircraft program which was designed from the outset to have a widely distributed supply chain of major assemblies, with Boeing acting as an integrator and final assembler of those components. Special exemptions will likely be built into any tariff policy for American firms building globalized products. 

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The Boeing Starliner crewed spacecraft program was initiated by NASA to provide a second source for human lift to low Earth orbit, ensuring access to space in case of difficulties with the SpaceX Crew Dragon system. Program delays, cost overruns and hardware problems with both the Starliner uncrewed test flight, and the first passenger carrying trip to the ISS, have placed the future the program in question. 

Elon Musk, owner of SpaceX, is expected to form an important part of the incoming Trump Administration, with an anticipated role in improving government efficiency. Could that role include the cancellation of the Starliner program? Everything may depend on the next flight of Starliner. If successful, the economics would suggest continuation of the program. If not, and with the Sierra Space Dream Chaser vehicle nearing flight status, the Starliner program may be on the bubble. 

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The space launch industry in the 21^st century has been characterized by a shift away from traditional, large aerospace companies to smaller startup firms. Light and medium lift to low earth orbit is widely believed to be a huge growth opportunity in mid-century, if costs can be kept under control.

Reusability is widely believed to be the key to low cost, and a new entrant, Stoke Space, is developing a medium lift launch system called Nova which promises to compete with the SpaceX Falcon 9 system, with full reusability and rapid vehicle turnaround. Nova is being developed with advanced technologies, especially in the second stage, including a regeneratively cooled metallic heatshield, and a propulsion system that takes advantage of aerospike principles. 

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During the Cold War, most nations on Earth had three choices: ally with United States, with the Soviet Union, or attempt to maintain nonaligned status. With rapid advancement in aviation technology after World War II, most nations realize the need for high-performance military aircraft for national security, but the highest performance airplanes and weapon systems came from either the United States or the Soviet Union. Until French aerospace company Dassault developed the Mirage 3.

The Mirage 3 offered supersonic capability on a par with the fastest military aircraft in the world, combined with a simple, maintainable airframe and critically, used French derived engines, radars, and weapon systems. And to the Mirage weapon system could be purchased on a cash and carry basis, giving nonaligned nations the ability to procure high-technology aircraft without the political entanglements of the Cold War power structure. In the process, it cemented France as a major global power in the advanced aerospace sector, a status the country enjoys today. 

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Industrial robots and their end effectors have demonstrated a remarkable dexterity, matching and often exceeding that of human hands. Combined with vision systems, many industrial robots can combine high-level dexterity with object recognition for pick and place applications, but most industrial systems, the things that robots manipulate are consistent in size and shape.

The food processing industry has a very different problem: individual portions of things like fish fillets are similar, but no two are alike. The technology however is rapidly improving, and modern systems can now handle complex food processing tasks that until recently have resisted automation. 

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The post Why fish filets show how robotics is the future of work  appeared first on Engineering.com.

In the search for carbon free or carbon neutral energy sources to replace fossil fuels, hydrogen is a subject of active development. In rocketry, it’s a very high-performance fuel, and when reacted in moderate temperature combustion processes, the primary exhaust gas, water vapor, is harmless.

But the highest quality energy in any system is electric current, and fuel cells promise to deliver direct conversion of gaseous hydrogen to electricity. They have been powering spacecraft for over half a century, and there are currently some commercial applications, but technical challenges still need to be overcome before fuel cells can become a power source for popular consumer applications like motor vehicles or home power.

Jim Anderton discusses progress in fuel cell technology with Carl Cottuli, Head of Development Engineering at Bloom Energy.

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The post Hydrogen Fuel Cells for Clean Power: How Solid State Will Drive the Technology Forward appeared first on Engineering.com.

3D printing, or additive manufacturing as it’s known in the industry, have revolutionized warfare, as seen in the current Ukraine Russia war. The ability to mass-produce first-person view drones in the thousands has created a new battlefield, where traditional doctrines about armor and logistics have been changed forever. Not only do the drones make attacking armies more vulnerable, additive manufacturing allows production to be extensively decentralized, making it much harder for adversaries to degrade production capability.

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Battery technology is long been understood as the limiting factor in electric vehicle adoption worldwide. Electric vehicle batteries need to be lower in cost, offer higher energy density, and be faster to charge than current technology allows, and all major automakers are working to achieve this.

A new solid-state lithium-based design from Factorial, backed by Mercedes-Benz and Stellantis, promises to increase electric vehicle range by up to 80%, with lower operating temperatures and increased safety. Test cells have already been produced, and factorial has built a full-scale production facility just outside Boston. Widespread implementation should be ready by the end of the decade. 

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The post Is the Solid-State Battery the Solution for Weak EV Sales?  appeared first on Engineering.com.

The Scaled Composites Vanguard has taken to the air, and like most designs from Northrop Grumman’s experimental division, it’s different. Small, light in weight and powered by a relatively low power jet engine, the aircraft has the look of a miniature stealth fighter plane, and can carry 2,000 pounds of ordnance, including two air to air missiles in an enclosed weapons bay. The airplane is clearly designed to have a low radar cross-section, essential for survival in any contested airspace today.

For Northrop Grumman, this may be a replay of the company’s low-cost, lightweight fighter concept, a big hit from the early 1960s: the F-5 Freedom Fighter. 

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Artificial intelligence is not only widely anticipated but is expected to dramatically change the manufacturing landscape worldwide, forever.

The promise is huge, but to deliver on that promise, manufacturers need to develop coherent strategies for implementation, and more importantly, understand where the use cases exist for AI implementation.

New research from AI software provider IFS suggests that American firms are sceptical of artificial intelligence in its current form.

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