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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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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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.

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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For the 100 years or so of air transport, the form factor of airplanes has been essentially consistent: a fuselage, usually cylindrical, with attached wings and tail.  While relatively simple to build, with a good strength to weight ratio, aerodynamically, this form factor is not the most efficient.

Eliminating the fuselage and building the aircraft as a flying wing has long been recognized as a path to greater efficiency and performance, and since the late 1940s, multiple flying wing designs have been proposed. Very few have made it into hardware, but a form of hybrid concept, called the blended wing body, appears to be a practical way to reduce drag, and consequently fuel burn, and commercial aircraft.  

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If successful, Anduril’s new facility may become the prototype for a paradigm shift in armaments design, development, manufacturing and procurement. Swarms of low cost, AI driven and fully autonomous drone weapon systems in the air, on the ground and into the sea, may replace the crewed, highly capable but costly armoured vehicles, aircraft and submarines. Part of conflict in Ukraine may have shown us the way wars will be fought in the future. 

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The post Hyperscale Defense Manufacturing in a Five Million Square Foot Plant  appeared first on Engineering.com.

Boeing has reacquired their former subsidiary, Spirit AeroSystems, in any $8.3 billion debt plus equity deal. Spirit, maker of 737 fuselage assemblies for the 737 Max program, has been implicated in the Alaska Airlines door plug blowout incidents that caused an emergency depressurization at altitude.

The repurchase of some 737 manufacturing assets brings the major part of that program’s supply chain back under direct Boeing control, including quality procedures. Spirit AeroSystems also operated foreign plants building components for Boeing’s major competitor, Airbus.

In a separate agreement, Airbus will acquire assets building for their programs, effectively re-shoring major Airbus component production to Europe. With the disappearance of spirit, a major Tier 1 supplier to the commercial aircraft industry, the global major air-frame duopoly now has fewer points of engineering commonality.

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Additive manufacturing has been the hottest topic in part making for years, offering unprecedented design flexibility for engineers. Hollow parts, parts with complex internal support structures, and three-dimensional compound curvature that would be impossible to machine are all available with 3D printing, and the aerospace industry is all in with this technology. But what about the tough applications, in propulsion?

Donald Godfrey, gas turbine veteran with decades of experience at companies like Rolls-Royce and Honeywell, is Global Director of Business Development for Aviation and Defense with SLM Solutions and Is a global expert who has written a textbook on the subject.

Engineering.com’s  Jim Anderton spoke with him in Los Angeles at the recent RAPID-TCT conference about the challenges and advantages of using additive technology in gas turbine applications. 

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Sales growth in electric vehicles, led by Tesla and BYD has long suggested the end of gasoline and diesel fuel in the transportation sector. While fuel cells are a viable clean option, lower costs in battery production have made pure electric vehicles the sales leader in green transportation.

But can the momentum of early adopters be maintained? Market surveys suggest that EV sales growth is flattening, as MSRP’s and a lack of public charging infrastructure dampen demand.

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In a shocking and wide-ranging scandal, Toyota, Mazda, Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha have been implicated in the falsification of crashworthiness data and engine power testing by the Japanese government. 

The Japanese transport ministry has ordered Toyota, Mazda and Yamaha to suspend shipment of affected vehicles. 

The revelations come in the wake of a ministry requested Japanese automaker self review of their vehicle certifications following a safety test scandal at Daihatsu, Toyota’s small car division. 

The ministry determined that the affected companies had falsified reports or manipulated data in testing. 

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