Microgravity Flight Testing As A Case Study On The Student Space Systems Fabrication Laboratory

A Clash of Spacepowers

10.3366/edinburgh/9781474450485.003.0007 ◽

2020 ◽

pp. 228-270

Author(s):

Bleddyn E. Bowen

Keyword(s):

United States ◽

United States Of America ◽

The United States ◽

Pearl Harbor ◽

Space Systems ◽

Long Distance ◽

Republic Of China ◽

Critical Moment ◽

Illustrative Application

Chapter 6’s illustrative application of the theory demonstrates how the propositions are instructive when critically applied a Taiwan war scenario. In this case, it demonstrates how spacepower can influence terrestrial considerations for battle, in particular with long-distance precision-strike warfare, or ‘anti-access/area denial’ (A2/AD) warfare in current military jargon. Two contrasting strategies are critiqued in the case study as equally valid possibilities – the all-out first strike ‘Space Pearl Harbor’ strategy and ‘Counterspace-in-Being’ strategy of keeping space strikes in reserve for a critical moment. These strategies are two possible options for both the United States of America and People’s Republic of China, with Taiwan also having many opportunities of its own to resist Chinese invasion from the mainland. Projecting support from celestial communications down to Earth from the cosmic coastline changes the calculations of concentration and dispersal for military forces on Earth, and understanding the thorny questions of how and when to strike against space systems is aided by an understanding of all seven propositions.

Download Full-text

The rapid development of bespoke small unmanned aircraft

The Aeronautical Journal ◽

10.1017/aer.2017.99 ◽

2017 ◽

Vol 121 (1245) ◽

pp. 1683-1710 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

C. A. Paulson ◽

A. Sóbester ◽

J. P. Scanlan

Keyword(s):

Additive Manufacturing ◽

Optimal Design ◽

Rapid Development ◽

Simulated Data ◽

Unmanned Aircraft ◽

Flight Testing ◽

Performance Predictions ◽

Aircraft Performance ◽

Aircraft System

ABSTRACTThe ability to quickly fabricate small unmanned aircraft system (sUAS) through Additive Manufacturing (AM) methods opens a range of new possibilities for the design and optimisation of these vehicles. In this paper, we propose a design loop that makes use of surrogate modelling and AM to reduce the design and optimisation time of scientific sUAS. AM reduces the time and effort required to fabricate a complete aircraft, allowing for rapid design iterations and flight testing. Co-Kriging surrogate models allow data collected from test flights to correct Kriging models trained with numerically simulated data. The resulting model provides physically accurate and computationally cheap aircraft performance predictions. A global optimiser is used to search this model to find an optimal design for a bespoke aircraft. This paper presents the design loop and a case study which demonstrates its application.

Download Full-text