NASA Aeronautics Research Technical Seminars

This seminar describes the development path and supporting research to apply oil-free bearing technology to future rotorcraft engines. In addition, the benefits these technologies offer for supersonic, hypersonic and long-life space nuclear power generation turbines will be discussed.

This seminar will discuss Shape Memory Alloys. When the shape memory effect is correctly harnessed, these materials become a lightweight, solid-state alternative to conventional actuators such as hydraulic, pneumatic, and motor-based systems. Their small footprint but high energy density can aid the development of adaptive aero structures that will improve aircraft performance and fuel economy and reduce aircraft noise and emissions.

This seminar will discuss Intelligent Flight Control. Over the past two decades, several innovative control architectures utilizing the intelligent control tools have been proposed. Controllers with higher degrees of autonomy can be deployed in aircraft (piloted and non-piloted), spacecraft, and robotic ground and underwater vehicles.

This seminar will discuss The promise of this technology extends far beyond its applicability to low-cost manufacturing and aircraft structural designs. EBF³ could provide a way for astronauts to fabricate structural spare parts and new tools aboard the International Space Station or on the surface of the moon or Mars.

This seminar will detail a strategy for improving the science behind predicting and mitigating aviation's environmental impacts for building the next generation of tools and models to improve regulation, devloping and implementing operational procedures that reduce aviation's environmental footprint, accelerating development of new technologies and fuels, and addressing policy questions about long-term goals, improved regulation, and system operating changes.

This seminar will discuss Synthetic and Enhanced Vision Systems (SVS/EVS). SVS technology provides pilots with a virtual visual depiction of features in the external environment superimposed with relevant aircraft state, guidance, and navigation information.

This seminar will describe the use and application of three laser-based spectroscopic measurement (NO PLIF, CARS and IRS) techniques to study hypersonic flows and supersonic combustion.

Advances in aircraft noise research can be attributed to the development of new technologies and sustained collaboration with industry, universities and government organizations. Emphasis has been given to developing noise prediction methods, diagnostic methods for determining noise sources, and noise reduction methods that are applicable across a wide range of aircraft.

In today's modern commercial jet engines the fan case is among the largest and heaviest components of the engine.

A safe and efficient aviation industry is vital to the global economy. The growing traffic demand, rise in oil prices, delays in building new runways and security issues are putting pressures on the system to evolve from the current procedure-based human-centered system to a more flexible system with higher levels of automation.

This seminar provides an overview of previous research related to onboard real-time modeling to characterize aircraft stability and control, followed by a discussion of technical challenges and NASA research in this area.

Hypersonic vehicles differ significantly from rocket-based vehicles in their architecture and mission. This presentation will discuss some of the recent advances in TPS and hot structures for hypersonic vehicles and the technical challenges that need to be overcome.

A safe and efficient air traffic management system is vital to the nation's economy. Demand for air traffic operations is expected to grow by a factor of two or three over the next 20 years. Today's operating concept, however, where air traffic controllers ensure safe separation primarily through visual and cognitive analysis of radar traffic displays, will not support a substantial increase in traffic volume.

The current state-of-the-art in planetary entry, decent, and landing (EDL) systems is derived primarily from a 30 year old technology set developed for the Mars Viking Program, including the heritage spherically blunted conical aeroshell geometry, ablative thermal protection system material, and the supersonic disc-gap-band parachute. Optimistic estimates predict that the current Viking derived EDL architecture, which relies primarily on the technologies developed in the 1960s and '70s, may be extensible to allow landed masses up to a maximum of on the order of two metric tons as parachute diameters and ballistic entry masses increase to limiting values.

This seminar addresses the history and successful progress in predicting and improving the crash safety characteristics of vehicles, with particular emphasis on rotary wing aircraft and composite structures.