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The Dragon Roars coverJUl-2012-fin_Layout 1 6/15/12 1:58 PM Page 1 7 AMERICA AEROSPACE July-August 2012 JULY-AUGUST 2012 JULY-AUGUST The Dragon roars Mars Science Laboratory: Going for a touchdown A conversation with Norman R. Augustine A PUBLICATION OF THE AMERICAN INSTITUTE OF AERONAUTICS AND ASTRONAUTICS Coming Soon! STANDARDS • CONFERENCE PROCEEDINGS • This Spring, AIAA Invites You to Discover an All-New Electronic Database BOOKS Featuring Over Four Decades e of Aerospace Research Stay Tuned to • With AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central you will be able to: www.aiaa.org • Save and schedule searches for the Launch • Highlight books, conference proceedings, and journal articles of ARC • Download citations and bundle content based on topic disciplines • Sign up for alerts on subjects of interest • Access e-first publications ahead of print • Post links to research articles and selected book titles on social networking websites JOURNALS • ARC will also enable you to discover articles, books, conference proceedings, and other published materials based on your interests, greatly enhancing the flow of information and ideas in the collaborative research process. For More Information Contact: [email protected] powered by BOOKS 12-0158 12-0158-final-v1.indd 1 2/10/12 8:42 AM TOC.JUL-AUG2012_AA Template 6/19/12 11:20 AM Page 1 July-August 2012 Page 4 DEPARTMENTS EDITORIAL 3 The year of the Dragon. INTERNATIONAL BEAT 4 Eurozone crisis hits aircraft sales. WASHINGTON WATCH 8 Moving ahead despite constraints. CONVERSATIONS 12 With Norman R. Augustine. THE VIEW FROM HERE 16 The Dragon’s roar. Page 20 AIRCRAFT UPDATE 20 F-35 faces cost-sensitive export market. Page 26 INDUSTRY INSIGHTS 26 Acquisitions reshape aerospace and defense industry. OUT OF THE PAST 50 CAREER OPPORTUNITIES 54 FEATURES MARS SCIENCE LABORATORY: GOING FOR A TOUCHDOWN 30 Much is at stake as NASA awaits the August 5 landing of its Mars Science Page 30 Laboratory and the large Curiosity rover it carries. by Leonard David UNCOVERING THE SECRETS OF ‘MYSTERY ICE’ 36 A growing number of aircraft mishaps appear to be caused by ice crystals of mysterious origins. Page 36 by J.R. Wilson RUSSIAN SPACE PROGRAM RECOVERS 42 After a string of major failures and investigations, Russia’s troubled space program is beginning to regain its footing. by James Oberg BULLETIN AIAA Meeting Schedule B2 AIAA Courses and Training Program B4 AIAA News B5 Meetings Programs B14 Call for Papers B24 COVER Flight engineers Don Pettit and Andre Kuipers grappled the SpaceX Dragon with the Canadarm2 and used it Page 42 to berth Dragon to the ISS. Find out about Dragon’s remarkable mission by turning to page 16. NASA photo. Aerospace America (ISSN 0740-722X) is published monthly, except August, by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc. at 1801 Alexander Bell Drive, Reston, Va. 20191-4344 [703/264-7500]. Subscription rate is 50% of dues for AIAA members (and is not deductible therefrom). Nonmember subscription price: U.S. and Canada, $163, foreign, $200. Single copies $20 each. Postmaster: Send address changes and subscription orders to address above, attention AIAA Customer Service, 703/264-7500. Periodical postage paid at Herndon, VA, and at additional mailing offices. Copyright © 2012 by the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Inc., all rights reserved. The name Aerospace America is registered by the AIAA in the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. 40,000 copies of this issue printed. This is Volume 50, No. 7. 12th AIAA Aviation Technology, Integration, and Operations (ATIO) Conference www.aiaa.org/atio2012 Register Today! 14th AIAA/ISSMO Multidisciplinary Analysis and Optimization Conference www.aiaa.org/mao2012 The Next Generation Air Transportation 17–19 September 2012 System will depend on the concepts and Hyatt Regency Indianapolis results of synthesis. From the design Indianapolis, Indiana of diverse individual vehicles to the development and implementation of the air traffic control system, to the airspace system itself, the amalgamation of diverse knowledge, people, and ideas into a cohesive, optimized, and useful entity is critical. Aviation professionals, practicing engineers, researchers, and policymakers will explore ideas, share research, and create interactive opportunities on critical topics such as: • Aircraft Design and Design Methodologies • Advanced Systems Integration • Innovative Concepts and Technologies including Energy Optimized Systems and All-Electric Diversity, Design, and Details Aircraft Facing the Challenge of Synthesis and Integration • Cost Effectiveness and Value Engineering of Aerospace Systems • Air Transportation: Aircraft Operations and Air Traffic Management Systems • Aerospace System Applications of MDO • Complex System Design Methodologies • Decision Support Processes and Tools for Complex Systems • Enabling Technologies for Complex System Design 12-0230 july/aug.edit_AA Template 6/14/12 2:36 PM Page 1 ® is a publication of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics Elaine J. Camhi Editor-in-Chief Patricia Jefferson Associate Editor Greg Wilson Production Editor The year of the Dragon Jerry Grey, Editor-at-Large Christine Williams, Editor AIAA Bulletin “Houston, it looks like we’ve got us a Dragon by the tail.” Those words, uttered by astronaut Don Pettitt aboard the space station, Correspondents signaling that the Canadarm had successfully grappled the SpaceX cargo Robert F. Dorr, Washington capsule, marked the first visit by a private company to the ISS. This cap- Philip Butterworth-Hayes, Europe ture was followed by a flawless berthing and subsequent uploads and Michael Westlake, Hong Kong downloads of cargo. When the visit was over, Dragon decoupled from the Contributing Writers station and returned to Earth, splashing into the Pacific. Richard Aboulafia, James W. Canan, The celebrations that followed were not confined to Elon Musk and his Marco Cáceres, Craig Covault, Leonard Space Exploration Technologies Corporation. This was good news for David, Philip Finnegan, Edward NASA, as the agency now had an additional—and homegrown—source for Goldstein, Tom Jones, James Oberg, resupply missions to the station. And yes, Dragon has portholes, as it is David Rockwell, J.R. Wilson meant one day to carry crew as well as cargo. Fitzgerald Art & Design The events also brought a sigh of relief to supporters of NASA’s Com- Art Direction and Design mercial Orbital Transportation Services, or COTS, program to coordinate the delivery of cargo to the ISS by private companies, as well as the related Michael Griffin, President CCDev program for development of crew transportation services. Both of Robert S. Dickman, Publisher these efforts follow the retirement of the space shuttle, which has resulted Craig Byl, Manufacturing and Distribution in U.S. reliance on foreign entities for transport. STEERING COMMITTEE Other commercial ventures are also kicking into high gear. During the Col. Neal Barlow, USAF Academy; summer, Sierra Nevada will begin free flights of its Dream Chaser crew Carol Cash, Carol Cash & Associates; carrier, based on the old NASA HL-20 design, including autonomous ap- Brian D. Dailey; Basil Hassan, Sandia; proach and landing. Meant to be launched from a United Launch Alliance Robert E. Lindberg, National Institute of Atlas V, Dream Chaser is another beneficiary of the COTS program. Orbital Aerospace; Vigor Yang, Georgia Institute of Technology; Susan X. Ying; Boeing Sciences has announced that in its COTS effort, a pressurized cargo module will fly a demonstration mission later this year, then begin cargo deliveries EDITORIAL BOARD to the station, using its Cygnus advanced maneuvering spacecraft, Ned Allen, Jean-Michel Contant, launched by the company’s Antares rocket. Eugene Covert, L.S. “Skip” Fletcher, Boeing is well on its way with the CST-100, a crew capsule it is devel- Michael Francis, Cam Martin, oping with Bigelow Aerospace under NASA’s CCDev program. Also for Don Richardson, Douglas Yazell launch on Atlas V, the capsule completed drop tests in June. Other com- ADVERTISING panies are also making progress, both with and without NASA support. Robert Silverstein, 240.498.9674 But for now, take a moment and reflect on SpaceX’s remarkable [email protected] accomplishment, carried out amidst the din of voices saying they couldn’t, Russell Brody 732.832.2977 or shouldn’t. Enjoy that moment; salute the hundreds of people who pulled [email protected] together to pull this off. Ross B. Garelick Bell Business Manager Done? Now that the hard part has been done, at least once, here comes Send materials to Craig Byl, AIAA, 1801 another hard part. As noted, Dragon has portholes. So, too, do the CST-100 Alexander Bell Drive, Suite 500, Reston, VA and the Dream Chaser. But NASA will be a lot less willing to use newcomers 20191-4344. Changes of address should be to carry astronauts than it will to deliver foodstuffs. sent by e-mail at [email protected], or by fax Human rating these vehicles, and the rockets to carry them, entails first at 703.264.7606. Send correspondence to [email protected]. defining what the criteria are, in terms of vehicles and rockets not built by NASA, then determining whether the competitors meet them. July-August 2012, Vol. 50, No. 7 Having these exercises go on simultaneously with testing would go a long way to getting the U.S. back to being a spacefaring nation, as will knowing that those who voyage so far will be able to safely find their way home. Elaine Camhi Editor-in-Chief BEATlayout0712_Layout 1 6/14/12 2:14 PM Page 2 Eurozone crisis hits aircraft sales THE WORSENING ECONOMIC PROBLEMS mand for air travel and new aircraft, decline forecast for 2012 as a whole. A in the European eurozone have led to with an unclear pattern of recovery. weak start to the year was forecast, a sharp decrease in demand for new The Brussels-based air traffic man- and indeed within Europe flights are civil aircraft in the region.
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