Aerospace & Defence

NASA is preparing to launch its first mission to return a sample of an asteroid to Earth. The mission will help scientists investigate how planets formed and how life began, as well as improve our understanding of asteroids that could impact Earth. The Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer (OSIRIS-REx) spacecraft will travel to the near-Earth asteroid Bennu and bring a sample back to Earth for inten...

A 3D sky-mapping project that will measure the light of millions of galaxies has received formal approval from the U.S. Department of Energy to move forward with construction. Installation of the project, called DESI (Dark Energy Spectroscopic Instrument), is set to begin next year at the Nicholas U. Mayall 4m telescope at Kitt Peak National Observatory near Tucson, Ariz., with observations starting up in January 2019.

Following the completion of all indoor testing, the Airlander 10, the world’s largest aircraft, has successfully exited the hangar for the first time. Airlander 10, a plane/airship hybrid, is designed to stay airborne for up to five days at a time to fulfil a wide range of communication and survey roles, as well as cargo carrying and tourist passenger flights.

It has been announced that Renishaw is contributing its additive manufacturing expertise to a £17.7m project, being led by Airbus in the UK, to develop an innovative way of designing and manufacturing aircraft wings, which will encourage a 'right first time approach' and reduce development time. 

Following a key programme review, NASA approved the Asteroid Redirect Mission (ARM) to proceed to the next phase of design and development for the mission's robotic segment. ARM is a two-part mission that will integrate robotic and crewed spacecraft operations in the proving ground of deep space to demonstrate key capabilities needed for NASA's journey to Mars.

In 2020, NASA plans to launch a new Mars rover that will be tasked with probing a region of the planet scientists believe could hold remnants of ancient microbial life. The rover will collect samples of rocks and soil, and store them on the Martian surface; the samples would be returned to Earth sometime in the distant future so that scientists can meticulously analyse the samples for signs of present or former extraterrestrial life.

Years in the making, one of the trickiest pieces of space technology ever developed is finally ready to join its satellite for launch by the end of next year, bringing us another step closer to a better understanding of the Earth’s winds.  Carrying pioneering lasers, Aeolus will be the first satellite to probe the wind globally.

Mitsubishi Materials Group has signed up to be the latest member of the University of Strathclyde’s Advanced Forming Research Centre (AFRC), part of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult. The AFRC will act as a test facility for the development of new products and manufacturing processes, which will be used to produce metal components for use in a range of industries – including oil and gas, aerospace and automotive.

  NASA has selected six U.S. companies to help advance the Journey to Mars by developing ground prototypes and concepts for deep space habitats under the second Next Space Technologies for Exploration Partnerships (NextSTEP) Broad Agency Announcement, or NextSTEP-2

NASA has selected five green technology concepts that have the potential to transform the aviation industry in the next decade by reducing aircraft fuel use and emissions. The concepts were selected under NASA’s Transformative Aeronautics Concepts Program for a two-year study.