Aerospace & Defence

For a few seconds, everyone at the SwissTech Convention Center (EPFL) held their breath as the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket of Spaceflight SSO‑A: SmallSat Express mission took off towards low Earth orbit from Space Launch Complex 4E (SLC‑4E) at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California, USA. The rocket’s payload included a CubeSat nanosatellite designed by Astrocast, a prototype to test the 64‑satellite constellation ...

From hospitals, cars and offices to fitness trackers, smart homes and connected factories, there’s really no limit to the number of industries or applications that the Internet of Things can reach. Anything, anywhere, has the potential to be connected to the IoT through smart devices like wearables. Anywhere…even off the planet.

Fibre optic connectors from Amphenol Fiber Systems International (FSI) are in stock at Mouser Electronics. Designed for use in harsh environments, the fiber optic connectors from Amphenol FSI can withstand extreme temperatures and are well suited for aerospace and military applications.

An initiative to create a broad range of readily accessible space-qualified waveguide isolators, circulators, terminations, transitions, hybrids and couplers operating within assigned frequency bands from X to V-Band has commenced at Smiths Interconnect with the release of the SpaceNXT Ku Series of high power WR75 circulators and loads.

Innovation is a critical driver of economic growth. It is crucial that companies and states invest in new technologies to gain a competitive advantage. To highlight the importance of interdisciplinary and creative thinking, cleantech news portal Clean Technica, has published research analysing inventions that have been adapted for commercial use following their origin in space travel.

Adaptive and intelligent computing company, Xilinx, has announced the availability of its Defence-grade XQ UltraScale+ portfolio of products, providing the benefits of its UltraScale+ architecture plus extended temperature and ruggedised packages to address the needs of the aerospace and defence industry.

On 26th November, the NASA InSight Lander, with the help of Wind River VxWorks real-time operating system (RTOS), reached an important milestone in its journey to Mars, as InSight begins a 12,300mph descent to the red planet. With the Insight lander’s avionics system based on VxWorks, this NASA mission brings the Wind River RTOS back to Mars once again following the Mars Science Laboratory rover Curiosity mission in 2012.

Two years from now, the US space agency NASA will send a new rover to the Red Planet. This trip will include a small helicopter which will take the first aerial photos of Mars. The rotors will be controlled by robust DC motors from Switzerland.

Pasternack new line of military-grade MIL-DTL-17 RF cable assemblies that are ideal for avionics, military electronics, satellite ground stations and autonomous vehicles.

In the aerospace industry, the importance of creating problem-solving technologies to meet the challenges of manufacturing highly complex, critically reliable machines cannot be overstated.  By Steve Grimes, Director, Sales and Marketing, S.S. White Technologies