October 23, 2017 - No. 083 In This Issue Blue Origin's Breakthrough Means SpaceX Finally Has A Competitor Jet-makers like Boeing are preparing for a world with on-demand, pilotless air taxis The GoFly Prize Is Calling Jetpack and Hoverboard Inventors Interested in Winning $1 Million Government introduces the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill Fortune Sees Gogo Among Companies 'Best Positioned for Strong Future Growth' Laptops could be banned from checked bags on planes due to fire risk Alphabet's Project Loon officially launched in Puerto Rico FAA prepares guidance for wave of 3D-printed aerospace parts GE's Avio Aero to produce metal AM components for Advanced TurboProp engine Aviation MRO companies want 18% GST scrapped Blue Origin's Breakthrough Means SpaceX Finally Has A Competitor SUB-ORBITAL AND BEYOND Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos isn't just out to get the e-retail industry with artificial intelligence, he's also had his eyes on space tourism for a while now. While Bezos' rocket company, Blue Origin, has made some progress since it successfully landed a reusable rocket, many have been waiting for a key piece of the company's rocket future. The BE-4, the enormous engine Bezos unveiled earlier this year, promises to be the power behind his future rockets. On Wednesday, the BE-4 proved to be Blue Origin's breakthrough achievement when the company successfully conducted a hot-fire test, firing the engine at half of its power for three seconds. The test has fueled hopes that the BE-4 will indeed be ready to fly the first space tourists into sub- orbital space by April 2019, as Blue Origin has publicly promised. The successful BE-4 engine test is Blue Origin's official announcement that it's ramping up its efforts in the new space race currently led by SpaceX. With the BE-4, it's highly likely that Blue Origin is looking beyond simply powering the ginormous New Glenn for space tourism. As Ars Technica notes, the recent test "sends a clear signal that there is a new player in the industry preparing to compete both for national security and commercial launches." THE NEW SPACE RACE Unlike SpaceX, however, Blue Origin is largely funded by Bezos without costing U.S. taxpayers anything, which makes this development all the more important. Today's aerospace industry relies heavily on private rocket companies for launching government missions to space - whether through NASA's commercial crew programs or with other countries buying slots aboard SpaceX's payloads. Indeed, as NASA acting administrator, Robert Lightfoot, Jr., previously told Futurism, the future of space exploration is in the hands - or launchpads - of private space companies like SpaceX and the United Launch Alliance, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin and Boeing. Blue Origin might soon be added to this list. In fact, the United Launch Alliance has reportedly been considering Blue Origin's BE-4 engine to power its new rocket known as Vulcan. The BE-4 is also potentially more powerful than SpaceX's new Raptor engine. The former boasts 250,000 kilograms-force (550,000 pounds) of thrust, while the latter has a sea-level thrust of 170,000 kilograms-force (380,000 pounds). Blue Origin's breakthrough on Wednesday will - hopefully - be the first of many, which could culminate in the launches Blue Origin has planned. The first of these is scheduled before the end of 2018 in preparation for that April 2019 maiden space tourism voyage aboard the New Shepard sub- orbital rocket. Together with Virgin Galactic and, possibly even SpaceX, Blue Origin is one step closer to making space tourism a reality. https://futurism.com/blue-origins-space-x/ Back to Top Jet-makers like Boeing are preparing for a world with on-demand, pilotless air taxis Years after Detroit's auto companies joined the race to develop self-driving cars, the world's biggest plane-makers now say they see a coming revolution in autonomous, on-demand flight. Chicago-based aerospace manufacturer Boeing has been stepping up its investment in the technologies that enable autonomous flight in recent months. In April, the company backed Washington State-based Zunum Aero, which develops hybrid-electric engines meant to make short-haul flights more cost-efficient. Then on Oct. 5, the company announced its intention to buy Virginia-based Aurora Flight Sciences, a defense contractor that makes experimental fan-powered and solar-powered drones. And Tuesday, it invested an undisclosed amount of money in a company called Near Earth Autonomy, a Pittsburgh-based robotics firm that spun out of Carnegie Mellon University's well-known robotics department. The goal, Boeing's technology executives say, is to assemble a portfolio of robotic flight technologies that could apply to a range of different plane models; the robotic eyes, ears and organs that would theoretically allow a fully self-piloted robot plane to navigate, react and land without a pilot. "We believe these are potentially disruptive technology enablers that could change the future of aviation," said Steve Nordlund, vice president at HorizonX, a venture investment arm of Boeing. There are no immediate plans to replace commercial pilots with computers. But industry experts say the technology enabling fully-autonomous flight is already here. Near Earth Autonomy, the latest addition to Boeing's portfolio, was an early innovator in the space. Founder Sanjiv Singh, a professor at Carnegie Mellon University's robotics institute, says he got his start researching autonomous dump trucks and lawn mowers for industrial organizations such as Caterpillar. That led to some work with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the Pentagon's advanced development agency, among other defense contracts. The company says it partnered with the U.S. Army in 2010 to carry out a simulated casualty rescue mission - essentially recovering a body in contested territory. Such missions are currently carried out by manned Army helicopters and are considered extremely dangerous, sometimes exposing Army personnel to attack. That work led to a broader set of tests around unmanned cargo delivery for the Marines, which it conducted using a Boeing helicopter in 2010. Singh and his colleagues, who now number about 50, spun those defense contracts out of Carnegie Mellon in 2012 and set Near Earth Autonomy as a stand-alone company. Today, the company holds about a dozen contracts with Defense Department research agencies and is exploring commercial applications for its autonomous flight technology. The partnership with Boeing "gives us the resources to mature our technologies so they can grow widely," Singh said. The companies did not disclose the size or terms of the investment, but Boeing's venture arm usually makes investments in $10 million to $20 million chunks. Singh says his researchers have developed self-piloting surveillance drones that can navigate underground passageways, something he wants to sell to mining companies. The company is trying to find a way for its autonomous planes to be able to navigate without the help of GPS satellites, a capability that could make self-piloting aircraft less susceptible to hacks. Boeing and Near Earth Autonomy said in their official release that they plan to partner on "urban mobility" projects moving forward, which Singh compared to an experimental flying taxi initiative that Uber is working on. "But we are at the nascent end of aviation becoming democratized," Singh said. "Maybe it's not the case that we're at the Jetsons era, but we could see kind of a transition to that in the near future." http://www.chicagotribune.com/business/ct-biz-pilotless-plane-taxi-20171020-story.html Back to Top The GoFly Prize Is Calling Jetpack and Hoverboard Inventors Interested in Winning $1 Million Boeing is sponsoring the contest, which will award a total of $2 million to inventors of safe and quiet personal flying devices. In 2004, Burt Rutan's Scaled Composites claimed the $10 million Ansari XPrize for designing, building, and successfully launching SpaceShipOne, a reusable manned spacecraft. Now, Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic's SpaceShipTwo is planning to begin flying tourists into space by the end of next year. In 2005, the United States Department of Defense awarded its $2 million DARPA Grand Challenge prize for an autonomous vehicle to a team at Stanford's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory that created Stanley, a self-driving Volkswagen Touareg. Tech companies and auto manufacturers now are developing and test-driving their own driverless cars, getting ready to put them on the streets as soon the Department of Transportation allows it. In the meantime, the automakers have equipped their current models with autonomous safety features that enable the vehicles to stop or swerve on their own to avoid collisions. The latest such award is the GoFly Prize. It was announced in September, at the SAE 2017 AeroTech Congress & Exhibition in Fort Worth, Texas. It's intended to spur innovation in the field of transportation, and maybe because of it, in a decade or so, we'll all be able to zip around town with our jetpacks or hoverboards or Iron Man suits. The GoFly Prize involves a two-year, $2 million contest challenging designers, engineers, inventors, and other innovators to create a safe and easy-to-use personal flying device. The guidelines call for a craft that is ultra-compact, quiet, urban-compatible, and capable of carrying one person 20 miles without refueling or recharging. The device also must have vertical or nearly vertical takeoff and landing capability. Boeing is sponsoring the contest, which was established by Gwen Lighter, an entrepreneur who presented the idea to Boeing. "In a very real sense, the GoFly Prize is about the future of transportation," Lighter said in an email. "We're at the brink of a major shift in the way we travel from one place to another. Due to a convergence of several breakthrough technologies, now is the first time in history when personal flying devices can be built. We want to inspire the innovation to make that shift happen. "At the end of our two-year competition, we hope we have revolutionary new flying technology and the start of a whole new personal flying device industry. Just as there was a mini-Ford, a mini-GM, and a mini-Chrysler at the start of the automotive industry, so too in two years from now do we hope to have those mini companies at the start of a personal flying device industry." The grand prize of $1 million will be awarded at the Final Fly-Off in fall 2019, but prizes will also be awarded in two earlier phases of the contest. Phase I will include 10 $20,000 prizes for written technical specifications. Phase II will include four $50K prizes for the best prototypes and revised Phase I material. The registration deadline for teams participating in Phase I is April 4, 2018; the Phase II registration deadline is December 8, 2018. Teams will have the opportunity to compete for additional prizes during the final Fly-Off, including a $100,000 prize "for disruptive advancement of the state-of-the-art aviation technology," a $250,000 prize for the quietest entry, and a $250,000 prize for the smallest entry. The $1 million grand prize will be awarded to the team that creates the device with the best combined score for speed, noise, and size. "In just two years, we'll be at our Final Fly-Off, where teams from around the globe will fly their safe, quiet, ultra-compact, near-VTOL personal flying devices," says Lighter. "Like millions of other people who share the universal dream of pure human flight, the GoFly team can't wait to use the wonderful creations that the innovative teams will develop." http://robbreport.com/motors/aviation/gofly-prize-2752722/ Back to Top Government introduces the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill United Kingdom, October 19, 2017 - Automated and electric vehicles are back on the legislative agenda and not before time. We take a look at the latest legal proposals and where they fit into current developments. The government has introduced the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill, which largely replicates the main sections in what was previously Parts 1 and 2 of the Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill. Connected and Autonomous Vehicles Crucially, as regards automated vehicles, the Automated and Electric Vehicles Bill maintains the proposed "single insurer model" under which drivers will buy an automated vehicle policy which covers accidents regardless of whether or not the car was being driven by the driver or autonomously at the time. Following consultation, this was the much preferred model as it offered drivers and all road-users the greatest insurance certainty and the most efficient route for liability recovery. See our previous article: Changes to insurance for driverless cars. As proposed before, the statutory definition of "automated vehicle" is going to be determined by reference to a designated list to be maintained by the Secretary of State. However as, under this Bill, the vehicle is only considered to be "driving itself" when it is "operating in a mode in which it is not being controlled, and does not need to be monitored, by an individual" it is likely that the Bill is confined in practice to dealing with what the CAV industry would understand to be Level 4 or above autonomous vehicles. "The unlocking of this perceived insurance issue around the use of CAVs through the single insurer model is good for the UK CAV sector, good for drivers and good for all road-users. It also reinforces the importance of insurers in facilitating the growth of CAV development and deployment and underlines why we work closely with market leaders such as Axa on a number of CAV projects" - Chris Jackson. Electric Vehicles The Bill additionally reintroduces provisions for the Secretary of State to make regulations on the access and connection arrangements for public charging points (which include both electric and hydrogen refuelling points) and to mandate the installation of public charging points in particular by large fuel retailers. In respect of electrical charging points, regulations will be able to provide that they must have smart grid capability. As before, the detail to come in regulations will be key to understanding the impacts of these requirements. However, the reintroduction of the measures is timely and they tie in with a series of gear changes for the electric vehicle industry in particular since the previous Vehicle Technology and Aviation Bill including: * The government announcements on large funding competitions for research and development into electric vehicle technology, battery technology and vehicle-to-grid studies. * Government policy announcements by the UK government (and Scottish government) on the phasing out of diesel and petrol vehicles. * Motor industry announcements by the likes of Jaguar Land Rover and others to move increasingly towards electric vehicle technology. * Fuel industry announcements by the likes of Shell as to introduction of electric vehicle charging points at petrol stations. * Energy industry announcements by the likes of OVO as to innovative commercial models for funding electric vehicles and battery usage. "The pace of change and investment into the EV sector has picked up with a lot of entities looking at charging points and structures. While this Bill is welcomed as a start to the government setting out clearly the shape of the sector as it sees it, the government may have a challenge to keep up." - Ross Fairley. https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8b23201d-57f5-42fc-bb00-41fd894e863c Back to Top Fortune Sees Gogo Among Companies 'Best Positioned for Strong Future Growth' Gogo has made Fortune's "Future 50" list of companies "best positioned for strong future growth," Gogo said. Split up into two categories - 25 "leaders" and 25 "challengers" - Gogo is listed as the No. 14 challenger. "Leaders" are those with a market value above $20 billion, while "challengers" are those with value below that amount. The list was compiled in partnership with Boston Consulting Group. Gogo said the group examined 2,300 publicly traded U.S. companies and reviewed 15 years of financial results through year-end 2016. According to Gogo, the methodology measures market potential and company capacity, which accounts for half the "score." The other half is calculated by measuring the company's capacity to deliver on this potential, which involves 14 factors in the areas of strategy, technology and investment, people and structure. "We are very proud to have been selected to the inaugural Future 50 list as it validates our leadership and innovation as the Inflight Internet company," said Michael Small, Gogo's president and CEO. "We are connecting aircraft and leveraging that connectivity to develop cutting edge products and services that engage passengers and help our aviation partners run a safer and more efficient operation. Our latest technology innovations like 2Ku have us well positioned to fuel future growth." http://www.aviationtoday.com/2017/10/20/fortune-names-gogo-list-companies-best-positioned- strong-future-growth/ Back to Top Laptops could be banned from checked bags on planes due to fire risk Laptops could be banned from checked baggage on planes due to a fire risk under a proposal being recommended by an international air safety panel. According to a report, an overheating laptop battery could cause a significant fire in a cargo hold that fire fighting equipment aboard the plane would not be able to extinguish. That could "lead to the loss of the aircraft," according to the proposal. The ban will be considered by the International Civil Aviation Organization, a United Nations organization, at its meeting this month. Even if the organization endorses the proposal from its Dangerous Goods Panel, which is making the recommendation, it would be up to regulators in individual nations to pass rules to enforce it. The U.S. FAA has no comment on the proposal. But it is represented on the panel that is supporting the ban, and its research on the risk of fires from laptops is included in the proposal. Specifically, the FAA's report raises concerns if a laptop battery were to catch fire in a bag that also holds aerosol cans, it could cause the kind of catastrophic fire that could bring down a plane. One of the fears is that by being in the cargo hold, the fire could build past the point where it can be extinguished before it could be detected by the plane's crew. The good news is that the FAA found that there is a relatively low frequency of laptops being checked in baggage. Most people prefer to carry the laptops with them in the cabin, where any problem can be quickly detected and a fire put out before it spreads. The concern that lithium batteries pose a fire hazard on planes isn't new. There have been studies on the risk of fires on planes posed by lithium batteries going back years. In 2015 U.S. airlines banned hoverboards from their planes due to concerns about the fire risk posed by their lithium batteries. The fear that terrorists could try to hide explosives in laptops prompted the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to ban laptops from the cabin of planes coming from certain international airports earlier this year. That prompted more people to check the laptops in their bags. At that time some argued the rule posed its own safety problems due the risk of fires from those laptops Those rules banning laptops from cabins have been removed for most of those airports due to new screening procedures. http://money.cnn.com/2017/10/20/technology/laptops-ban-checked-luggage/index.html Back to Top Alphabet's Project Loon officially launched in Puerto Rico The stratospheric balloons are now delivering limited mobile Internet services to remote areas of Puerto Rico where cellphone towers were knocked out by Hurricane Maria. In a company blog written by Project Loon head Alastair Westgarth, the company said it is working with the Federal Communications Commission, the Federal Aviation Authority, FEMA, and other cellular spectrum and aviation authorities to connect remote areas to the rest of the world. The LTE balloons - called HBAL199 and HBAL237, are over 60,000 feet (18,000 meters) above the island and navigate using an algorithm that puts them in the best position to deliver a signal on the rising and falling wind currents, reports CTV News Canada. Libby Leahy, a spokeswoman for Alphabet's X, its division for futuristic technologies, said the FCC has allowed for as many as 30 of the balloons to be deployed over Puerto Rico, and several more of the balloons are already on their way from Nevada. Alphabet is working in collaboration with AT&T. Project Loon is now supporting basic communication and internet activities like sending text messages and accessing information online for some people with LTE enabled phones. Apple is issuing a cellular settings update that will allow iPhones to activate the currently unused Band 8 to access the Loon-based service. Alphabet says this is the first time they have used their new machine learning powered algorithms to keep balloons clustered over Puerto Rico, so learning is still in progress. An added concern was the speed of the deployment. "We've never deployed Project Loon connectivity from scratch at such a rapid pace, and we're grateful for the support of AT&T and the many other partners and organizations that have made this possible," Westgarth writes. The only downside to the project is the balloons are solar-powered, so Internet connectivity is only available during daylight hours. However, AT&T said Friday that more than 60 percent of the population in Puerto Rico and 90 percent of the population in the U.S. Virgin Islands have cell service. http://www.digitaljournal.com/tech-and-science/technology/alphabet-s-project-loon-officially- launched-in-puerto-rico/article/505648 Back to Top FAA prepares guidance for wave of 3D-printed aerospace parts LOS ANGELES - The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration is drafting a comprehensive plan for grappling with the aerospace industry's rapid adoption of additive manufacturing. "Three to four years ago, none of my peers believed we would see additive manufacturing of safety-critical parts," Michael Gorelik, Federal Aviation Administration chief scientific and technical adviser for fatigue and damage tolerance, said Oct. 19 at the Additive Aerospace conference here. "We don't have them yet, but based on the leading indicators I see it's coming and it's coming fairly fast." In late September, an FAA team submitted a draft Additive Manufacturing Strategic Roadmap to managers at the agency's headquarters for review. The document recommends steps the agency will need to take in the next seven to eight years to address additive manufacturing from a regulatory standpoint, including certification policies, manufacturing policies and maintenance policies. The plan also addresses the need for additional research and development as well as workforce education and training. The agency underwent a similar process when it established guidance for composites materials. Additive manufacturing is particularly complex, however, because companies are using a wide range of materials and processes, which continue to evolve. "One could try to group them by source of raw material, for example powder versus wire, and by the source of energy used to melt the material, laser versus electron beam versus plasma arc," Gorelik said. "This variety of processes is great from the technology and business standpoint because it gives industry a great deal of flexibility." From a regulatory standpoint, the range of materials and processes presents significant challenges, he added. The FAA is working with other government agencies and industry groups to tackle the problem because "we realize we may not currently have enough internal knowledge and expertise," Gorelik said. The FAA shared its draft roadmap with NASA, the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army and the Aerospace Industries Association's Additive Manufacturing Working Group. "This is a huge technical problem scope," Gorelik said. "It would be impractical for any single entity to try to address it single handedly. In my mind, collaboration is the key to ensure the safe introduction of this exciting new technology in commercial as well as military aerospace." http://spacenews.com/faa-prepares-guidance-for-wave-of-3d-printed-aerospace-parts/ Back to Top GE's Avio Aero to produce metal AM components for Advanced TurboProp engine Avio Aero, a GE Aviation business which designs, manufactures and maintains propulsion systems for civil and military aviation, will produce additively manufactured components for the General Electric Advanced TurboProp (ATP) engine at its plant in Brindisi, Italy. A number of Additive Manufacturing systems will be installed at the facility from 2018, with the components expected to go into production between end 2018 and beginning 2019. Following Avio Aero's plant in Cameri, Novara, Italy, which specialises in Electron Beam Melting (EBM) Additive Manufacturing, Brindisi is the company's second plant to adopt an AM production process, and will specialise in Direct Metal Laser Melting (DMLM). The ATP engine, developed as part of an all-European project led by the Centre of Excellence for Engine Development, Italy, is the first turboprop engine to include AM parts for business and general aviation use. Thirteen of the engine components ranging from the combustion chamber to various structural elements are to be produced by AM, reducing the total number of engine parts by 30%. According to GE, the engine features an industry-best 16:1 overall pressure ratio, making it possible to achieve as much as 15% lower fuel burn and 10% higher cruise power compared to competitor offerings in the same size class, with better time between overhaul and class-leading performance retention. The Italian Government has stated that it considers Additive Manufacturing one of the most important enabling technologies to address the aims and objectives pursued under the National Industry 4.0 Plan, launched at the end of 2017. As such, the Italian Ministry of Economic Development is reported to have taken action to support Avio Aero's initiative in Brindisi as part of a broader investment project proposed by the company. "Additive Manufacturing is one of the enabling technologies in which Avio Aero is investing," stated Riccardo Procacci, Avio Aero Chairman and CEO. "It's now more than 10 years since we built the first prototypes, and today at Cameri - and soon also at Brindisi - we are using this technology to produce extremely innovative and above all competitive aviation engine components." Avio Aero employs more than 4,200 people at its Italian headquarters and production plants. Founded in 1908, the company also operates a plant and test centre in Poland and has an established network of relationships with leading universities and international research centres. http://www.metal-am.com/ges-avio-aero-produce-metal-components-advanced-turboprop-engine/ Back to Top Aviation MRO companies want 18% GST scrapped NEW DELHI: The aviation maintenance, repair and overhaul or MRO industry has asked the government to create a level playing field by either abolishing 18% goods and services tax (GST) being levied on the sector or imposing customs duty on aircraft being serviced out of the country. The industry has made a representation to the aviation ministry seeking an exemption from GST, arguing that it makes servicing aircraft in India costlier than abroad. Next week, it plans to approach the finance ministry. "Zero rating for service tax/GST to Indian aviation MRO industry; or introduce customs duties equivalent to 25% to the value of the import of aviation MRO services," the industry said in its representation. The 18% GST, industry representatives said, has come as a blow to the sector which had turned competitive after exemption from customs duty on import of spares and abolition of value-added tax by Maharashtra, which houses 80% of the MRO units in India. "The airlines cannot get a refund for GST paid to us because there is no provision for refund available on economy class seats, which form a substantial part of the airline capacity in India," said Bharat Malkani, vice president of MRO Association of India. "Under the service tax regime, airlines used to get refund, thus keeping cost of servicing low. Also, pre-GST, we paid zero VAT on spares in Maharashtra and service tax on labour. Post-GST, it is 18% on combination of spares and labour. However, imports are not taxed at all." Overseas MRO units have gained since the implementation of the GST regime, Malkani said, because there is no customs duty on getting a plane and its spares abroad and bringing it into India. "If customs duty on imports of MRO was 18%, the government would collect $180 million annually. Indian MROs are paying 18% and all of us are in the red, as no one wants to place orders with us," he said. In 2016, airlines spent about $950 million in aircraft maintenance and servicing, but only 10% of this business came to Indian MRO companies. This was because Indian airlines sent their aircraft to countries such as Singapore, Sri Lanka, Nepal, China and Dubai due to the cost disadvantage in India, primarily due to higher taxes. The GST regime, implemented from July, has led to an increase in cost of operations across industries, including aviation. https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/industry/transportation/airlines-/-aviation/aviation-mro- companies-want-18-gst-scrapped/articleshow/61176655.cms Curt Lewis