January 24, 2022 - No. 06 In This Issue : One year after the 737 Max’s return, Boeing is still trying to get back on course : Honeywell Aerospace prepares ASU engineering students for Industry 4.0 : West Virginia University researcher says future trillion dollar ‘space economy’ threatened by debris : All-Narrowbody Giant: The Southwest Airlines Fleet In 2022 : Bigelow Aerospace transfers BEAM space station module to NASA One year after the 737 Max’s return, Boeing is still trying to get back on course • One year after regulators began clearing Boeing’s embattled 737 Max to return to service, the company says more than 30 airlines around the world have been flying the planes virtually without incident for more than 800,000 hours. • The plane had been grounded for 20 months — the longest such action in aviation history — following two deadly crashes blamed in part on an automated flight-control system. • Boeing has overhauled the plane’s design and software, and paid billions of dollars to try and move past the incidents. But some experts say it remains to be seen if the company truly learned its lesson. One year since Boeing’s embattled 737 Max returned to service — following the largest grounding in aviation history — there appears to be a broad consensus in the industry that the plane is as safe as any flying today. “The question I get asked most frequently is, ‘Would you get on a Max?’ And the answer to that is yes, without question, and I would put my family on one,” aviation safety consultant and NBC News analyst John Cox, said in an interview with CNBC’s “American Greed.” Much less clear, however, is whether, in its next generation of aircraft, Boeing can avoid the cascade of errors, shortcuts and management failures that led to 346 deaths in two 737 Max crashes in 2018 and 2019 — blamed in part on the plane’s flight-control system. “I had hoped that this would be a major reckoning,” U.S. House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee Chairman Peter DeFazio, D-Oregon, said in an interview. “They would bring in someone new and they would say, ‘No, we’re going to go back to being what we were — the best aerospace engineering company in the world, and we’re not going to watch the daily stock price.’ But that didn’t happen.” After all, many of the forces within Boeing that investigators have linked to the crashes — including fierce competition with rival Airbus, as well as pressures to cut costs and speed up production — have only gotten more intense as the company tries to regain lost ground. The crisis has cost Boeing some $20 billion, not to mention a significant share of the crucial, single-aisle market now dominated by the Airbus A320. Even after the return of the Max, Boeing’s commercial airliner deliveries lagged Airbus in 2021. Last year, Boeing agreed to pay $2.5 billion in fines in a deferred prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department to settle charges the company hid critical information about the Max from regulators and the public. But DeFazio called the penalty a “slap on the wrist,” and has decried what he calls an ongoing “culture of concealment” at the plane-maker. In a statement to “American Greed,” the Chicago-based company said the crashes of Lion Air Flight 610 and Ethiopian Airlines Flight 302 led to fundamental reforms. “Since the accidents, Boeing has made significant changes as a company, and to the design of the 737 Max, to ensure that accidents like those never happen again,” the statement said. Out of control Regulators around the world banned the plane in 2019 following revelations that an automated flight-control system known as the Maneuvering Characteristics Augmentation System, or MCAS, could malfunction, sending the plane into a dive, which it apparently did in both fatal crashes. Boeing had developed MCAS as a quick fix for stresses resulting from the Max’s engine design, which could cause the plane to fly at too high of an angle and stall. MCAS was supposed to push the nose of the plane down to compensate. But in a series of disastrous blunders, company allowed the system to be triggered by a single sensor. And federal prosecutors alleged Boeing engineers withheld information about MCAS from regulators, so most pilots did not even know about the system — let alone how to deal with the potential malfunction — until after the first crash. After a 20-month review that included design and software changes as well as enhanced training, the FAA agreed in late 2020 to allow the plane to fly again. Airlines around the world began returning them to service last year, though they remain grounded in some countries, most notably China. In its statement, Boeing noted that “185 out of 195 countries” have returned the jet to service since December 2020, with virtually no reported incidents. “More than 30 airlines globally have safely operated the 737 MAX for 325,000 revenue flights and more than 800,000 hours, with schedule reliability above 99%,” the statement said. Cox, who has almost 50 years of experience as a pilot and aviation safety expert, said the changes are vast improvements. “It is less likely that an inadvertent or mistaken MCAS activation will occur, and should it occur, the pilots have better training and more tools to handle it,” he said. Work in progress As for whether Boeing can avoid similar disasters in the future, few observers are willing to give the company the benefit of the doubt it once enjoyed. “The jury is very much out,” said veteran industry analyst Richard Aboulafia, who, like many who follow the company, traces the problems with the 737 Max to a loss of focus at Boeing on engineering, traditionally the company’s biggest strength. Aboulafia noted that unlike most leaders in the company’s 105-year history, current CEO James Calhoun is not an engineer. But Aboulafia gave the company some credit for adding some engineers to its board and management ranks in the past year. “That’s good,” he said of those moves, “but nothing like the wholesale change that perhaps should have been made.” Aboulafia said he will be looking at the company’s next earnings report, to be released Wednesday morning, to see if the plane-maker is putting its money where its mouth is in the form of increased spending on research and development. Boeing said its R&D expense for commercial airplanes fell by 29% in 2020. “What did they do in 2021? And what are they expecting for that budget in 2022? Or is the answer to all of this, ‘Yeah, we’re gonna be firing more engineers?’ ” he said. “I would rather it didn’t have a negative number in two digits. I mean, at this point it’s just preserving a capability rather than hope.” Cox agreed that Boeing is still in transition from a company that overemphasized financial considerations back to its engineering roots. “Are they capable of it? Yes. Are they taking the steps? Yes. Are those steps large enough and fast enough? I don’t think we have enough information to know that,” he said. Airlines and regulators, which also came under fire in the 737 Max debacle, also are making changes, Cox said. There is renewed emphasis on maintenance and pilot training. And the concept of certifying a derivative aircraft design — the 737 Max is based on a plane first flown in 1967 — is likely a thing of the past. “It was a watershed event,” he said. “The economic shake-up in the industry was unparalleled. The operational impact was unparalleled. The impact of society’s demands on the industry was unparalleled. No one in aviation will ever forget the saga of the 737 Max. It fundamentally changed the way that we operate, we build and we train throughout the industry.” https://www.cnbc.com/2022/01/24/the-737-max-may-be-back-but-boeing-is-still-trying-to-get-back-on-course.html Honeywell Aerospace prepares ASU engineering students for Industry 4.0 The local industry partner boosts Polytechnic School’s hybrid curriculum and experiential learning, supporting student success and economic growth January 18, 2022 Engineering students at The Polytechnic School, one of the seven Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University, participate in a culture of experiential learning at the Polytechnic campus — one that isn’t confined to the pages of a textbook or instruction in the classroom. These opportunities are actively encouraged by industry leaders committed to supporting the next generation of engineers. One of The Polytechnic School’s most active industry partners is Honeywell Aerospace, a global leader in the aviation industry with a strong commitment to operational efficiency, safety and innovation. Since 2014, Honeywell has backed student capstone projects, facilities, research and curriculum at The Polytechnic School, enriching the education of thousands of students.Doug Bingham, senior director of manufacturing technology for Honeywell and guest lecturer, discusses additive manufacturing concepts with a class of engineering students at the Polytechnic campus.Doug Bingham, senior director of manufacturing technology for Honeywell and guest lecturer, discusses additive manufacturing concepts with a class of engineering students at the Polytechnic campus. The lecture was coordinated by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers Club. In tandem with the lecture, students toured a Honeywell facility where they saw how engines are assembled via 3D printing technology. Photo courtesy of Tim BeattyDownload Full Image The relationship has grown through the years. What began as capstone sponsorships that benefitted a handful of students has evolved into a synergistic relationship that will impact the future of manufacturing in Arizona and advance Industry 4.0. “When a global leader in technology and manufacturing is committed to our students’ academic journeys the way Honeywell Aerospace is, the impact is great,” said Tim Beatty, Fulton Schools business development director . A capstone program committed to preparing students for industry The industry capstone experience is a hallmark of the engineering program at The Polytechnic School. Beatty has led recruitment for school’s eProject capstone program since 2018. Along with the engineering faculty, he has recruited more than 200 industry and government agency sponsors. Beatty and the engineering faculty believe that the cross-collaboration of students, faculty and industry mentors is key to finding solutions and creates opportunities for innovative approaches to real-world engineering problem-solving. Honeywell Aerospace sponsors eight to 12 capstone projects annually, giving students the opportunity to generate tangible engineering and manufacturing solutions for the company. Honeywell Aerospace offers immersive experiences for students to develop their projects, allowing them to learn and work in Honeywell facilities using the company’s equipment while receiving mentorship from Honeywell’s professionals. This also serves as a cost-effective and efficient talent recruitment tool for new graduate hires. Beatty says it gives the industry sponsors of capstone projects the ultimate nine-month interview of prospective future employees. “The merging of capstone projects with industry is extremely beneficial for our students,” said Darryl Morrell, associate professor of engineering at The Polytechnic School. “In addition to bringing material covered in the curriculum to life, it stretches students to become strategic learners who, with the support of involved mentors from the industry partners, go way beyond the boundaries of the engineering curriculum.” Currently, in a capstone project titled “Modeling the Factory of the Future,” four fourth-year students are developing a digital twin, or a computerized duplicate, of an existing Honeywell T55 helicopter engine assembly line at the company’s Phoenix Repair and Overhaul facility. Their goal is to identify key areas of needed improvement to the engine line assembly ergonomics and overall cycle time. The group is using Honeywell resources and Siemens software to create the digital twin using Industry 4.0 practices. Jason Floor, a Honeywell engineer and adjunct engineering professor in The Polytechnic School, oversees a variety of Honeywell Aerospace manufacturing engineering capstone projects each semester. Floor says that the improvements and ideas generated by this capstone team will be reviewed, tested and implemented into Honeywell operations. It will also serve as a pilot study for digital twin applications throughout Honeywell’s manufacturing sites worldwide. “After the project ends, the digital twin will continue to be a valuable resource for Honeywell engineers to analyze changes and test improvements to the line digitally, before making any changes in the physical world,” Floor said. Floor believes that early exposure to industry experiences gives students a competitive edge when they enter the field. He also graduated from ASU with a degree in manufacturing engineering from The Polytechnic School and serves as a liaison for capstone projects at Honeywell, giving him firsthand experience with the curriculum and how it’s setting students up for success. “We’ve noticed that The Polytechnic School engineering grads have a well-rounded skill set. They have outstanding problem-solving and communications skills and aren’t afraid to roll up their sleeves and get to work,” Floor said. “This is what sets ASU Polytechnic engineers apart from their competition.” Jonathan Hobgood, the vice president of advanced manufacturing and automation for Honeywell, manages capstone project mentors and sees high potential from ASU engineering graduates. “We hire about 70% to 80% of the students who work with us for either a capstone or internship,” Hobgood said. The future of the capstone program includes plans to involve engineering students of all levels to take part in industry projects. “Shaping students for the future of manufacturing shouldn’t start during the senior year,” Beatty said. “The more students who learn manufacturing skills in this hybrid curriculum, the better our industry will fare in the long run.” The Innovation Hub’s role in a growing manufacturing sector Students working on the “Modeling the Factory of the Future” capstone project brainstorm, tinker, conceptualize, design and build at the Innovation Hub located on the Polytechnic campus, where hands-on learning is part of the academic culture. With a rapidly growing manufacturing sector, the hub is poised to provide students with this skill set. The hub houses $2 million in plastic, polymer and metal 3D-printing equipment in a 15,000-square-foot space — the largest additive manufacturing research facility in the Southwest. The hub launched in 2017 with the support of Honeywell and various other industry collaborators. Honeywell’s support enabled the acquisition of two laser-based metal 3D printers. More than 200 students have taken courses that leverage these metal printers, which have also supported more than $1 million in externally funded projects from agencies such as the U.S. Department of Defense and NASA, as well as local industry, including Honeywell. Associate Professor Dhruv Bhate teaches several of these courses and supervises projects that benefit from the capabilities of metal 3D printing. “The availability of commercial metal 3D printers at ASU has given our students and faculty the opportunity to learn from and contribute to this critical manufacturing technology,” Bhate said. Preparing for the manufacturing boom Many organizations throughout Phoenix have a large role in addressing the talent demand that stems from the AZNext program and will extend to efforts related to the New Economy Initiative. ASU and Honeywell are addressing a common goal of equipping the next generation of manufacturing students. The Fulton Schools’ recent launch of the School of Manufacturing Systems and Networks on the Polytechnic campus is designed to offer a curriculum that supports next-generation engineering challenges. The school’s students are at the precipice of an evolving industry, one that is more automated and efficient. Floor shares this outlook and believes the curriculum dovetails with everything the industry is anticipating in terms of software automation, digitization and automation of production processes. “The parallels could not be more aligned,” he said. Doug Bingham is the senior director of advanced manufacturing technology at Honeywell Aerospace and manages strategic partnerships. He has witnessed the growth of ASU and Honeywell’s relationship through the years and sees these various and valuable collaborations as part of one overall purpose: an investment in the company’s talent pipeline. “When students join Honeywell, we want to give them the tools they need to make an immediate impact, and this is where I see us, together with ASU, unlocking value,” Bingham said. “I have a personal intrinsic belief that there’s something greater here than just recruitment and hiring. If a curriculum supports all of the disciplines needed for the projected manufacturing landscape, very powerful opportunities can be created.” https://news.asu.edu/20220118-honeywell-aerospace-prepares-asu-engineering-students-industry-40 West Virginia University researcher says future trillion dollar ‘space economy’ threatened by debris • Piyush Mehta has earned the prestigious CAREER award for his research in upper atmosphere variability MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — The space economy is on track to be valued at a trillion dollars by the end of 2030, according to Piyush Mehta, assistant professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at West Virginia University. Yet space assets — equipment placed in space such as navigation, weather and communication satellites — are threatened by space debris. According to NASA, it is estimated that millions of pieces of space debris orbit around Earth. A major portion of these debris objects as well as active satellites reside in the low Earth orbit region, at altitudes between 124 miles and 621 miles. “In low Earth orbit, our ability to safeguard these space assets depends on modeling of the aerodynamic forces acting on the satellites, specifically satellite drag,” Mehta said in a release. “The drag force acting on a satellite is affected by various physical parameters, however, the most crucial and uncertain are the drag coefficient and mass density.” Mehta explained that because of the interconnectedness of the two parameters, one of them is held constant, typically the drag coefficient, while the other is investigated. However, Mehta said this causes inconsistencies or inaccuracies in our understanding of the mass density variability in the upper atmosphere or thermosphere. Recently, Mehta earned the Faculty Early Career Development, or CAREER, Award from the National Science Foundation to alleviate this inconsistency and develop a state-of-the-art model of thermosphere mass density, which will strengthen researchers understanding, modeling and forecasting of the upper atmosphere variability. “We will achieve this by not assuming the drag coefficient to be a constant but gaining statistical insights into the physical process that drives changes in drag coefficient, specifically the gas-surface interactions that describe the way energy and momentum are exchanged between the atmosphere and the satellite,” Mehta said in a release. “The CAREER Award will alleviate this inconsistency through an innovative methodology that combines artificial intelligence and statistical estimation techniques. This is a very niche domain with only a handful of research groups around the world tackling the problem.” Mehta leads a collaborative effort amongst some of these groups on satellite drag coefficient modeling under the International Space Weather Action Teams initiative. Through this award, Mehta will receive $640,655 in funding over five years to advance this research project, while also developing plans to strengthen the space science curriculum at WVU. The Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources plans to develop a new graduate course, space weather and space systems, that will be offered yearly in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. Along with the new course, the College plans to expand outreach efforts through hands-on activities for K-12 schools across the state. “Outreach efforts will establish learning modules and a hands-on build–a-satellite activity in collaboration with the West Virginia Science Public Outreach Team,” Mehta said in a release. “Educational and outreach activities will serve to excite and train the next-generation workforce in space sciences and artificial intelligence.” The NSF’s CAREER program supports junior faculty who exemplify the role of teacher-scholars through outstanding research, excellent education and the integration of education and research within the context of their mission organizations. “Dr. Mehta’s cross-cutting research lies at the intersection of atmospheric sciences, space systems engineering and machine learning,” Jason Gross, associate professor and interim chair of mechanical and aerospace engineering, and associate chair for research at the Statler College, said in a release. “With the continued rapid increase of manmade satellites in low Earth orbit, his work toward improved orbital decay prediction becomes more important for the future of space environment sustainability with each passing day. His lab is at the forefront of this important field, and we are proud that he is on our faculty.” https://www.wvnews.com/morgantownnews/news/west-virginia-university-researcher-says-future-trillion-dollar-space-economy-threatened-by-debris/article_708a5dac-7d3a-11ec-afdb-a36a5e950096.html All-Narrowbody Giant: The Southwest Airlines Fleet In 2022 Last year marked half a century since Southwest Airlines commenced operations. In the five decades that have followed, the Dallas-based low-cost carrier has amassed a huge but uniform fleet consisting of more than 700 aircraft from the same family. Dominated by the 737-700 According to data from ch-aviation.com, Southwest Airlines’ present fleet consists of an incredible 736 aircraft. Ths comfortably makes it the world’s largest all-narrowbody airline, as Simple Flying explored last year. Of these aircraft, 460 are examples of the Boeing 737-700, making up 62.5% of the fleet. Historically, it has flown another 54 737-700s. Southwest’s 737-700s are by far its oldest aircraft, clocking in at an average age of 17.4 years. Data from ch-aviation lists 422 of the 460 examples as currently being active. Meanwhile, the remaining 38 of these twinjets are either in storage or undergoing maintenance. According to data from SeatGuru, Southwest fits its 737-700s with an all-economy seating configuration that can accommodate 143 passengers. As Simple Flying explored last week, these seats are unassigned for passengers, with those first onboard getting the first pick. The 737-800 at Southwest Southwest Airlines also has a higher capacity variant from the 737NG (‘Next Generation’) series at its disposal, namely the popular 737-800. There are presently 207 examples of this design in the carrier’s fleet, of which just four are inactive. Their average age is significantly lower than their smaller 737-700 counterparts, clocking in at just 6.5 years old. SeatGuru reports that Southwest Airlines’ 737-800s have 175 seats onboard. Interestingly, this is noticeably lower than other low-cost users of the type. For instance, the examples flown by Ryanair, another large-scale 737-800 operator, feature 189 seats. Southwest’s less dense configuration and free checked bags have seen it win favor over its competitors. The MAX’s growing role in a huge fleet While the Boeing 737NG series represents the bulk of Southwest’s present fleet, the new 737 MAX line is also beginning to have an increasing presence at the carrier. Indeed, at the time of writing, there are already 69 examples of the 175-seat 737 MAX 8 in its fleet, all of which are active. These next-generation narrowbodies are three years old on average. Going forward, the 737 MAX will find itself playing a more even role with the 737 NG series at Southwest, as the latter aircraft begin to age and eventually retire. The airline has a further 138 examples of the 737 MAX 8 on order, as well as 234 MAX 7s, per ch-aviation. Historically speaking, Southwest has operated a further 397 aircraft. These primarily come from the Boeing 737 family, namely its -200, -300, -500, and -700 variants. However, 88 examples of the 717-200 have also flown for the Dallas-based low-cost carrier. All in all, its historic, current, and future aircraft constitute an enormous all-time fleet of over 1,500 jets. https://simpleflying.com/southwest-airlines-fleet-2022/ Bigelow Aerospace transfers BEAM space station module to NASA WASHINGTON — NASA has hired a new company to provide engineering support for an inflatable module on the International Space Station originally built and managed by Bigelow Aerospace. In a Jan. 18 procurement filing, NASA announced it awarded a $250,000 contract to ATA Engineering of San Diego, California, to provide engineering support services for the Bigelow Expandable Activity Module (BEAM), an inflatable module added to the station in 2016. The module was built by Bigelow Aerospace, which had provided support for the module until December. NASA announced Dec. 10 its intent to award a sole-source contract with ATA Engineering to handle those engineering services. That company, the agency said, was the only one qualified to provide that support given its role as a subcontractor to Bigelow in the development of BEAM and later support of operations of the module, including engineering analyses that confirmed the module’s life could be extended to as late as 2032. In that earlier notice, NASA said that Bigelow “transferred title and ownership of the BEAM to NASA Johnson Space Center” in December as its engineering contract expired. NASA spokesperson Leah Cheshier said at the time that the transfer of ownership was one of the terms of the sustaining engineering contract NASA awarded Bigelow in 2017, and involved no exchange of funding or other considerations between NASA and Bigelow. Bigelow Aerospace, founded more than 20 years ago, was a pioneer in the development of inflatable module technology and planned to use it for a series of space stations. In addition to BEAM, the company launched two prototype inflatable modules, Genesis 1 and 2, in 2006 and 2007, respectively. It had been working on a much larger module called B330 because it had a volume of 330 cubic meters when fully expanded. Bigelow, though, declined to bid on a NASA competition to install a commercial module on the ISS, saying the funding offered by the agency was insufficient to close its business case. NASA selected Axiom Space in January 2020 to develop a commercial module to be installed on the station as soon as 2024. In March 2020, Bigelow Aerospace laid off its entire workforce, citing restrictions imposed by the Nevada state government in the early weeks of the pandemic that closed nonessential businesses. The company has not made any public comments about its future since then. It notably was not among the “interested parties” that participated in meetings last year for NASA’s Commercial Low Earth Orbit Destinations program to support development of commercial space stations, and was not a part of any of the three teams that received NASA awards in December. Inflatable “entertainment” module proposed for ISS BEAM, though, may not be the only inflatable module on the ISS in the future. A British company, Space Entertainment Enterprise (SEE), announced Jan. 20 it is working with Axiom Space to add an inflatable module to Axiom’s commercial segment of the station. The SEE-1 module is envisioned as a spherical module six meters across when fully expanded, attached to a docking port on the initial Axiom commercial module added to the station. SEE said that module would be operational in December 2024, which would be around the time the Axiom module itself is added to the station. SEE envisions using the module as entertainment facility for music, film and sports events. “With worldwide leader Axiom Space building this cutting-edge, revolutionary facility, SEE-1 will provide not only the first, but also the supreme quality space structure enabling the expansion of the two trillion-dollar global entertainment industry into low Earth orbit,” said Dmitry and Elena Lesnevsky, co-founders of SEE, in a statement. “Adding a dedicated entertainment venue to Axiom Station’s commercial capabilities in the form of SEE-1 will expand the station’s utility as a platform for a global user base and highlight the range of opportunities the new space economy offers,” Michael Suffredini, president and chief executive of Axiom Space, said in the statement. Axiom will build the module for SEE. SEE provided few details about their plans or their ability to fund development of the module. The company claimed in its statement to have several former media executives as consultants and advisers, but did not name them. It also said it is working with GH Partners, an investment bank based in New York, on a fundraising round, but did not disclose how much money it was raising or how much development of SEE-1 would cost. According to business filings, SEE was incorporated in Britain in August 2020 as “Space Fighting League” and changed its name last year to Space Entertainment Enterprise. The company has not disclosed any financial information and has Dmitry and Elena Lesnevsky as its sole directors. The SEE release also claimed that Dmitry and Elena Lesnevsky “are producing the first ever Hollywood motion picture filmed in outer space,” linking to a page on the Internet Movie Database (IMDb) website named “Untitled Tom Cruise/SpaceX Project.” That page lists the Lesnevskys as producers along with actor Tom Cruise and SpaceX Chief Executive Elon Musk, among others. It’s unclear why and how the Lesnevskys are involved in the project. Dmitry Lesnevsky’s own IMDb profile states that the last film he produced was Turnaround, an eight-minute film released in 2016 that cost an estimated £20,000 ($27,000). Elena Lesnevsky is not credited with producing any films released to date. Cruise, one of the world’s most famous actors, has long been associated with a feature film on the International Space Station, and in 2020 then-NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine confirmed that the agency was in discussions with Cruise about filming a movie on the station. There’s been little public progress since then on any effort to do so. It’s unlikely, even if producers secure funding and other approvals, that the movie could be filmed before 2023. The first NASA-backed private astronaut mission to the ISS, Axiom Space’s Ax-1, is now scheduled to launch March 31 after a one-month delay that the agency and company said Jan. 18 is to “account for additional spacecraft preparations and space station traffic.” None of the four people on that mission have announced any plans for filmmaking. Axiom Space has not yet disclosed the full crew for its second private astronaut mission, Ax-2. Phil McAlister, director of the commercial space division at NASA Headquarters, told an advisory committee Jan. 19 that Ax-2 is now expected to fly no sooner than early 2023. https://spacenews.com/bigelow-aerospace-transfers-beam-space-station-module-to-nasa/ Curt Lewis