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SEAC, CMSAF, CMSSF discuss leading in a time of change at 2021 Virtual Aerospace Warfare Symposium
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By Space Force
U.S. Space Force senior leaders discussed the Personnel Management Act during a panel at the Air and Space Force’s Air, Space and Cyber Conference at National Harbor, Maryland, Sept. 18.
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By Space Force
Chief Master Sgt. of the Space Force John Bentivegna announces his three key initiatives and the new enlisted roadmap during the Air and Space Forces Association’s Air, Space & Cyber Conference.
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By European Space Agency
Swatch has again teamed up with ESA to give space fans a new opportunity to design a custom watch featuring breathtaking images of Earth from space.
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By NASA
3 min read
Preparations for Next Moonwalk Simulations Underway (and Underwater)
This artist concept shows a NASA-developed small-core jet engine installed in General Electric Aerospace’s CFM RISE jet engine design. The more fuel-efficient small core powers a large open turbofan, which also helps increase efficiency. The effort is part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership to help inform the next generation of ultra-efficient airliners.GE Aerospace Hybrid-electric cars have been a staple of the road for many years now.
Soon that same idea of a part-electric-, part-gas-powered engine may find its way into the skies propelling a future jet airliner.
NASA is working in tandem with industry partner GE Aerospace on designing and building just such an engine, one that burns much less fuel by including new components to help electrically power the engine.
In this hybrid jet engine, a fuel-burning core powers the engine and is assisted by electric motors. The motors produce electric power, which is fed back into the engine itself—therefore reducing how much fuel is needed to power the engine in the first place.
It really opens the door for more sustainable aviation even beyond the 2030s.
Anthony nerone
NASA Project Manager
High Tech Hybrid-Electric
The work is happening as part of NASA’s Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core (HyTEC) project. This work intends to demonstrate this engine concept by the end of 2028 to enable its use on airliners as soon as the 2030s.
It represents a major step forward in jet engine technology.
This jet engine would be the first ever mild hybrid-electric jet engine. A “mild hybrid” engine can be powered partially by electrical machines operating both as motors and generators.
“This will be the first mild hybrid-electric engine and could lead to the first production engine for narrow-body airliners that’s hybrid electric,” said Anthony Nerone, who leads the HyTEC project from NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland. “It really opens the door for more sustainable aviation even beyond the 2030s.”
The hybrid-electric technology envisioned by NASA and GE Aerospace also could be powered by a new small jet engine core.
A major HyTEC project goal is to design and demonstrate a jet engine that has a smaller core but produces about the same amount of thrust as engines being flown today on single-aisle aircraft.
At the same time, the smaller core technology aims to reduce fuel burn and emissions by an estimated 5 to 10%.
Michael Presby, a research materials engineer at NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, adjusts an infrared thermal imaging camera used to monitor the temperature profile of a NASA-developed, high-temperature environmental barrier coating deposited on a ceramic matrix composite in support of the agency’s HyTEC project. The composite’s environmental barrier coating surface temperature is 3,000 degrees Fahrenheit.NASA / Bridget Caswell How Does It Work?
A GE Aerospace Passport engine is being modified with hybrid electric components for testing.
“Today’s jet engines are not really hybrid electric,” Nerone said. “They have generators powering things like lights, radios, TV screens, and that kind of stuff. But not anything that can power the engines.”
The challenge is figuring out the best times to use the electric motors.
“Later this year, we are doing some testing with GE Aerospace to research which phases of flight we can get the most fuel savings,” Nerone said.
Embedded electric motor-generators will optimize engine performance by creating a system that can work with or without energy storage like batteries. This could help accelerate the introduction of hybrid-electric technologies for commercial aviation prior to energy storage solutions being fully matured.
“Together with NASA, GE Aerospace is doing critical research and development that could help make hybrid-electric commercial flight possible,” said Arjan Hegeman, general manager of future of flight technologies at GE Aerospace.
The technologies related to HyTEC are among those GE Aerospace is working to mature and advance under CFM International’s Revolutionary Innovation for Sustainable Engines (RISE) program. CFM is a joint venture between GE Aerospace and Safran Aircraft Engines. CFM RISE, which debuted in 2021, encompasses a suite of technologies including advanced engine architectures and hybrid electric systems aimed at being compatible with 100% Sustainable Aviation Fuel.
HyTEC, part of NASA’s Advanced Air Vehicles Program, is a key area of NASA’s Sustainable Flight National Partnership, which is collaborating with government, industry, and academic partners to address the U.S. goal of net-zero greenhouse gas emissions in aviation by the year 2050.
About the Author
John Gould
Aeronautics Research Mission DirectorateJohn Gould is a member of NASA Aeronautics' Strategic Communications team at NASA Headquarters in Washington, DC. He is dedicated to public service and NASA’s leading role in scientific exploration. Prior to working for NASA Aeronautics, he was a spaceflight historian and writer, having a lifelong passion for space and aviation.
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Last Updated Sep 16, 2024 EditorJim BankeContactBrian Newbacherbrian.t.newbacher@nasa.gov Related Terms
Aeronautics Advanced Air Vehicles Program Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Glenn Research Center Green Aviation Tech Hybrid Thermally Efficient Core View the full article
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By NASA
The Moon is pictured on Dec. 7, 2022, the day before its Full Moon phase from the International Space Station as it orbited above the southern Indian Ocean.Credit: NASA NASA will coordinate with U.S. government stakeholders, partners, and international standards organizations to establish a Coordinated Lunar Time (LTC) following a policy directive from the White House in April. The agency’s Space Communication and Navigation (SCaN) program is leading efforts on creating a coordinated time, which will enable a future lunar ecosystem that could be scalable to other locations in our solar system.
The lunar time will be determined by a weighted average of atomic clocks at the Moon, similar to how scientists calculate Earth’s globally recognized Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Exactly where at the Moon is still to be determined, since current analysis indicates that atomic clocks placed at the Moon’s surface will appear to ‘tick’ faster by microseconds per day. A microsecond is one millionth of a second. NASA and its partners are currently researching which mathematical models will be best for establishing a lunar time.
To put these numbers into perspective, a hummingbird’s wings flap about 50 times per second. Each flap is about .02 seconds, or 20,000 microseconds. So, while 56 microseconds may seem miniscule, when discussing distances in space, tiny bits of time add up.
“For something traveling at the speed of light, 56 microseconds is enough time to travel the distance of approximately 168 football fields,” said Cheryl Gramling, lead on lunar position, navigation, timing, and standards at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “If someone is orbiting the Moon, an observer on Earth who isn’t compensating for the effects of relativity over a day would think that the orbiting astronaut is approximately 168 football fields away from where the astronaut really is.”
As the agency’s Artemis campaign prepares to establish a sustained presence on and around the Moon, NASA’s SCaN team will establish a time standard at the Moon to ensure the critical time difference does not affect the safety of future explorers. The approach to time systems will also be scalable for Mars and other celestial bodies throughout our solar system, enabling long-duration exploration.
As the commercial space industry grows and more nations are active at the Moon, there is a greater need for time standardization. A shared definition of time is an important part of safe, resilient, and sustainable operations,” said Dr. Ben Ashman, navigation lead for lunar relay development, part of NASA’s SCaN program.
NASA’s SCaN program serves as the office for the agency’s space communications operations and navigation. More than 100 NASA and non-NASA missions rely on SCaN’s two networks, the Near Space Network and the Deep Space Network, to support astronauts aboard the International Space Station and future Artemis missions, monitor Earth’s weather and the effects of climate change, support lunar exploration, and uncover the solar system and beyond.
Learn more about NASA’s plan to return to the Moon at:
https://www.nasa.gov/humans-in-space/artemis
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