What is the Future of Aviation?

So I've picked up a new side job because that's just how I roll--Social Media Pathfinder for Powering Imagination, an organization dedicated to advancing and advocating for improving aviation technology. How, exactly, does one do that, and how can I help? I'm still working that out. For now, I'm going to take a little time with this blog to share what I'm reading.

How, Exactly, Do You Make Airplanes Better?
Human beings have been flying in heavier-than-air crafts ever since 1903. The basic forces at work in flying a plane are lift, drag, thrust, and gravity. Since very little can be done about gravity, inventors have worked on increasing lift, reducing drag, and increasing thrust. As aircraft have increased in their performance and utility, they have become more specialized, and each type of plane has its own performance needs...and that performance can always be improved.

Commercial Aviation
Powering Imagination's primary effort is to improve aircraft performance is commercial aviation--those big, winged aluminum tubes we see filling our airports. While I'd love to tell you that P.I. is looking for ways to improve in-flight comfort, they're more interested in how to make the planes' performance better in the following ways:

• Quiet Flight: making aircraft engines quieter--in the air and on the ground. The last big advance on commercial airliners was the high-bypass turbofan. But the Environmental Protection Agency keeps raising the bar for noise pollution standards. Powering Imagination is looking to demonstrate a quieter electric aircraft over the Grand Canyon.
  
  In addition to the standard subsonic aircraft we see every day, there are folks who would like to make supersonic aircraft quieter--so quiet, in fact, that those Earth-rattling sonic booms practically disappear. And then, of course, there's Elon Musk, who wants to reinvent aviation as he's been reinventing rockets and automobiles. Musk believes it's feasible to build an electric supersonic aircraft that performs both vertical takeoff and landing.
• Improved Fuel Efficiency and Emissions: One of Powering Imagination's founders is Erik Lindbergh, grandson of Charles A. and Anne Morrow Lindbergh. Among their early feats, to demonstrate the commercial viability of aviation, the Lindberghs flew a "Great Circle" route from the Pacific Northwest north over Siberia, then south over Japan to China. Their grandson is looking to refly that trip 85 years later, this time to demonstrate the effectiveness and efficiency of sustainable fuel technologies.
  
  While a lot of work is being done on cutting-edge, non-kerosene-fueled aircraft, the conventional power plant builders--Pratt & Whitney and General Electric--have their own programs to wring as much power for as little fuel as possible within the current state of the art.

There are challenges to any new technology. Electric aircraft capable of flying 200-300 passengers across the Atlantic are unlikely anytime soon. Right now solar-powered planes capable of long-distance travel, like Switzerland's Solar Impulse, have massive wingspans and carry only one person.

A friend who's more tech-savvy than I am called electric aircraft "a joke," adding, "There are certain unmanned surveillance aircraft where that feature would come in handy, but today those aircraft can only be launched and recovered in very calm weather. Despite huge wingspans, their payload capability is quite low."

So there is skepticism, to be sure. Biofuels are not the only answer, either, and they'll need a lot of federal support to prime the pump, so to speak, before they become commercially viable. Whether that can or should be done is a debate reasonable people can make. But still: we never used to need an excuse to advance the state of the art. Why not keep trying?

Potpourri LXXXIV

What's next? How about a bill to investigate behavioral modifcation to change the way your kids consume energy?

Ridley Scott is going to direct a prequel to his visceral (literally) movie Alien. Can someone explain what consumer need this meets?

Here's a summary of recommendations made to the Augustine Panel by Robert Lightfoot, Acting Director of Marshall Space Flight Center:

First, we need to extend the ISS. We continue to use this magnificent platform to learn how to live and work in space. Whether it is studying the effects of long-term exposure on the human body or whether it is simply learning how to do maintenance of critical systems that have issues, we are building a ton of “scar tissue” which will help us make those next steps in longer duration and longer distance space travel.
Second, we need to get out of low earth orbit. I believe the Constellation architecture is one of the possibilities to do this, and we’re making progress every day but – however you frame it – we need a heavy lift capability. However, no matter what recommendations you provide, I would hope you set an expectation that there will be bumps along the way and that should not distract us from our goal.
Third, as has been stated in just about every one of these Commissions and reports, I would hope you would state again that any policy has to come with the resources.
Fourth, I believe there is more room for collaboration with the international partners, commercial operators, and other government agencies. I think if we can get past the tyranny of “or” – “commercial or NASA” – and recognize the power of “and” – "commercial and NASA” – we will go a long way toward taking advantage of the space economy.
Finally, I would hope each of you would think about what got you interested in human spaceflight and for a brief moment move away from the architectures, the scenarios and budget and ask yourselves “Why human spaceflight?” I believe a section in your report dedicated to “Why human spaceflight?” and presented to the President from such a highly respected group would be a powerful message indeed. A lot of us “grounded” explorers lived the experience of human spaceflight through those that got to travel like Dr. Chiao and Dr. Ride, and while we cannot share the same feelings, we can share the sense of accomplishment of turning the impossible into the possible. It will inspire the next generation, as you heard from our students. It provides us a place of leadership as a country – something we have given away in so many areas – and it will provide technical and economic benefits that we can’t even begin to predict.

Speaking of the Augustine Panel (yet again), the Space Frontier Foundation put out a press release hailing the Panel's belief that "the underlying reason why we do human spaceflight is the extension of human civilization beyond Earth." Great! That's more or less the vision and mission statements of the National Space Society. One wonders what shape our human spaceflight program will take to achieve that end.

NASA and the CAFE standards people announced an efficiency contest today to spur development of fuel-efficient aircraft. This program might actually work.

From Frank at MarsDrive, a pretty good blog on some of the ugly facts facing the government-run space program. Ugly fact #1: THE PUBLIC AREN’T INTERESTED IN SENDING PEOPLE TO MARS.

And that'll do for now. Happy Friday.