What Are the Different Types of Aerospace Jobs?

The aerospace major is a major that deals with aerospace. The training objective of the aerospace major is to cultivate students with good mathematics and basic mechanical knowledge, basic theory of aircraft engineering, and the overall structure design and strength analysis and test capabilities of the aircraft. , Structural strength analysis and testing, and senior engineering and technical personnel and researchers engaged in general machinery design and manufacturing.

Aerospace Major

In a narrow sense, aerospace majors include

The above list are all undergraduate majors, with a wide range of directions, and the graduate majors are relatively detailed and highly targeted. Overall, aerospace is a highly engineered industry, with many cutting-edge technologies concentrated. Because of this, the design and manufacture of aircraft requires huge financial and human investment, and it takes a long time to accumulate to form a scale. This nature determines that this is an industry that is very sensitive to national plans and national policies, and requires direct national support. As far as the current situation in China is concerned, aerospace is suitable for the planned economy, because it often violates the laws of the market economy in the manufacture of aircraft. A more popular saying in the industry is "aerospace parts, regardless of cost."

The aerospace industry is an extremely large, complex, and comprehensive systems project. Therefore, in a broad sense,

The aerospace majors can be said to be "big names",

According to the surging news report on September 16, on August 26, 2016, the United States "Aerospace Weekly and Space Technology" selected nine major aerospace technology areas that the next U.S. President must pay attention to, pointing out that the United States' technology It must be ahead of its competitors and ensure that aviation flights remain economically affordable and profitable, and that industry can continue to win exports and create jobs. So what are these nine aerospace technology fields?

The first is hypersonics. Stealth has put the United States ahead of its counterparts, and speed will keep the United States ahead. The United States has spent billions of dollars on hypersonics, but China and Russia have caught up. Therefore, the United States will start the development of combat-type aspirated hypersonic missiles, and develop a technology for reusable hypersonic (Mach number 5+) ISR and strike aircraft with a robust follow-up plan.

The second is autonomy. Autonomy is related to the improvement of human capabilities in all fields. From airspace management to air domination, aviation will become safer, more economically affordable, and support new missions and market demands.

As can be seen from the figure below, the United States Air Force plans to implement machine-assisted combat operations in 2020, compressing the kill chain time, enabling defensive system administrators to autonomously identify threats and provide action recommendations. The intelligence analysis system fuses intelligence data and prompts human analysts Threat. After 2030, platform operations will be optimized to ensure that they can perform their tasks continuously in an "anti-access / area denial" environment.

The third is Connectivity. Whether it is in the business or war domain, any vision of a seamless operation of human and unmanned systems requires a network that can securely, confidentially and efficiently share spectrum with other massive users. But spectrum is a limited and precious resource, and American competitors can compete and use it. Therefore, the United States believes that technologies such as laser communications or terahertz are needed, as well as technologies that can dynamically share the air spectrum.

The U.S. military is implementing a number of research projects related to connectivity, with a focus on networking and high-speed communications in an adversarial environment. Take the US Department of Defense's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) 's "100G" project as an example, which aims to use high-order modulation and spatial multiplexing of millimeter-wave signals to achieve a transmission rate of 100 gigabits per second.

The fourth is Propulsion. Continued investment in turbine engine technology has kept the United States ahead of its competitors, new fuel-efficient commercial turbofan engines are being put into use, and military universal adaptive cycle engines are under development. However, civil engines also require higher efficiency. Military power units also need better economic affordability and greater capabilities. The engine powers the aircraft, but its technological development takes decades, so keep investing.

The United States has implemented two national advancement technology programs. The first is the "Integrated High-Performance Turbine Engine Technology" (IHPTET) program launched in 1987. The goal is to double the weight-to-weight ratio, and its results support the F119 fighters of the F-22 and F135 engines of the F-35 fighters. The second is the "General Economic Affordable Advanced Turbine Engine" (VAATE) program launched in 2005, which plans to increase the economic affordability of the engine by 10 times, increase the thrust-to-weight ratio of large turbofan / turbojet engines by 100%, and fuel. Consumption is reduced by 25%, and engine development, procurement, and life-cycle maintenance costs are reduced by 60%, and is planned for completion in 2019.

The upper picture is a brief description of the VAATE program by the US Air Force Research Laboratory. The lower picture shows that the laboratory is preparing to use a F110 turbofan engine to forcibly extract megawatts on the high-altitude platform of the NASA Propulsion System Laboratory. Test of watt-level power

Now, the US Department of Defense is developing a third national-level propulsion technology plan, the "Advanced Turbine Engine Technology Supporting Economic Affordability and Mission Capability" (ATTAM) plan, which is developed by the US Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) The lead, which has been going on for a year, will include, for the first time, a fully integrated power and thermal management system, which will start as early as 2017.

Five is Efficiency. In order to reduce fuel consumption or emissions, the requirements for improving efficiency in the air transport field will not be reduced, and for engines, there will be "no best, only better". NASA will continue to invest in working with industry to develop the X aircraft that will keep the US ahead.

Lockheed Martin developed a "Hybrid Wing" (HWB) strategic transport aircraft in AFRL's "High Energy Efficiency Revolutionary Layout" (RCEE) project. According to the company's design, in addition to the layout with high aerodynamic efficiency, the aircraft is also planned to be equipped with an ultra-high ducted turbofan engine, which can carry ultra-large cargo that the Air Force can only use the C-5 strategic transport aircraft. And the fuel consumption rate can be reduced by up to 70% compared to the C-17 strategic tactical transport aircraft.

Imagination map of Loma's "Hybrid Wing" (HWB) layout strategic transport aircraft (above) and the aircraft's aerial refueling configuration and the use of under-wing pods to achieve two-point telescopic casing (hard) refueling (below)

In February 2016, the 4% scale-down model of the layout was tested in the National Transonic Wind Tunnel at the NASA Langley Research Center. According to the plan, in the fall of 2016, the company will complete the research and analysis of the piloted HWB demonstration verification machine. The RCEE project will end in 2017, but NASA has considered the HWB layout verification machine and Boeing's "Wing Body Fusion" (BWB) layout verification machine as a competition solution for its next X aircraft

Six is Materials.

At the China Aviation Innovation and Entrepreneurship Conference held on August 28, Zhao Qunli, a special-level expert in science and technology information at the AVIC Economics and Technology Research Institute, chief engineer of the System Engineering Research Institute, and the research institute, talked about several disruptive technologies in the aviation field. These technologies can Bringing leaps and bounds to the aviation industry.

The concept of "disruptive technology" was first proposed in the Harvard Business Review in 1995 and refers to a mutation technology that can establish new technologies and new markets. The 13th Five-Year Plan for science and technology innovation issued by the State Council in 2016 also mentioned the need to construct first-mover advantages and attach importance to the role of disruptive technologies. Zhao Qunli said that disruptive technology has high risks and long R & D cycles, but it is the decisive force for upgrading aviation equipment.

I. Hypersonic Technology

Hypersonic means that the speed of an object exceeds 5 times the speed of sound. The supersonic ram engine used in hypersonic aircraft is considered to be the "third power revolution" after propeller and jet propulsion. The United States, Russia, France, Japan, India and other countries are continuously conducting experiments.

In 2013, the U.S. military's latest experimental hypersonic aircraft X-51A flew more than 3 minutes at 5 times the speed of sound; in 2014, the US Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) launched the "Hypersonic Suction Two projects, the Air Weapon Concept (HAWC) and the Tactical Boost Gliding System (TBG), will be tested in 2018 or 2019.

Hypersonic technology will be mainly used for transportation, attack, ISR, entering space, etc. It is estimated that in 2020, the U.S. military can master the technology of hypersonic missiles; in 2030, it will master the technology of hypersonic aircraft with limited use and number of uses; in 2040, it will master the technology of supersonic aircraft that can be used for many times and for a long time.

Second, drone technology

This drone is by no means just those remote sensing small drones currently available online. This technology has great application prospects in the military and commercial fields.

In June 2016, the "Alpha" (ALPHA) intelligent over-the-horizon air combat system developed by the University of Cincinnati passed the expert assessment and defeated the retired US Air Force Colonel Jean Lee in the air combat simulator environment.

Third, the variant aircraft technology

A variant aircraft, a deformed aircraft, refers to an aircraft that can change shape during flight and effectively implement distributed continuous deformation of the shape to adapt to a wide changing flight environment and complete various missions.

In May 2015, the United States Flexible Systems Corporation (FlexSys) 's distributed flexible deformable wing technology made significant progress. The deflection angle (fixed setting) of the deformed flaps using this technology on the Gulfstream III aircraft reached the expected 30 And successfully verified flight performance.

Fourth, high-speed helicopter technology

High-speed helicopter refers to the helicopter that retains the flight characteristics of the helicopter and has a cruising speed of 400 to 500 kilometers per hour, and has excellent transport efficiency and maneuverability. The current cruise speed of helicopters is generally 200 to 300 kilometers per hour. The United States has been exploring high-speed helicopters since the 1950s and 1960s, and Europe and Russia are also actively promoting them.

In the latest progress, three solutions worthy of attention are Sikorsky, Bell Helicopters and Aurora.

The first picture above shows Sikorsky / Boeing's SB-1 solution. The maximum take-off weight of the helicopter is about 13.6 tons, and it can carry 4 crew members and 12 heavily armed soldiers in a high-temperature, high-altitude environment. The maximum flight speed can reach 250 knots (463 km / h). Final assembly is expected to begin later in 2016 and complete its first flight in the second half of 2017.

The second major plan is Bell Helicopter's V-280 plan (above), which uses a tilting rotor design with a design speed of 280 knots and a range of 800 nautical miles. It can seat 4 crew members and 14 armed personnel with a payload of 12,000 pounds , Plans to make its first flight in 2017.

Aurora s Lightning Strike scheme (above), the designed continuous flight speed reaches 556-741 km / h, the hovering efficiency is not less than 75%; the cruise state lift-drag ratio is not less than 10, and the useful load (fuel and Payload) is not less than 40% of the total weight, and the payload is not less than 12.5% of the total weight.

5. Pseudolite technology

Pseudolite technology can make the position calculation more accurate. It is responsible for receiving GPS signals in real time and measuring the pseudorange error, and providing the error data to the local user. The user then corrects the pseudorange measured by himself, and makes the calculated Higher position accuracy.

The current plan includes the British "Westerly" solar drone with a cruise altitude of 70,000 feet (21,336 meters), a battery life of up to March, and a payload of 5 kg. It is said that the British Ministry of Defence has ordered two and plans to make its first flight in 2016.

In the concept plan of the "Vulture" solar drone in the United States, the drone can carry a load of 1,000 pounds and 5 kilowatts, and can work continuously in the air for up to 5 years, but the project has been terminated due to technical difficulties.

Sixth, space-based launch spacecraft technology

In the 1990s, Orbital Science modified the three-engine wide-body jet L-1011 developed by Lockheed (now Lockheed Martin) to launch the Pegasus rocket with its low-Earth orbit carrying capability 443kg, successfully launched dozens of times.

In 2002, DARPA launched the "Air Launch Assisted Space Entry (ALASA)" project, which aims to launch a 100-pound satellite into low-Earth satellite orbit within 24 hours, and the cost of each launch does not exceed $ 1 million.

Seven, distributed electric propulsion technology

Distributed hybrid electric propulsion system refers to a new type of propulsion system that provides power to multiple motors / fans distributed in the wings and fuselage through a conventional gas turbine engine, and the motor drives the fans to provide most or all of the thrust.

The biggest advantage of this technology is that it can greatly reduce the fuel consumption and various emissions of the propulsion system, and reduce noise, which has application value for commercial or military aircraft. European and American governments regard distributed hybrid electric propulsion systems as potential technologies and put them into use after 2030.

NASA's X-57 distributed electric propulsion technology verification machine will fly for the first time in 2017. Airbus has begun researching a wing-body fusion aircraft solution based on a distributed hybrid electric propulsion system.

Eight, airborne laser weapon technology

In the 1990s, the U.S. Air Force launched the ABL and ATL airborne laser weapon research programs based on oxygen-iodine lasers, which are used in the defense of theater ballistic missile booster stages and other tactical target defenses, and have anti-satellite capabilities. In 2010, the Air Force stopped the program because the tests did not meet the expected goals and many difficulties in use and maintenance. Nevertheless, the United States has made important advances in target search and tracking, laser atmospheric transmission compensation, jitter control, and high-energy laser beam management.

Nine, computing materials technology

Materials are vital to the updating and improvement of aviation equipment. The main purpose of computational material technology is to predict or design the structure and performance of materials through theoretical models and calculations, thereby greatly improving the efficiency of research and development of new materials, and to design special materials and metamaterials that meet engineering needs according to specific requirements.

Its key technologies are material modeling technology, material simulation technology, and material database. In 2011, the Obama administration formally decided to conduct a material genome project, with the goal of cutting the development cycle of new materials in half.

Questek has used computational materials technology to develop new materials. In 2014, the company developed a variety of high-performance structural steels and used them in aircraft. ^[5]