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Innovations in Aeronautical Engineering Including but not limited to LauncherOne by Virgin Orbital

By Gursev Pannu

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Contents Including but not limited to LauncherOne by Virgin Orbital .................................................................. 1

Abstract ................................................................................................................................................... 3

Introduction ............................................................................................................................................ 3

Nature and Scope of Work ...................................................................................................................... 3

Current Projects and Innovations ........................................................................................................... 3

Technologies Unique to Profession ........................................................................................................ 6

Training for the Profession ..................................................................................................................... 7

Career Prospects ..................................................................................................................................... 8

Ethics and Engineering ............................................................................................................................ 9

Relations with the Community ................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Engineers as Managers ............................................................................ Error! Bookmark not defined.

Acknowledgements ............................................................................................................................... 10

Bibliography .......................................................................................................................................... 11

Glossary ................................................................................................................................................. 11

Appendix ............................................................................................................................................... 12

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Abstract The purpose of this report is to investigate innovations within Aeronautical Engineering. The report

covers the following aspects of Aeronautical engineering;

- Nature and Scope of Work

- Current Projects and Innovations with a focus on LauncherOne

- Technologies Unique to the profession

- Training for profesion

- Career Prospects

- Relations with the community

- Engineers as Managers

Introduction Aeronautical Engineers work to design and create aircraft for specific purposes, to do this they must

continually innovate technology and materials to create functional aircraft for a specific purpose.

Innovations such as materials, propulsion, trust, and deployment are all considered by engineers.

Research had been conducted into different aspects of aeronautical engineering and this report was

compiled. A significant innovation that is explored in this report is the LauncherOne Rocket, a more

affordable option for deploying satellites into space. This has greatly affected the space of satellites

and propulsion because it has allowed satellites to be more affordable to more companies, reduces

waste in the atmosphere and in the ocean, and has decreased the negative effects on the ozone

layer.

Nature and Scope of Work Aeronautical engineers work with aircraft. They are involved primarily in designing aircraft and

propulsion systems and in studying the aerodynamic performance of aircraft and construction

materials. Aeronautical Engineers are also employed to modify and improve original designs.

Aeronautical engineers are required to manipulate and design aircraft so they fit into certain criteria,

i.e. an aeronautical engineer is required to take a set of requirements and develop an aircraft that

can perform according to specific design specifications. For example, if an aeronautical engineer

were to design a Boeing 787 airplane, the specifications and requirements would be much different

from that of an Archangel 12 Fighter Jet.

However aeronautical engineers are not limited to that, and have a much wider scope of jobs,

Aeronautical engineers can work as Racing Car Designer, Flight Mechanics Engineer,

Graduate Engineer Trainee, Assistant aircraft engineer, Aircraft Production engineer, Assistant

Technical Officers, and Air safety officer and as a space scientist in government organizations.

Aeronautical Engineers and aerospace engineers are like 2 branches on the same tree. However,

aerospace engineers are more concerned with space flight and its related requirements. This

relationship can be closely observed with the recent announcements such as the LauncherOne

Rocket from Virgin Airlines

Current Projects and Innovations within Propulsion, Design, and

deployment Typical Projects

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Aeronautical engineers are routinely innovating the design of airfoils. Designers have learned to

optimize the profile curve/trajectory, above and below and along the airfoil surfaces, so the value of

the acceleration of air particles in a lateral direction above and below at the leading edge and back

into the airfoil at the trailing edge will be such to minimize drag and maximize lift. However, too

much acceleration away and into the airfoil section would increase drag. Therefore it is routine for

aeronautical engineers to adapt designs to suit airfoil designs with the design and purpose of

aircraft.

Materials in aircraft make a sizeable contribution to the performance of the aircraft. Aeronautical

engineers routinely work closely with material engineers in an attempt to reduce the weight of the

aircraft. For many years fighter jets have used composites, such as carbon fiber reinforced polymer,

to reduce the weight of aircraft. With reduced empty weight, a fighter can either have a longer

range or carry a greater weapon load.

Aeronautical engineers are always trying to optimize propulsion and explore new and more effective

propulsion methods. Current research towards future and current propulsion methods talk about

the following methods; Jet engines, Reciprocating Engines, Electric Propulsion (i.e. battery and solar

energy), Advent Engine, Reaction Engines Limited, Rocket Propulsion, Aneutronic Fusion, Antigravity,

Antimatter, Ceramic Engines, Continuous Detonation Engines, Electromagnetic Propulsion, Fusion

Propulsion, Ion Propulsion, Microthrusters, Nuclear Propulsion, Open Rotors, Pulse Detonation,

Reactionless Drive, Scramjet, Steam Propulsion, Wave Disk Engines. It is important to understand

that research for a new propulsion system is routine for aeronautical engineers, and all these

possible methods which are listed are NOT routine or even used within the field, most are simply

new ideas and possible innovations within the field.

Significant Projects

On Jan. 1, 1914, the world's first scheduled passenger airline service took off, operating between St.

Petersburg and Tampa, Fla. The St. Petersburg-Tampa Airboat Line (see glossary) was a short-lived

Endeavor of only four months, however, it paved the way for today's daily transcontinental (see

glossary) flights. The first flight's pilot was Tony Jannus, an experienced test pilot and barnstormer

(see glossary). The first paying passenger was Abram C. Pheil, former mayor of St. Petersburg. Their

34-kilometer flight across the bay to Tampa took 23 minutes. They flew in a "flying boat" designed

by Thomas Benoist (see glossary), an aviation entrepreneur from St. Louis.

The Boeing 80 was the first-ever Boeing plane to be flown, and another significant project in the

aeronautical engineering field. Boeing Air Transport was formed on February 17, 1927, by William

Boeing to operate the Contract Air Mail service between San Francisco and Chicago. The airmail

route was taken over by Boeing on July 1st later that year and was originally operated by Boeing 40

Biplanes. The Boeing 80 was an American airliner of the 1920s. A three-engine biplane, the Model 80

was built by the Boeing Airplane Company for Boeing's airline, Boeing Air Transport, successfully

carrying both airmail and passengers on scheduled services. The Model 80 carried out its first

scheduled mail and passenger service for Boeing Air Transport on September 20, 1928, and soon

proved successful. The improved Model 80A entered service in September 1929. In May 1930,

Boeing Air Transport introduced female flight attendants, hiring eight including chief stewardess; all

were unmarried registered nurses. Flights carrying stewardesses began on May 15. The Model 80

and 80A remained in service with Boeing Air Transport until replaced by the Boeing 247 twin-

engined monoplane in 1934. Boeing Air Transport is known today as ‘United Airlines’ and pathed the

way for commercial air travel. In today’s age, the majority of commercial aircraft are Boeing aircraft.

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The Virgin LauncherOne: a Boeing 747-400 bound rocket which can be currently used to carry

satellites and other objects to lower orbit at a much more affordable rate than previously available.

Detailed Explanation on the Virgin LauncherOne (See the glossary for terms)

LauncherOne is a two-stage orbital launch vehicle developed and flown by Virgin Orbit that began

operational flights in 2021, after being in development from 2007 to 2020. It is an air-launched

rocket, designed to carry small satellite payloads of up to 300 kg into Sun-synchronous orbit (see

glossary), following air launch from a carrier aircraft at high altitude. The rocket is carried to the

upper atmosphere on a modified Boeing 747-400, and released over the Pacific Ocean. (See figure

A)

Initially, the development was started by Virgin Galactic, however, it is maintained by Virgin Orbit

now, both are part of Virgin Group. From 2007–2015, Virgin had intended LauncherOne to be a

somewhat smaller vehicle with a 200 kg payload to low-Earth orbit. In 2015, Virgin modified the

vehicle design to better target their intended market and increased the vehicle payload capacity to

300 kg launched to a 500 km Sun-synchronous orbit, suitable for CubeSats (see glossary) and small

payloads.

Virgin Orbit is targeting a launch price of around US$12 million for the rocket. LauncherOne is an

innovation because it has lowered the price of satellite deployment compared to both the Space Ex

falcon 9 and the conventional space shuttle. LauncherOne costs USD 12 million per flight, which is

considerably less than a return trip for the SpaceX Falcon 9 which is USD 57 million per round trip.

The Conventional Space Shuttle costs USD 212 billion to create the space shuttle, followed by $576

million to $1.64 billion per launch. LauncherOne is much cheaper than the other two options, by a

factor of costing 4 nineteenth less than the Falcon 9, and 21 thousand times cheaper than building a

space shuttle and launching it once. The benefits of having a much cheaper system for deploying

satellites is that satellites become more accessible to more companies, and also with the addition of

less cost, LauncherOne could become more favorable to more companies because of the much

shorter turnaround time between the completion of your satellite and the deployment of your

satellite. Currently, there is a wait of 18 to 24 months for ground launches for a satellite, which could

be greatly reduced if a greater adoption of LauncherOne was to take place.

How LauncherOne reaches orbit

- LauncherOne is attached to the Boeing 747-400 with a specialized bracket (See figure B).

- Once LauncherOne has been deployed by the Boeing 747-400 at a height of 1100m

- LauncherOne is deployed.

- Newton Three is engaged

- Newton Four is engaged

- LauncherOne has reached orbit

(See figure C)

In total, from the time Cosmic Girl takes off, it takes anywhere from 30 minutes to 4 hours for

LauncherOne to be deployed. After a smooth deployment, the engines run for a total of 9 minutes

before LauncherOne reaches orbit and deploys its cargo. Cosmic Girl is the first 747 in history that

has been converted to launch rockets. This means it can fly thousands of miles in any direction at 24

hours’ notice to deliver to the right orbit. Currently, people have to wait between 18 and 24 months

for manufacturing and a ground launch.

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The Mounting Mechanism. LauncherOne is securely attached to Cosmic Girl with electromagnets.

Since the first attempt at launch for LauncherOne failed, back in 2020 failed, people lost trust in

LauncherOne. However due to the succession of LauncherOne’s 2021 success people’s trust has

been restored and bigger clients and customers, such as U.S Air Force, OneWeb, and Cloud

Constellation have been secured (See figure E)

Although the positives of LauncherOne have been discussed, the negatives include the lack of

testing. Although the company has many new orders (see figure E) that is on a basis of 1 successful

launch and deployment, and 1 failed launch and deployment, therefore LauncherOne and Virgin

Orbit still have a long way to go to validate their newfound reliability within the Orbital and Satellite

community/sector.

In cooperation with Virgin Galactic, Virgin Orbit has also announced the ability of LauncherOne to

send payloads into heliocentric orbit for flybys of Mars, Venus, or asteroids. (See figure D). The

statement has been paraphrased as follows: In October 2019, the company announced plans to

develop a three-stage variant that would be capable of launching 100 kg to the Moon, 70 kg to

Venus, or 50 kg to Mars.

Technologies Unique to Profession Optimize Engine Designs with Scalable Combustion and Turbulence Models. Shortened design

cycles and sensor placement limitations prevent aerospace engineers from relying on physical

testing. As a result, aerospace engineers use computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and chemistry

solvers to develop the next generation of aircraft engines.

Mosaic Meshing Technology Speeds up CFD Pre-processing. It is tedious to merge CFD meshes.

They have to be right near the boundary layer and coarse in the bulk. The nodes, element types,

and element sizes just will not align. To address this, Ansys has released the new Mosaic meshing

methodology. It can automatically mesh large-scale models in high-lift configurations. This Mosaic

meshing technology automatically combines a variety of boundary layer meshes using high-

quality polyhedral elements.

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Virtual Reality and Optical Simulations for HMI and Sensor Optimization. Sometimes, aerospace

engineers just need to visualize their simulations. Maybe they need to experience how a cockpit’s

human-machine interface (HMI) feels. Or maybe they have to assess how a proximity sensor sees

through a cloud. In 2018, Ansys announced the acquisition of CEI and the visualization capabilities

it brought to our customers — namely EnSite. Now, aerospace engineers can integrate these

visualizations with virtual reality — thanks to Ansys’ recent OPTIS acquisition. The acquisition

brings the VRXPERIENCE and SPEOS to the Ansys platform.

With the aid of these unique technological simulations for aeronautical engineering, aeronautical

engineers can properly simulate, visualize, calibrate, validate, and calculate facts and figures in

terms of their desired aeronautical prototypes and models.

The turbine was developed in the 1930s and then perfected by the British and Germans before the

start of WWII, this goes to show the acceleration of aircraft due to wars. The development of the

turbine has been a technology that has stayed unique to aircraft and the aeronautical engineer.

However, even though turbines have been used for ships and power stations, the turbine has

remained a significantly important feature of aircraft.

Training for the Profession Methods of Training

To become an aeronautical engineer in Australia, you must complete a tertiary degree in

engineering, with a focus on Aeronautical Engineering. To enter most universities, the student will

need to obtain an ATAR, which can be done by completing ATAR subjects in high school.

Recommended ATAR subjects include Mathematics, Physics, Chemistry, and Engineering Studies.

Many universities offer Aeronautical Engineering Bachelor’s Degrees in Australia, universities such as

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The University of Sydney, and the University of New South Wales, and also interstate at RMIT and

the University of Queensland. The Australian Defence Force (ADFA) also offers aeronautical

engineering through the University of New South Wales, also when a student studies with ADFA they

get sponsored for their Tertiary school feels and also paid to study, and a guaranteed job for twice

the amount that their sponsorship was prolonged for. In these bachelors’ courses, aeronautical

engineering studies learn about physics, aerodynamics, and the materials required by modern

aircraft.

Ongoing training

One form of on-going training for aeronautical engineers is the option of completing a master’s

degree in Engineering once completing the bachelor’s degree, and even with the possibility of

completing a Ph.D. to receive a doctorate further down the track.

If an Aeronautical Engineering Prospect takes the ADFA route, other forms of training could include

further defense force training, and further progression up the ranks to high levels of officer and

engineer, with greater experience.

Ongoing training in the field of an Aeronautical Engineer could include a project management

degree, which could lead to a management position within your chosen subfield, establishment, or

place of employment.

Career Prospects In Australia, there are currently 267 available jobs for aeronautical engineers, with job growth

estimated to grow by 30.3% in the next 5 years. Currently, the median income for an experienced

aeronautical engineer is in the range of $120,000 to $140,000 a year, which would only increase with

further experience and higher roles within projects. Aerospace engineering and operations

technicians usually work in manufacturing or industrial plants, laboratories, and offices. Some of

these workers may be exposed to hazards from equipment or toxic materials, but incidents are rare

as long as proper procedures are followed.

A recent survey by Career Explorer shows that millions of people and ask them how satisfied they

are with their careers. As it turns out, aerospace engineers rate their career happiness 3.4 out of 5

stars which puts them in the top 34% of careers.

The is no age limit with aeronautical engineers, with increased age and time in the field comes more

experience within the field. However, newer engineers coming in can sometimes have better

research skills and a better understanding of new and prototype materials and technologies. In

terms of tenure, many engineering firms now in Australia offer tenure, or tenure-tracked positions

to prominent individuals, however sometimes the tenure positions may have lower salaries.

Overtime in engineering firms and companies, there are many available routes for promotion.

Aeronautical engineers can be promoted to project managers and other important members of an

engineering group.

Aeronautical Engineers have a high priority in Australia. A background in aeronautical engineering

can open doors for individuals in the Australia Defence Form (ADF), in servicing and designing

planes. Organizations such as the Royal Flying Doctor Service, also use aeronautical engineers, but

usually on a subcontract basis.

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Ethics and Engineering Professional ethics should always influence the actions of an engineer. In terms of aeronautical

engineering, two main schools of thought should be considered: Intellectual Property and Effects on

the Environments.

Intellectual property is the ideas of designs and who they belong to. To protect new ideas, designs,

and innovations, the engineer or the company can patent them. Patenting involves registering a

design so that it is legally recognized as being owned by somebody. If a design has a registered

pattern, it is unethical for another company or individual to copy the design. However, is not

uncommon for companies to buy the rights for use of a specific design. For example, Adam Osborne

developed the Osborne 1 in 1981, the first-ever clamshell-style laptop to be made, he did patent the

laptop because he thought no one would even look twice at his invention, and spending money on

intellectual property would be a waste. However, in today's age laptops are quintessential.

Environmental Concerns. Aeronautical engineers must consider the environmental effects of their

designs when designing. Poor consideration in terms of fuel types and aerodynamics increase the

harmful effect on the environment and ozone. Conventional Jet engines use kerosene as a fuel

source; however, kerosene is a fossil fuel and has many harmful effects. The most notable is the

depletion of ozone due to fossil fuels releasing carbon dioxide when combusting. Aircraft fly at an

elevation of 10,700m, which allows the carbon dioxide to more readily affect the ozone layer.

Therefore aeronautical must consider newer alternative fuel sources such as hydrogen, to ensure

the continued health of our ozone layer.

Relations with the community: Aeronautical engineers focus a large portion of their work just on satisfying the community, and for

this, the relationship between engineers and society seems to be quite good.

Ever since the aviation sector came into play Aeronautical engineers have strived to simplify and

quicken travel. Before flights were underway a trip from London to Sydney would take 6 weeks by

boat. Now it only takes 22hours, 1/42 of the time taken by boat. To assist the communities urge for

faster travel engineers are constantly innovating designs that make air travel much quicker and

easier. This helps people to achieve faster travel to holiday destinations and businesses meetings as

well as a faster distribution of goods, whether that be importing or exporting, our economies benefit

greatly from the aeronautical engineer's innovations.

Although air travel is no cheap task engineers make it as cheap as possible. To reduce costs for air

travel engineers are responsible for developing ways anyone and everyone can access air travel at a

fair price.

In the past we have seen many planes fail, this scares passengers on planes but in our day and age

the work engineers put purely towards safety is incredible. Everything to an emergency water

landing inflation system, fireproof cushions, oxygen masks and much more are used to insure the

safety of passengers.

Like any form of transport using fuels impact the environment and put it at risk. Aircrafts burning

fuels like Kerosene at high altitudes has a great impact on ozone depletion and in general, pollutes

the air. Because of this, aeronautical engineers have become greater intertwined in the community

to adhere to any concerns they may have, it is in the engineer’s best interest to work towards zero-

emission travel and as of now testings of liquid hydrogen fuel and other methods that emit 0

emissions or pollutants is in place.

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Making air travel comfortable, fun, entertaining is not a necessity, but due to the engineer's relation

with the community and this connection being strong they aim to make air travel as enjoyable as

possible. Not only have engineers cut down noise pollution for the passengers but also the local

people around the plane's direction of travel, specifically near airports. Aircraft nowadays are fitting

on board entertainment systems that allow you to watch movies and play games, comfortable

reclining seats, food and beverages offered to you by the attendants and many other features

making for travel you can look forward to.

Our defence force plays a huge role in the community, and a large sector of the force is the

aeronautical scene. Although a large portion of the aeronautical engineers is working in the air force,

we also see them in the army and navy. Engineers in the defence roles are striving every day to make

for a stronger armament among our country, doing this to keep every community as protected and

safe as possible.

Engineers as managers: In the process of becoming an engineer, it is important to exemplify that the role they are taking in

the field will be highly leadership based. Although engineers won't jump straight to the top of the

hierarchy structure of the project it is often engineers who are pathing the way for each other and

everyone contributes to success in the project.

Engineers who have made it as a manager or chief engineer have a huge responsibility. They may be

sanctioned to oversee the design, development or testing part of the process. A manager/chief

engineer will often always have a team of engineers to work with on the project, it is up to the

manager to coordinate the other engineers.

Aeronautical engineers who are managing a project will oversee the individual tasks of the engineers

working underneath the 'chief' engineer. Tasks like plane assembly would see individual groups of

engineers working collectively and designing on different elements of the plane such as the cockpit,

fuselage, engine, wings including aileron and flaps, and rear elements such as the rudders, elevators

and vertical stabilizer. This includes various specialists of engineers, who focus more on these

individual parts we see in propulsion systems, avionics and advanced structures.

The assembly process will not incur until the engineers have theoretically planned the process and

design. This is usually done simply by working in a room among other engineers and the manager to

achieve a problem or ensure the best way of applying something to the aviation project has been

reached. This may involve innovating a propulsion system, so it emits less noise pollution whilst

maintaining the same thrust.

Due to engineers having to constantly grasp a leadership role it is important to realise and develop

their abilities in management positions in companies. Their authoritarian role in both theoretical and

practical situations makes for a well-rounded individual who can not only solve problems but explain

them just as well.

Acknowledgments Gary – for showing me the ways

Zac – for being my group member and doing the following components

- Relations with the Community

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- Engineers as Managers

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Glossary - Petersburg – Tampa Airboat Line

o Aircraft travel path

- Transcontinental Travel

o Travel via aircraft between continents

- Barnstormer

o a pilot who travels around the country giving exhibits of stunt flying and

parachuting.

- Benoist

o Pronounced “Ben-wah”

- Cube Stats

o Small Cube Shaped Satellites

- Sun Synchronous Orbit

o When a satellite goes from norther pole to south poll and is in sync with the sun

- Ethics

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o The morality or the treatment of moral questions, or honourable actions, in any

situation.

Appendix

Figure A

Figure B

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Figure C

figure d

figure e