Abstract: An acoustical and thermal insulation product suitable for use in an aircraft is provided, comprising an insulation layer formed from a sheet of insulation material, wherein the sheet of insulation material is arranged to form a series of undulations defining a series of alternating upper ridges and lower ridges of the sheet.

Abstract: A method for racing rocket-powered vehicles directly against one another is provided in which a first rocket-powered vehicle simultaneously races against a second rocket-powered vehicle to be the first to complete a race course. The method may include the first and second rocket-powered vehicles performing a pre-determined maneuver while proximate a group of spectators, and/or the rocket-powered vehicles strategically performing the steps of gliding and boosting the flight of their rocket-powered vehicle in accordance with a pre-determined maximum fuel criteria. The method further may include permitting spectator interaction with participants of the racing competition and enabling spectators to compete with actual participants via virtual vehicles. The method may also include the rocket-powered vehicles performing a refueling operation. The method may further include providing audible or visual identifiers of the vehicles.

Abstract: Disclosed is an aircraft, configured to have a wide range of flight speeds, consuming low levels of power for an extended period of time, while supporting a communications platform with an unobstructed downward-looking view. The aircraft includes an extendable slat at the leading edge of the wing, and a reflexed trailing edge. The aircraft comprises a flying wing extending laterally between two ends and a center point. The wing is swept and has a relatively constant chord. The aircraft also includes a power module configured to provide power via a fuel cell. The fuel cell stores liquid hydrogen as fuel, but uses gaseous hydrogen in the fuel cell. A fuel tank heater is used to control the boil-rate of the fuel in the fuel tank. The fuel cell compresses ambient air for an oxidizer, and operates with the fuel and oxidizer at pressures below one atmosphere. The aircraft of the invention includes a support structure including a plurality of supports, where the supports form a tetrahedron that affixes to the wing.

Abstract: An aircraft comprises a wing tip device, for example a winglet, a raked-tip device, a wing tip fence or a planar wing extension, mounted in the region of the tip of a wing on the aircraft. The wing tip device is rotatably moveable between a first position and a second position, in which the upward lift produced by the wing or the wing tip device is reduced. During flight, the bending moment at the root of the aircraft wing therefore changes in dependence on the position of the wing tip device. The maximum bending moment in the aircraft wing sustained during high-load conditions is thereby reduced, allowing the structural mass of the aircraft to be reduced.

Abstract: An apparatus and method for thermal protection is provided. A thermal protection apparatus includes a porous layer attached to an inner structural member requiring thermal protection. The porous layer serves as both a cooling air plenum and a transpiring medium. The porous layer may include a low strength ceramic foam layer. Thermal protection may be achieved by flowing cooling air the length of the porous layer. The voids in the porous layer may be sized to less than 50 ?m, producing uniquely efficient thermal protection due to micro-fluidic effects in the air flowing through the layer. A semi-permeable layer may be attached to the outer surface of the porous layer. The semi-permeable layer may prevent erosion of the porous layer and may transform the porous layer into a plenum by making the majority of the cooling air flow the length of the porous layer before exiting through small holes drilled or punched through the semi-permeable layer.

Abstract: A personal flying apparatus has a substantially horizontal element having a lower surface adapted to acted on by a wind upwardly so as to produce a wind-generated lifting force, and an inflatable element connected with the substantially horizontal element and filled with gas which is lighter than air so as to produce a gas-generated lifting force, so that both the wind-generating lifting force and the gas-generating lifting force jointly lift the flying apparatus to allow it to fly.

Abstract: A device is provided for hoisting a module for mounting into an overhead space, such as the crown of an aircraft fuselage. The device includes a frame that supports the module, and a lifting device that lifts the first frame to properly place the module. The lifting device includes a frame, attachment devices that attach the frame of the lifting device to overhead support frames, and a driving device that moves the frame of the lifting device up the attachment devices. The frame of the lifting device receives the frame that supports the module as the frame of the lifting device is moved by the driving device.

Abstract: An aircraft engine includes a mounting attached to an aircraft structure and transmitting forces between an engine casing and the aircraft structure. The mounting includes a fail safe assembly with a safety clevis with two lugs and a tab arranged between the two lugs. Either the clevis or the tab is fixed to an element of the engine casing and the other tab or clevis is fixed to the structure. A safety hinge pin is perpendicular to the axis of the engine and passes through the tab and the clevis, the two lugs and the tab being parallel to the engine axis.

Abstract: A system for reducing plasma induced communication disruption is disclosed. The system utilizes an electrophilic gas injectant, bent reentry vehicle nose shaping and a number of flaps configured to provide 3-axis steering capability. Injecting electrophilic gas injectant into plasma accomplishes reduction of plasma induced communication disruption by removing free electrons in the plasma which causes the communication disruption. For reentry vehicles, a bent biconic nose also reduces plasma effect during reentry. By combining electrophilic gas injection and bent nose shaping, the system reduces and/or eliminates plasma induced communication disruption, such as, GPS communication blackout, for a reentry vehicle during reentry. Furthermore, the 3-axis steering capability renders the reentry vehicle more maneuverable. Performance of the reentry vehicle during reentry, such as, target accuracy, is thus improved.

Abstract: Aircraft comprising an airframe having a forward end, an aft end opposite the forward end, a top extending between the forward end and the aft end, and a bottom opposite the top side. The aircraft further includes a power plant mounted on the airframe. In addition, the aircraft includes at least two propellers rotatably mounted on the airframe and powered by the power plant for moving the aircraft in a generally forward direction during operation of the propellers. Also, the aircraft includes at least two counter-rotatable fan sets mounted on the airframe and powered by the power plant for providing upward lift to the aircraft during operation of the fan sets.

Abstract: An aircraft includes a fuselage with a circular airfoil body supported thereabove on a vertical drive shaft mechanism. The airfoil body includes an upper disk forming an upper surface of the body and a lower disk forming a lower surface of the body in which the upper and lower disks are supported at a fixed spacing on the vertical drive shaft mechanism for counter-rotation. Vanes are supported in both the upper and lower disks which are movable between a takeoff position in which the vanes are supported in respective openings in the disk for diverting air downwardly through the openings in the disks as the disks are rotated and a cruising position in which a surface of the vanes are continuous with the respective upper and lower surfaces of the bodies.

Abstract: There is provided a ring tail for a ballistic projectile and an associated method that facilitate maneuverability of the ballistic projectile. The ring tail comprises a ring member having a generally cylindrical wall and at least one rod joined to an aft section of the ballistic projectile and the ring member. The rod defines an adjustable length, wherein an actuation device joined to the at least one rod adjusts the length to thereby maneuver the ballistic projectile during flight. The ring tail may include generally radially oriented panels and may also include a second ring member joined to the distal ends of the panels such that the ring members are coaxial. Once the projectile has been launched, the ring member extends aftward to provide aerodynamic stability, which may be measured by a guidance sensor in electronic communication with the actuation device that adjusts the length of the at least one rod.

Abstract: An efficient flying device having flapping wings, an ornithopter, which uses many of the principles seen in bird flight, is presented herein. The wings are highly flexible, translationally stable and oscillate as a natural pendulum. Described as a springboard, the wings have a singular natural frequency, and a pumping means drives the wings at that frequency. Feedback means are described by which to accomplish this, whereby deflection of the wing affects an escapement mechanism which controls the timing and direction of the pumping means. Wing design is described whereby camber, flexure, torsion and directionality of wing components affect efficient propulsion, lift and differential reactivity with air during downstrokes and upstrokes. A crook element in the wing spar at a location proximal to the body of the device redirects vertical oscillation to horizontal.

Abstract: An asymmetrical bulkhead for a pressure vessel, tank or other storage facility is disclosed. The bulkhead is configured so that there is a high region extending past a cylindrical portion of the vessel on one side of the bulkhead, with a contour of the bulkhead transitioning from the high region to a low region within the last cylindrical region. Such a bulkhead configuration allows two cylindrical pressure vessels to be nested together in end-to-end relation so as to occupy a total smaller volume than similarly sized vessels having convex ends, or to construct pressure vessels that contain a larger volume for storage than similarly sized vessels having convex ends.

Abstract: An aircraft which is attachable to, for example, a cellular phone. The aircraft is provided with at least four rotors actuated with compressed fluid or by ring-shaped electric motors.

Abstract: Method of and system for on-board substantially autonomous control for transferring a spacecraft from an initial orbit to a final geosynchronous orbit, by a trajectory that minimizes remaining transfer time and orbit transfer fuel. The spacecraft determines its orbit using a GPS-based system to determine the spacecraft orbital elements. Based on the measured orbit error, corrected co-state parameters are calculated and used to generate an updated thrust trajectory. The corrections are calculated using an innovative numerical procedure, carried out repetitively at a fixed interval until the target geosynchronous orbit is achieved.

Abstract: An aircraft landing gear door assembly includes a plurality of doors moveable between open positions, in which landing gear can be deployed through an aperture, and closed positions, in which the doors are closed across the aperture. The plurality of doors includes first and second doors arranged such that, when the landing gear is deployed, the second door is obstructed from moving between its open and closed positions while the first door is free to move between its open and closed positions. After the landing gear is deployed the first door is closed.

Abstract: Trailing edge devices configured to carry out multiple functions, and associated methods of use and manufacture are disclosed. An external fluid flow body (e.g., an airfoil) configured in accordance with an embodiment of the invention includes a first portion and a second portion, at least a part of the second portion being positioned aft of the first portion, with the second portion being movable relative to the first portion between a neutral position, a plurality of upward positions, and a plurality of downward positions. A guide structure can be coupled between the first and second portions, and an actuator can be operatively coupled between the first and second portions to move the second portion relative to the first portion. In one embodiment, a flexible surface can track the motion of the second portion and can expose a gap at some positions.

Abstract: The present invention discloses a system and a method for reducing plasma induced communication disruption utilizing electrophilic injectant and sharp reentry vehicle nose shaping. Injecting electrophilic gas into plasma accomplishes reduction of plasma induced communication disruption by removing free electrons in the plasma which causes the communication disruption. For reentry vehicles, a multi-section sharp nose also reduces plasma effect during reentry. By combining electrophilic gas injection and a multi-section sharp nose shaping, the present invention reduces and further eliminates plasma induced communication blackout, such as GPS communication blackout, for a reentry vehicle during reentry. As a result, the present invention improves targeting accuracy for a GPS-guided reentry vehicle by reducing plasma induced GPS blackout during the critical reentry phase.

Abstract: Aircraft landing gear comprised of a wheel hub motor/generator disks stack, includes alternating rotor and stator disks mounted with respect to the wheel support and wheel. The wheel hub motor/generator can provide motive force to the wheel when electrical power is applied, which may be applied prior to touch-down thus decreasing the difference in relative velocities of the tire radial velocity with that of the relative velocity of the runway thus greatly reducing the sliding friction wear of said tire. After touchdown the wheel hub motor/generator may be used as a generator thus applying a regenerative braking force and/or a motorized braking action to the wheel. The energy generated upon landing maybe dissipated through a resistor and/or stored for later use in providing a source for motive power to the aircraft wheels for the purpose of taxiing and ground maneuvers of said aircraft.