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August 2005 |
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Contents Air transport and the environment: the continuing
debate © Cranfield University 2005
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Air transport and the environment: the continuing debate The continuing debate about the need to reduce the future impact of aviation on the environment has produced a wealth of information which is being used to back-up the various arguments and positions adopted by different stakeholder groups. Over the past twelve months the AERADE team have been monitoring some of the most important information resources that have appeared and have been adding these to the AERADE database. A selection of recent additions include: 
Sustainable aviation
The Web site provides access to the full strategy paper, plus a summary document. 
Decarbonising
the UK: Energy for a climate conscious future 
Fly now, grieve later
Airport
capacity: Facing the crunch in Europe
Celebrating an historic year Trafalgar 200 
Throughout 2005, a series of events have been held, primarily in the UK, to celebrate the 200th anniversary of the Battle of Trafalgar. The Battle was the most significant engagement of the Napoleonic Wars and the pivotal naval battle of the 19th century. A Royal Navy fleet, led by Admiral Nelson, destroyed a joint Franco-Spanish fleet west of Cape Trafalgar in south west Spain. The AERADE team could not let such a prestigious event in British history pass without marking it ourselves. In our usual tradition, we seek to lead you to more sources of information on Admiral Lord Nelson and the battle, and where better to start than two excellent sites produced by the BBC - BBC History and Trafalgar 200. The BBC History site contains not only excellent background essays by leading historians on the man and the battle, but also on his contemporaries and the period. A number of interactive tools are provided for understanding the strategy and the weapons of the time as well.
You might also wish to visit the National Maritime Museum Web site. An exhibition has just ended, but you can search its catalogue of the 700 physical items which still survive, allowing you to view the items which range from furniture to uniforms, each with an informative history and description. For more serious researchers, a Nelson research guide is available, which provides an excellent starting point. For anyone with a desire to stand on the deck of the famous ship, take a look at the official HMS Victory Web site where viewers can look at plans of the ship and read detailed descriptions not only of the ship, but also her ordnance, crew and daily routine, as well as the fateful battle. Unfortunately we can't provide an exhaustive guide but two final recommended 'ports of call' for further research are the Caird Library, where you can search the catalogue and find out how to make personal visits and enquiries, and the Nelson exhibition at the National Archives. The National Archives keep logs, journals, diaries and letters written by Nelson and the exhibition provides a guide to the main episodes in his life and the battle, with an excellent bibliography. The site also includes some scanned images of key letters and documents. The Mary Rose dive 
On 11th October 2005, a 10 metre long stem timber and a 5 metre wrought iron anchor from the Tudor warship, the Mary Rose, were raised from the Solent. The Mary Rose, reputedly Henry VIII's favourite warship, sank in 1545 on her way to engage the French fleet which had already landed on the Isle of Wight. The ship itself was raised in 1982, and is available for public viewing at the Portsmouth Historic Dockyard, but as no drawings or plans exist, every new piece brought to the surface adds to our knowledge of what the vessel would have looked like. The stem, in particular, will show the structure and shape of the bow. More information on the dive is available from the Mary Rose Web site. The R101 disaster - 75 years on 
5th October 1930 saw one of the most famous disasters in British airship history - the crash of the R101 at Allonne, near Beauvais, in northern France. The ship was flying from Cardington in Bedfordshire (where it was designed and built) to Paris, as part of its proving voyage to India, but crashed as a result of a hydrogen leakage and burst into flames. Only six of the 54 passengers survived. You can find out more about the crash on the relevant pages produced by the Airship Heritage Trust, the Roll of Honour, and Bedfordshire Libraries Virtual Library. AERADE's hidden treasures One of the aims of the AERADE team is to ensure that the best of the many databases that are available on the Web are described for you on AERADE. These databases contain a wealth of useful information and are part of what is known as the 'invisible web'. In other words, their content is not accessible by the search engines, so any searches that you run on Google, for example, will not pick up any useful resources contained within them. Databases are still quite difficult to locate, even on AERADE. To find a full listing of AERADE's hidden treasures, follow these steps: Select 'aerospace and defence resources' from the 'AERADE services' heading at the top left hand corner of the home page. Choose to browse the resources alphabetically, select 'D', then 'Databases and alerting services'. You will then be presented with a listing of all the databases on AERADE. If you run your search on a database it is likely that you will find more results than if you run it on AERADE alone. For example, a search on 'airport noise' on AERADE finds 49 resources, a very respectable number. Looking at the results you will notice that several of the resources found are NASA contractor reports. Re-running the search on the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) finds 233 results, many of the most recent available in full text. There are many different types of database within AERADE, from the more traditional bibliographic databases to those which offer highly specialised information such as acceleration impact test data. Here are some examples of the different kinds of database you will find on AERADE:
Developing teamwork skills at Cranfield University As part of the MSc in Astronautics and Space Engineering run at Cranfield University, students undertake a group design project where they work together on, for example, a current space agency mission concept, with each student responsible for a specific sub-system. This gives students the opportunity to work in a virtual industrial environment and develop skills required to work within a team. Many projects involve collaboration with industry. In the year 2004/05, one of the group design projects focussed on the MUSTANG 0: a low-cost technology demonstration nanosatellite. Abstract: Mustang is a partnership of several groups interested in technology for small spacecraft; Mustang 0 is intended to be a simple spacecraft suitable for technology demonstration (especially highly miniaturised systems based on MEMS or microsystem technology (MST)). A parallel student project took place in the School of Industrial and Manufacturing Science at Cranfield University to investigate MST available from non-space sectors and the qualification process for space hardware. Design studies have been performed for all the spacecraft sub-systems and build on previous work by Mustang partners. The spacecraft designed has a mass of just less than 10 kg, a lifetime of 1 year, is 3-axis controlled, and could be launched to either GTO or LEO. A personal view: "The Mustang 0 Nanosatellite Group Design Project for 2004 aimed at designing a demonstrative test-bed for testing microsytems technology for current and future missions. The project was more like a jigsaw puzzle, where each member of the group was given a piece of the jigsaw and our job was not only to fit them together to solve the puzzle but to fit them together in such a manner as to make the satellite a live entity, with an identity and the ability to perform successfully. My task was to create the communication system which would act as an interface between the satellite and the ground operators, thus enabling the information exchange between the two. The project work was exciting particularly in two aspects. Firstly, it enabled us to explore the unknown universal rhythms responsible for our existence and to consider the form of future missions to probe deep into the unknown areas of universe. Secondly, there was the thrill of working with the other members of the group as we had varied backgrounds and experiences, and a spectrum of social, cultural, linguistic and ethical approaches to overcome in order to develop the project successfully. I am thankful to all my colleagues for the excellent team spirit, which not only enriched the experience for me but also gave me such friends whose memory I will cherish for the rest of my life." Focus on BATTLESPACE Publications
BATTLESPACE Publications cover the whole spectrum of the battlespace, from sensor to shooter. It aims to provide its readers with the latest developments in the complex and ever-changing world of C4ISTAR and the Global Battlespace. Its coverage is international and unique in its breadth of topics in the international C4ISTAR arena from airborne sensors and UAVs, fast jets and military transports, rotorcraft, airborne communications, radar and avionics, through specialist naval systems and communications to land-based communications, EW, infantry equipment and armoured vehicles, trucks and unmanned robots. A number of publications are available, as follows: BATTLESPACE provides a layered news service to its readers. BATTLESPACE News was launched in 1998 to address the demands of industry, governments and the armed forces in the provision of information about new electronic defence systems, and is now published on the Web. BATTLESPACE C4ISTAR TECHNOLOGIES magazine was launched in late 1998 to provide our readers with in-depth technical detail of electronic systems in use or under development throughout the world. It is published six times a year. Email and Web services BATTLESPACE ALERT is an instant news service providing news as it happens by email. BATTLESPACE UPDATE is a weekly e-mail news service giving a synopsis of the week's International News provided by our team of international correspondents. BATTLESPACE MILITARY VEHICLES UPDATE is a regular email news service giving a synopsis of the Military Vehicle News. BATTLESPACE EXHIBITION NEWS is a free service continually updated throughout the year. Registration can be made via the Web site. The BATTLESPACE Web site was launched in 2001 and provides its readers with added value to its various publications and email services. For further information, please contact the
Editor: Recent AERADE news features You may have noticed the news feature at the bottom of the AERADE home page. We aim keep it continually updated with links to major news stories and to significant reports that have recently been published in the fields of aerospace and defence. In case you missed them, we are repeating some of the main news we have featured in the past quarter. Unmanned Aircraft
Systems Roadmap 2005 - 2030 Venus
Express Decarbonising
the UK: Energy for a climate conscious future: Tyndall Technical Report
33 Civil
Aviation Bill Applicability of
Portable Explosive Detection Devices in Transit Environments UK
Regulatory Requirements to Foreign Registered Aircraft Conference announcement: 6th Annual Defence Logistics Transformation Conference
When: 7th-10th February 2006
Leading military procurement and logistics decision makers are once again set to gather in London for the largest defence logistics conference in Europe - Defence Logistics Transformation 2006. Between 7th-10th February, industry and military logistics and procurement experts will gather in London to discuss the ever-changing military environment and the need to become more effective and efficient in the way that operational forces are supported. The conference is set to attract over 280 delegates who will benefit from 40+ military speakers from Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Norway, Romania, Sweden, Switzerland, the UK and the USA over four consecutive days. The theme of the conference is to provide the military with the tools and techniques to move from a "provider" of logistics services to a "decider" of logistics services, to move up the transformation staircase building partnerships and establishing longer-term contracts with industry, to fully integrate systems and processes with MoD stakeholders and industry partners, and achieve all this in light of restructuring with limited personnel and budget whilst maintaining output. Highlights of the conference include:
Leading Speakers include:
"I am delighted to have been invited back to contribute to Defence Logistics Transformation 2006 and will be giving my views on the successes achieved by the Defence Logistics Transformation Programme to date, and what the road map will be for the future." (Air Vice Marshal Nigel Bairsto, Defence Logistics Transformation Programme Leader, DLO MoD UK) Conference Web site Full agenda Register For more information please contact:
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