Aerospace and Defense Review : News

In June, the company surveyed 65 companies in the middle market of the commercial aviation supply chain. Specialized provider of investment banking services to the middle market of the global aerospace and defense industry, Alderman & Company, published the results of a recent proprietary survey highlighting the growing liquidity crisis in the commercial aviation industry. In June, the company surveyed 65 companies in the middle market of the commercial aviation supply chain. These companies included but were not limited to manufacturers, distributors, and service providers such as maintenance and repair. Some of the key findings of the survey were: - Airline passenger traffic is not expected to return to pre-pandemic levels until 2022. - Suppliers are looking to cut expenses ahead of future declines. - Financing for suppliers is not expected to come from banks. "We wanted to get at the heart of both the micro and macro-economic issues industry stakeholders and government officials are facing in light of COVID-19," said Alderman & Company CEO, Bill Alderman. "The pandemic has caused the most significant downturn in the history of commercial aviation and we want to help companies within the supply chain pivot to cope." This latest survey, titled Impending Crisis, is the second in a series of surveys that the company plans to conduct to identify the pandemic's impact on the commercial aviation industry supply chain. Alderman & Company was founded in 2001 and is a specialized investment bank that exclusively provides sell-side M & A advisory services to middle-market companies within the global aerospace and defense industry. The company's clients include family-owned enterprises, microcap public companies, divisions of large corporations, and portfolio companies of private equity firms. Alderman & Co.'s services are built on comprehensive industry knowledge and years of process expertise providing business owners value-maximizing solutions for exiting their businesses. ...Read more

With the help of 3D printing, NASA can manufacture as many parts of an engine as possible as well as save money and time. 3D printing is one of those technologies that's custom-made for NASA and the space program. NASA was one of the earliest adopters of additive manufacturing in the 1980s. In 2014, the International Space Station's first and foremost 3D printer made the first additive-manufactured part in space. Let us look at some 3D printing initiatives taken by NASA: Printing Parts of Spacecrafts Project Archinaut from Made In Space is developing additive manufacturing technology to build large-scale structures in space. By carrying out the building in orbit, creating and assembling components and structures avoid the shape, size, and take-off restrictions needed to be launched from Earth's surface. In 2019, NASA offered Made In Space a $73.7 million contract to demonstrate that a small satellite, namely Archinaut One, can manufacture and assemble components in space. Utilizing Archinaut additive manufacturing technology can help generate fivefold more power than pre-assembled panels' smaller surface area and reduce launch costs. Liquid-Fuel Rocket Engines' Components Manufacturing One of the biggest share of profits on investment NASA gains from additive manufacturing is liquid-fuel rocket engine components that are being utilized to launch rockets to space. Before the advent of additive manufacturing, it took a hefty amount of money and hundreds of parts that required thorough investigations to build an engine traditionally. Thus, with the help of 3D printing, NASA can manufacture as many parts of an engine as possible as well as save money and time. A Martian or Lunar Home Printing Companion NASA is working on using what-will-be-local resources since its proposed mission to the Moon. NASA is trying to print habitats with simulated versions of regolith which is a close replica of what has been found on the Moon and Mars. NASA summoned external groups to demonstrate this possibility with their multi-phase 3D-Printed Habitat Challenge. See Also:  Top 3D Printing Solution Companies ...Read more

According to the SDA, the constellation is envisioned as two planes of satellites in near-polar orbits about 1,000 kilometers above Earth, and an inclination range between 80 to 100 degrees The Space Development Agency has decided to select two or more companies later this year to design, build, and test a new mesh network of up to 20 satellites in Low Earth Orbit (LEO) by 2022. The project will be the Pentagon-based space agency's first step towards building a much larger constellation by 2024 to provide global connectivity to the U.S. military. SDA Director Derek Tournear stated that the final solicitation for bids for the mesh network that SDA calls “transport layer” will be issued around May 1, 2020. The SDA Director was speaking at an online industry day. The event was scheduled to take place initially at the Colorado Springs during the 36th Space Symposium. However, the symposium had to be postponed to a later date due to the outbreak of the coronavirus . SDA hosted the meeting online and drew an audience of over 500 people. The contracts for the design and production of up to 20 satellites will be awarded as early as August to two or more vendors.   [vendor_logo_first] “The number of providers will be decided upon as a result of the merit and maturity of the responses that are received,” said SDA’s draft solicitation. Vendors will be evaluated in part for their ability to procure or produce satellite buses that meet the military’s needs at prices comparable to what is available in the commercial sector. Under the contract, any design or technology proposed by the vendor and accepted by the SDA will become the intellectual property of the government. According to the SDA, the constellation is envisioned as two planes of satellites in near-polar orbits about 1,000 kilometers above Earth, and an inclination range between 80 to 100 degrees. The plan is to have all satellites operate at the same altitude and inclination regardless of what vendors make them. The satellites will be connected in space using optical links. Also, some of the satellites will have optical links to satellites that are not in the transport layer and to ground terminals. The SDA refused to disclose how much money it intended to award in contracts for the 20 satellite constellation. According to Tournear, the agency has USD 25 million in its 2020 budget for the project and has requested USD 100 million in its 2021 budget, which Congress has not approved yet. See also: Top Aerospace Tech Solution Companies ...Read more