Volume 01 | Issue 23 | November 9, 2020
Virgin Galactic 400, D3 Technologies, Future Autonomous Tanker?

Welcome back to the Future of Aerospace, where each week we dive into a few of the trends rapidly defining the next generation of aircraft and aerial markets.

On Nov. 6, the Boeing Company named Jinnah Hosein as its new vice president of software engineering. In this newly created role, Hosein will report to Greg Hyslop, Boeing chief engineer and senior vice president of engineering, test and technology, and will focus on further strengthening Boeing's focus on software engineering across the enterprise.

SpaceX launched the fourth Global Positioning System (GPS) III satellite on Thursday evening. A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Space Launch Complex (SLC)-40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida at 6:24 p.m. ET, carrying GPS III Space Vehicle 04 (SV04) for the U.S. Space Force. This was the third time a Falcon 9 carried a GPS III satellite into space.


THIS WEEK: Virgin Galactic plans to perform the first human space flight from its New Mexico Spaceport next week, the latest milestone in the space travel operator's long-term goal of achieving 400 space flights a year from such facilities, the company's new chief executive officer Michael Colglazier told analysts during their Nov. 5 third-quarter earnings call. (Longshots)

D3 Technologies wants to fill a gap in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) space: air traffic management. Using ground modules, avionics, transceivers, and sensor suites, the D3 Air Vehicle Control System (AVCS) will address route planning and execution while offering multiple layers of redundancy to assure safety. (Electrification and Sustainability)

The U.S. Air Force continues to study what attributes its future KC-Z tanker should have, as the service tries to resolve six Category 1 deficiencies on its Boeing KC-46A Pegasus tankers–design and product quality faults that raise the possibility that the service may not field all planned KC-46As by the scheduled date of 2029 and may have to move toward a “bridge tanker” sooner. (Autonomy & AI)

Thanks for reading.

—The Future of Aerospace Team
Can Virgin Galactic Reach CEO's Future 400 Spaceflights Per Year Goal?
Image: Virgin Galactic

Virgin Galactic plans to perform the first human space flight from its New Mexico Spaceport next week, the latest milestone in the commercial space travel operator's long-term goal of achieving 400 space flights a year from such facilities, the company's new chief executive officer Michael Colglazier told analysts during their Nov. 5 third-quarter earnings call.

The company first announced plans to develop a vehicle in September 2004, but years of setbacks and an October 2014 accident delayed their plans. Despite the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on their research, development, and production activities, the company has been able to keep its goal of spaceflight from New Mexico on track for this fall.

"I am pleased to announce that we have entered our final flight preparation phase and we expect to launch from Spaceport America between November 19th and November 23rd," Colglazier said during the call.

What progress has Virgin Galactic made in 2020 so far?
  • Colglazier took over as CEO in July, amid the first of two consecutive quarters of losses including a $77 million net loss in the third quarter while equipping their SpaceShipTwo spacecraft with an upgraded flight control system, horizontal stabilizers and unveiling the vehicle's cabin interior for the first time.

  • In June, Virgin completed a glide flight and installed the cabin camera system and hardware necessary to provide a live video downlink of their suborbital flights.

  • The following month, they unveiled the design of the VSS Unity cabin during a virtual event, sharing images of what its commercial passenger space flight experience will look like.

  • Their November flight will strap mannequins to the seats to help test the new cabin hardware, according to Mike Moses, president of space missions and safety for Virgin Galactic.

  • Moses: "This upcoming November flight will also include test points to continue evaluation of our upgraded horizontal stabilizers and flight control system. The horizontal stabilizers, also known as H-Stabs, are the flight control surfaces on the outboard of the feather booms.”

  • Their third test spacecraft is projected to roll out by the end of next quarter fully outfitted and used for passenger spaceflights. Virgin Galactic co-founder Richard Branson will participate in the first such flight.

  • Revenue will be a key factor in achieving Virgin Galactic's ambitious commercial space travel future goals. The company has in the past said that tickets will cost more than $250,000. According to Colglazier, the first sales opportunities are offered to the 900 individuals that registered for their space fair program that will be retired at the end of this year.

  • However, getting to the point where actual commercial passengers can participate in the spaceflight experience will require Colglazier's team to not only overcome the technological and physiological obstacles to space travel but also establishing a business model that supports their future concept of operations.
Colglazier: "I believe Virgin Galactic is at the vanguard of the experience economy. As we will be providing our customers with a transformative journey, a journey that starts when they join our future astronaut community. "Now this is a creative and a business model, which I know how to scale and monetize...”

Read more on Virgin Galactic's future space travel plans here.
D3 Technologies Looks to Fill Air Traffic Management Gap in UAM

D3 Technologies wants to fill a gap in the Urban Air Mobility (UAM) space: air traffic management. Using ground modules, avionics, transceivers, and sensor suites, the D3 Air Vehicle Control System (AVCS) will address route planning and execution while offering multiple layers of redundancy to assure safety.

D3 Technologies is a Munich-based provider of a deep technology open digital operating platform that features embedded software capable of enabling central route planning and clearance management by air navigation service providers. Among their co-founders include Dr. Markus Seidel, head of research and predevelopment project circular economy at BMW Group and Christian Lindener, head of Airbus BizLabs.

How will D3’s AVCS enable air traffic management for electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) operations?

Here’s a summary of what Corvin Huber, CEO and CTO of D3 Technologies and his colleagues told Aviation Today during a recent interview:
  • Huber: “We are basically saying, in order to be ready for the human part of urban air transport, a completely new paradigm in air traffic management needs to be developed and basically, that is what D3 is about. I'm developing a rule-based method for handling man carrying urban traffic, suggesting a system architecture that follows the required rules, and making a suggestion for means of compliance.”

  • The D3 AVCS will use machine learning, artificial intelligence, deterministic planning, and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology during early testing.

  • The D3 AVCS will use ground-to-air, air-to-ground, and air-to-air communication. The air-to-air communication will use an Internet of Things (IoT) element allowing vehicles to exchange communication themselves.

  • According to D3, Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast (ADS-B) Out could initially be used to help with the identification of vehicles, however, additional sensors will be required for UAM.
D3 Technologies will begin flight testing next year and will be installing its system in Germany by 2022.

Read more about D3 Technologies' future UAM air traffic management platform.
US Air Force Considering Possible Autonomous, Stealth Attributes for Future Tanker
Image: U.S. Air Force photo/Louis Briscese



Who is Palantir and how will they be expanding as a major aerospace and defense supplier to the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD)?
  • During the Air Force's annual Life Cycle Industry Days conference in Ohio last year, the service's program executive officer for the tanker directorate first discussed how they're approaching initial design considerations for a future aerial refueling tanker.

  • The last order for Boeing’s KC-46 tanker is scheduled for 2027 with Lot 13, and the Air Force will have to decide whether to increase and improve upon the program of record of 179 as a “KC-Y” upgrade or to move straight to procuring new aircraft under a KC-Z moniker in the 2026 timeframe, according to comments made by Brig. Gen. John Newberry during the 2019 conference.

  • At the recent virtual Airlift/Tanker Association conference, Van Ovost said studies that were first confirmed last year for a next-generation tanker are ongoing.

  • Van Ovost: “We’re still undergoing basic studies on the types of attributes this [KC-Z] aircraft would have, whether it’s autonomous, or there’s a pilot in it, whether it needs to be stealth-like or whether it just needs to be really large.”

  • If the Air Force meets its 2029 fielding plan, there will be 179 KC-46s remaining and another 300 KC-135s.
According to Van Ovost, Air Force Secretary Barbara Barrett “has committed to a continuous recapitalization of tanker aircraft, meaning we’re going to have a bridge tanker where we’ll have a full and open competition on an aircraft to continue to recapitalize on the KC-135. They’ll be almost 70 years of age at that time [2029].”

The “bridge tanker” would supplement the KC-46s and the remaining KC-135s, as the service develops the next-generation KC-Z.


Read more about considerations for the U.S. Air Force's future tanker here.
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