It is important to use work breakdown structure in developing a project plan in many industries as it predicts risks and states the future potential. According to Ramadhan et al. (2019), WBS builds a scope of the particular project. Work breakdown structure can consist of the lowest level of components and include work packages which are schedules and stay under serious control. The concept is crucial in the production of aero products like aircraft as hierarchical breakdown helps to follow all safety regulations. The main aspects of WBS that allow for building a structured plan are deliverables (Ramadhan et al., 2019). One of the key deliverables of the aerospace industry is risk control, and budgeting, as the production of many elements requires support from the government. The quality of products is defined by quality assistance and the integration of safety elements, as these aspects can build trust from people who use aviation services and those who want to work in the industry.
Some projects have an insignificant number of tasks that should be done in a small period of time, but the aircraft industry has a wide range of tasks that can be completed in two months. For example, Flouris & Lock (2008) created a chart for the aircraft creation project where they showed that about 44 days would be required to achieve the goal. However, some problems can appear, and the completion of some tasks can be delayed.
The project can only be executed with the complete mission description from the customer. When all requirements are clear, such tasks as design production and development of additional details can be done together by different departments. In this case, WBS helps to make the work for every worker efficient and ensures that the time spent on production is decreased and the customer stays satisfied. The work breakdown structure is also commonly used in the airport building to regulate such mechanisms as labor, material supply, and customer support (Ramadhan et al., 2019). Identification of the problems should be the first stage in the WBS, and then relevant solutions should be written as deliverables to reduce risk and manage costs.
Cost management can bring success to the development of new technologies in the aerospace industry. For instance, Terrell (2018) explained that WBS allows estimating costs, budgeting, and accounting at the same time. NASA is one of the main representatives of aerospace manufacturing, which uses WBS effectively and shows other companies a good example of how budgeting should be regulated. Conceptual, preliminary design, and detailed design estimates are the main frameworks used in the production of budgeting with WBS, and other aviation businesses should use these concepts to build the life cycle of costs (Terrell, 2018). Detailed financial plans allow businesses to predict future expenses and make forecasts more accurate. Even though NASA is a huge company with an enormous turnover over a year, other aviation organizations should not underestimate the importance of budgeting in the production of a scheduled plan.
In conclusion, the work breakdown structure is a useful tool in producing a schedule plan for business development or improvements which should be used by all companies that want to survive in the competition. The concept promotes the regulation of many aspects, starting with the clients requirements and finishing with customer support. When organizations understand what tasks should be achieved within a specific deadline, efficiency can increase, and bankruptcy might be avoided.
References
Flouris, T. G., & Lock, D. (2008). Planning the Aviation Project Timescale. Aviation Project Management, 109-134.
Companies often come up with different strategies that aim at helping them gain access and successfully manage their operations in overseas markets. Diverse entry modes are often chosen by firms.
The choice of entry strategies is often dependent on the local business culture of the company, as well as the nature of the operational environment that prevails in the international market.
This paper has explored the global strategy of managing business internationally as has been implemented by the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation in its practice of expanding its operations overseas.
The findings from the research that has been conducted in the paper indicate that expanding business through partnerships and mergers is mostly utilized by Gulfstream.
The rate of adaptability to the foreign business environment ranges with the proactive strategies that help a company to quickly learn how to discharge managerial practices in a foreign business culture.
Overview of the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
According to GAC (n.d.), the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is one of the most renowned companies in the global aviation industry. The company has been in operation since the late 1950s. However, the real operations of the company were launched in 1978.
The company operates as a subsidiary firm of the General Dynamics Company. The company deals in the design, manufacture, distribution, and servicing of aircraft. The company is known for its specialization in the production and marketing of business-jet aircraft.
The company is said to have produced over 2,000 aircraft Since it began its operations. It should be noted that the company designs and manufactures different aircraft models, making it one of the most competitive companies in the business segment globally (Gufstream Website 2013).
The company has managed to manufacture and distribute different aircraft models. The aircraft models that make the company to come out as a world standard in the global aviation industry include G650, G150, G280, and the G550.
The ability of the company to sustain its operations in the global aviation industry is associated with investment in research and development. Research and development helps the company to come up with safe and reliable aircrafts that meet demand across different countries (Gulfstream, 2013).
Leadership and management philosophies in Gulfstream
The nature of leadership in a company is critical to the structuring and efficiency of operations in the company. Being a technological company, Gulfstream highly embraces quality. The management of quality in the company is termed as one of the key pillars of competition for the company.
Therefore, the management of the company focuses on outsourcing and development of a highly skilled labor team to manage technical operations in the company. In the management of its projects, the companys management ensures that the codes of performance are highly fulfilled.
This is done in all projects of the company. Some of the codes that are critical to the attainment of quality in the companys operations include the Safety Management Diagnostic and the Safety Culture Organizational Review Evaluation.
These codes of management ensure a high level of the minimization of flaws in the projects of the company, which in turn gives the company a competitive edge in the aircraft industry (GAC, n.d.).
Organizational design and marketing strategies
The Gulfstresm Corporation embraces flexibility in its management structures.
The company runs operations in different parts of the world. In order to attain market penetration in new operational regions across the globe, the company has sets operational centers in those regions in order to help it acquaint with the new markets.
The regional operational centers work in liaison with the main operational center of the company that is situated in the United States. The companys marketing strategies are highly organized along international strategies of marketing.
The move to capture the international opportunities in the industry necessitates the time to time restructuring of the practices of the company (Brendan, 2005).
International business presents business opportunities for a company. However, a company must be in a position to meet the expectations of the customers in the international business environment in order to realize the benefits that accrue from the international business opportunities.
Expansion of the business landscape in China denotes a lot of travel by people into and out of the country. The Chinese private jet market is projected to attain a growth rate of 15.6 percent for 9 years.
The projection was made in the year 2009, following the signing of a business partnership agreement between the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation and the Deer Jet Company Limited.
The partnership agreement between the two companies was signed in order to enhance the ability of the Deer Jet Company to manage the growing number of aircrafts procured from the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation.
Under this agreement, Gulfstream is required to expand its support network in China through the deployment of its technicians in the country in order to aid in enhancing the required supportive infrastructure for the operation of the aircraft.
This provides grounds for the company to understand the Chinese business environment (Mayle 2010). This implies potential business operations for the company in China.
With a lot of indicators pointing to the fact that Gulfstream is expanding its market to China, it is critical to note the model through which the company is utilizing to penetrate the seemingly competitive Chinese market (Brendan, 2005).
As part of the marketing initiative to easily penetrate the Chinese market, Gulfstream utilized third party aircraft companies that are familiar with the Chinese business environment.
While the ability of the company to deliver aircraft cannot be doubted, the entry model into the Chinese market remains to be a critical issue. The company is reported to have sold the G200 aircraft to Sky Jet in the year 2005.
The planes were further purchased by Business Aviation Asia, which is a Hong Kong based company that has extensive business operations in the Asian region, including China (Brendan, 2005).
Human resource management policies
Human resource management practices are critical to the operations of a company since they determine the level of efficiency in the delivery of services to customers. According to GAC (n.d.), Gulfstream has approximately ten thousand employees who work across its operational centers.
The human resource management system of the company is efficient and captures the needs of the employees, who are located in the different operational locations in the USA, United Kingdom, Mexico, and recently the new operational regions in other countries like China.
The company employs people with a high level of skills. Moreover it embraces training, which helps the recruited employees to familiarize with the operational functions of the company.
The other notable HR practice in the company is the deployment of foreign staffs who help the company to comprehend the international management environment.
Leslie and Luis (1999) observed that the international business culture entails a set of business attributes such as business policies, practices and the business setting in the foreign market. This can be understood better by exploring their model of management in the appendices.
The complexity of managing business across international borders is compounded by the fact that firms are forced to learn to manage the culture in a foreign business environment.
According to Teagarden (2010), a firm can hardly access a foreign market without comprehension of the differences in business culture. Ethical issues vary in diverse markets, and so is the embrace of foreign operational cultures in Gulfstreams foreign operations.
The main goal of the company, which also serves as its competitive edge, is the embrace of quality in technology. Therefore, the organization of human resource practices is also founded on quality. Apart from the normal routine operations, the operations of the company are deeply founded in organizational projects.
Where the staffs of the company cannot deliver on a given project, the company outsources project development teams from benchmark organizations, who help in accomplishing the companys projects (GAC, n.d.).
Harrison and Bach (2005) ascertained that the company has not experienced any main labor dispute since the beginning of its operations. What is often experienced in the company are the small-scale labor disputes.
During the year 2002, the companys management adopted a Dispute Resolution Process as a tool for resolving employee-drawn disputes. The Dispute Resolution Process is structured in such a way that it captures and resolves disputes of different dimensions. The process is organized in four levels, which include:
Human resource review
Management panel review
Mediation and
Arbitration
The employees are allowed to launch complaints of any labor misdeeds in the company, which are then determined through the dispute resolution process.
Basing on the labor code in each country, there are specific restrictions on the nature of complaints that can be raised and resolved through the dispute resolution process of the company.
Gulfstream ensures that the dispute resolution process does not tamper with the Federal Labor Act, which is the chief legal foundation on which all labor dispute resolution requirements are based.
The main labor dispute in the company was launched in the year 2003, where a total of 200 employees of the company claimed that they had not been remunerated, in spite of having worked overtime (Harrison & Bach 2005).
Strategies on global operation
The growth of the Gulfstream Corporation and its subsequent spread of its business operations in other regions of the world like Europe and Asia are likened to the business expansion strategies that were utilized by the company in the course of its growth.
Notable among the strategies is mergers and acquisitions as a way of strengthening operations and adapting to diverse business cultures across different regions. There have been a lot of developments in the Gulfstream Corporation since its acquisition of the General Dynamics.
The developments often revolve around the adoption of technology and expansion-oriented strategies. As of today, the aircrafts of the company are used in over forty countries across the globe.
The company is projected to gain a solid operational ground in different regions of the world through its continued investment in business expansion programs (Gufstream Website, 2013).
One area that has been the center of the expansion strategies for the company has been to monitor competition in the foreign environment. There are a wide number of aviation companies that are coming up in the Asian region.
While these companies do not pose a direct threat to Gulfstream because of its entry model into the region, this poses a lot of indirect threats to the company. It should be noted that entry through third parties prevents the company from gaining direct exposure into the Chinese market.
This means that the company can easily be eliminated from the market in case the Asian companies advance their operations and abilities to produce and operate aircraft. The prohibition of private companies to register and operate their aircrafts in China has helped to sustain Gulfstream operations in China.
However, the partnership of its third parties like Business Aviation Asia with other companies in the region poses a major threat to future operations of the company in China and the entire Asian region (Brendan, 2005).
In its bid to gain a stronger footing in global operations in other regions of the globe, especially Europe and Asia, the company faces a lot of constraints in establishing the operational centers in these regions. The problem ranges from cost to the culture and adaptability of the new operational environment in these regions.
The centers are critical to the regional operations of the company, including attending to the concerns that are raised by private customers in these foreign markets.
While the local companies find it easy to address the needs of their customers, it is quite daunting for Gulfstream to understand and respond to the demand of the customers.
However, it is quite easy to effectively attend to the needs of the customers with the setting up of the local operational centers in the new operational regions, for instance the Gulfstream Lutton factory service center in Europe.
The local companies that partner with Gulfstream also help the company to understand and deal with the demands of the customers in the foreign markets (Mayle, 2010).
While entry into markets by partnerships helps the company to easily adapt to the foreign business culture, it can be disadvantageous to the company in cases where such partnerships are terminated by the foreign firms.
The entry through establishment of subsidiaries is not highly embraced by Gulfstream, yet it can be critical in the advancement of international HR strategies of the company (Adams Media Inc., 2009).
Conclusion
This paper has explored the management strategies in the Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation. The Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation is an international company that deals in the manufacture, distribution, marketing and repair of aircraft, specifically jets.
In the paper, it has come out that the company is proactive in terms of devise and implementation of managerial strategies that helps it thrive in the international market. It has also come out that the company has been investing in the development of strategies to help it access foreign markets.
With a management philosophy that embraces quality in design and operation, combined with the ability of the company to integrate local and international human resource strategies, the company is likely to remain competitive in the industry.
Appendices
Appendix 1
Figure 1: Impact of cultural influences on the efficiency of firms in the international business environment.
Source: Leslie & Luis (1999).
References
Adams Media Inc. (2009). The National jobbank 2010. Avon, MA: Adams Media.
Brendan, S. (2005). Gulfstreams head to China start-up. Web.
GAC. (n.d.). SMS delivery and implementation part 145-Gulfstream Aerospace Corp USA. Web.
Gufstream Website. (2013). The history of Gulfstream: 1958 2011. Web.
Harrison, B. S & Bach, T. L. (2005). The eleventh circuit upholds a broad arbitration agreement. Benders Labor & Employment Bulletin. Web.
Leslie, P. E & Luis, G. R. (1999). A theory of global strategy and firm efficiencies: considering the effects of cultural diversity. Journal of Management, 25(4), 587-606.
Mayle, M. C. (2010). Gulfstream executive: Business aviation shifting, going global. Savannah Morning News [Savannah, Ga] 16 May 2010. Web.
Mayle, M. C. (2010). Gulfstream signs pact with Chinas Deer Jet: Agreement represents growing Gulfstream commitment to its Asian operators. Tribune Business News. Web.
Teagarden, M. B. (2010). Resolving global management implementation challenges, Thunderbird International Business Review, 52(6), 461-463.
In the aerospace industry, each component is time-critical. In addition, scores of management tools are used to improve the efficiency of material management. Like other sectors, the aerospace industry is faced with various inventory problems. For example, firms have to determine the number of raw materials needed to meet clients needs.
In this paper, the author will provide a report on an article touching on the application of the constraints theory in the management of inventory problems in the aerospace industry. Among other issues, the pros and cons of applying the theory of constraints (TOC) will be analyzed. The article is authored by Chou, Lu, and Tang (2012). It is titled Identifying inventory problems in the aerospace industry using the theory of constraints.
Inventory Problems in the Aerospace Industry: A Critical Analysis
Application of the Theory of Constraints in the Aerospace Industry
Most aircraft manufacturers acknowledge the need to improve their operations. However, they face numerous problems in their daily activities. Such issues include the high costs of warehousing components and materials (Bhatija 2013). In their article, Chou et al. (2012) hold that TOC helps aerospace managers to identify these problems and find appropriate strategies to resolve them. The theory helps in production improvements, inventory control, and logistics (Fitzsimmons & Fitzsimmons 2007).
According to Chou et al. (2012), TOC is a thinking process. The system-based approach to management uses elementary logic to determine the primary relations affecting performance (Gupta & Snyder 2009). The suppositions effectiveness in resolving constraints is facilitated by its three major components. They include a five-step focusing process, a set of system-oriented principles, and robust logic tools. Typically, TOC views a corporation as a system of interconnected components (Chou et al. 2012).
The five-step procedure guides the management of an organizations leverage points. To this end, managers in the aerospace industry should focus on system constraints (Schroeder 2008). As a result, the overall performance of the organization is improved. The five steps start by identifying key constraints. It is followed by finding ways to exploit them, subordination, obliteration, and a repeat of step one (Chou et al. 2012).
In the article, Chou et al. (2012) are of the opinion that robust logistic tools enable managers to identify major problems in the organization and their core causes. They are significant in the representation of opportunities for administrative improvements. For TOC to effectively resolve the problems, three main aspects must be analyzed (Chase, Jacobs & Aquilano 2006). They include the elements that need to be changed, the goal of the modification, and the mode of implementing the change (Haksever et al. 1999). The robust tools employ sufficiency or necessity logic to help managers understand the outcomes of the current situation.
Inventory Problems and Appropriate Strategies
In the aerospace industry, TOC involves the use of logic diagrams to manage the current system (Bhatija 2013). Most inventory setbacks result from poor management of records turnover, delayed delivery because of material scarcity, and losses from configuration changes. According to Chou et al. (2012), these problems must be addressed to enhance the achievement of goals set by organizations in the aerospace industry.
To ensure effective turnover, managers should facilitate speedy internal inventory flows (Chou et al. 2012). The inventory storage time is reduced significantly. Failure to do this leads to supply chain delays (Chase et al. 2006). As a result, the production process is affected, leading to delays in delivery. Consequently, the company is forced to compensate clients according to the contractual agreements (Chou et al. 2012).
To resolve the inventory problem resulting from configuration changes, companies should use appropriate procurement means. They include flexible ordering and purchasing in batches. Acquisition of excess materials should be avoided (Schroeder 2008). The reason is that surplus products turn into waste and occupy space that could be used for other purposes. As a result, they lead to prolonged inventory storage and increased costs (Chou et al. 2012). To facilitate procuring the right amounts of materials, companies can apply the Economic Order Quantity (EOQ) approach.
Pros and Cons of Applying the Theory of Constraints
Pros
TOC helps to identify problems in inventory management and understand the challenges associated with high inventory administration costs (Gupta & Snyder 2009). The theory helps aerospace companies to improve processes, delivery rates, production time, and inventory turnover (Chou et al. 2012).
Cons
TOC involves identifying the major constraints of impacting performance (Chou et al. 2012). However, it can be a challenge to identify the constrictions. The theory can help resolve a constraint caused by another restraining factor. In addition, it may focus on one that is unrelated to the current hold-up. As a result, managers may waste resources on setbacks that are not critical to the success of the corporation (Chou et al. 2012).
According to Chou et al. (2012), TOC only works efficiently in tackling the current time frame issues affecting a business. It deals with actual situations. As a result, it limits itself to short-term consequences. Consequently, managers must analyze the long-term effects of their work on the constraints identified (Haksever et al. 1999). In instances where the short-term outcome remains valid for a long time, the strategy specified by TOC may be suitable (Schroeder 2008). However, if the short-term effect does not last, the manager is required to identify other constraints that need to be eased. Another limitation of TOC is that it does not consider variable factors. Certain constraints may vary independently from the action applied (Chou et al. 2012). As a result, a manager might be forced to use additional data.
Conclusion
The primary goal of an aerospace company is to meet the needs of clients and minimize costs. However, a shortage of materials and inventory problems impact negatively on the performance of companies. TOC helps managers to analyze their business. Possible weaknesses are identified and addressed. Due to its effectiveness, the theory has been applied by a wide range of companies. They include Boeing and Delta Airlines. In addition, it is used in academic disciplines, for example, in project management.
References
Bhatija, N 2013, Aerospace industry, Random Publications, New Delhi.
Chase, R, Jacobs, R & Aquilano, N 2006, Operations management for competitive advantage, 11th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Chou, Y, Lu, C & Tang, Y 2012, Identifying inventory problems in the aerospace industry using the theory of constraints, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 50 no. 15, 4686-4698.
Fitzsimmons, J & Fitzsimmons, M 2007, Service management: operations, strategy, information technology, 6th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Gupta, M & Snyder, D 2009, Comparing TOC with MRP and JIT: a literature review, International Journal of Production Research, vol. 47 no. 13, pp. 3705-3739.
Haksever, C, Render, B, Russell, R & Murdick, R 1999, Service management and operations, 2nd edn, Prentice Hall, New Jersey.
Schroeder, R 2008, Operations management: contemporary concepts and cases, 4th edn, McGraw-Hill, New York.
Because the production of aircraft is based on supply chain management, the logistic activities should be carefully planned. Specific focus should be made on the delivery and shipment of spare parts (Goldstein, 2002). All these procedures also contribute to the expenses of shipment of goods.
Transportation Costs
Choosing Embraer Jet for transporting goods across Brazil can significantly reduce the transportation costs because the company can sustain a competitive advantage over other world-known brands, such as Boeing and Airbus.
Handling Expenses
Pier Charges
Pier charges should be gathers from shipments on domestic territories, as well as from foreign ships.
Wharfage fees
Warfare fees are also associated with the handling expenses. The aircraft company, therefore, should ensure that there are quays where shipment procedures could be carried out. Embraer Jets, therefore, must consider expenditures spent on reaching specific destinations within the specific terms. Such a strategy corresponds to the international standards that contribute to efficient expertise in cost management (Cateora & Graham, 2011).
Loading and Uploading Charges
Loading and unloading charges should be carried at specific locations with warehouses for storing goods. Therefore, it should also consider the costs the company undergoes while planning destinations and transportation of goods and passengers. Defining the most popular location is important.
Insurance Costs
Embraer Jets insurance presupposes that experienced agents invite underwriters who can establish favorable rates (Peng, 2009). Hence, Embraer aircraft can provide expert agents who will consider the most effective conditions and ensure the highest discount rates.
Customs Duties
Customs duties procedures should also be introduced to enhance protection mechanisms and improve the quality of goods transportation by Embraer Jets.
Important Taxes and Value-added Tax
The taxes should be imposed on imported goods.
Wholesale and Retail Markups and Discounts
The evidence proves that wholesale markups vary, but the average rates will amount to 20 % of the production costs. Discount types will be practiced during the flights to foreign locations, including the United States. Compensation deal is another type that should also be introduced.
Companys Gross Margins
Retail Price
Due to the fact that Brazil includes mostly large-scale retail outlets, including such stores as Walmart, it deals predominantly with small-business companies (Bell, Lal, & Salmon, 2011). In this respect, the purpose of airline services lies in establishing moderate prices for increasing amounts of retailed goods.
Methods of Payment
Cash in Advance
Cash in advance payments is not widely used. Therefore, the company will not accept this method of payment.
Open Accounts
An open account is the most efficient means of payment because it implies sales the possibility of using credits. Customers, therefore, should pay in advance to make use of aircraft services.
Consignment Sales
Consignment sales are appropriate to use when they concern goods transportation. In such a manner, the company can protect itself from possible risks of payment procedures. Consumers also use this type of payment to minimize the risk of injuries.
Sight, Times, or Date Drafts
Date draft provides customers with an opportunity to pay for the shipment on the fixed date of delivery. Such type of sales is beneficial for consumers and, therefore, it can increase demand for the proposed services.
Letters of Credit
Letters should be applied during foreign voyages, as well as transportation of exported goods. Moreover, the terms of payment are beneficial in terms of the document.
References
Bell, D., Lal, R. & Salmon, W. (2011). Globalization of retailing. The Global Market. Web.
Cateora, P. & Graham, J. (2011), International Marketing, US: Irwin McGraw.
Goldstein, A. (2002) From National Champion to Global Player: Explaining the Success of Embraer. UK: University of Oxford.
Peng, M. W. (2010). Global Business. New York: Cengage Learning.
Engineering ethics is the field of system of significant and moral principles that apply to the practice of engineering. The field examines and sets the commitments of engineers to society, to their clients, and to the profession. As a scholarly discipline, it is closely related to subjects such as the philosophy of science, the philosophy of engineering, and the technology. The engineers should be aware of the greatest merit in using their profession for serving society, attending to the welfare and progress of the majority. The engineer should understand any situations that results in harming the general interest, thus avoiding a situation that might be hazardous or threatening to the environment, life, health, or other rights of human beings. The duty of the engineer is to showcase the prestige of the profession, to ensure its proper discharge, and to maintain a professional demeanor rooted in ability, honesty, courage, temperance, generosity, modesty, honesty, and justice; with the consciousness of individual well-being subordinate to the social good.
The NASA Space Shuttle disasters is an important accident caused by the improper approach towards ethics. The space shuttle is one of the most complex engineered systems built. The challenge of lifting a space vehicle from earth into orbit and have it safely returned to earth presents many engineering problems. Not surprisingly, there have been several accidents in the U.S. space program since its initiation, including two failures of the space shuttle. The disasters involving the space shuttles Challenger and Columbia illustrate issues related to engineering ethics. The space shuttle went into service in the early 1980s and is set to be retired sometime in 2011 or 2012. The explosion of the space shuttle Challenger is the most widely observed case in engineering ethics because of the extensive media coverage at the time of the accident and because of the many available government reports and transcripts of congressional hearings related to the explosion. The case illustrates some important ethical issues that engineers face in accomplishing a task. The space shuttle generally designed as a reusable launch vehicle. The vehicle consists of an orbiter, which looks much like a medium-sized airliner, two solid-propellant boosters, and a single liquid-propellant booster. At take-off, all of the boosters are ignited and lift the orbiter out of the earth’s atmosphere. The solid rocket boosters are only used early in the flight and are jettisoned soon after take-off, parachute back to earth, and are recovered from the ocean. They are subsequently repacked with fuel which is reusable. The liquid-propellant booster is used in final stage in lifting the shuttle into orbit, at which point the booster is jettisoned and burns up during re-entry. The liquid booster is the only part of the shuttle vehicle that cannot be reused. After completion of the mission, the orbiter makes use of its limited thrust capabilities to re-enter the atmosphere and glides to a landing. Failure of one of the solid rocket boosters was the reason of the accident on January 28, 1986.
The space shuttle disaster of NASA on January 28, 1986 was because of failure of one of the solid rocket boosters. As a result of the explosion, the shuttle program was grounded as a thorough review of shuttle safety was conducted. Thiokol, an American corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals formed a failure-investigation team on January 31, 1986, which included an American mechanical engineer, hydrodynamics specialist Roger Boisjoly. There were also many investigations into the cause of the space shuttle disaster, both by the contractors involved (including Thiokol) and by various government bodies. As part of the governmental investigation, the 40th president of the United States Ronald Reagan appointed a blue-ribbon commission, known as the Rogers Commission. The commission consisted of distinguished scientists and engineers who were asked to investigate the cause of the accident and to recommend changes in the shuttle program. One of the commission members was Richard Feynman, a Nobel Prize winner in physics, demonstrated to the country what had gone wrong. In a demonstration that was repeatedly shown on national news programs, he demonstrated the problem with the bending tiny rubber part called ‘O-rings’, which formed the seal between sections of the solid rocket boosters. The flexibility of the material at room temperature was obvious. He then immersed it in ice water. When Richard Feynman bent the O-ring, it was obvious that the resiliency of the material was severely decreased, a very clear demonstration of what happened to the O-rings on the cold launch date in Florida. As part of the commission hearings, Roger Boisjoly and other Thiokol engineers were asked to test O-rings. Roger Boisjoly handed over to the commission copies of internal Thiokol memos and reports detailing the design process and the problems that had already been encountered. Naturally, Thiokol was trying to put the best possible spin on the situation, and Roger Boisjoly’s actions hurt this effort. According to Roger Boisjoly, after this action Thiokol management harassed him. Eventually, the atmosphere became intolerable for Roger Boisjoly, and he took extended sick leave from his position at Thiokol. The O-ring was redesigned, and the shuttle has since flown numerous successful missions. However, the hopeful launch schedule originally intended by NASA was never met. The space shuttle disaster happened in 1986 took away lives of many astronauts and the studies related to the disaster helped NASA in accomplishing all ethics before introducing and testing a new system. It was reported in 2001 that NASA has spent $5 million to study the possibility of installing some type of escape system to protect the shuttle crew in the event of an accident. Possibilities include ejection seats or an escape capsule that would work during the first three minutes of flight. These features were incorporated into new space vehicles and in fact were in place on the shuttle until 1982. Whether such a system would have saved the astronauts aboard the Challenger is unknown, and an escape system was never incorporated into the space shuttle.
During the early morning hours of February 1, 2003, many people across the Southwestern United States awoke to a loud noise, sounding like the boom associated with supersonic aircraft. This was the space shuttle Columbia breaking up during re-entry to the earth’s atmosphere. This accident was the second loss of a space shuttle in 113 flights—all seven astronauts aboard the Columbia were killed—and pieces of the shuttle were scattered over a wide area of eastern Texas and western Louisiana. Over eighty-four thousand individual pieces were eventually recovered, comprising only about 38% of the shuttle. This was the 28th mission flown by the Columbia, a sixteen days mission involving many tasks. The first indication of trouble during re-entry came when temperature sensors near the left wheel well indicated a rise in temperature. Soon, hydraulic lines on the left side of the craft began to fail, making it difficult to keep control of the vehicle. Finally, it was impossible for the pilots to maintain the proper positioning of the shuttle during re-entry the Columbia went out of control and broke up. The bottom of the space shuttle is covered with ceramic tiles designed to dissipate the intense heat generated during re-entry from space. The destruction of the Columbia was attributed to damage to tiles on the leading edge of the left wing. During lift-off, a piece of insulating foam on the external fuel tank dislodged and struck the shuttle. It was estimated that this foam struck the shuttle wing at over 500 miles per hour, causing significant damage to the tiles on the wing over an area of approximately 650 cm2. With the integrity of these tiles compromised, the wing structure was susceptible to extreme heating during re-entry and ultimately failed. Shuttle launches are carefully observed by numerous video cameras. During the launch, the foam separation and strike had been observed. Much thought was given during Columbia’s mission to determine whether significant damage had occurred. For example, there was some discussion of trying to use ground-based telescopes to look at the bottom of the shuttle while in orbit. Unfortunately, even if it had been possible to find the damage, there would have been no way to repair the damage in space. The only alternatives would have been to attempt to launch another shuttle on a dangerous rescue mission or attempt to get the astronauts to the space station by launching a later rescue mission to bring them back to earth. In the end, NASA decided that the damage from the foam strike had probably not been significant and decided to continue with the mission and re-entry as planned. This was not the first time that foam had detached from the fuel tank during launch, and it was not the first time that foam had struck the shuttle. Apparently numerous small pieces of foam hit the shuttle during every launch, and on at least seven occasions before the Columbia launch, large pieces of foam had detached and hit the shuttle. Solutions to the problem found had been proposed over the years, but none had been implemented.
An accident such as the Challenger explosion should have led to a major change in the safety and ethics culture within NASA. But sadly, for the crew of the Columbia disaster analyzers, it had not. After the Columbia accident, the space shuttle was again grounded until safety concerns related to foam strikes could be addressed. By 2005, NASA was confident that steps had been taken to make the launch of the shuttle safe and once again restarted the launch program. In July of 2005, Discovery was launched. During this launch, another foam strike occurred. This time, NASA was prepared and had planned for means to photographically assess the potential damage to the heat shield, and also planned to allow astronauts to make a spacewalk to assess the damage to the tiles and to make repairs as necessary. The damage from this strike was repaired in space and the shuttle returned to earth safely. Despite the success of the in-orbit repairs, NASA once again grounded the shuttle fleet until a redesign of the foam could be implemented. The redesign called for removal of foam from areas where foam detachment could have the greatest impact on tiles. The shuttle resumed flight with a successful launch in September of 2006 and no further major accidents through early 2011.In recapitulating, ethics related space issues ended with a huge loss.
Thus, we can conclude that engineering ethics is the study of moral decisions that must be made by engineers in the course of engineering practice. Even though a person or firm with years of experiences in any field, it is important to execute any work considering basic ethics to be followed for the same.
“Money spent on space exploration should be diverted to other more worthwhile causes.”
Introduction:
Our existence is just a tiny particle in the existence of this planet, of this universe. The world goes way beyond our expectations and it is not just limited to life on one planet as we know that there are seven other planets. We do not know what’s beyond our planet Earth, NASA uses money and puts it to work by discovering new things every day, I do not think that the money that goes into NASA is useless. However, I do agree that more problems on Earth need to be looked after before we can go beyond the planet, but, we do not know how our life is limited here and how much longer we can inhabit this space, it is here now but it might not exist a few years from now at the rate things are going and how many problems are arising. I think that the money that goes into space exploration is valid and legit because we need to track down life on other planets and know that whatever is in store for us, is bigger than all of us combined and we must look for things that go way beyond our life expectancy on earth.
Progress:
NASA is using the money provided to them by making groundbreaking discoveries every day, they do not just sit ideal and do nothing, some of the discoveries made by NASA are as such:
We know that the moon has been a part of every culture for a long time, there have been songs written on it, poems, and even movies made on it, but NASA discovered a second mini moon that orbits around the earth and the scientists at NASA claim that it will continue for several centuries to circle the earth. Kepler located one thousand two hundred and eighty-four planets besides the nine that are already present in the solar system, who knew that the universe was so large? One of the few jobs of Kepler/NASA is to discover more Earth-like planets that are inhabitable for us or can be inhabitable for us in the future in case we can’t live on Earth and they did find six such planets that could benefit us in the future, three of them could contain water and two are like Earth, rocky.
When we think of the temperature on Mars, we think of cold, because it is the planet that comes after the Earth and some countries on our planet like Europe and Canada are cold in the winter, so we can only imagine how cold it gets on Mars and usually, we are right, but the temperature does go down in the summer and scientists from NASA discovered water on mars that could melt and be flowing in multitudes in the future, which will be very beneficial for all of us considering the water crisis on our planet and how we might run out of water soon. Maybe, we all can move to Mars one day and start living there, who knows? Not only did NASA discover new moons and new planets but they also found a way, a device where astronauts could turn their pee into sugary drinks, now this may sound disgusting but once you’re on a mission, all alone stranded in space and you run out of all your supplies, turning your pee into something sugary and drinking it does not sound like too bad of an idea, especially for long missions such as going to Mars, this is also one of the very useful things that NASA invented for the benefit of their own company and who knows, maybe it might benefit us in the future as well. For missions that are too dangerous for humans to go to, NASA invented a monkey-like robot that could be sent on those missions, while being tested, the robot was asked to do some tasks for example, driving the car and opening a door, most of which the robot was very successful to do, this is a ground-breaking discovery and can be so beneficial in the future or even now, to go on missions that an astronaut cannot go on. We know so little about Pluto as a planet, what we do know is that it is extremely cold, now NASA has come up with a discovery that they are not quite sure about as of yet but they think that Pluto might have volcanoes that are filled with ice. (Cooke, 2016) Now we know that NASA is doing groundbreaking things and making revelations for the betterment of the public and beyond, and all the money is not just going to waste, we have the company to thank for that and invest more so they keep making discoveries like this in the future, or more, who knows what could arise when the right amount of thought process and equipment is indulged into creating something much larger than life.
Health and safety:
NASA has also created certain devices and instruments that we use daily, that we might not even know have been created by NASA, we use these things in our day-to-day life without knowing how they were built or what went into creating them, some of these devices are as follows:
1: Infant Milk Formula:
It does not take a scientist to know that infants need nutrition because that is the growing age and that is when one needs the most efficient amount of vitamins and minerals.
In the ‘80 NASA was trying to come up with a formula that could be long-lasting and taken on space trips and that is how they came up with Formula, it is a food addiction that is found in most baby formulas and is very healthy and nutritious.
2: Congenial Shoes for Running:
Running is an essential part of a person’s life, if not running then walking is most definitely an essential part, and when having comfortable shoes to walk, run, or jog in, then happiness and good health are definite.
Whilst inventing a certain kind of rubber for the helmets that astronauts wear, the engineers at NASA realized that they could use the same material to make brilliantly comfortable shoes and henceforth began the testing and then they came up with the rubber material that is used in most athletic shoes, so the next time someone asks you where you got your sneakers from, just tell them that they were from space.
3: Computer Mouse:
The usage of computers became more and more important for NASA to keep track of their reports and for basic usage and they needed the usage to become simpler and for the movements to be swift, so, money was put in and the invention of a computer mice came into being and it was made easily accessible. So, the mouse exists because NASA needed it, now think about how we use it daily and how it has lessened the burden of life and is needed for everything, drawing, design, playing games, etc.
4: Airplanes that resist ice:
Ice and airplanes do not go well together, whilst flying so high above the ground, ice is prone to existent and get on the plane and damaging everyone’s life, flying would have been impossible, so NASA came up with materials that make it safe for planes to fly high above and resistant to ice, dust, and other harmful particle.
Now, this technology is used in the airplanes we fly in occasionally and even small personal jets. Hence being extremely useful.
5: Mobile Phones with Cameras:
Yes, NASA also invented cell phones with cameras.
In the beginning, when astronauts would go on space missions and conspiracy theorists were pleased by nothing they would have their doubts and astronauts needed something that they could carry around and also take high-definition pictures with at the same time, so came forth technology and they built CMO’s that are used in one out of three cellphones for sure.
6: Eyeglasses Resistant to Scratches:
The lens of the glasses would be made of glass which turned out to be harmful because small accidents could be caused that could result in the glass going inside the eye and blinding you for life, like needing glasses in the first place was not punishment enough, so, plastic lenses were invented but they would get scratches on them, so NASA came up with the solution and invented lenses that were resistant to scratches.
7: Safer Highways:
You’re sitting in a car, going at full speed, and you do not know what awaits you, one mistake and you’re gone forever, you cease to exist and that is the end for you.
NASA invented and developed grooved pavements, that made highways safer, they would keep the water off the roads so vehicles do not slip and accidents are caused, the number of accidents caused went down and we have NASA to thank for that as well.
8: Filtered Water:
Filtered water was invented for the usage of astronauts on their trips, to make sure that they had clean drinking water that was urine-proof, nowadays it is used in almost all filtration systems that make water drinkable.
9: Blankets for Survival:
Survival blankets were created from the material that NASA used to protect all of their space crafts, so we can say that the blankets are very safe and will help in situations of danger and discomfort.
10: Invisible Braces:
People who need braces are always picked on and mocked and that can make them insecure and uneasy, NASA came up with a material that was used for tracking missiles, and the same material is now used in creating invisible braces. (Oliveto, 2015)
Conclusion:
So, space is the final border but it might just be the most important one, maybe one day space will be the only option that we have left, at the rate things are going. Space exploration is extremely important, why? Because it has led to the creation of numerous technologies, and endless usage of things that we use in our day-to-day life and will further discover more, tests are happening in space at this exact moment in space for medicines that cannot be tested on Earth. If it was not for space exploration, we could get hit by comets or asteroids at any second but NASA protects us from all of that as well, there is a wealth of materials that are very precious in space, and if space mining continues happening, so many various materials can be extracted and saved and used by us and benefit us. In the end, we are all explorers, if we do not explore space then what else are we bound to do? Maybe, space exploration will save all our lives one day. (Whitwam, 2018)
References:
Cooke, L. (2016, July 01). 7 NASA discoveries that will blow your mind. Retrieved from https://inhabitat.com/7-nasa-discoveries-that-will-blow-your-mind/
Oliveto, J. (2015, July 27). 12 Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented By NASA. Retrieved from https://www.thrillist.com/tech/12-things-nasa-invented-that-you-use-everyday
Whitwam, R. (2018, April 24). 5 Reasons Space Exploration Is More Important Than Ever. Retrieved from https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/268062-5-reasons-space-exploration-is-more-important-than-ever
NASA ended its space shuttle project in 2011. This decision stimulated the development of the commercial space exploration industry. The current commercial space exploration market is vast, but at the same time, the commercial space exploration industry faces many problems, such as the lack of sufficient customers. Due to the high cost of research and development, the number of companies engaged in the industry is small, and the opportunity cost is also high. However, in the foreseeable future, due to the development of space technology, near-Earth orbit missions such as satellites will continue to increase. At the same time, due to the limited resources of the earth, human beings will inevitably explore outer space to obtain more resources. Therefore, this market will continue to grow, and the business model will be more mature. In this paper, I will discuss the significant opportunities in the commercial space industry.
Achievements that the NASA shuttle program reached
According to the NASA Apollo missions history (Loff, ‘The Apollo Missions,’ 2015), in 2011, NASA ended its space shuttle project. The shuttle program of NASA started in 1981 because of the competitive pressure from the Soviet Union. During the 30-year life span of the shuttle project, there are many achievements reached.
Based on the information that came from the chronology of NASA (Barry, ‘A CHRONOLOGY OF DEFINING EVENTS IN NASA HISTORY, 1958-1998’, 2012), at the beginning of 1981, after ten years of research and development, the ‘Colombia’ was finally built successfully, and it was launched on April 12. It is the first space shuttle to transport astronauts and equipment between space and ground. Its first flight was to test its orbital and landing capabilities. It flew 54 hours in space, and then the space plane landed safely after orbiting 36 times the Earth. Before building the ‘Challenger space shuttle, ‘Colombia’ made four more flights. ‘Colombia’ flew a total of 28 times.
The most famous flights of ‘Colombia.’
During the sixth flight in 1983, it carried a space laboratory built by Europe and had ten days of research activities on it. According to the Spaceflight mission report of STS-61C (Becker, ‘STS-61C’, 2019), on the seventh flight in 1986, the crew included Franklin Chang-Diaz (the first American American astronaut) and Bill Nelson (the first US Congressman to enter space). The achievements of ‘Colombia’ also included the transfer of many civilian and military satellites into space, the recovery of satellites requiring repair, and further space laboratory experiments. By the end of April 1996, the ‘Colombia’ had already carried out 19 flights.
In 1982, the Challenger became the second space shuttle of NASA. The Space Shuttle (formerly known as the Space Transportation System) consists of an orbiter, a solid-fuel rocket propeller, and an external combustion chamber. During its various flight missions, the Challenger put the European Space Laboratory and several militaries and scientific satellites into orbit.
The Space Shuttle Discovery is the third space shuttle built by the United States. The first flight of Discovery was on August 30, 1984, for a total of 30 flights, more than any other space shuttle.
Eye-catching achievement
According to the NASA Apollo missions history, in 1995, the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope was probably the most famous of the missions completed by Space Shuttle Discovery. It flew over the ‘Peace’ space station under the control of the first female space shuttle pilot, Eileen Collins. The Discovery also deployed several military and research satellites (including satellites from other countries) and repaired the failed satellite.
In 1985, Atlantis became the fourth space shuttle of NASA. The space shuttle Atlantis weighed 77.7 tons and was launched on October 3, 1985. It carried out 26 flights between October 1985 and March 1996.
Some of the more eye-catching achievements of the space shuttle, including the ‘Galileo’ and ‘Magellan planetary probes, were sent into space. In 1991, Shannon Lucid entered Russia’s ‘Peace’ space station. Lucid stayed on the space station for six months, breaking the space. The record of the stay time, after which the ‘Atlantis’ space shuttle, took her back to the ground.
‘Endeavour’ is the last space shuttle orbiter built by NASA. ‘Endeavour’ is 36.6 high. It costs more than 2 billion US dollars. It was launched on May 7, 1992, and flew 19 times.
The Shut Down of the Space Shuttle Project
The space shuttle is the most advanced, sophisticated, and fully functional spacecraft ever built since human civilization. According to the FAQ of the space shuttle program page from NASA (Bray, ‘Space Shuttle and International Space Station,’ 2015), regardless of the space shuttle R&D and manufacturing costs, each space shuttle flight costs more than $500 million. Use the space shuttle to mail parcels from the ground to the International Space Station; the cost per pound will be 20,000 US dollars. This also makes the US space shuttle the most expensive project in the world space industry.
After the tragedy of ‘Colombia’ and ‘Challenger,’ plus that when Obama took office, the fiscal deficit and the financial crisis deepened., he stopped many kinds of space programs that cost a large amount of money, which made the new aerospace aircraft construction plan canceled.
Conducive to privatization
The United States grounded space shuttle, on the surface, seems to be a major setback in the history of American space, but from an industrial point of view, this is a ‘transfusion’ type of development to the ‘hematopoietic’ type of development of the aerospace industry, will produce in the future Immeasurable benefits.
This will first allow more outstanding aerospace talents to flow to the mature private aerospace industry. The shutdown of the space shuttle project caused tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs, but private institutions absorbed most of them. On October 4, 2004, the first privately launched human-crewed spacecraft, Spaceship One, successfully carried out a suborbital flight, which opened the prelude to aerospace commercialization.
The Current Situation of The Commercial Space Exploration And Transport Industry
The private rocket manufacturing and launch service industry has grown significantly since 2000, especially the American Space Exploration Technology Company founded by Elon Musk, and the Blue Origin Company created by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. They have all made great progress. From 2002 to the present, the US Space Exploration Technology Corporation spent 17 years developing crewed spaceflight technology. Compared with the traditional American aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the emerging small aerospace companies that entered the market later reduced the production cost by the small number of personnel and institutions and won the favor of NASA. The data (‘How SpaceX and Boeing will get Astronauts to the ISS. A comparison of the Crew Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz and Space Shuttle.’, 2019) shows that space exploration costs about $60 million per rocket, but the average cost of launching a rocket by Boeing and Lockheed Martin is $435 million.
From the above data, we can see that there is a large number of funds that the government agency provides to private space exploration companies.
Commercial rockets take the order of payload as the primary profit model, commercial satellite orders and national satellite orders are the main targets of commercial rocket profit. In the future, with the differentiation strategy of different enterprises, military trade orders, and space station transportation will become potential profit points.
The commercial rocket development stage is even earlier, the industry barriers are higher, the business model is mature, and it is mostly a rocket supplier and accepts civil or military orders as the main profit model, which is suitable for investors to enter at this stage. In the future, as the number of rocket launches increases, the potential business opportunities will be enormous.
Global commercial aerospace investment and development stage is positively related to growth
According to Bryce Space and Technology’s Bryce_Start_up_Space in 2018 (‘brycetech.com,’ 2018), the global investment trend in the commercial aerospace industry is in three stages. From 2001 to 2005, an average of 8 investments per year; in 2006-2011, an average of 23 investments per year occurred. In 2012-2017, it jumped to an average of 110 investments per year.
The Future of Private Sector In Space Exploration
As the report from the NATO report expressed (Bockel, ‘ESC 2018 General report – The Future of the Space Industry’, 2018), commercial rocket launch is entirely driven by supply and demand. The demand for commercial satellite launches will increase significantly in the future, and at the same time, with the national policy and the development strategy of private rocket companies, the launch orders will keep rising with the breakthrough of rocket development.
In addition to NASA’s technical and personnel support, private space exploration companies’ rapid development also relies on US space policy initiatives. Since 2006, the United States has successively issued a series of laws and regulations, such as the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act and the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act, and specifically proposed to encourage and take practical measures to promote the commercial space transportation industry.
Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, we know that commercial aerospace will continue to thrive in the future, and with the development of technology and the continuous improvement of relevant laws and regulations, the commercial aerospace industry will have a better growth environment.
Commercial aerospace in the next few years will be based on near-Earth orbit transportation projects to research and develop long-range orbiters, and in the next few years, capital market investment in commercial space will usher in rapid growth, commercial aerospace will also Welcome a broader space for development.
References
Loff, S. (2015, March 16). The Apollo Missions. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/index.html.
Barry, B. (2012, January 3). A CHRONOLOGY OF DEFINING EVENTS IN NASA HISTORY, 1958-1998. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.history.nasa.gov/40thann/define.htm.
Becker, J. (2019, January 1). STS-61C. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-61c.htm.
Bray, N. (2015, April 28). Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/information/shuttle_faq.html.
How SpaceX and Boeing will get Astronauts to the ISS. A comparison of the Crew Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz, and Space Shuttle. (2019, February 22). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://everydayastronaut.com/crew-dragon-vs-starliner/.
brycetech.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://brycetech.com/downloads/Bryce_Start_Up_Space_2018.pdf.
Bockel, J.-M. (2018, November 17). ESC 2018 General Report – The Future of the Space Industry. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.nato-pa.int/sites/default/files/2018-12/2018 – THE FUTURE OF SPACE INDUSTRY – Bockel REPORT – 173 ESC 18 E fin.pdf
“Money spent on space exploration should be diverted to other more worthwhile causes.”
Introduction:
Our existence is just a tiny particle in the existence of this planet, of this universe. The world goes way beyond our expectations and it is not just limited to life on one planet as we know that there are seven other planets. We do not know what’s beyond our planet Earth, NASA uses money and puts it to work by discovering new things every day, I do not think that the money that goes into NASA is useless. However, I do agree that more problems on Earth need to be looked after before we can go beyond the planet, but, we do not know how our life is limited here and how much longer we can inhabit this space, it is here now but it might not exist a few years from now at the rate things are going and how many problems are arising. I think that the money that goes into space exploration is valid and legit because we need to track down life on other planets and know that whatever is in store for us, is bigger than all of us combined and we must look for things that go way beyond our life expectancy on earth.
Progress:
NASA is using the money provided to them by making groundbreaking discoveries every day, they do not just sit ideal and do nothing, some of the discoveries made by NASA are as such:
We know that the moon has been a part of every culture for a long time, there have been songs written on it, poems, and even movies made on it, but NASA discovered a second mini moon that orbits around the earth and the scientists at NASA claim that it will continue for several centuries to circle the earth. Kepler located one thousand two hundred and eighty-four planets besides the nine that are already present in the solar system, who knew that the universe was so large? One of the few jobs of Kepler/NASA is to discover more Earth-like planets that are inhabitable for us or can be inhabitable for us in the future in case we can’t live on Earth and they did find six such planets that could benefit us in the future, three of them could contain water and two are like Earth, rocky.
When we think of the temperature on Mars, we think of cold, because it is the planet that comes after the Earth and some countries on our planet like Europe and Canada are cold in the winter, so we can only imagine how cold it gets on Mars and usually, we are right, but the temperature does go down in the summer and scientists from NASA discovered water on mars that could melt and be flowing in multitudes in the future, which will be very beneficial for all of us considering the water crisis on our planet and how we might run out of water soon. Maybe, we all can move to Mars one day and start living there, who knows? Not only did NASA discover new moons and new planets but they also found a way, a device where astronauts could turn their pee into sugary drinks, now this may sound disgusting but once you’re on a mission, all alone stranded in space and you run out of all your supplies, turning your pee into something sugary and drinking it does not sound like too bad of an idea, especially for long missions such as going to Mars, this is also one of the very useful things that NASA invented for the benefit of their own company and who knows, maybe it might benefit us in the future as well. For missions that are too dangerous for humans to go to, NASA invented a monkey-like robot that could be sent on those missions, while being tested, the robot was asked to do some tasks for example, driving the car and opening a door, most of which the robot was very successful to do, this is a ground-breaking discovery and can be so beneficial in the future or even now, to go on missions that an astronaut cannot go on. We know so little about Pluto as a planet, what we do know is that it is extremely cold, now NASA has come up with a discovery that they are not quite sure about as of yet but they think that Pluto might have volcanoes that are filled with ice. (Cooke, 2016) Now we know that NASA is doing groundbreaking things and making revelations for the betterment of the public and beyond, and all the money is not just going to waste, we have the company to thank for that and invest more so they keep making discoveries like this in the future, or more, who knows what could arise when the right amount of thought process and equipment is indulged into creating something much larger than life.
Health and safety:
NASA has also created certain devices and instruments that we use daily, that we might not even know have been created by NASA, we use these things in our day-to-day life without knowing how they were built or what went into creating them, some of these devices are as follows:
1: Infant Milk Formula:
It does not take a scientist to know that infants need nutrition because that is the growing age and that is when one needs the most efficient amount of vitamins and minerals.
In the ‘80 NASA was trying to come up with a formula that could be long-lasting and taken on space trips and that is how they came up with Formula, it is a food addiction that is found in most baby formulas and is very healthy and nutritious.
2: Congenial Shoes for Running:
Running is an essential part of a person’s life, if not running then walking is most definitely an essential part, and when having comfortable shoes to walk, run, or jog in, then happiness and good health are definite.
Whilst inventing a certain kind of rubber for the helmets that astronauts wear, the engineers at NASA realized that they could use the same material to make brilliantly comfortable shoes and henceforth began the testing and then they came up with the rubber material that is used in most athletic shoes, so the next time someone asks you where you got your sneakers from, just tell them that they were from space.
3: Computer Mouse:
The usage of computers became more and more important for NASA to keep track of their reports and for basic usage and they needed the usage to become simpler and for the movements to be swift, so, money was put in and the invention of a computer mice came into being and it was made easily accessible. So, the mouse exists because NASA needed it, now think about how we use it daily and how it has lessened the burden of life and is needed for everything, drawing, design, playing games, etc.
4: Airplanes that resist ice:
Ice and airplanes do not go well together, whilst flying so high above the ground, ice is prone to existent and get on the plane and damaging everyone’s life, flying would have been impossible, so NASA came up with materials that make it safe for planes to fly high above and resistant to ice, dust, and other harmful particle.
Now, this technology is used in the airplanes we fly in occasionally and even small personal jets. Hence being extremely useful.
5: Mobile Phones with Cameras:
Yes, NASA also invented cell phones with cameras.
In the beginning, when astronauts would go on space missions and conspiracy theorists were pleased by nothing they would have their doubts and astronauts needed something that they could carry around and also take high-definition pictures with at the same time, so came forth technology and they built CMO’s that are used in one out of three cellphones for sure.
6: Eyeglasses Resistant to Scratches:
The lens of the glasses would be made of glass which turned out to be harmful because small accidents could be caused that could result in the glass going inside the eye and blinding you for life, like needing glasses in the first place was not punishment enough, so, plastic lenses were invented but they would get scratches on them, so NASA came up with the solution and invented lenses that were resistant to scratches.
7: Safer Highways:
You’re sitting in a car, going at full speed, and you do not know what awaits you, one mistake and you’re gone forever, you cease to exist and that is the end for you.
NASA invented and developed grooved pavements, that made highways safer, they would keep the water off the roads so vehicles do not slip and accidents are caused, the number of accidents caused went down and we have NASA to thank for that as well.
8: Filtered Water:
Filtered water was invented for the usage of astronauts on their trips, to make sure that they had clean drinking water that was urine-proof, nowadays it is used in almost all filtration systems that make water drinkable.
9: Blankets for Survival:
Survival blankets were created from the material that NASA used to protect all of their space crafts, so we can say that the blankets are very safe and will help in situations of danger and discomfort.
10: Invisible Braces:
People who need braces are always picked on and mocked and that can make them insecure and uneasy, NASA came up with a material that was used for tracking missiles, and the same material is now used in creating invisible braces. (Oliveto, 2015)
Conclusion:
So, space is the final border but it might just be the most important one, maybe one day space will be the only option that we have left, at the rate things are going. Space exploration is extremely important, why? Because it has led to the creation of numerous technologies, and endless usage of things that we use in our day-to-day life and will further discover more, tests are happening in space at this exact moment in space for medicines that cannot be tested on Earth. If it was not for space exploration, we could get hit by comets or asteroids at any second but NASA protects us from all of that as well, there is a wealth of materials that are very precious in space, and if space mining continues happening, so many various materials can be extracted and saved and used by us and benefit us. In the end, we are all explorers, if we do not explore space then what else are we bound to do? Maybe, space exploration will save all our lives one day. (Whitwam, 2018)
References:
Cooke, L. (2016, July 01). 7 NASA discoveries that will blow your mind. Retrieved from https://inhabitat.com/7-nasa-discoveries-that-will-blow-your-mind/
Oliveto, J. (2015, July 27). 12 Things You Didn’t Know Were Invented By NASA. Retrieved from https://www.thrillist.com/tech/12-things-nasa-invented-that-you-use-everyday
Whitwam, R. (2018, April 24). 5 Reasons Space Exploration Is More Important Than Ever. Retrieved from https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/268062-5-reasons-space-exploration-is-more-important-than-ever
NASA ended its space shuttle project in 2011. This decision stimulated the development of the commercial space exploration industry. The current commercial space exploration market is vast, but at the same time, the commercial space exploration industry faces many problems, such as the lack of sufficient customers. Due to the high cost of research and development, the number of companies engaged in the industry is small, and the opportunity cost is also high. However, in the foreseeable future, due to the development of space technology, near-Earth orbit missions such as satellites will continue to increase. At the same time, due to the limited resources of the earth, human beings will inevitably explore outer space to obtain more resources. Therefore, this market will continue to grow, and the business model will be more mature. In this paper, I will discuss the significant opportunities in the commercial space industry.
Achievements that the NASA shuttle program reached
According to the NASA Apollo missions history (Loff, ‘The Apollo Missions,’ 2015), in 2011, NASA ended its space shuttle project. The shuttle program of NASA started in 1981 because of the competitive pressure from the Soviet Union. During the 30-year life span of the shuttle project, there are many achievements reached.
Based on the information that came from the chronology of NASA (Barry, ‘A CHRONOLOGY OF DEFINING EVENTS IN NASA HISTORY, 1958-1998’, 2012), at the beginning of 1981, after ten years of research and development, the ‘Colombia’ was finally built successfully, and it was launched on April 12. It is the first space shuttle to transport astronauts and equipment between space and ground. Its first flight was to test its orbital and landing capabilities. It flew 54 hours in space, and then the space plane landed safely after orbiting 36 times the Earth. Before building the ‘Challenger space shuttle, ‘Colombia’ made four more flights. ‘Colombia’ flew a total of 28 times.
The most famous flights of ‘Colombia.’
During the sixth flight in 1983, it carried a space laboratory built by Europe and had ten days of research activities on it. According to the Spaceflight mission report of STS-61C (Becker, ‘STS-61C’, 2019), on the seventh flight in 1986, the crew included Franklin Chang-Diaz (the first American American astronaut) and Bill Nelson (the first US Congressman to enter space). The achievements of ‘Colombia’ also included the transfer of many civilian and military satellites into space, the recovery of satellites requiring repair, and further space laboratory experiments. By the end of April 1996, the ‘Colombia’ had already carried out 19 flights.
In 1982, the Challenger became the second space shuttle of NASA. The Space Shuttle (formerly known as the Space Transportation System) consists of an orbiter, a solid-fuel rocket propeller, and an external combustion chamber. During its various flight missions, the Challenger put the European Space Laboratory and several militaries and scientific satellites into orbit.
The Space Shuttle Discovery is the third space shuttle built by the United States. The first flight of Discovery was on August 30, 1984, for a total of 30 flights, more than any other space shuttle.
Eye-catching achievement
According to the NASA Apollo missions history, in 1995, the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope was probably the most famous of the missions completed by Space Shuttle Discovery. It flew over the ‘Peace’ space station under the control of the first female space shuttle pilot, Eileen Collins. The Discovery also deployed several military and research satellites (including satellites from other countries) and repaired the failed satellite.
In 1985, Atlantis became the fourth space shuttle of NASA. The space shuttle Atlantis weighed 77.7 tons and was launched on October 3, 1985. It carried out 26 flights between October 1985 and March 1996.
Some of the more eye-catching achievements of the space shuttle, including the ‘Galileo’ and ‘Magellan planetary probes, were sent into space. In 1991, Shannon Lucid entered Russia’s ‘Peace’ space station. Lucid stayed on the space station for six months, breaking the space. The record of the stay time, after which the ‘Atlantis’ space shuttle, took her back to the ground.
‘Endeavour’ is the last space shuttle orbiter built by NASA. ‘Endeavour’ is 36.6 high. It costs more than 2 billion US dollars. It was launched on May 7, 1992, and flew 19 times.
The Shut Down of the Space Shuttle Project
The space shuttle is the most advanced, sophisticated, and fully functional spacecraft ever built since human civilization. According to the FAQ of the space shuttle program page from NASA (Bray, ‘Space Shuttle and International Space Station,’ 2015), regardless of the space shuttle R&D and manufacturing costs, each space shuttle flight costs more than $500 million. Use the space shuttle to mail parcels from the ground to the International Space Station; the cost per pound will be 20,000 US dollars. This also makes the US space shuttle the most expensive project in the world space industry.
After the tragedy of ‘Colombia’ and ‘Challenger,’ plus that when Obama took office, the fiscal deficit and the financial crisis deepened., he stopped many kinds of space programs that cost a large amount of money, which made the new aerospace aircraft construction plan canceled.
Conducive to privatization
The United States grounded space shuttle, on the surface, seems to be a major setback in the history of American space, but from an industrial point of view, this is a ‘transfusion’ type of development to the ‘hematopoietic’ type of development of the aerospace industry, will produce in the future Immeasurable benefits.
This will first allow more outstanding aerospace talents to flow to the mature private aerospace industry. The shutdown of the space shuttle project caused tens of thousands of people to lose their jobs, but private institutions absorbed most of them. On October 4, 2004, the first privately launched human-crewed spacecraft, Spaceship One, successfully carried out a suborbital flight, which opened the prelude to aerospace commercialization.
The Current Situation of The Commercial Space Exploration And Transport Industry
The private rocket manufacturing and launch service industry has grown significantly since 2000, especially the American Space Exploration Technology Company founded by Elon Musk, and the Blue Origin Company created by Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. They have all made great progress. From 2002 to the present, the US Space Exploration Technology Corporation spent 17 years developing crewed spaceflight technology. Compared with the traditional American aerospace companies such as Boeing and Lockheed Martin, the emerging small aerospace companies that entered the market later reduced the production cost by the small number of personnel and institutions and won the favor of NASA. The data (‘How SpaceX and Boeing will get Astronauts to the ISS. A comparison of the Crew Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz and Space Shuttle.’, 2019) shows that space exploration costs about $60 million per rocket, but the average cost of launching a rocket by Boeing and Lockheed Martin is $435 million.
From the above data, we can see that there is a large number of funds that the government agency provides to private space exploration companies.
Commercial rockets take the order of payload as the primary profit model, commercial satellite orders and national satellite orders are the main targets of commercial rocket profit. In the future, with the differentiation strategy of different enterprises, military trade orders, and space station transportation will become potential profit points.
The commercial rocket development stage is even earlier, the industry barriers are higher, the business model is mature, and it is mostly a rocket supplier and accepts civil or military orders as the main profit model, which is suitable for investors to enter at this stage. In the future, as the number of rocket launches increases, the potential business opportunities will be enormous.
Global commercial aerospace investment and development stage is positively related to growth
According to Bryce Space and Technology’s Bryce_Start_up_Space in 2018 (‘brycetech.com,’ 2018), the global investment trend in the commercial aerospace industry is in three stages. From 2001 to 2005, an average of 8 investments per year; in 2006-2011, an average of 23 investments per year occurred. In 2012-2017, it jumped to an average of 110 investments per year.
The Future of Private Sector In Space Exploration
As the report from the NATO report expressed (Bockel, ‘ESC 2018 General report – The Future of the Space Industry’, 2018), commercial rocket launch is entirely driven by supply and demand. The demand for commercial satellite launches will increase significantly in the future, and at the same time, with the national policy and the development strategy of private rocket companies, the launch orders will keep rising with the breakthrough of rocket development.
In addition to NASA’s technical and personnel support, private space exploration companies’ rapid development also relies on US space policy initiatives. Since 2006, the United States has successively issued a series of laws and regulations, such as the Commercial Space Launch Competitiveness Act and the Spurring Private Aerospace Competitiveness and Entrepreneurship (SPACE) Act, and specifically proposed to encourage and take practical measures to promote the commercial space transportation industry.
Conclusion
Based on the above analysis, we know that commercial aerospace will continue to thrive in the future, and with the development of technology and the continuous improvement of relevant laws and regulations, the commercial aerospace industry will have a better growth environment.
Commercial aerospace in the next few years will be based on near-Earth orbit transportation projects to research and develop long-range orbiters, and in the next few years, capital market investment in commercial space will usher in rapid growth, commercial aerospace will also Welcome a broader space for development.
References
Loff, S. (2015, March 16). The Apollo Missions. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/apollo/missions/index.html.
Barry, B. (2012, January 3). A CHRONOLOGY OF DEFINING EVENTS IN NASA HISTORY, 1958-1998. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.history.nasa.gov/40thann/define.htm.
Becker, J. (2019, January 1). STS-61C. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from http://www.spacefacts.de/mission/english/sts-61c.htm.
Bray, N. (2015, April 28). Space Shuttle and International Space Station. Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://www.nasa.gov/centers/kennedy/about/information/shuttle_faq.html.
How SpaceX and Boeing will get Astronauts to the ISS. A comparison of the Crew Dragon, Starliner, Soyuz, and Space Shuttle. (2019, February 22). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://everydayastronaut.com/crew-dragon-vs-starliner/.
brycetech.com. (n.d.). Retrieved October 13, 2019, from https://brycetech.com/downloads/Bryce_Start_Up_Space_2018.pdf.
Bockel, J.-M. (2018, November 17). ESC 2018 General Report – The Future of the Space Industry. Retrieved October 12, 2019, from https://www.nato-pa.int/sites/default/files/2018-12/2018 – THE FUTURE OF SPACE INDUSTRY – Bockel REPORT – 173 ESC 18 E fin.pdf
In this modern world there are various professions, among them engineering is considered a well-renowned and highly respected profession. Human lives are precious and worthy, In that way, an engineer’s life is more valuable because an engineer carries massive responsibility throughout his life. Engineers face many hazards in their work place in their day-to-day life. It is very important to acknowledge those hazards which threatens the engineers.
Engineering is a versatile and large stream as there are many parts of engineering. Such as Electronics and telecommunication engineering, computer science and engineering, civil engineering, mechanical engineering, chemical and process engineering etc. Even though all these engineering fields have risks of different types, mechanical engineering field is mostly considered as the highly risked field. Mechanical engineering is built up with various sub branches such as aerospace engineering, thermal engineering, vehicle engineering, etc. Engineering is a common field where both men and women show interest in being a part of it. But in the mechanical engineering field, most men show interest rather than women, because of the major hazards and the type of work . For instance power tools and giant equipment are used in the mechanical field which are difficult to be handled by both men and women. So the hazards in their work places increase the fear among mechanical engineers. So it’s not only important to address the risk factors but also important to find solutions for their problems. safety engineering and its principles, the importance of risk management in mechanical engineering, and solutions to manage hazards are below.
Safety engineering and its principles
“Safety engineering” is a phrase that is very obvious to us and reveals the importance of providing the needful facilities and risk-free surroundings to every engineer and making them comfortable both physically and mentally. Through the principles of safety engineering, there are many ways to protect engineers. Engineering is a field which has a long past, even though technology has grown immensely in this modern world and most of the engineering works are computerized some of the engineering fields are manually done. Among them mechanical engineering profession is all about handling machinery, testing newly designed equipment and working with toxic materials, because of this aspect of the profession mechanical engineering is considered a ‘hands-on engagement’ profession. So the risk factor is high in the mechanical department when compared to the other departments. “Safety engineering” consists of three major principles such as hazard identification, hazard evaluation, and hazard controlling.
1) Hazard identification
First of all, the word hazard is not familiar to everyone. We may have heard this word in various places but in detail “hazard” stands for risk or danger at an extreme level. Next it can be identified through past events and can be assumed in mechanical engineering field.
Working outdoors and under hard circumstances
Apart from laboratory testing works and computer-assisted work mechanical engineers are supposed to work in difficult conditions. For instance, in aerospace engineering engineers risk their lives while they test newly designed parts of the aerospace. Even small technical failures may lead to big loss. Operating big aerospace machinery is risky because mishandling those may cause cuts in hands and minor injuries. Thermal engineering is about controlling the environment by the system of cooling and heating, working under these conditions create more hazards as the unsteady temperature may affect the workers and make them sick.
Working with nonfamiliar equipment
Every profession requires equipment which is essential to it. For example, doctors need stethoscopes as a tool. However, in mechanical engineering, most of the tools used by engineers are gigantic and hard to operate. Most of them work with the assistance of major power plants and power generators. Even a tiny mistake in that system will harm many of the workers. Because of the broadness of the mechanical engineering field engineers are supposed to work with harmful chemicals, and flammable gases so here also the chances of getting affected by misusing the above things may hurt them. Big chains and wheels are also can cause damage, and moving objects and machinery can trap some of the body parts which is called “shearing”. Drillers and cutters are also some of the equipment that threaten mechanical engineers. Direct contact with sharp-edged equipment such as blades will cause severe. Oscillating and rotating objects are also quite dangerous as they can be very harmful by hitting the engineers who operate them.
Unexpected hazards
Nature is the most common factor for everyone. There are various aspects of the nature. Some of its aspects create a danger to everyone, and mechanical engineers are also among those victims. Fire accidents are more likely to happen in the mechanical engineering field. These could affect engineers by creating fire wounds and damaging their equipment. Pressure is also a major cause that changes rapidly in mechanical engineers’ workplaces. This factor also affects them and makes them feel uncomfortable.
2) Hazard evaluation
Every system has a process for it. Here the above-identified hazards should be carried through a process to find solutions. Hazards are created by both human error and nature. Even though human errors can be reduced through proper systems natural threats are difficult to reduce. To reduce human errors every mechanical engineer and the other workers on the work site should know their responsibilities. For example, there is a supervisor who should be a good observer and should have the presence of mind.
Next, it’s very important to address the consequences of these hazards in common. This can be divided into two categories. The first one is minor problems such as small cuts, scrapes, lacerations, bruises, slight injuries, and minor machinery damages. The second one is serious problems such as limbs broken or torn out, serious injury with stitches, death, and major machinery damage. Because of these consequences affected engineers get physically and mentally ill. For instance, they will suffer under stress and feel uncomfortable.
