In H.G. Wells’ War of the Worlds, the narrator dis­covers that the invading Martians have been “slain by the…disease bacteria against which their systems were ­unprepared;…slain, after all man’s devices had failed, by the humblest things that God, in his ...

It is not often that both the NAE president and executive officer appear simultaneously in an issue of The Bridge, but this is just such an occasion.

In his President’s Perspective, John Anderson writes about the engineering response to covid-19 and the importance of international coalition ...

Aeronautics: Back to the Future

It has been 16 years since The Bridge last focused on aviation (fall 2004). Since then aviation has witnessed significant advances in propulsion, structure, and guidance, navigation, and control, to name just a few areas. There is even renewed interest and ...

This is an exciting time of both opportunities and challenges for civil aeronautics. Opportunities include dramatic reductions in aircraft noise and the development of drones of all sizes and shapes, air taxis, and low-boom supersonic travel. Challenges include the need for new technologies and ...

According to two recent reports (ATAG 2018; IHLG 2019), the aviation sector represents a major economic factor for the global economy: its economic value is estimated at $2.7 trillion and it generates 65.5 million jobs. In 2018 airlines carried more than 4.3 billion passengers on scheduled flights, ...

The past decade has seen the number of electric and hybrid electric cars sold increase from about zero to over 2 million per year at an annualized growth rate of over 60 percent (Hertzke et al. 2019). Is a similar revolution in store for aircraft? The rise of the flygskam (flight shaming) movement ...

Nearly two decades ago the age of supersonic commercial aviation appeared to come to a close. The Anglo-French Concorde, which flew p­assengers at Mach 2 for 27 years, was retired in 2003.

Concorde was a technological marvel but plagued by high operating costs. The limited production run ...

Increased dependence on autonomous systems is a significant driver for advocating more rigorous proactive risk analyses (Ramos et al. 2019) of the safety of air travel. Modern aircraft alert systems represent a target area for quantitative risk assessments (QRAs). Examples of such systems are the ...

In aeronautics, the word “autonomy” engenders visions of a future in which aircraft are able and allowed to operate in civil airspace independent of human control or supervision—without pilots or ground-based operators/supervisors, interacting with air traffic controllers (which ...

The primary benefit of hypersonic flight is extreme speed, whether to engage a time-critical or well-defended military threat, travel between global cities in a couple of hours, or achieve Earth orbit.

Hypersonic Flight and How It Is Achieved

Although the definition of supersonic speed is ...

The United States’ economic growth and competitiveness depend on the capacity to innovate. Innovation and entrepreneurship in aerospace have historically kept the United States at the forefront of technology advances and spurred economic growth, creating new industries such as commercial ...

The discipline known as ethics concerns the study of what one ought to do. However, simply because a person knows which action is morally right does not necessarily mean s/he will actually do it. Time constraints, ­economic pressure, and human factors can all contribute to poor ethical ...

Renewables are in the limelight of economic models and there is much discussion about making the internal combustion engine (ICE) obsolete, perhaps with power sources such as batteries and hydrogen fuel cells. Yet ICE replacement may not be necessary.

The source of most transportation emissions is ...

An Interview with . . .Lisa Eastep, Metallurgist and Roller Derby Competitor

RON LATANISION (RML): Lisa, it’s good to talk with you, what with the disruptions of the coronavirus pandemic. How are things in Rhode Island?

LISA EASTEP: The state started opening this week.

RML: What does that ...

Being at sea is perilous. Any safety feature on a ship can backfire. Lew had known that well since his Navy days—he spent long deployments in the Western Pacific during the Vietnam conflict. Later, he worked in corporate public relations building a career in crisis management. Then he found ...