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Category Archives: Aerospace

Mukilteo’s Electroimpact selected as aerospace company of the year

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Mukilteo's Electroimpact selected as aerospace company of the year

By Jim Davis HBJ Editor

Mukilteo-based Electroimpact was chosen as the aerospace company of the year, the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance announced this week.

The company was hailed for its unique style of operation, cutting edge tooling and for bringing bold ideas to fruition, according to the aerospace alliance.

The company has worked to improve our industry through legislation, education, training and community service. Electroimpacts philanthropic generosity has benefitted STEM, FIRST Robotics and the aerospace industry as a whole, according to a release from the Pacific Northwest Aerospace Alliance.

Electroimpact makes automated assembly equipment for the aerospace industry. Its customers include Boeing, Airbus and other aerospace companies around the world. The company has more than 600 employees in the U.S. and abroad.

Peter Zieve established Electroimpact in 1986 after he earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of Washington.

Electroimpact will be honored Wednesday by aerospace alliance chairman JC Hall at next weeks annual aerospace conference in Lynnwood.

The aerospace company of the year is one of five aerospace industry excellence awards given out by the aerospace alliance, which promotes the growth and success of the industry in the Northwest.

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Mukilteo's Electroimpact selected as aerospace company of the year

Korea’s Aerospace Roadmap: Seoul to send Moon orbiter on homegrown rocket by 2020 – Video

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Korea #39;s Aerospace Roadmap: Seoul to send Moon orbiter on homegrown rocket by 2020
Thursday marks one year since Korea #39;s Naro space rocket finally made it into space after three failed attempts.... and placed its load - a science satellite ...

By: ARIRANG NEWS

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Korea's Aerospace Roadmap: Seoul to send Moon orbiter on homegrown rocket by 2020 - Video

Lee Aerospace Re-Acquires Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, Eyes New Opportunities

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Wichita, KS--January 29, 2014 --Lee Aerospace, Inc. is back. After 14 years as part of the Triumph Group, Inc., the Wichita, Kansas-based aircraft window, sheet metal and composite structure operation known since 2000 as Triumph Aerospace Systems-WIchita was re-acquired by the firms founder and current president, Jim Lee, on January 17, 2014. The new entity has revived its original brand and will again be known as Lee Aerospace, Inc.

The opportunity to re-acquire the company presented itself late last year and we are pleased to announce that Lee Aerospace has returned after 14 years of being part of the Triumph family, said Jim Lee, president. We are excited to once again be a locally-owned and operated company serving local OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) and others around the world.

Being part of Triumph was a great learning experience and we are grateful to the Triumph Group for the support and foundation they provided as we grew the business from a producer of aircraft transparencies to include aerostructures and assemblies, composite manufacturing and aftermarket sales, as well.

The new Lee Aerospace is projecting a solid year in 2014 and expects to increase its employment in the coming months. This is an exciting time for us, Lee continued. We anticipate significant growth in employment and strong sales performance as we add new products and begin deliveries of large aircraft assemblies to Viking Air Limited, a first tier original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

We are extremely pleased to have been chosen by Viking to supply them with fuselage sections for the Viking Twin Otter 400. We began work on this project during mid-year 2013 and are proud to announce that, last weekend, we shipped the first of what we expect will be many fuselage sections to their assembly location in Calgary, Alberta.

With more than 800 built, Twin Otters can be found around the world in jungles, deserts, mountains, and polar regions-- anywhere rugged reliability and short-take-off-and-landing are required. Adding to that versatility the Twin Otter can be fitted with wheels, skis or floats. In 2001, it was deemed the only aircraft capable of performing a South Pole evacuation flight of a critical patient in the harsh -60C conditions. Lee Aerospace builds the fuselage assemblies for the Viking 400 version.

Originally founded in 1989, Lee Aerospace currently occupies facilities totaling more than 146,000-square feet at 9323 E. 34th Street North and employs more than 200. During its 14 years as a Triumph Group company it increased employment by more than 300% and revenues by 350%. In addition to Viking, Lee Aerospace looks forward to continuing our great working relationships with Wichita-based manufacturers Bombardier Learjet, Beechcraft, Cessna, and Spirit AeroSystems, as well as non-local airframers Honda, Cirrus, and Gulfstream, Lee concluded. Further information can be obtained by visiting the Lee Aerospace website at http://www.leeaerospace.com or calling 316-636-9200.

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Lee Aerospace Re-Acquires Triumph Aerospace Systems-Wichita, Eyes New Opportunities

Ball Aerospace satellite readied for launch by DigitalGlobe

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WorldView-3 spacecraft to enhance Longmont firm's high-resolution imagery capabilities

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed assembly of its WorldView-3, the fourth remote-sensing satellite it has built for DigitalGlobe, scheduled to launch this summer from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base.

The WorldView-3 spacecraft is billed by Ball Aerospace as the first multi-payload, super-spectral high resolution commercial satellite for Earth observations and "advanced geospatial solutions."

Ball, in addition to the satellite bus, will provide an atmospheric instrument that it calls CAVIS - Cloud, Aerosol, Water Vapor, Ice, Snow.

CAVIS, integrated with the spacecraft, will monitor the atmosphere and provide correction data to enhance WorldView-3's imagery when it documents Earth features through dust, haze or other things that might impair visibility.

DigitalGlobe, based in Longmont but moving to Westminster next year, claims to own and operate one of the most agile and sophisticated collections of high-resolution commercial Earth imaging satellites in the world, capable of collecting more than 1 billion square kilometers of high-quality imagery every year.

WorldView-3 is described by Ball Aerospace as building on WorldView-2 and WorldView-1 technology by enhancing the satellite's control moment gyroscopes, which reorient a satellite over a targeted area in 4-to-5 seconds, compared to the 30-to-45 seconds required for traditional reaction wheels.

WorldView-3 utilizes the Ball Configurable Platform BCP 5000 spacecraft, which is designed to handle the next-generation optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing payloads, and is currently meeting or exceeding all its performance specifications on the WorldView-2 satellite.

Companies 'have grown up together'

For Jeff Dierks, Ball Aerospace program manager for WorldView-3 and its predecessor, WorldView-2, the next step in its partnership with DigitalGlobe only further cements what has been a rich relationship since the early 1990s.

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Ball Aerospace satellite readied for launch by DigitalGlobe

WEF 2013 – Sponsored by NEWALTA, Natalie Panek, Robotic Operator and Aerospace Engineer – Video

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WEF 2013 - Sponsored by NEWALTA, Natalie Panek, Robotic Operator and Aerospace Engineer
Women Engineering the Future (WEF13) Women Defining the Future Luncheon Keynote - sponsored by NEWALTA Innovation is found in those who let curiosity lead - ...

By: Sharon Cornwall

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WEF 2013 - Sponsored by NEWALTA, Natalie Panek, Robotic Operator and Aerospace Engineer - Video

2013 good year for Britain’s commercial aerospace sector

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LONDON, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- A British aerospace industry group said 2013 was a record year for commercial aerospace in the country, with orders for aircraft rising 28 percent over 2012.

A new monthly commercial aircraft and engine orders tracker also indicates that new orders have increased the backlog to more than 11,000 aircraft and 20,000 engines and that the continuity of demand will support many thousands of high value, skilled jobs in Britain, the ADS Group said.

"Global demand for new aircraft and engines is generating new demand and opportunity for the U.K. aerospace industry," said Paul Everitt, chief executive of ADS. "The 7 percent increase in new aircraft deliveries and the 17 percent increase in the aircraft order book makes 2013 one of the most successful years on record.

"To maintain the U.K.'s share of this fast growing market we must increase investment in technology, innovation and skills."

ADS said key findings from its data are: annual commercial aircraft orders rose to a record 3,182, almost 50 percent of which are for new aviation programs; Aircraft order backlog increased by 17 percent; Aircraft deliveries in 2013 rose by 7 percent year on year; 2,646 engines were delivered in 2013; and nearly 5,000 engine orders were placed.

"These figures highlight the opportunities for growth in the aerospace industry and the potential rewards that British businesses could reap," said Britain's Secretary of State for Business Vince Cable. "That is why government and industry are forming a long-term partnership to keep Britain at the forefront of the global aerospace market.

"Together we have committed 2 billion pounds (about $3.3 billion) over the next seven years to create an Aerospace Technology Institute to help us win work on developing and building the planes and helicopters of the future, here in the U.K."

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2013 good year for Britain's commercial aerospace sector

Ball Aerospace Completes Integration of WorldView-3 Spacecraft

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Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. has completed integration of WorldView-3, the next generation commercial remote-sensing satellite being built for DigitalGlobe, a leading global provider of high-resolution earth imagery solutions. WorldView-3, the fourth remote-sensing satellite built for DigitalGlobe by Ball, is scheduled to launch from California's Vandenberg Air Force Base in summer 2014.

With the imagery sensor and associated electronics now integrated, the completed satellite bus is ready for system-level performance testing, followed by thermal vacuum and environmental testing.

"Ball's third commercial platform in the WorldView series will equip DigitalGlobe with advanced technologies to enhance its high-resolution imagery constellation," said Cary Ludtke, vice president and general manager for Ball's Operational Space business unit. "Ball and DigitalGlobe have proven to be a strong team for providing government and commercial customers with some of the highest quality and resolution satellite imagery available."

WorldView-3 is the first multi-payload, super-spectral, high-resolution commercial satellite for earth observations and advanced geospatial solutions. Operating at an expected altitude of 617 km, WorldView-3 collects 31 cm panchromatic resolution, 1.24 m multispectral resolution, 3.7 m short-wave infrared (SWIR) resolution, and 30 m CAVIS resolution.

In addition to the satellite bus, Ball Aerospace is providing an atmospheric instrument called CAVIS, which stands for Cloud, Aerosol, Water Vapor, Ice, Snow. CAVIS will monitor the atmosphere and provide correction data to improve WorldView-3's imagery when it images earth objects through haze, soot, dust or other obscurants. CAVIS has also been integrated with the spacecraft.

"With each successive payload developed in partnership with Ball, DigitalGlobe has expanded the range of questions about the surface of the earth that can be answered with high-resolution satellite imaging," said Dr. Walter Scott, executive vice president, chief technical officer and founder of DigitalGlobe. "DigitalGlobe prides itself on owning and operating one of the most agile and sophisticated constellations of high-resolution commercial earth imaging satellites in the world, currently capable of collecting over 1 billion km2 of the highest quality imagery per year. WorldView-3 follows in this pioneering tradition with innovations like CAVIS that continue to enable DigitalGlobe to lead the industry and help our customers see things never before possible."

WorldView-3 builds upon WorldView-2 and WorldView-1 technology by carrying forward the satellites' advanced Control Moment Gyroscopes (CMGs). The CMGs reorient a satellite over a desired collection area in 4-5 seconds, compared to 30-45 seconds needed for traditional reaction wheels.

WorldView-3 employs the Ball Configurable Platform BCP 5000 spacecraft, designed to handle the next-generation optical and synthetic aperture radar remote sensing payloads and is currently meeting or exceeding all performance specifications on the WorldView-2 satellite. The high-performance BCP 5000 has a design life of more than seven years, and provides a platform with increased power, resolution, agility, target selection, flexibility, transmission capability and data storage. Ball provided the BCP 5000 under a fixed-price contract.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. supports critical missions for national agencies such as the Department of Defense, NASA, NOAA and other U.S. government and commercial entities. The company develops and manufactures spacecraft, advanced instruments and sensors, components, data exploitation systems and RF solutions for strategic, tactical and scientific applications. For more information, visit http://www.ballaerospace.com.

Ball Corporation (NYSE: BLL) supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 15,000 people worldwide and reported 2012 sales of more than $8.7 billion. For more information, visit http://www.ball.com or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter.

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Ball Aerospace Completes Integration of WorldView-3 Spacecraft


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