Aurora Flight Sciences: Difference between revisions

Aurora Flight Sciences
	NASA / Aurora D8 airliner concept
Industry	Aerospace manufacturer
Founded	1989
Founder	John S. Langford III
Headquarters	Manassas, Virginia, United States
Number of locations	4
Products	Unmanned aerial vehicles
Number of employees	468
Parent	Boeing
Website	http://www.aurora.aero

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Revision as of 09:04, 15 March 2019

Aurora Flight Sciences is an American aviation and aeronautics research subsidiary of Boeing which primarily specializes in the design and construction of special-purpose Unmanned aerial vehicles. Aurora has been established for 20+ years and their headquarters is at the Manassas Airport in Manassas, Virginia.

History

In 1989, The company was founded in Alexandria, Virginia, as a follow on to the MIT Daedalus Project.

In 1991, its first aircraft was the Perseus proof of concept (POC) built for NASA which first flew at NASA Dryden. It was followed by two Perseus As and one Perseus B which were all built for the NASA ERAST Program. A twin engine Theseus was also built.

In 1995 Aurora joined the Global Hawk team and continues to build composite fuselage components and tail assemblies of the RQ-4 for Northrop Grumman and the USAF.

In 2002, a demonstration aircraft was flown from an altitude of 100,000' to simulate the low density of the martian atmosphere. Aurora has been involved in several NASA programs studying how to fly an aircraft on the planet Mars.

In 2008, the DARPA Vulture aimed for an UAV that could stay aloft for at least five years in the stratosphere, carrying a 1,000 lb (450 kg) payload: Aurora proposed three drones taking off separately then joining up in flight, to form an efficient flat wing at night, and folding into a Z for the best solar energy collection in daylight.^[2]

In 2009, as Aurora has developed its own line of small vertical take-off UAVs known as the Aurora Goldeneye, the third variant of this family, the GoldenEye-80, was first flown publicly at Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International's Unmanned Systems North America trade show.

On October 5, 2017 Boeing announced that it would be acquiring Aurora Flight Sciences.^[3]

In April 2018, as DARPA allowed Aurora to transition government-funded technology for commercial applications, the tilt-wing XV-24A Lightning Strike and its distributed propulsion could be reused for an electric commercial air taxi along its lift-and-cruise prototype with vertical flight rotors and cruise fixed propellers, unveiled in 2017. Aurora plans multiple demonstrators controlled centrally by 2020 and a piloted air taxi by 2023 with autonomy later depending on regulation.^[4]

In spring 2019, Aurora plans to fly a High-Altitude Long Endurance drone powered by solar cells and batteries, Odysseus.

Facilities

Aurora has four facilities that each have their own focus. Corporate Headquarters and Engineering are in Manassas, Virginia. A manufacturing center was opened in Fairmont, West Virginia in 1994, being moved to Bridgeport in 2000. Another manufacturing facility was opened in Starkville, Mississippi in 2005 before being moved to the nearby Golden Triangle Regional Airport in Columbus in 2007. A research and development center was opened in Cambridge, Massachusetts in 2005 where Aurora now develops a line of micro air vehicles.

Aircraft produced

Perseus POC
Perseus A
Theseus
Perseus B
Chiron
MarsFlyer^[5]
GoldenEye 100
GoldenEye 50^[6]
GoldenEye 80^[7]
Excalibur^[8]
Centaur Optionally-Piloted Aircraft (OPA)
Orion
SunLight Eagle
Odysseus
Skate SUAS
Tactical Autonomous Aerial Logistics System (TALOS)
- H-6U Unmanned Little Bird
- Bell 206
- UH-1H UAV

Proposed aircraft

Antonov An-72 for United States Air Force Advanced Composite Cargo Aircraft (ACCA) - lost out to Lockheed Martin X-55.^{[citation needed]}
Aurora D8 for NASA by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology - currently under development. A flight test will be conducted by 2021.^[9]
The Aurora XV-24 LightningStrike was the selected proposal for the VTOL X-Plane program, cancelled in April 2018.

Other products

Robotic Copilot^[10]

References

^ "AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES CORPORATION". sbir.gov. Retrieved April 2, 2017.
^ Graham Warwick (Nov 14, 2018). "This Is Aurora's Massive Solar-Powered Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
^ Alwyn Scott (October 5, 2017). "Boeing to buy autonomous and electric flight firm Aurora". Reuters.
^ Stephen Trimble (25 April 2018). "DARPA approval clears Boeing's transition to new air taxi approach". Flightglobal.
^ "ARES Mars Scout Mission Proposal - Platform". Marsairplane.larc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2013-12-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)
^ "GoldenEye 50 Gets Airworthiness Certificate", Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, June 19, 2007. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.
^ "Morris, Jefferson: GoldenEye 80 UAV Gearing Up For Second Flight", AviationWeek.com, December 7, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.
^ Hovering Hybrid, page 36. Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 20, 2009.
^ Graham Warwick (Jan 18, 2017). "Aurora Refines Design Of Ultraefficient D8 Airliner". Aviation Week & Space Technology.
^ https://www.aurora.aero/robotic_copilot/ Robotic Copilot

External links

Aurora home page

[sbir.gov-1] "AURORA FLIGHT SCIENCES CORPORATION". sbir.gov. Retrieved April 2, 2017.

[AvWeek14nov2018-2] Graham Warwick (Nov 14, 2018). "This Is Aurora's Massive Solar-Powered Stratospheric Unmanned Aircraft". Aviation Week & Space Technology.

[3] Alwyn Scott (October 5, 2017). "Boeing to buy autonomous and electric flight firm Aurora". Reuters.

[Flight25apr2018-4] Stephen Trimble (25 April 2018). "DARPA approval clears Boeing's transition to new air taxi approach". Flightglobal.

[5] "ARES Mars Scout Mission Proposal - Platform". Marsairplane.larc.nasa.gov. Archived from the original on 2013-12-12. Retrieved 2013-12-26. {{cite web}}: Unknown parameter |deadurl= ignored (|url-status= suggested) (help)

[6] "GoldenEye 50 Gets Airworthiness Certificate", Aerospace Daily & Defense Report, June 19, 2007. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.

[7] "Morris, Jefferson: GoldenEye 80 UAV Gearing Up For Second Flight", AviationWeek.com, December 7, 2006. Retrieved on August 25, 2009.

[8] Hovering Hybrid, page 36. Aviation Week & Space Technology, July 20, 2009.

[9] Graham Warwick (Jan 18, 2017). "Aurora Refines Design Of Ultraefficient D8 Airliner". Aviation Week & Space Technology.

[10] ttps://www.aurora.aero/robotic_copilot/ Robotic Copilot

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 ===Facilities===
-Aurora has four facilities that each have their own focus.  Corporate Headquarters and Engineering are in [[Manassas, VA]].  A manufacturing center was opened in Fairmont, WV in 1994.  It was moved to [[Bridgeport, West Virginia|Bridgeport, WV]] in 2000.  Another manufacturing facility was opened in Starkville, MS in 2005.  In 2007 it was moved to the nearby [[Golden Triangle Regional Airport]] in [[Columbus, MS]].  A research and development center was opened in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts|Cambridge]], Massachusetts in 2005 where Aurora now develops a line of [[micro air vehicle]]s.
+Aurora has four facilities that each have their own focus.  Corporate Headquarters and Engineering are in [[Manassas, Virginia]].  A manufacturing center was opened in [[Fairmont, West Virginia]] in 1994, being moved to [[Bridgeport, West Virginia|Bridgeport]] in 2000.  Another manufacturing facility was opened in [[Starkville, Mississippi]] in 2005 before being moved to the nearby [[Golden Triangle Regional Airport]] in [[Columbus, MS|Columbus]] in 2007.  A research and development center was opened in [[Cambridge, Massachusetts]] in 2005 where Aurora now develops a line of [[micro air vehicle]]s.
 ==Aircraft produced==