Aerospace Simplified Blog

The United States military is a massive purchaser of goods. Tanks, jets, and weapons of war are the most obvious things the Department of Defense requires, but the military is also a leading purchaser for things like storage solutions, electronics, hardware of all shapes and kinds, service and repair tools, and more. But in the military, everything must be standardized for the sake of reliability, commonality, and compatibility between various systems, allowing maintenance crews to swap out components at a moment’s notice. MIL-SPEC is the set of specifications that the military has set for a particular component, with most of the component’s design rights owned by the government. MIL-SPEC certified equipment is manufactured by various companies to the specifications needed to sell to the Department of Defense and its various contractors.

All modern computers, from business servers to personal laptops to high-end gaming PCs, depend on microprocessors to function. Also known as a CPU or central processing unit, a microprocessor is a complete computation engine that has been fabricated onto a single chip.

Like all complex machinery, aircraft design is highly iterative. Blueprints will be drawn and redrawn dozens of times over the course of an aircraft’s development, and this holds true for an aircraft’s pylons as well. The pylon, the structure that attaches the aircraft’s engines to its wings, is a critically important part of the fuselage, and so goes through multiple iterations.

Given how complex modern aircraft are, it’s only appropriate that  inspections and maintenance procedures  are exhaustive. With so many pieces of equipment, safety requires persistent vigilance from both the pilot and the technician. Routine check-ups can also ensure a properly functioning aircraft—avoiding costly repairs down the line.

A deicing boot is an important component involved in removing ice from the exterior of an aircraft. It is a type of ice deterrent system that enables mechanical deicing while an aircraft is in flight. Deicing boots are typically installed on the outer edge of a wing, where the likelihood to accumulate ice is much greater. A buildup of ice can significantly impair the aerodynamics of an aircraft, leading to safety risks.

Marine propellers operate, essentially, the same way that aircraft propellers do: the propellers generate forward thrust by pushing the fluid back, and the resulting force moves the object forward. This is due to Newton’s third law of motion— for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. The propellers are connected to a rotary shaft that is powered by an engine. But marine propellers come in many different specs, all classified and sorted by the number of attached blades and the blade pitch.

“It’s all part of the genie gig—phenomenal cosmic power... itty bitty living space.” In terms of this itty-bitty electrical component, the Genie in Disney’s Aladdin had it right. Capacitors provide a large amount of power in a compact vessel and are used in a wide range of electronics. They are a passive electrical mechanism charged by a current, with the ability to store energy within an electric field. This capability can be utilized to power a camera flash, remote signal, or even switch AC current to DC smoothly.

Aerospace engineering is defined as a field associated with the design, development, and manufacturing of aircraft and spacecraft. There are two overlapping branches in this field: aeronautical and astronautical engineering. Aeronautical engineering refers to aircraft that operate within Earth’s atmosphere, while astronautical engineering refers to spacecraft that operate beyond Earth’s atmosphere.  In order to familiarize yourself with aerospace engineering, here are 6 fun facts you probably didn’t know about aerospace engineering.          

One of the most dangerous things that can happen to your aircraft is icing. The frozen water and sleet that form on the exterior of your aircraft can be disastrous, so it’s crucial to use de-icing equipment and know which equipment you should use. Pneumatic de-ice boots, weeping wings, bleed air heated surfaces, electrically heated surfaces, and electro-mechanical expulsion is all helpful tools in de-icing your aircraft.

We don’t really think about it, but it’s amazing that we fly year-round. We fly in the heat of summer and in the cold of winter. And we do so safely and without worry. Most of the time at least. But if stop to think about it a bit, we’d realize that flying in the winter, when it’s so cold that water freezes to form snow and ice in seconds, is dangerous because just a bit of ice freezing on the wrong part of an engine could be disastrous.