Beagle 2: Seeking the signatures of life on Mars

ESA's Beagle 2 lander will land on Mars to search for signatures of present and past life. A Gas Analysis Package (GAP) with a mass spectrometer, XRF, Mossbauer, stereo cameras, microscope, environmental sensors, rock corer/grinder, and a Mole attachment are on the lander

Programmable Electronic Delay Device for Detonator

Delay devices are used to perform various roles like aiding in sequential release of payload, providing safety in flight/ trajectory, enabling self-destruction of ammunitions, allowing blast of the warhead after penetration in runway/bunker, etc. The delay time is introduced to cause a series of detonation events from the explosive charge, in order to achieve desired efficiency. Inspite of many improvements performed along the years, in search of precise delay compositions, it is noticed that the obtained accuracy in chemical delay compositions is of ±4%.The present work using microcontroller gives possible accuracy of upto ±1%.This paper discusses about programmable electronic delay device, timing accuracy of electronic delay device and its merits over chemical delay devices.Defence Science Journal, 2013, 63(3), pp.305-307, DOI:http://dx.doi.org/10.14429/dsj.63.288

A comparison of processing techniques for producing prototype injection moulding inserts.

This project involves the investigation of processing techniques for producing low-cost moulding inserts used in the particulate injection moulding (PIM) process. Prototype moulds were made from both additive and subtractive processes as well as a combination of the two. The general motivation for this was to reduce the entry cost of users when considering PIM. PIM cavity inserts were first made by conventional machining from a polymer block using the pocket NC desktop mill. PIM cavity inserts were also made by fused filament deposition modelling using the Tiertime UP plus 3D printer. The injection moulding trials manifested in surface finish and part removal defects. The feedstock was a titanium metal blend which is brittle in comparison to commodity polymers. That in combination with the mesoscale features, small cross-sections and complex geometries were considered the main problems. For both processing methods, fixes were identified and made to test the theory. These consisted of a blended approach that saw a combination of both the additive and subtractive processes being used. The parts produced from the three processing methods are investigated and their respective merits and issues are discussed

Reducing risk in pre-production investigations through undergraduate engineering projects.

This poster is the culmination of final year Bachelor of Engineering Technology (B.Eng.Tech) student projects in 2017 and 2018. The B.Eng.Tech is a level seven qualification that aligns with the Sydney accord for a three-year engineering degree and hence is internationally benchmarked. The enabling mechanism of these projects is the industry connectivity that creates real-world projects and highlights the benefits of the investigation of process at the technologist level. The methodologies we use are basic and transparent, with enough depth of technical knowledge to ensure the industry partners gain from the collaboration process. The process we use minimizes the disconnect between the student and the industry supervisor while maintaining the academic freedom of the student and the commercial sensitivities of the supervisor. The general motivation for this approach is the reduction of the entry cost of the industry to enable consideration of new technologies and thereby reducing risk to core business and shareholder profits. The poster presents several images and interpretive dialogue to explain the positive and negative aspects of the student process

Aerodynamics for the ADEPT SR-1 Flight Experiment

Adaptable, Deployable, Entry, and Placement Technology (ADEPT) is a combination of a heatshield and an aerodynamic decelerator for atmospheric entry applications. The ADEPT Sounding Rocket (SR)-1 mission was a suborbital flight experiment of an 0.7 m-diameter ADEPT to verify system-level performance and to characterize dynamic stability behavior. The aerodynamic database for ADEPT SR-1 was constructed from non-continuum and continuum flowfield computations, along with data from recent ADEPT ground testing and the IRVE-3 flight test vehicle. High-altitude (free-molecular and transitional regimes) data were generated using DSMC methods. Pre-flight predictions of continuum static aerodynamics coefficients were derived from Reynolds-Averaged Navier-Stokes solutions at conditions along a design trajectory, with comparisons to available ground test data of the nano-ADEPT geometry. Dynamic pitch damping characteristics were taken from functional forms developed for the IRVE-3 flight test vehicle through ballistic range testing. Comparison of pre-flight predictions to post-flight reconstruction of aerodynamic force and moment coefficients is presented

Application of pure titanium coatings for medical purposes

Titanium is a mature material for medical purposes due to its excellent compatibility with the human body. Furthermore, titanium is extremely resistant to corrosion from body fluids, and is compatible with bone and living tissue. Meanwhile, titanium has a relatively low modulus of elasticity, which reduces the differences in stiffness between the human bone and the implant. This is important to the traditional application of titanium alloys as hip implants and knee joints, but also to bone fracture plates and screws. A good and lasting connection of the implant with the bone tissue is possible when there are sufficient conditions for the bone to grow into the pores of the material. Therefore, the use of a porous implant with titanium coating may be helpful in solving this problem. In this paper, shrouded plasma spray was used to lower the cost and produced low oxide containing titanium coatings as titanium is a very reactive metal at high temperatures. A solid conical shroud was designed for plasma spray. The titanium powders and coatings were assessed by X-ray diffraction, scanning electron microscopy and optical microscopy. An analysis in microstructure had been carried out, as shown in figure1-3. The results showed that the shroud attachment played an important role in protecting the titanium particles from oxidation in flight during the process of plasma spraying. An enhanced microstructure in the titanium coatings plasma sprayed with the shroud were observed, as indicated in figure 2. The reduction in air entrainment with the shroud resulted in better heating of the particles and increased in deposition efficiency and coating thickness. The dominant phase in the titanium coating with the shroud was α-Ti, as presented in figure 3