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Rockets Under Pressure How much pressure can the newly deot Ph signed solid-fuel “booster” tanks of Ariane 6, Europe's future carrier rocket, withstand? The answer to this question came with a loud bang at the University of Stuttgart's Materials Test Centre when a demonstration version weighing many tons was deliberately pressurized until it burst. The spectacular burst test showed that the safety parameters of the new tanks, which are now made for the first time of carbon fibers, were far above the actual requirements. This composite fiber material technology helps reduce the rocket's weight and ensures that European space flight will remain competitive on the world's hotly contested market.
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Photo: University of Stuttgart/PI 3
MRT-Images More in Focus Molecules betray their presence with a magnetic fingerprint. Today's medicine turns this to advantage with magnetic resonance tomography, in which the magnetic fields generated by the nuclear spin of molecules can be used to create bodily images or evaluate the composition of the molecules. One drawback in the past, however, was that large sampling quantities were required, which in turn rendered it impossible to show minute details on a monitor. Now Prof. Jörg Wrachtrup and his team at the University of Stuttgart have found a way to track molecular signatures by means of an atomic quantum sensor. The resulting sensitivity is a trillion times better than before. This new type of sensor makes it possible to recognize individual molecules like those in proteins and study their dynamics in detail. This could improve the resolution of magnetic resonance tomographs so radically that they might even be used for early recognition of tumors. Quantum sensors in diamonds could also be important for the miniaturization of nuclear spin spectrometers and could greatly lower their acquisition costs.
Fast, Efficient, Quiet The high-speed “Racer” helicopter from Airbus Helicopters triggered a media sensation in June at the Paris Air Show in Le Bourget. This fast prototype, designed to dart across the sky in future at 400 kilometers an hour, is part of the “CleanSky2” research program with which the European Union aims to make flying more environmentally friendly and economical. Simulations for the Racer are carried out by the University of Stuttgart's “Helicopter and Aeroacoustics” Team at the University's own Institute of Aerodynamics and Gasdynamics (IAG). The requisite research calculations were crunched at the University's high-performance computing center. Three doctoral students have worked on optimization and risk reduction shoulder-to-shoulder with the manufacturer since early 2016 in preparation for the first flight, now planned for 2020. Their focus is on maximum operating limits and on flight stability in all possible helicopter situations, as for example when flight is carried out at a tilt – and backwards! A further aim is to optimize the helicopter's efficiency, environmental friendliness and noise level in flight as far as possible by means of a vast array of control mechanisms.
Photo: University of Stuttgart/IPC
The University of Stuttgart