| Issue 1 | Volume 143 | Tuesday, January 20, 2014 | theavion.com |
Fatality in New Smyrna Cessna 152 Crash Crystal Cortez Correspondent At the beginning of last week, Federal investigators arrived in New Smyrna Beach to inspect the ruins of a fatal plane crash. The pilot, identified as Mihoko Tabata was flying a Cessna 152 Tuesday night that was reportedly not checked out to her at the time of the incident. The woman was reported as the only one on board. New Smyrna Beach Police pulled the victim out of the water. As a result from the autopsy her death was caused by her injuries from the impact of the accident. NTSB investigator verified that the pilot was rated as an instrument pilot. She took off from Massey Ranch Airpark in Edgewater and crashed offshore of New Smyrna Beach. During her flight she reported to Daytona Beach control tower she did not know where she was. The control tower repeatedly communicated for her to be calm and climb. Moments after the last radio transmission, Daytona Beach Tower called dispatch and reported what they believed to be a down aircraft. Additional calls came from the locals and eyewitnesses to 911. As many of the Embry-Riddle students know, last week’s weather was unpleasant for VFR flying, but more investigation from the Federal Aviation Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board will attempt to determine if thick fog played a role in the accident. Weather cannot be presumed to be the ultimate cause of the incident.
Photo Credit: SpaceX
Close but no Cigar
Falcon 9 crashes in powered landing attempt
James Bukowski Correspondent In this age of commercial space exploration, excitement is growing in the aerospace industry about the innovations being made by private companies like SpaceX. One of the most notable achievements of SpaceX is its Falcon 9 family of launch vehicles. These launch vehicles were commissioned by NASA as orbital resupply vehicles, carrying the Dragon spacecraft, the first commercial spacecraft to dock with the International Space Station. There have been 13 total launches of the Falcon 9 since 2010, and just recently, SpaceX
attempted a sea landing of the first stage of the rocket onto an autonomous spaceport drone ship. The reason for such a revolutionary landing method is that the first stage boosters couldn’t survive the aerodynamic stress and heat of an upper-atmospheric re-entry. As a pioneer of the commercial space industry, SpaceX is advancing into largely unexplored territory and, along with large success, there are bound to be some failures. On January 10th, their first attempt to land the Falcon 9 rocket, the fins lost power due to a lack of hydraulic fluid. Although the craft landed on the ship, it landed at a 45 degree angle, resulting in a spectacular explosion. As
EFT-1
said by Elon Musk, the Falcon 9 went under “rapid unscheduled disassembly” upon landing. Overall though, it is exciting to know that there are still 7 planned launches of the Falcon 9 resupply missions remaining, all using the same landing method. As proven here on campus by the addition of the new degree program, commercial space operations are beginning to dominate the space industry. While NASA is still an industry leader, it is run by the government and, without funding, it cannot support routine missions to the ISS along the potential for innovation. This is the gap that companies like SpaceX are filling and many more are to come.
Orion Makes Space Flight History Jack Taylor Photo Editor
Dec. 5, 2014 the United States took its first major step toward deep space exploration. NASA’s Orion space capsule is nearly ready to carry U.S. astronauts into space. Exploration Flight Test-1 (EFT-1) was NASA’s mission to test the major systems of the vehicle. Of these systems, the most important are the new heat shields that are the largest ever built. During re-entry the spacecraft will enter the atmosphere at 20,000mph causing the heat shield to reach temperatures upwards of 4000
degrees Fahrenheit. If the crews piloting future missions are going to return safely, the heat shield must be in perfect condition. NASA has steadily increased its manned capsules in crew capacity with every new generation. The Orion capsule can carry the most crew of any high orbit spacecraft with a capacity of 4 astronauts. Along with the increased crew capacity is a major increase in range. Orion is designed to send astronauts further into space to new destinations such as interplanetary asteroids and Mars. Although EFT-1 was only a test mission, Orion flew to an orbit of 3,600 miles,
which is roughly fifteen times higher than the orbit of the International Space Station. Orion lifted off from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station at 7:05a.m on the United Launch Alliance Delta IV Heavy launch vehicle. The Delta IV Heavy is currently the most powerful operating rocket in the world with 2.1 million pounds of thrust. The next Orion launch will be made on NASA’s new rocket called the Space Launch System (SLS). The next launch, EM-1, is slated to take place in 2018. This test will also be unmanned but will be the final check flight before the first manned Orion mission.