Home

EASN Newsletter - May 2023

You are here:

You are here

Home / EASN Newsletter - May ...

EASN News

  • 13th EASN Conference on Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons
    The 13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons" will take place in Salerno, Italy between the 5th and the 8th of September 2023. The EASN Association and the University of Salerno are excited to welcome all delegates at the Fisciano Campus of the University of Salerno. The event will be performed with the kind support of the European Climate, Infrastructure and Environment Executive Agency (CINEA), Clean Aviation JU, SESAR JU, CIRA, DAC and FRAUNHOFER. 
     
    Like its predecessors, the 13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons" will include a number of plenary talks by distinguished personalities of the European Aviation and Space sectors from the academia, industry, research community, and policy-makers. The names (in an alphabetical order) of the so far, confirmed Keynote Speakers and the respective presentation titles are the following:  
     
    Mr. Andreas Boschen
    Executive Director of the SESAR Joint Aundertaking
    • KN Title: Delivering the Digital European Sky
    Dr. Stefania Cantoni
    Head of Large Ground Testing Facilities, Demonstrators and Prototyping Department, CIRA – Italian Aerospace Research Centre
    • KN Title: Space Structures: the role of new materials and innovative structures.
    Mr. Guillaume de La Brosse
    Deputy Director General, Innovation, Start-ups and Economics, DG DEFIS
    • KN Title: Towards an EU Strategy for Space Research and Innovation.
    Prof. Sabine Klinkner
    Chair of Satellite Technology, Institute of Space Systems, University of Stuttgart
    • KN Title: Enabling technologies for lunar explorations.
    Mr. Axel Krein
    Executive Director of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking
    • KN Title: TBD
    Mr. Pascal Piot
    Head of EU & International Cooperation for R&T programs department, DASSAULT AVIATION
    • KN Title: Towards decarbonization of bizjets and digital certification of disruptive technologies.
    Dr. Marco Protti
    Vice President of Advanced Research, LEONARDO
    • KN Title: TBD
    Mr. John Santurbano
    Director Maastricht Upper Area Control Centre (MUAC)
    • KN Title: Bridging research and operations in ATM. The MUAC success stories.
    At the same time, as we are in the process of shaping the Conference’s preliminary agenda, we would like to draw your attention to some selected highlights of our upcoming gathering:
    • Five clustered sessions with projects funded under Horizon Europe Work Programme Cluster 5 “Climate, Energy & Mobility” are under preparation. The sessions will be chaired by CINEA Project Officers and they will include presentations of the progress and achievements on the research activities as well as open discussion panels.
    • A number of showcases of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking (CAJU), including workshops on “Distributed Electric Propulsion”, “ecoDESIGN and Engineering for Sustainability” and “Certification Aspects in Aviation”.
    • A joint NLR-DLR workshop on “Life Cycle Assessment in Aviation”. The workshop will aim to address questions like “How to measure sustainability?”, “How to measure if innovative solutions are sustainable or not?” in an interactive way. Presentations will aim to stimulate a dialogue between the participants.
    • More than 350 presentations slots structured in approximately 60 technical sessions. Furthermore, a variety of Technical Workshops on emerging scientific and technological topics will be performed.
    • Dedicated EU funded project sessions, showcasing the research achievements and future trends and opportunities. 
    In this context, we are pleased to invite all prospective authors to submit their abstracts for presentation at the 13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons".
     
    Looking forward to welcome you in Salerno!

  • 13th EASN International Conference - Extension of the abstract submission deadline

    We are pleased to invite all prospective authors to submit their abstracts for presentation at the 13th EASN International Conference on "Innovation in Aviation & Space for opening New Horizons".

    We would also like to acknowledge and thank all those who have already submitted their abstracts to participate in the Conference! 

    Following several requests, the EASN 2023 Conference Organizing Committee has decided to extend the deadline for the Call for Abstracts. Submissions are now due no later than Sunday, June 4th, 2023!

    Kindly notice that this is the final extension of the submission deadline!

    We strongly encourage prospective participants to take care of the registration and proceed with the necessary accommodation arrangements at their earliest convenience. The period of the conference is a high touristic season for Salerno; therefore accommodation availabilities may be reducing with time. To facilitate the planning, the Organizing Committee suggests a few accommodation options located in the city of Salerno and close to the conference venue, which can be found here.

    The Conference submission platform can be found here and the registration platform here. 

  • Interview with Prof. Dr. Andreas Strohmayer, Chairman of the EASN Board of Directors on the EASN view of Horizon Europe

    With the European Framework Programme Horizon Europe being established as the Horizon 2020 successor in 2021 and now in full swing, Prof Andreas Strohmayer, in his role as EASN Chairman of the BoD, takes a first look at the implementation of this research and innovation funding programme.

    Q: One of the major societal challenges we face today is the EU Green Deal. In particular the climate impact of aviation gets more and more in the focus of public attention and the European framework programme has to address this topic. So to what extent does Horizon Europe contribute to a Green Transition in aviation?
    A: You are absolutely right, it is of outmost importance that the European aviation sector adequately tackles the climate effects with highest priority, ideally also taking global leadership in this field. In particular the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking has oriented its Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) fully towards technologies for carbon-neutral aviation. With the three pillars “hybrid-electric and full electric architectures” for low emission regional aircraft, “disruptive technologies to enable hydrogen powered aircraft” for the short-range sector and “ultra-efficient aircraft architectures” for low emission short- / medium-range aircraft, an essential contribution towards decarbonization as part of the Green Deal will be prepared and demonstrated within this decade. The Commission’s Work Programme to some extent now also takes up topics proposed in the so called “explore and mature” pillar that was initially prepared by the “Clean Sky 3 Preparation Group” for the Clean Aviation SRIA, but then pushed down in a final trimming process. So – apart from a far too low total funding – in terms of content European aviation research is on a good way.

    Q: Looking at the key objectives of Clean Aviation and the related topics in the Commission’s Work Programme, would you see any shortcomings in responding to the required Green Transition?
    A: In addition to what is planned for Clean Aviation and what is currently allocated mainly in Cluster 5 of the Work Programme, it has to be ensured that research and innovation also will properly address non-CO2 effects of aviation. Moreover, topics beyond emissions, such as sustainable design and circularity and maintainability have to be prepared in time for setting up production of a new, radically innovative generation of aircraft. An important topic that should be considered for a Clean Aviation follow-on programme is the preparation of disruptive technology options for climate-neutral long-range aircraft. 

    And at this point, when thinking of a Clean Aviation follow-on programme, a major shortcoming of the current setup becomes obvious: how do we ensure that the innovation pipeline remains filled with fresh ideas? The focus of Horizon Europe on “impact” has been translated to demonstration of technologies at a relatively high readiness level to allow for a quick market uptake. On the downside, low TRL research has been neglected to an extent that the pipeline might have dried out until the end of Horizon Europe. Moreover, as the majority of funding today is oriented towards high TRL activities, the whole ecosystem of upstream research and innovation, including universities, research organisations, SMEs and large industry, created with the money of the European tax payer over several decades, will collapse if not properly funded.

    Q: As chairman of an association that represents European academia, how do you see the role of universities in the Clean Aviation partnership?
    A: In the preparation of Clean Aviation we had set out to establish a strong partnership of the stakeholders in the European Research Area, i.e. industry, research organisations, SMEs and universities. Looking at the situation today, I have to admit it is highly dissatisfying for academia: only six universities had the courage to accept the commitments requested for a Clean Aviation membership. And while the consortia resulting from the first call for proposals include a much larger number of universities, their financial participation is as low as 6% of the total funding. This results in a highly unattractive situation where in some case not even a full-time equivalent researcher can be financed from a project participation. 

    Past experience has shown that a pan-European cooperation and open collaboration between researchers from all stakeholders in the European Research Area are a cornerstone of excellence and the basis of technological leadership. With this in mind, in our view it is still time to include low TRL research in future Clean Aviation calls to feed into the planned technology demonstrations and thus to de-risk the ambitious technology roadmaps. An additional tool to be revived could be a relatively small but meaningful budget dedicated to Thematic Topics, an instrument successfully implemented in Clean Sky 2. Last but definitely not least, it is only by widely including academic research when addressing the technological challenges required to comply with the Green Deal, that the future generation of engineers will be properly educated and trained to the tasks at hand. In view of the size of the challenge on one side and the rapidly growing shortage of skilled engineers on the other, it would be absolutely negligent if the issues obvious today were not addressed with adequate urgency.

     

  • 11th EASN SAB meeting & 31st EASN BoD meeting

    On the 25th and 26th of April 2023 the 11th EASN Stakeholders Advisory Board (SAB) meeting and the 31st EASN BoD meetings took place in Brussels. The boards discussed the implementation status of Aviation and Space activities on EU-level and the involvement of academia in these activities. In particular the focus points were:

    • The R&I policy for aviation in respect to the ‘Green Deal’ of the EU
    • The implementation of the Clean Aviation JU activities
    • The overview on Space research and priorities within Horizon Europe

    The next meetings of both the BoD and the SAB are planned to take place aside of the 13th EASN International Conference, early September in Salerno, Italy.

  • The EASN Association @ Aerospace Europe Conference 2023
    The European Aeronautics Science Network is pleased to announce that it supports and participates at the Aerospace Europe Conference 2023, a Joint 10th EUCASS – 9th CEAS Conference, which will take place in Lausanne, Switzerland from 9 to 13 July 2023.
     
    This joint event aims at strengthening the link between space and aeronautics, presenting cutting-edge ideas for the future in a high-level forum for all stakeholders in aeronautics and space research in the following fields: Aerodynamics and Flight Physics, Climate Neutral Aviation Fuels, Flight Dynamics, GNC & Avionics, Systems for Future Space Operations, Space Exploration, Propulsion Physics, and further transverse topics related to aeronautic and aerospace, such as Sustainable Space and Aviation or Turbomachinery for Aeronautical and Space Applications. Aerospace Europe Conference 2023 intends to bring together worldwide professionals, experts, and students to discuss issues and perspectives, and to review the latest scientific and technological developments. It will be an opportunity for our entire scientific community to renew direct scientific contacts and present results and proposals for tomorrow’s aeronautics and space in a world forced to change.
     
    In this frame, and in continuation of a first such session at the EUCASS congress 2022 in Lille, we will be glad to welcome you to attend the two-part session entitled Climate-neutral aviation fuels & alternative propulsion systems (EASN-CLINAV) to be held on Wednesday 12 July 2023, coordinated by the EASN Chairman, Prof. Andreas Strohmayer of the University of Stuttgart, Germany, together with Prof. George Lampeas of the University of Patras, Greece. The 1st part of the session will take place from 09.00 to 11.00 and the 2nd part from 15:30 to 17:30 in Room 3 of the venue at the Swiss Tech Convention Center in Lausanne. The EASN-CLINAV session will address the progress towards a more sustainable aviation system with a focus on propulsion systems and alternative fuels. Eight Papers are solicited in the fields of:
    • Hydrogen tanks and systems safety
    • Fuel cells modelling
    • Sustainable Aviation Fuels environmental impact
    • Techno-economic assessment of alternative fuels
    • The Regulatory Framework for Sustainable Aviation Fuels
    Click at the links to find more information regarding the detailed structure of the EASN-CLINAV session as well as the Aerospace Europe Conference’s website.
     

  • The EASN Association supports the 7th International Conference of Engineering Against Failure

    We are excited to announce the upcoming International Conference of Engineering Against Failure (ICEAF VII) which will take place at the beautiful island of Spetses, Greece from June 21st to 23rd, 2023.

    This prestigious biennial event will bring together experts from around the world to discuss the prevention of engineering failure and the latest scientific and technological achievements.

    ICEAF VII will showcase over 240 presentations covering diverse technological areas, such as aeronautics and space, automotive, marine, wind-energy, oil refineries and chemical industry, civil engineering applications, bioengineering, medical applications, and many others.

    The conference is co-chaired by Spiros Pantelakis, Professor Emeritus at the University of Patras, and Michael Vormwald, Professor of Materials Mechanics at the Technical University Darmstadt.

    The conference is held under the auspices of FEMS, the Federation of European Materials Societies, the European Aeronautics Science Network, and HMS, the Hellenic Metallurgical Society. 

EASN supported projects: Latest news and achievements

  • CONCERTO (Construction Of Novel CERTification methOds and means of compliance for disruptive technologies) is an EU-funded project under the Clean Aviation Programme, launched at the beginning of 2023. 
    The project's overarching goal is to support the elaboration of a comprehensive set of regulations and a preliminary description of methods of compliance applicable to the three "thrusts" of Clean Aviation. Additionally, it aims to assess the feasibility of a digital certification framework that supports collaboration and model-based certification.

    By improving safety and shortening the time to bring new, safe products to market, CONCERTO is expected to maintain European leadership and competitiveness. The project's outputs will be easily transposable and scalable to different product lines and aircraft segments, including general aviation, rotorcraft, business jets, and commercial medium-long range, and will affect the complete fleet.

    CONCERTO involves a collaboration between major European OEMs, research centers, SMEs, and academia, with the support of EASA. What's noteworthy is that the innovators and the regulator are working together towards a common goal. By collaborating closely, they're able to go full steam ahead to make environmentally friendly aircraft a reality while upgrading safety rules in the process. Collaboratively, EASA and Clean Aviation are navigating synergistically towards a more sustainable future for European aeronautics.

    The project's kick-off meeting was held in January 2023, organized by Dassault Aviation, with the participation of 33 organizations from 11 countries. In February 2023, the project's first Steering Committee was successfully held, with members participating both virtually and physically at the Dassault Aviation premises in Saint-Cloud, France. The Steering Committee discussed key topics such as the role and organization of the committee, required agreements, project performance indicators, and communication and dissemination activities.

    Stay up-to-date on the exciting developments of CONCERTO by following the project's social media pages on Twitter & LinkedIn, or by visiting the website.

  • Having reached the 2nd year of its three-and-a-half-year lifecycle, on the 31st of January and 1st of February, 2023, the DOMMINIO team came together at the premises of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA) for its M24 Progress meeting. Partners representing the consortium organizations meet each other in this two-day meeting to demonstrate the most recent scientific and technical accomplishments, address the project’s overall progress, as well as share ideas on how to proceed with the feature. On the second day, NTUA organized a tour of their facilities, enabling all partners to see in person the equipment applied and the actual DOMMINIO work in progress. 

    The intriguing video series “Ask the Researchers” continues with a pair of fresh videos where our researchers Francisco Ansedes from AIMEN Centro Tecnológico and Kostantinos Zafeiris from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), explain the DOMMINIO project in simple terms, their role within the project and give insights into how robotics automated manufacturing processes and magnetic generators may satisfy the requirements for aerospace applications. More videos starring DOMMINIO researchers will be released in the future.   

    For more information and regular updates on the DOMMINIO project, visit the DOMMINIO official website and DOMMINIO social media pages: LinkedIn | Twitter | Youtube | ZENODO

  • Air collaborative combat will involve future combat air systems, manned or unmanned platforms, legacy platforms and their evolution, including sensors and effectors. The EICACS project (European Initiative for Collaborative Air Combat Standardization), co-funded by the EU, aims at ensuring the interoperability of such assets and a seamless integration of future combat air systems.

    The goals of the EICACS project are to promote or develop the design rules and interoperability standards and to assess questions brought by the implementation of AI technologies aboard, in order to support the handling and exploitation of generated information as well as manned and unmanned mission management.

    The project is implemented by a consortium of more than 30 companies, institutions, universities, midcaps, and SMEs from 11 countries. The physical kick-off meeting was held on February 2023 at the coordinator’s (Dassault Aviation) premises in Saint-Cloud, France.

    Stay tuned for more updates!

  • The EuReComp team has made significant progress in the past months, in revolutionizing the field of sustainable materials and composite technologies, and we are excited to share our achievements with you. Here's a summary of our latest news:

    EuReComp at JEC World 2023
    On April 25-27, the EuReComp team had the privilege of participating in the prestigious JEC World 2023 event. This reputable exhibition provided an excellent opportunity for EuReComp to showcase its latest breakthroughs in sustainable materials. The enthusiastic response and positive feedback received from industry experts and attendees further validate the project's efforts in creating a more sustainable future.

    1st EuReComp Workshop at Technische Universität Dresden
    The 1st EuReComp Workshop was successfully hosted at the esteemed Technische Universität Dresden on April 20th in Dresden, Germany. This workshop brought together more than 60 experts, students and stakeholders in the field of sustainable composites, facilitating knowledge exchange and collaboration. Through insightful presentations, interactive discussions, and networking opportunities, the workshop fostered new ideas and partnerships crucial for the project's progress. There was also a demonstration session during the workshop and a tour of the TUD facilities, where participants had the chance to view real time sessions in various laboratories.

    EuReComp M12 Progress Meeting
    The recent M12 progress meeting took place in Dresden, Germany and served as a platform for the EuReComp team to assess the advancements made in the project. Notable progress has been achieved in research and development activities, reinforcing the team's commitment to pushing the boundaries of sustainable composites.

    As EuReComp enters its next phase, the team's focus remains on advancing sustainable composite materials. Ongoing research is centered on exploring innovative manufacturing techniques and optimizing material performance. Collaboration with industry partners, research institutions, and stakeholders continues to play a vital role in shaping the future of sustainable composites.

    For more information and regular updates regarding EuReComp, visit the project’s official website and social media pages: LinkedIn | Twitter

     

  • How can we continue flying without harming the planet? To find the answer, the FUTPRINT50 research team has been developing technologies and configurations for a commercial hybrid-electric regional airliner for up to 50 passengers that could enter service 2035 onwards. 

    With only two months to go until the project is wrapped up, on its checklist are important achievements, including, after exploring several alternatives, the development of a final proposed hybrid-electric aircraft configuration, as well as a strategic technological and regulatory roadmap, open-source modelling and simulation tools and much more.

    On the 29th and 30th of June 2023, the project team will organize the FUTPRINT50 Final Open Event in Brussels, Belgium to present their exciting results to the public. More details regarding the event will be available soon on the official FUTPRINT50 website and social media pages. The project team has also created engaging video content that gives a glimpse into the project’s activities and world of hybrid-electric aviation. These videos can be found on the FUTPRINT50 YouTube Channel. Beyond the videos, FUTPRInt50 has released open-access datasets and scientific papers that are available for public use. These resources offer valuable information on the project's findings and can be accessed on the FUTPRINT50 ZENODO community page.

    We invite you to explore these resources and share them with your colleagues who may be interested.

    Head over to the FᴜᴛPʀIɴᴛ50 official website to discover more details about their activities!

    Be sure to join its networks too! 

    LinkedIn | Twitter  | YouTube  

     

  • The GENEX team completed successfully the first six-month progress meeting on the 7th and 8th of March, in Paris, France. They were two days full of fruitful discussions based on presentations addressing the ongoing tasks, a list of open points, the blocking aspects, and the next activities in all work packages. The first day of the meeting took place at ENSAM where the goals of the project were recapitulated, and all the work package leaders presented the technical progress and the completed activities intended for submission as deliverables. The second day was spent at the premises of GMI AERO where it was presented the composite repair equipment, the thermal transfer, and the digital twin of repairs using ANITA 4.0 and NetApps. At the end of the second day, there was a demonstration of composite repair methodology and equipment in the workshop at the premises of GMI AERO.

    The highlights of April were, first, the fact that the GENEX poster made its debut to JEC World, April 25-27, 2023, in Paris, France, due to the participation of the consortium members GMI AERO and AIMEN in the prestigious exhibition. GMI AERO and AIMEN had the chance to share with the exhibition attendees the project’s high-level goals and concept as well as the technologies deployed in the frame of the project. The second highlight was a dissemination activity of paramount importance for GENEX, performed by GMI Aero, who presented ANITA 4.0 and its involvement within the GENEX project, together with the overall GENEX structure and main objectives, in the General Assembly of the Commercial Aircraft Composite Repair Committee (CACRC), at EASA Headquarters Cologne during the last week of April.

    For more information and regular updates regarding GENEX, visit the project’s official website and social media pages: LinkedIn | Twitter.

  • The H2ELIOS project, which stands for HydrogEn Lightweight & Innovative tank for zerO-emisSion aircraft, is a new 3-year Clean Aviation research project focused on LH2 storage technologies in aviation. The project was launched with a kick-off meeting in Madrid, Spain in January 2023. The kick-off meeting marked the beginning of an ambitious journey towards advancing hydrogen-based energy solutions. Here's a summary of the key highlights and discussions from the event:

    The H2ELIOS team emphasizes on the importance of harnessing hydrogen as a sustainable energy source. The project's vision revolves around the development of cutting-edge technologies, infrastructure, and policies to enable the widespread adoption of hydrogen-based solutions. By addressing key challenges and leveraging cross-disciplinary expertise, H2ELIOS aims to drive the transition towards a greener and more sustainable energy landscape.

    On these early steps of this ambitious project, a crucial aspect was the discussion of the project's roadmap and key milestones. The H2ELIOS team outlined a comprehensive plan, encompassing research, development, and demonstration activities. By setting clear targets and timelines, the project aims to achieve significant milestones on its path towards realizing the potential of hydrogen as a clean and sustainable energy carrier.

    With the successful kick-off meeting behind, the H2ELIOS project has already set to embark on an exciting journey. The team will focus on intensive research and development efforts, leveraging technological innovations to advance hydrogen-based energy solutions. Collaborative partnerships and engagement with stakeholders will remain instrumental in driving the project's success.

    We invite you to stay connected with the H2ELIOS project by visiting our website and subscribing to our newsletter. Follow us on social media platforms to receive regular updates, news, and insights into the project's progress. Your engagement and support are crucial in shaping the future of hydrogen-based energy solutions. For more information and regular updates regarding H2ELIOS, visit the project’s official website and social media pages: LinkedIn | Twitter

  • The Hybrid-Electric Regional Architecture (HERA) is a new 48-month project launched on January 1, 2023! It is funded by the European Union (EU), under the Grant Agreement 101102007, as part of the wider Clean Aviation programme, aiming to identify and trade off the concept of a regional aircraft, and its key architectures. Thirty-eight beneficiaries from twelve countries participated in the kick-off meeting, which was successfully completed, under the coordination of Leonardo, on January 23-24, at Centro Congressi Università Federico II in Naples, Italy.

    Aviation has, slowly but steadily, taken the path of decarbonization toward sustainable sources of energy. In addition, there is a considerable increase in the use of regional AirCrafts (A/Cs) providing effective connections on essential routes without discontinuity. For these reasons, regional aviation is expected to form the foundation of future aerial mobility which is about to change unprecedently.

    The HERA project, led and coordinated by Leonardo, a founding member of Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking, targets to develop the required A/C-level technologies and integrate the required enablers to meet the 50% less technology-based Green House Gas (GHG) emission set in Strategic Research and Innovation Agenda (SRIA) for a Hybrid-Electric Regional Aircraft. The HERA aircraft project, having a size of approximately 50-100 seats, can operate in the regional and short-range air mobility by mid-2030 on typical distances of less than 500 km, corresponding to intermodal urban regional connections. The HERA A/C project is based on hybrid-electric propulsion with batteries or fuel cells as energy sources, supported by Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF) or hydrogen burning for the thermal source, to reach up to 90% lower emissions while being fully compliant with International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) noise rules. HERA A/C project also aims to actual revenue service offering to operators and passengers with sustainable, safe, and fast connectivity mean at low GHG emissions. HERA will quantitatively trade innovative A/C architectures and configurations required to integrate several disruptive enabling technologies including high voltage MW scale.

    Follow HERA’s LinkedIn page for more exciting news and check out the official project website!

    Discover more about HERA at Cordis and Leonardo’s press release. Enjoy the read!

  • The Hybrid Electric Regional Wing Integration Novel Green Technologies (HERWINGT) is a new 36-month project launched on January 1, 2023. It is funded by the European Union, under the Grant Agreement 101102010 and supported by the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking and its members.
     
    The HERWINGT1 project is part of the transformation toward the decarbonization of aviation systems. It aims to design a novel wing, ideal for the future Hybrid-Electric Aircraft (A/C) of the Regional Segment, and to develop architectures, structures, and technologies allowing higher integration of electric systems. These disruptive solutions, aim to pursue a 50% fuel burn reduction, at the A/C level, compared to a 2020 State-Of-Art (SoA) A/Cs in three different ways:
    • Pioneering wing configurations and improved aerodynamics leading to drag reduction and enabling a fuel burn reduction of 15%, at the wing component level, compared to a 2020 SoA wing.
    • Wing structures, more integrated systems, and new material technologies resulted in a weight reduction of 20% at the component level, compared to a 2020 SoA wing.
    • The development of technologies enabling the wing for a hybrid-electrical use case (H2/Batteries and fuel systems using Sustainable Aviation Fuels (SAF)).
    In addition, HERWINGT commits to delivering:
    • A roadmap towards the wing full-scale demonstration, at the A/C level, with a first flight in 2028.
    • Digital twins and a life-cycle assessment of the components, subsystems, and full wing system fully compatible with the reference aircraft digital framework and requirements.

    Moreover, it proposes a qualification and certification plan linked to the proposed activities, suitable for a Hybrid Electric Regional (HER) A/C. The final product of the project will be available for Entry Into Service (EIS) in 2035 for Regional Aircraft, a government incentive that provides a valuable source of funding to early-stage companies and tax benefits to investors.  

    The kick-off meeting of HERWINGT occurred on the 6th and 7th of February. The latter were two days of fruitful discussions among the twenty-seven beneficiaries from ten different European countries, under the successful coordination of Airbus Defence and Space, at Getafe, Madrid. 

    Although the project is still in its early stages, its consortium members AIMEN and MTorres did not miss the chance to present it, for the first time, in the prestigious exhibition of JEC World 2023 which took place in Paris-Nord Villepinte, France. This was just the beginning, HERWINGT coordinator, Airbus Defence and Space, will be present at the Paris Air Show, on June 19-23. Stay tuned for more exciting news via the project’s social media pages on Twitter and LinkedIn.

    Finally, discover more information about HERWINGT through its official website! 
     
    1Novel Green Technologies, considered in HERWINGT, take into consideration new materials, structural concepts, integrated systems, and drag reduction technologies to have 50% fuel burn reduction at the A/C level but also to reduce industrial wastes associated with the manufacturing of such A/C.
     

  • Impact Monitor is an EU-funded project with a duration of 2 years (2023-2025), implemented by a highly competent and complementary consortium.

    Its first high-level aim is to develop a coherent and holistic impact assessment framework and toolbox that supports the European Commission in making science-based informed decisions for technology and policy assessment of the environmental, economic, and societal impact of European aviation R&I. Specifically, the assessments will focus on greenhouse-gas emissions (GHG), local air-quality, and noise. The project focuses on demonstrating the collaborative assessment through example use cases at aircraft, airport, and air transport system level.

    The underlying system of systems architecting process will be supported by digital technologies for collaborative engineering, under the project coordination of the German Aerospace Center (DLR).

    Impact Monitor builds on and advances the approaches used in EC Better Regulation guidelines and toolbox as well as in the EC projects TEAM_Play, Clean Sky TE, and AGILE/AGILE 4.0.

    A 3-day kick-off event (6-8 February 2023) was held at the DLR Institute of System Architectures in Aeronautics located in Hamburg, Germany, with the participation of 10 partners from 8 European countries. On the 8th of February, an external Project Awareness Webinar was held to present the project, raise discussions about the development of an ideal aviation impact assessment framework, exchange information and knowledge with peers, and foster networking with relevant R&I initiatives.

    Follow Impact Monitor on social media: Twitter | LinkedIn | YouTube

  • ORU-BOAS (Orbital Replacement Unit - based on Building Blocks for Advanced Assembly of Space Systems) launched on January 1, 2023, marked by the consortium’s virtual kick-off meeting.  Funded by the European Commission HORIZON EUROPE program, ORU-BOAS will run for 24 months.

    With a strong emphasis on in-orbit services, ORU-BOAS researchers aim to develop an ORU-BOAS standard module up to TRL5/6. This plug-in module will be compatible with a wide range of payloads and will include standard interfaces for interaction with other ORUs, satellite platforms, or robotics elements, as well as with the elements developed in the “Plan European Roadmap and Activities for Space Exploitation of Robotics and Autonomy” (PERASPERA) roadmap. Furthermore, several types of services like life extension, refueling, repairing, and other station-keeping missions will be elaborated, upgrading the European strategic autonomy and robotic missions.

    Currently approaching its first semester, ORU-BOAS has accomplished the project’s visual identity, public website, and social media pages development.

    For more information and regular updates visit the ORU-BOAS official website and ORU-BOAS social pages LinkedIn | Twitter

  • The wings of large civil passenger aircrafts house the fuel tanks, and generally carry an amount of fuel comparable in weight to that of their structural components. However, violent sloshing flows appear when the fuel tanks are shaken by atmospheric turbulence or air gust. The liquid slosh inside the tank significantly damps the wing vibrations and its behavior is still not fully understood. The EU-funded Horizon 2020 SLOWD (SLOshing Wing Dynamics) project explores in-depth the effect of sloshing through the development of experimental, numerical, and analytical methods and eventually takes advantage of the dissipative effect of sloshing to reduce loads from gusts and turbulence.

    The SLOWD team convened in Abingdon, Oxfordshire on the 8th and 9th of February 2023 for its 42M progress meeting, which our STFC-UKRI partners hosted. The meeting was held in person, despite remote participants being also welcome to participate. In this two-day gathering, consortium partners laid out their newest academic and technological results, exchanged information on overall progress, and agreed on the following steps to be executed.

    SLOWD has successfully published multiple scientific publications in journals and conference proceedings so far, highlighting the project's technological accomplishments. These scholarly publications are freely accessible in the SLOWD ZENODO Community. Furthermore, a collection of exciting videos highlighting some of the most remarkable findings that SLOWD has come across to date is available on the project's YouTube channel.

    Get in touch via our online communities on SLOWD official website, LinkedIn, Twitter , YouTube, ZENODO

Coordination and Support Actions: Latest news

  • ASTRAIOS (Analysis of Skills, Training, Research and Innovation Opportunities in Space) is a Horizon Europe Coordination and Support Action (CSA) which successfully kicked-off in January 2023 and will run until December 2025. It aims to provide an exhaustive view and understanding of the current and future offer of Space curricula and courses in the EU-27. The project will characterise the demand from the European Space industry and identify actionable ways towards a better alignment between the educational offer and the skills required by the future European space industry. This will foster innovation and increase EU competitiveness in the space sector. ASTRAIOS will be implemented thanks to a highly competent consortium that directly connects to all major space related educational institutions in Europe. The ASTRAIOS CSA is expected to generate impactful results that will benefit the European education landscape and the space community at large.

    Stay connected and updated with the ASTRAIOS latest news and progress by following its social media accounts on LinkedIn and Twitter, as well as visit its website for further information and latest results.

  • ECARE (European Clean Aviation Regional Ecosystem) is a 24-months Clean Aviation project that has taken-off in January 2023. It aims at clarifying the existing landscape of regional/national innovation roadmaps and funding opportunities for aeronautical stakeholders, as well as at creating complementarities and synergies between them so as to enable the European aeronautical industry achieve the ambitious targets of the Clean Aviation Joint Undertaking Programme, while maximising public funding impact and efficiency.

    The ECARE project will develop and disseminate methodologies to create these synergy mechanisms applicable to all EU aeronautical regions. These methodologies will be designed and tested in a Pilot involving 4 major regions of the European aeronautical industry (Occitanie and Nouvelle-Aquitaine in France, Hamburg in Germany and Campania in Italy), turning ECARE into a mature operational guidance project for CA JU and other European regions and countries. Establishing a digital platform of reference for European aeronautical players is another core objective of this CSA.

    The ECARE consortium is composed of 3 leading European aeronautical clusters (Aerospace Valley, Hamburg Aviation and Campania Aerospace District) and a Belgian SME specialized in dissemination and communication of aeronautical content (EASN-TIS).

    Find out more about ECARE on the project official website. For latest news and events, follow the ECARE social media on Twitter and LinkedIn.

     

  • UMA3 (Unique Materials for Advanced Aerospace Applications) was launched in 2020 as a H2020 Coordination and Support Action. Its concept is based on the creation of a value chain of knowledge in the field of powder metallurgy process, additive manufacturing and high-performance PVD nanocoatings. Recently, two colleagues of the UniMi visited the University of Bologna in the framework of UMA3 Staff Exchange (Oct. 11-13.), where they deepened their knowledge about the mechanical testing of additively manufactured metallic samples. Thanks to the collaboration between UMA3 partners a new article was published (T. Mikó, D. Pethő, G. Gergely, D. Markatos, Z. Gácsi, A Novel Process to Produce Ti Parts from Powder Metallurgy with Advanced Properties for Aeronautical Applications, Aerospace 2023, 10(4), 332; https://doi.org/10.3390/aerospace10040332) within the framework of the project. The international connections between the actors of the aerospace industry were boosted in a networking event on March 3rd, organized by the University of Miskolc. The event aimed to foster the introduction of the members of the Hungarian Space Cluster to other major European actors. It also discussed the creation of regional innovation valleys, the acceleration of innovation investment and boosting ecosystems. 9 hungarian, 5 spanish, 2 german and 1 italian entity participated in the event.

    Please visit the UMA3 website for more information as well as follow the project on social media (Twitter and LinkedIn) to stay updated with its latest news and activities.

Other latest news and achievements

Subscribe to EASN Newsletter - May 2023

To sign up for the EASN newsletter: Send an email with subject "subscribe" to newsletter@easn.net.

To unsubscribe from the EASN newsletter: Send an email with subject "unsubscribe" to newsletter@easn.net.

Disclaimer: EASN accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever with regard to the information above. This information is subject to change without notice.

Go to top