May 6 1976
From The Space Library
NASA announced award of a grant to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, N.Y., to establish a center for the study of new composite materials and their application to the development of more efficient commercial transport aircraft. The grant would continue a relationship that began with establishment of a NASA program in materials engineering at RPI in 1961. The new grant for research into composites-very strong lightweight materials combining various substances, such as fiberglass bonded with epoxy-would emphasize more exotic composites using carbon fibers that exhibited high tensile properties. The potential structure weight reduction of up to 30% in future aircraft using composites could translate into a 14 to 15% reduction in aircraft fuel consumption. First-year funding for the RPI center would be $300 000. (NASA Release 76-82)
The FAA announced plans to test a computer-based system for predicting potential hazards from wake vortices along aircraft approach and departure paths. The tests would take place at Chicago's O'Hare International Airport and would run for several mo in an attempt to validate results of thousands of measurements previously taken at Kennedy Airport in New York, London's Heathrow Airport, and Denver's Stapleton Airport, to establish how long vortices linger on runways in relation to wind speed and direction. Additional tests at O'Hare would check out a system for detecting and tracking wind shear, another hazard to landing and departing aircraft. (FAA Release 76-43)
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