NASA's Jupiter probe just delivered a punchline 400 years in the making

News that the space agency's Juno probe successfully entered Jupiter's orbit after a 5-year, 540-million-mile journey resulted in not only jubilation and scientific anticipation but also the punchline to a joke originating from the early 17th century.

Spotlight

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) was founded in 1951 and became the first international airline in Japan. A member of the oneworld® alliance, the airline now reaches more than 305 airports in 51 countries and regions together with its codeshare partners with a modern fleet of more than 220 aircraft. JAL Mileage Bank (JMB), the airline's loyalty program, has reached over 29 million members worldwide.

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Business Aviation

Analytics is Changing: How can Marketers win Airline Marketing with it?

Article | January 28, 2022

The global airline industry is currently going through unprecedented financial damage. A few factors contributing are high operational costs, increased security costs, low customer satisfaction, low revenue, and frequent dynamic shifts in air travel. Hence, it’s a high time for airlines businesses to resolve their multitude of issues for its economy to recover. To leverage this goal, the industry should leverage its most high-volume asset—analytics. Analytics will help drive the airline industry's growth rate in the coming years. It’s because, Developing new data applications will bring a handful of digital marketing opportunities in the next five years. And these applications will bridge the gap in the industry. Welcome to the New Age of Analytics This topic of discussion is not new. But the new thing about analytics is that it is changing the airline industry data collection process. Analytics has become an essential part because the pandemic has forced countless non-digital airline businesses to shift to online operations. Advanced analytics with innovative data technologies is becoming popular due to its numerous applications. To name a few, it provides smart management abilities and a proper decision-making system. So, to get a hand over this, marketers should have a razor-sharp focus to upgrade their analytics. With advanced analytics, airlines can deliver the right information to the right audience at the right time. And when customers access the right information efficiently, they turn into prospective clients. In addition, by using analytics as part of online operations, airlines can survive without a dedicated offline presence. With the digital transformation happening in the aviation industry, it at a turning point. The situation now is an “adapt or die” one. This policy is generating opportunities for airlines that are making significant changes to their current old business model. However, such a transformation is only possible when analytical technologies are fully adapted. This way, marketers can easily capitalize on operating online by being agile and have adaptable tools. How can Marketers Adapt Analytics? As a marketer in the digital era, you need to organize data with the help of technology. By organizing data, you can easily collect data from channels such as social media, loyalty programs, and other online forums. Here are some to use Analytics to empower digital transformation: Power of Personalization Digital technologies offer marketing and sales opportunities in direct and indirect channels. For supplies and buyers, this means they can establish greater contact with consumers. It will result in a significant way to sell and buy more products. However, you can take customer interaction a step further by offering personalized offers and discounts with analytics. Investing in Loyal Customer Base The most important digital opportunity comes from loyalty programs. Offering it can provide marketers with substantial amounts of customer information. Additionally, there are three other focus areas where you can use analytics: Partnership with leading technology providers Enhancing content Cost maintenance Investing in these customer-centric areas using analytics will gradually deliver proven results. Empowering Strategies using Analytics The next step is to develop a comprehensive data platform strategy by including a data integration layer. By combining traditional and new data sources, this layer will make a flexible and more accessible data architecture to scale airline industry data. This will allow marketers to gain insights into their changing customer behavior. Hence, adding a data integration layer will also need considerable effort and investment to deploy a cloud platform, an analytic-data-warehouse layer, and a team that maintains the data platform. So, what are the Exact Ways Analytics is Going to Help Marketers? Cost reduction: The advanced airline industry analysis will help in making cost reductions. Whether it is from fuel consumption, deploying technology, or smart manufacturing, analytics can solve cost-related issues at once. For this, airline businesses must deploy AI systems with machine algorithms, which will help marketers to collect the exact data. Then they can easily analyze the estimations and can reduce them as per the requirements. Customer Satisfaction The addition to cost reduction, predictive analysis can help by keeping customers up-to-date in real-time. You can enhance Customer satisfaction by promoting offers based on their demand. Once you can have genuine insights and information about your customers and understand their behavior beforehand, you can approach them with the right message, solutions, and services by giving the right reason to invest. Most importantly, predictive analytics will help speed up the response rate to customers' queries and solve them in no time. Today the response speed matters because airline customers are constantly shifting their travel behaviors. As a result, they now seek customized approaches compared to the traditional approach. For example, Delta Airlines deployed advanced predictive analytics with AI. They optimized their operations through innovative customer services. Delta Airlines invested a whopping $600,000 for automation software installation. The investment was successful as they were able to access their data effortlessly and were able to connect with their customers by offering them multitude of offers. Performance Attributes Today, airline companies need prompt and accurate performance measurements to take critical, appropriate, and timely actions. Big data analytics can automate certain daily activities. The activities such as prospects' queries, website visitors, landing page hits, and more can be watched daily or weekly. With big data being so effective it will also help you understand the core ingredients for revenue generation. In the end, such advancement will stimulate airline industry data growth. Risk Protection This is of utmost importance for the airline industry's growth rate. You can develop various innovative models and strategies and avoid risks while implementing them using Advanced Data Analytics. The risks could be like a data breach, technical factors, organizational operations, customer data, and more. To counter back these risks, you should have proper strategic or annual safety objectives. Advanced analytics have higher levels of excellence that alleviate performance drifts. It will also help you to achieve and maintain through a proper monitoring and testing system. For example, British easyJet has diminished its operational challenges using AI. With the help of IT, it used data science to improve its pricing strategy, manage inventory, and lowered risk factors. As a result, the company observed an increase in profits of almost 20% in 2021. What’s Next for You with Analytics? Marketers should be astute and apprehensive about Analytics. Understanding the upcoming trends of analytics are vital. In addition, the current situation also demands a holistic approach that supports technology (digitalization). Having appropriate approaches will lead you to stand out in this competitive industry. Taking advantage of data for your existing or potential customers can help you to recognize more information about their activities. So that you can include more innovative techniques and can attract potential leads before they are gone. With technically sound data analytics you can experiment with different customer-centric strategies like: Building responsive landing pages that get fit in every screen Being more flexible with your prospects and enhancing interactions either through social media or a website. Creating platform-specific content to improve customer interaction. The strategies mentioned above will help you in collecting more data and curating on-demand content/information. By adopting these strategies, you can provide a data-backed open online platform in which you can easily connect with your customers. Once you have grabbed the technique for your digital marketing needs, tapping big data solutions will be a much better way than before. Therefore, it is crucial to keep legacy thinking aside and welcome innovation onboard. Frequently Asked Questions What is the importance of analytics in the airlines business? Analytics play a vital role in airline businesses. It helps in cost reductions, which could result in investing in better ways. Also, data helps to avoid breaches, provide safety measures, collect huge amounts of information, and enhances operational functionalities. Does analytics require proper strategies to function in an airline business? Yes! To implement analytics in your airline business, you need a strategic approach. Analytics provides statistical analysis. Using it, you can investigate and analyze business performance and give insights about improvement as well. What are the different types of analytics used in the aviation industry? There are three types of analytics that airline businesses use: Descriptive analytics: It tells the current business operation Predictive analytics: It shows what could happen in real-time Prescriptive analytics: It shows what should happen in the future. { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What is the importance of analytics in the airlines business?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Analytics play a vital role in airline businesses. It helps in cost reductions, which could result in investing in better ways. Also, data helps to avoid breaches, provide safety measures, collect huge amounts of information, and enhances operational functionalities." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "Does analytics require proper strategies to function in an airline business?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Yes! To implement analytics in your airline business, you need a strategic approach. Analytics provides statistical analysis. Using it, you can investigate and analyze business performance and give insights about improvement as well." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the different types of analytics used in the aviation industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "There are three types of analytics that airline businesses use: Descriptive analytics: It tells the current business operation Predictive analytics: It shows what could happen in real-time Prescriptive analytics: It shows what should happen in the future." } }] }

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Defense and Space

COVID TRAVEL RESTRICTIONS IMPACTING BUSINESS AVIATION

Article | June 8, 2022

While countries continue to implement new Omicron-related restrictions in response to the rising number of cases globally, a majority of these are in the form of enhanced COVID testing requirements – not travel bans. As a result, travel demand for popular peak-season destinations has remained strong, and over the past few days we’ve seen a BIG INFLUX in bookings as news trickles out that Omicron may be a less severe variant. If this continues, we expect to see another prolonged booking surge, so plan accordingly and get your requests in ASAP for best options – especially parking and hotels. While the new U.S. 24-hr testing requirement for return travel is tight, it’s not a big deal if you are prepared with an approved at-home testing kit (like Abbott BinaxNow, Qured, Ellume, etc.). Alternatively, our Trip Support Teams can help you identify testing providers abroad. Looking ahead to your missions in 2022, you may want to consider On-Aircraft COVID Testing for your N-registered aircraft. It’ll make international COVID testing MUCH easier on you and your passengers when at-home testing kits aren’t an option.

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Air Transport

Three Aviation Content Marketing Successful Stories

Article | July 26, 2022

Let’s be honest! Customers support advertising. But they seek out information. In a marketing world where advertising reigns, aviation customers want well-researched, proficiently crafted informative content that tells stories, explains products, and helps them make smart decisions. Content: Builds Credibility and Influence with Information When you make a decision, you seek out the most credible sources of information available on the internet or off the net. However, for many aviation consumers, content types like publications, blogs, whitepapers, and other high-quality are the most preferred to read. A consistent flow of information maintains the credibility of your publication and communication with your clients, customers, or stakeholders. This can only be possible when you have a good content marketing strategy. Good content marketing, as marketers say, is an all-hands-on-deck affair. Strategizing, content production, analysis, audits, and reviews play a vital role in creating great content marketing ideas. In addition, you need to coordinate with different departments to meticulously create a plan of action that hits the right audience at the right time with an accurate message. But remember, even if you plan it in the right way, things can go wrong. And you might feel that nothing more can be done, even having perfect airline marketing strategies. So, in such a moment of disparity, for your aviation marketing, it’s helpful to revisit some of the most amazing content marketing strategies successful stories out on the internet to get inspired and give a new perspective to your next content marketing ideas. Content Marketing: Stories Let us have a look at the excellent content marketing success stories. The following examples showcase the suitable approaches you can have for your next content marketing campaigns. So, take a look and learn to craft a better strategy. JetBlue’s Campaign Towards Passenger Concerns The airline industry has had its share of ups and downs in executing airline marketing strategies and airline advertisement plans since the pandemic outbreak in 2020. Under such conditions, low-cost airline JetBlue showcased its brand stand above all these struggles. Their content marketing strategy that creates compelling, engaging, and informative content consistently helped convey the brand message to the audience and build brand image. The Strategy JetBlue’s content marketing ideas focus on humanizes its approaches. For example, the company launched a campaign that awarded passengers with rewards points. The airline’s digital marketing strategy, at every level, has a unique way of providing information to its audience and offering solutions. This way, it offered the clients more reasons to engage with its brand. The brand used blogs and media coverage to engage with its clients. Here are the following content strategies it used: Timely published airline articles attracted instant attention of visitors to the website. The information provided in the article was about the usage of technology and successful collaborations to ease the operations. Filled the website with timeless articles that served information to overcome the pandemic challenges and provide value in real-time. Always tried to go with the trends, latest news, and updates. As updates were in time, it maximized clicks and engagements. The Outcome Content published and strategies implemented successfully enabled JetBlue to acknowledge their audiences’ concerns. The information provided solved the persistent problems of the audience. This approach resulted in a significant hike in the percentage of website visitors, which eventually grew traffic. Copa Airlines’ DotDigital Copa Airlines, like other airlines, also wanted to streamline the operational processes allied with content marketing campaigns, emails to target the most of audiences, and stabilizing its market position. It was all because the manual process took up a long time and contributed to accuracy errors. As part of its recovery plan, it also wanted to become more agile in its email and content marketing by synchronizing the gap between website visits and email triggers to focus actively on capitalizing on the demand. The Strategy Copa Airlines’ partnering with dotdigital, a marketing and engagement platform, successfully implemented the campaigns. It focused only on active audiences and accurately understand the purpose. By employing powerful content creatives to create and automate email copies with variations, it was able to restructure the process and added personalization that subjected audiences’ demands and preferences. The Outcome Copa enhanced its brand visibility, which boosted conversions by 2%. This result led to a 14% hike in revenue, thus improved its ROI. With the addition of automation and personalization, Copa also experienced an 11% drop in unsubscribe numbers. This pointed towards the increased engagement of audiences with the new content marketing strategy. AirAsia’s Media Business Expansion AirAsia’s topmost concern towards its business expansion was content marketing, media, data, and adtech. The brand wants these functionalities to perform on the top in revenue growth and lift its performance in 2021 & beyond. To grow its business, it focuses more on engagement and providing value to its audience. It seeks to build a more substantial base of audiences than before. Since early 2020, the brand accelerated its digital business by demonstrating product offerings through blogs, video, and chats. The content information provided through the content marketing strategy was more authentic, relevant, and delivered significant value to customers. The Strategy The brand runs campaigns using self-service adtech and content platforms. The company has a deal with Universal Music Group (UMG), through which it created RedCarpet that focuses on smart campaigns with the help of content creation capabilities. The Outcome The critical part of the RedCarpet initiative is it created multiple partnerships signed for the upcoming quarter of 2021. It also introduced flexibility in tech offerings to the customer through various content generation on its website and social media channels. But, most importantly, the brand took a step ahead to enhance content services as a publisher. This is a new investment straightaway to become the pandemic warrior in the airline industry. The brand envisions surged engagement among customers and potential audiences once travel restrictions are lifted. Thus, AirAsia’s database will have more users in the coming years. Frequently Asked Questions Why is the need to educate audiences in the airline industry becoming necessary? Today consumers are becoming smart. They are saturated with businesses offering the same repeated product or service. So, being educated help them to make informed decisions. And creates loyalty towards the brand along with a long-term relationship. How can content marketing help to address target audiences in the airline industry? Content marketing can help in addressing the queries of the client at various levels of the process. This strengthens a positive outlook towards the brand and probably motivates them to become part of the brand. How to use content marketing to increase brand image in the airline industry? Follow these steps to increase your brand image using content marketing: Create a brand that tells a story about offerings to the audience Research on the unexplored side of your industry which is still untouched and thus attract eyeballs to drive your brand Think of expanding content created out of your research Create evergreen content pieces Create a live website and include the easiest ways for visitors to approach { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "Why is the need to educate audiences in the airline industry becoming necessary?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Today consumers are becoming smart. They are saturated with businesses offering the same repeated product or service. So, being educated help them to make informed decisions. And creates loyalty towards the brand along with a long-term relationship." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How can content marketing help to address target audiences in the airline industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Content marketing can help in addressing the queries of the client at various levels of the process. This strengthens a positive outlook towards the brand and probably motivates them to become part of the brand." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How to use content marketing to increase brand image in the airline industry?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Follow these steps to increase your brand image using content marketing: Create a brand that tells a story about offerings to the audience Research on the unexplored side of your industry which is still untouched and thus attract eyeballs to drive your brand Think of expanding content created out of your research Create evergreen content pieces Create a live website and include the easiest ways for visitors to approach" } }] }

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Air Transport

Drones in Supply Chain: Are They Advantageous or Troublesome?

Article | December 10, 2021

Drones may be troublesome at some points in the supply chain. It can cause many hurdles and safety hazards. But what about the vast potential that drones carry to assist and even improve safety? The topic of discussion in this blog revolves around drones in the supply chain. Are these advantageous or troublesome? The blog showcases both sides of the coin. According to the global commercial drone market’s study, drones are expected to witness growth of 26%. It is going to reach a value of $10,738m by 2022. Aren’t these figures impressive? While the pandemic has forced industries and businesses to increase touch-less mechanisms, the increasing demand for contactless deliveries has given drones a wide-ranging opportunity to be reliable. Did you know that over twenty thousand drones are registered for commercial use with the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) today? Many of which are already being used in the supply chain process. A study by MarketsandMarkets indicates the drone package delivery market might surge from $528 million in 2020 to $39 billion in 2030 at a rate of 53.8%. Similarly, Gartner estimates that drone delivery will reduce delivery costs by 70%. These show a promising future for drone technology to hover industries and would significantly affect customers across the globe. How Exactly are Drones Changing Supply Chain Processes? Automation is becoming a comprehensive solution in the distribution industry. A report by the Brookings Institute mentions that over 70% of jobs may be automated. In that case, drone technology is the main focus today. On the other hand, some view automation as a threat. But with the help of automation, drones would make manual jobs redundant and destroy industries like aviation, transportation, production, and others involved throughout the global supply chain. However, several defenders of automation note that drone technology rarely replaces manual work. Instead, it tends to free up workers from a challenging workforce, reduces workloads and increases efficiency. As a result of this, companies become more productive. In the realm of the supply chain process, drones offer the chance to completely change inventory management ways and shipping methods. And thus, companies can operate quicker and errorless management. “As drones prove to be the next automation technology within the supply chain, businesses globally would do well. But to incur drone technology to their operations, they need to start investigating strategies to see if they would suitable their business model. My advice is to start looking for help from experts to understand the technological challenges, facts, and boundaries of using drones as part of your supply chain processes before going all-in too quickly.” - Trish Young’s, UK Head of Business Consulting – Retail, Consumer Goods, Travel & Hospitality at Cognizant. Let’s get into the advantages of drones that supply chain companies and industries are already reaping. Advantages of Drones Monitoring Supply Chain Delivery Courses Drones in the supply chain assist in monitoring supply chain courses for barriers. Therefore, it could positively impact the entire delivery process via transport carriers . In addition, drones are used for monitoring road conditions and other hazards in the delivery process. In this way, a delivery operator can quickly select an alternative shipping process and make efforts to achieve a faster or on-time delivery. Drones in Warehouses Drones in warehouses can be used for inventory counting, improving safety before the supply process starts. Warehouses are full of products kept for supply or shipping to different locations via different modes of transport. In this case, using drones, the scanning of products and data will be faster by having barcodes. In addition, as drones are much safer, they eliminate the need for workers to scale up monitoring and thus save time. Here are some other ways drones can help warehouses in: Providing better accuracy Reducing human labor costs Reducing workplace injuries Streamline inventory tasks Realistic Applications for Drones in Supply Chain Skyward Skyward is involved in developing the digital airspace infrastructure around industrial drones. In addition, the company is working on designing software for drones that will assist in the supply chain industries. “I can tell you this from an engineering background that it is now possible to deliver goods using drones under five pounds, which is 86 percent of Amazon’s inventory, within a 30-minute of radius,” - Jonathan Evans, the CEO of Skyward Drones in the supply chain in demand due to its capabilities. Skyward determines the practical application of this technology and develops it for future purposes. Amazon Amazon’s Prime Air is a new drone technology-driven pilot program. Amazon is currently focusing on smaller packages under the 5lb range under its supply chain process. Amazon drone delivery is one of the most innovative services, and other companies are getting inspired to develop their drone-enabled supply chain program. Walmart Walmart is also taking the approach and reaping the advantages of drones. However, it is going miles apart in terms of using the technology for its supply chain process. Walmart has partnered with some prominent drone companies like Flytrex and Zipline. Flytrex and Zipline are currently doing pilot programs for supply chains and deliveries. The Obstacles As drone technology has already taken to the skies and is already operational, it is yet to be seen how quickly regulatory agencies allow the technology to operate without legal restrictions. More than one million drones are ready to take to the skies by 2022. But hurdles like safety risks, privacy issues, and security interference cannot be ignored. In addition, the military and commercial aircraft industry is posing valid concerns about sharing airspace and air interference. There are challenges like the susceptibility to hacking or theft, collision, and high insurance costs that have become a hurdle regarding drones in the supply chain process. Further, the technology has many limitations that need to be highlighted. Limitations like limited battery life might restrict the operational duration. In addition, weather conditions also need to be taken into consideration. Whether drones can operate during high winds or rains. All these factors might impact supply chain management and may restrict the use of drones further. However, the role of drones by supply chain companies is only going to ascend in the future. R&D companies are working hard to overcome significant challenges. They are working to provide more and more opportunities above all obstacles to optimize supply chain operations efficiently. Frequently Asked Questions How can drones be used efficiently in the supply chain? Drones in the supply chain can be used efficiently to deliver at a low rate to rural areas. Also, it can eliminate the need for road transportation to save time, be more secure and faster. How will drones impact the supply chain? Drones in the supply chain will have a massive impact. Drones will improve service scenarios in industries and reduce costs, workforce, and capital. It can be helpful to manage and monitor inventory set up for products. What kinds of jobs can drones replace? Drones can replace five kinds of jobs. They are: Capturing difficult footage Enabling detailed monitoring Spotting errors and implementing an error-free workflow Assimilating huge data records { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "FAQPage", "mainEntity": [{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How can drones be used efficiently in the supply chain?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Drones in the supply chain can be used efficiently to deliver at a low rate to rural areas. Also, it can eliminate the need for road transportation to save time, be more secure and faster." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "How will drones impact the supply chain?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Drones in the supply chain will have a massive impact. Drones will improve service scenarios in industries and reduce costs, workforce, and capital. It can be helpful to manage and monitor inventory set up for products." } },{ "@type": "Question", "name": "What kinds of jobs can drones replace?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Drones can replace five kinds of jobs. They are: Capturing difficult footage Enabling detailed monitoring Spotting errors and implementing an error-free workflow Assimilating huge data records" } }] }

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Spotlight

Japan Airlines

Japan Airlines (JAL) was founded in 1951 and became the first international airline in Japan. A member of the oneworld® alliance, the airline now reaches more than 305 airports in 51 countries and regions together with its codeshare partners with a modern fleet of more than 220 aircraft. JAL Mileage Bank (JMB), the airline's loyalty program, has reached over 29 million members worldwide.

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Army Uses Mad Scientist Gathering to Explore Emerging Technologies

Nationaldefense | May 31, 2019

Austin, texas to better understand new technologies and scientific efforts that could aid warfighters, the army is connecting with industry and academia through its “mad scientist” initiative. the service is asking itself where the military challenges and opportunities are moving forward, lee grubbs, mad scientist director, said in an interview with national defense on the sidelines of the program’s annual conference. we translate that into real-person speak civilian speak. we look at where analogies of that exist in the commercial world.as the service has shifted focus from counterinsurgency to large-scale operations, the army decided the time was right to bring back the mad scientist program a few years ago, grubbs said. the 2018 national defense strategy puts a renewed focus on countering great power adversaries such as russia and china.

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Lunar Module How do you land on the Moon?

Astronomy | May 31, 2019

North American's Moon lander was ugly and "buglike," but Neil Armstrong and five additional missions used it to safely touch down on the surface. When NASA began working out the details of how to land on the Moon, the mission involved one spacecraft, not two. But when the agency changed its approach in July 1962, committing instead to Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, a new plan emerged. Now, one astronaut would stay aboard the heavy mothership in lunar orbit, while his two crewmates would descend to the surface. What they would descend in was unclear. No one knew how to land on another world, much less how to build something that could land on the Moon, so NASA asked interested contractors to submit bids to build the Lunar Excursion Module.

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Sebring cancels us sport aviation expo

Aopa | May 31, 2019

The annual U.S. Sport Aviation Expo hosted at Florida’s Sebring Regional Airport since 2003 has been canceled effective immediately, the airport authority announced May 30. A farewell message posted on the official website thanked attendees for “15 incredible years” after the January 2020 even was scrubbed. The U.S. Sport Expo has done a good job with its original mission,” said U.S. Sport Aviation Expo Program Manager Janice Rearick, who explained that the airport would instead focus on youth and growing the future of aviation. “It became very clear that after 15 years the light sport platform had its own legs,” while at the same time, the drone industry gained momentum.

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Army Uses Mad Scientist Gathering to Explore Emerging Technologies

Nationaldefense | May 31, 2019

Austin, texas to better understand new technologies and scientific efforts that could aid warfighters, the army is connecting with industry and academia through its “mad scientist” initiative. the service is asking itself where the military challenges and opportunities are moving forward, lee grubbs, mad scientist director, said in an interview with national defense on the sidelines of the program’s annual conference. we translate that into real-person speak civilian speak. we look at where analogies of that exist in the commercial world.as the service has shifted focus from counterinsurgency to large-scale operations, the army decided the time was right to bring back the mad scientist program a few years ago, grubbs said. the 2018 national defense strategy puts a renewed focus on countering great power adversaries such as russia and china.

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Lunar Module How do you land on the Moon?

Astronomy | May 31, 2019

North American's Moon lander was ugly and "buglike," but Neil Armstrong and five additional missions used it to safely touch down on the surface. When NASA began working out the details of how to land on the Moon, the mission involved one spacecraft, not two. But when the agency changed its approach in July 1962, committing instead to Lunar Orbit Rendezvous, a new plan emerged. Now, one astronaut would stay aboard the heavy mothership in lunar orbit, while his two crewmates would descend to the surface. What they would descend in was unclear. No one knew how to land on another world, much less how to build something that could land on the Moon, so NASA asked interested contractors to submit bids to build the Lunar Excursion Module.

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Sebring cancels us sport aviation expo

Aopa | May 31, 2019

The annual U.S. Sport Aviation Expo hosted at Florida’s Sebring Regional Airport since 2003 has been canceled effective immediately, the airport authority announced May 30. A farewell message posted on the official website thanked attendees for “15 incredible years” after the January 2020 even was scrubbed. The U.S. Sport Expo has done a good job with its original mission,” said U.S. Sport Aviation Expo Program Manager Janice Rearick, who explained that the airport would instead focus on youth and growing the future of aviation. “It became very clear that after 15 years the light sport platform had its own legs,” while at the same time, the drone industry gained momentum.

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