Composites in the News Last Week
Collaborations abound this week: Boeing and NASA are teaming to create an airborne observatory. The 17-ton and 9-foot wide telescope (coincidentally also made of composites) is scheduled for take-off in early 2010. Quasar Aerospace entered into a joint venture to develop a new aircraft engine utilizing cool burning high-efficiency engine technology developed and tested in the high-performance auto racing venue. Blue Origin announced it has picked three research payloads for its New Shepard suborbital vehicle, a vertical takeoff and landing rocket.
Meanwhile, the first of Virgin Galactic’s Spaceship Two rocket is now under construction and slated to begin flight tests in early 2010. India’s National Aerospace Laboratories prepares to fly the third Saras twin-turboprop prototype next year, in hopes of obtaining certification for India’s first indigenous transport aircraft.
The wind energy market was booming, for the most part. Siemens and Meridian Energy signed an order for 28 wind turbines to power an area near Hamilton, New Zealand. REpower Systems AG signed a contract with EDF Energies Nouvelles and RES Canada to deliver turbines with a capacity of 748 MW, with an option to supply an additional 206 MW. And Korean shipbuilder Daewoo investigated the viability of wind energy this week, in an attempt to offset a major downtrun in teh shipbuilding business. However, Spain-based Gamesa announced it will furlough 141 workers from its Pennsylvania plant.
The Oxford Investment Group chose Alton Herndon as head of FB Investments, if it is successful in acquiring Fountain Powerboat, a high-performance boat manufacturer. Lincoln Composites received final approval from the American Bureau of Shipping to use its water, all-composite TITAN tank and ISO frame. The 5,300 pound tank was designed to store and distribute large quantities of compressed natural gas, hydrogen and other specialty gases.
Infrastructure took another positive turn with Resin Systems Inc. securing a distributor agreement with Melbye Scandinavia to sell its RStandard composite poles within Scandinavia, which will be used to replace wooden poles for transmission lines. KaZak Composites received a $150,000 grant from the Department of Energy to develop a highly automated process for producing mass-market structural plastic building panels with high-performance insulating properties.
The Department of Energy stated it will award a total of $620 million from projects around the country to demonstrate advanced Smart Grid technologies and integrated systems that will help build a smarter, more efficient, more resilient electrical grid. Globally, the U.K. will invest 22 million pounds to further advance the development of the country’s composite materials sector. This includes a new 16 million pound National Composites Centre (NCC). Edinburgh’s Institute for Energy Systems researchers reported they have developed a new system that will replace gearboxes in wind turbines with a “C” shaped core generator. Gurit sold its 50 percent stake in venture GuMa to Italian-based thermoplastic expert Mazzucchelli. Maxoft, Inc. a Korean-based supplier of virtual product development (VPD) software and services, will implement VISTAGY’s FiberSIM software to strenghten its efforts in developing composites solutions for the aerospace, automotive, marine and wind markets.
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