美国军工巨头研发“金星飞船”：续航超强

无人机制造商诺斯罗普·格鲁曼（Northrop Grumman）最近披露了该公司旗下的“金星大气机动平台”概念机（Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform，简称VAMP）。尽管它不是载人飞行任务的首选，但是“半无人机、半飞艇”式的设计，以及长寿命、可操作性、半漂浮的特性，使得它非常适合在荒凉星球三四十英里高的天空中飞行。
美国诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司因长期致力于美国军用无人机研发而名声大噪。
现在，该公司又将目光投向了宇宙探索，并公布了他们的金星大气实验室概念。
这个实验室外形酷似格鲁曼公司的RQ180无人机，但体积要大上许多，并且采用太阳能驱动，拥有两个螺旋桨，可以在距离金星表面30-40公里的高度停留长达12个月，目的是作为一个长期的高空实验平台。
当然，这艘飞船也有能力完成对火星、月球以及土卫六的研究任务。




REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – May 15, 2015 – Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) formed a scientific advisory board to guide its efforts to develop a lighter-than-air vehicle to explore Venus's environment. The company's Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) concept is a long-lived, maneuverable, semi-buoyant platform that would coast through Venus's clouds gathering atmospheric data.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=32937

VAMP is the first application for the Lifting Entry/Atmospheric Flight (LEAF) family of vehicles that could serve as atmospheric "rovers," going to any solar system body with an atmosphere, including Venus, Earth, Mars and the moon Titan.

The VAMP Science Advisory Board is composed of prominent American and European planetary scientists, who have been drawn from various research and academic institutions. The board will help define specific science goals, measurement requirements, and identify possible instruments for future VAMP missions. It will also serve as a science analysis group to mine existing data about Venus that may be useful to the VAMP mission.

"The board is a community-based, interdisciplinary science forum that the VAMP development team may interact with, ask questions of and request analyses to help resolve design and performance issues during these early stages of the mission's development," said Ronald Polidan, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems VAMP Project Scientist. "They will be incredibly helpful in designing the vehicle for maximum science data collection."

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is often referred to as Earth's twin because of its similarity in size and mass. Although the surface of Venus is hot and hostile, its atmosphere at 50 kilometers is Earth-like and its clouds hold the key to the difference. Understanding Venus' evolutionary path may shed light on Earth's evolution and the origin of life.

VAMP is a large and light, inflatable/deployable vehicle that would cruise through Venus's clouds at altitudes ranging from 52 kilometers to 68 kilometers, using solar-powered propellers to maneuver on Venus and while gathering science data. It is being designed to be inflated and deployed on orbit and "float" like a leaf into Venus's atmosphere, where it could operate for more than year.

The concept brings together Northrop Grumman's air and autonomous air vehicles, space, large deployable and re-entry systems expertise into a delta wing design. It draws on the company's lengthy heritage in developing flying wing vehicles, starting with the 1940s era Flying Wing aircraft through the B-2 Spirit bomber to the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/430/430069.htm
http://www.globenewswire.com/new ... ses.html?d=10134487

无人机制造商诺斯罗普·格鲁曼（Northrop Grumman）最近披露了该公司旗下的“金星大气机动平台”概念机（Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform，简称VAMP）。尽管它不是载人飞行任务的首选，但是“半无人机、半飞艇”式的设计，以及长寿命、可操作性、半漂浮的特性，使得它非常适合在荒凉星球三四十英里高的天空中飞行。
美国诺斯罗普·格鲁曼公司因长期致力于美国军用无人机研发而名声大噪。
现在，该公司又将目光投向了宇宙探索，并公布了他们的金星大气实验室概念。
这个实验室外形酷似格鲁曼公司的RQ180无人机，但体积要大上许多，并且采用太阳能驱动，拥有两个螺旋桨，可以在距离金星表面30-40公里的高度停留长达12个月，目的是作为一个长期的高空实验平台。
当然，这艘飞船也有能力完成对火星、月球以及土卫六的研究任务。




REDONDO BEACH, Calif. – May 15, 2015 – Northrop Grumman Corp. (NYSE:NOC) formed a scientific advisory board to guide its efforts to develop a lighter-than-air vehicle to explore Venus's environment. The company's Venus Atmospheric Maneuverable Platform (VAMP) concept is a long-lived, maneuverable, semi-buoyant platform that would coast through Venus's clouds gathering atmospheric data.

A photo accompanying this release is available at: http://media.globenewswire.com/noc/mediagallery.html?pkgid=32937

VAMP is the first application for the Lifting Entry/Atmospheric Flight (LEAF) family of vehicles that could serve as atmospheric "rovers," going to any solar system body with an atmosphere, including Venus, Earth, Mars and the moon Titan.

The VAMP Science Advisory Board is composed of prominent American and European planetary scientists, who have been drawn from various research and academic institutions. The board will help define specific science goals, measurement requirements, and identify possible instruments for future VAMP missions. It will also serve as a science analysis group to mine existing data about Venus that may be useful to the VAMP mission.

"The board is a community-based, interdisciplinary science forum that the VAMP development team may interact with, ask questions of and request analyses to help resolve design and performance issues during these early stages of the mission's development," said Ronald Polidan, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems VAMP Project Scientist. "They will be incredibly helpful in designing the vehicle for maximum science data collection."

Venus, the second planet from the sun, is often referred to as Earth's twin because of its similarity in size and mass. Although the surface of Venus is hot and hostile, its atmosphere at 50 kilometers is Earth-like and its clouds hold the key to the difference. Understanding Venus' evolutionary path may shed light on Earth's evolution and the origin of life.

VAMP is a large and light, inflatable/deployable vehicle that would cruise through Venus's clouds at altitudes ranging from 52 kilometers to 68 kilometers, using solar-powered propellers to maneuver on Venus and while gathering science data. It is being designed to be inflated and deployed on orbit and "float" like a leaf into Venus's atmosphere, where it could operate for more than year.

The concept brings together Northrop Grumman's air and autonomous air vehicles, space, large deployable and re-entry systems expertise into a delta wing design. It draws on the company's lengthy heritage in developing flying wing vehicles, starting with the 1940s era Flying Wing aircraft through the B-2 Spirit bomber to the X-47B unmanned aerial vehicle.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in unmanned systems, cyber, C4ISR, and logistics and modernization to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

http://news.mydrivers.com/1/430/430069.htm
http://www.globenewswire.com/new ... ses.html?d=10134487