It appears are the skies ARE getting more crowded... not with
swarms of VLJs, but rather satellites designed to assist in global
positioning system (GPS) navigation. Soon, US-designed GPS
satellites and Europe's developing Galileo system will face a new
rival in orbit: GLONASS.
We know you love aviation and you probably love to spend as much
time as you can in museums dedicated to your first (okay, second;
apologies to your spouse) love.
A most difficult aspect of wing design can be choosing the correct
airfoil cross sectional shape. Although most airfoil shapes can
support flight, only the right one will save thousands of dollars
in operational costs over the life of the aircraft.
"These rules represent another step forward for
commercial human space flight. To help move this exciting industry
from concept to reality, our goal is to streamline and facilitate
the licensing process for flight testing under the experimental
permit while maintaining public safety."
Source: FAA Administrator Marion Blakey,
commenting on the agency's release Friday of regulations governing
the issuance of experimental permits for launching reusable
suborbital rockets.
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