Aurora Flight Sciences Corporation

Aeroastro, Inc.

Thomas Vaneck

Robert William Parks

Scott A McDermott

Adam Woodworth

Luis Jordan

Justin McClellan

Robert A Summers

Kimberly Kohlhepp

Jonathon Miller

Peter Lively

Simon Morris Shand Weiss

A wing load alleviation structure for use on an aircraft, comprising a front spar, wherein the front spar includes a plurality of alternating rigid spar structures and inflatable spar structures; and a rear spar, wherein the rear spar includes a plurality of alternating rigid spar structures and pivot joints, such that when a load is applied to the front and rear spars, deflection of each of the front and rear spars continues at a first rate until a critical load is reached, and then as the loading increases, deflection of each of the front and rear spars continues at a second rate.

Wing load alleviation structure

A foldable wing for use with a very high altitude aircraft capable of operating at an altitude at or above 85,000 feet is disclosed. The foldable wing may employ a spiral fold deployment, wherein a hinge between each segment of the foldable wing is slightly offset from the perpendicular. Successively positioned wing segments fold over one another. Alternatively, the hinges are substantially perpendicular so that each respective wing segment folds linearly against the next wing segment. An inflatable rib, with inflatable arms, can be inflated to provide a force against two adjacent arms, thereby deploying the wing segments through a full 180&#xb0; of rotation.

Inflatable folding wings for a very high altitude aircraft

A spacecraft architecture and accompanying standard allows for the creation of a spacecraft using an assortment of modules that comply with the standard. The standard preferably includes both mechanical and electrical compatibility criteria. To assure physical/mechanical compatibility, the structure of each module is constrained to be compatible with any other compatible module. To minimize the interference among modules, the extent of each module in select dimensions is also constrained. To assure functional compatibility, a common communication format is used to interface with each module, and each public-function module is configured to respond to requests for function capabilities that it can provide to other functions. Each module is preferably designed to provide structural support to the assemblage of modules, and an anchor module is provided or defined for supporting the entire assemblage and coupling the assemblage to other structures, such as a launch vehicle.

Modular spacecraft design architecture

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Gloucester, MA, United States of America

Thomas Vaneck