Abstract
The aerospace industry has historically seen rapid technological advancements. In only 66 years, humankind went from the first powered flight, to landing a person on the moon. Aerospace technologies interact with nearly every part of modern life, from the supply chain, to travel, to the internet. But there is a perception that the aerospace industry has stagnated in recent decades. The main personal experience most people have with aerospace technology is passenger airliners, which have remained similar since the development of wide body “jumbo jet” planes in the late sixties. I am interested in understanding how innovation within the aerospace industry occurs, which I have explored in both a technological and social/organizational way. A current technological push within the aerospace industry is rotating detonation rocket engines (RDREs). These engines could be more fuel efficient than traditional engines, so they would present a competitive advantage to any company able to develop one. Despite this interest in RDREs, there are many technical challenges associated with them. Our technical project has created a modular test facility that will lower the barrier to entry for RDRE research. My sociotechnical project explored how vertical integration, which is common in many modern space companies, has changed the landscape of the space industry. Specifically, I investigated vertical integration’s effect on technological momentum, the tendency of complex systems to affect their environment more than be affected by it.
The goal of the technical project was to design and manufacture a modular detonation wave test facility that would allow undergraduate students to contribute to RDRE research. The facility consists of two main components; a linear pre-detonator where the detonation wave is formed, and a test section with a curved channel. The curved channel of our test section is intended to simulate the curved geometries present in actual RDRE engines to allow us to study detonation wave properties. The intent is that other research groups could easily modify the test section to test other scenarios, while keeping everything else the same. Of the two plates that bound the test volume, one is a clear polycarbonate. This allows for diagnostic equipment, such as lasers and photodiodes, to measure the detonation waves as they travel through the facility. In addition to the pre-detonator and test section, the final design also includes gas and ignition sub-systems. The design process strictly followed a systems engineering approach, where mission objectives informed downstream functional and operational requirements. Design and manufacturing have been completed and, following final assembly, the facility will be test fired in the summer.
In the last two decades, NASA has taken a back seat in the space industry to private companies. Under the old paradigm, also called OldSpace, NASA and other government agencies organized space missions, but contracted out most of the work to numerous contractors spread around the country. In this new paradigm, or NewSpace, private companies determine the directions and goals of the industry by creating their own space missions. One structural characteristic of NewSpace companies is a tendency towards vertical integration; instead of splitting the work between many organizations, NewSpace companies run these programs top to bottom. My paper explored the effect vertical integration within space programs has had on the technological momentum of these programs. The two programs analyzed and compared were SpaceX’s Falcon 9, a highly vertically integrated project, and NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which followed the traditional model. The search process was driven by background theory on the mechanisms of technological momentum. Specifically, internal versus external requirement generation, evidence of societal adaptation, and the stability of physical artifacts, organizational structures, and knowledge. After analysis, Falcon 9 was found to have more technological momentum than JWST. This difference was generally attributable to the programs’ differing levels of vertical integration.
Notes
School of Engineering and Applied Science
Bachelor of Science in Aerospace Engineering
Technical Advisor: Chloe Dedic
STS Advisor: Kent Wayland
Technical Team Members: Albert Castellon-Prado, Brandon Dawson, Tyler Fisher, Connor Green, Spence Hartman, Alvin Kim, Derek Liu, Josiah Martin, Saif Rahman, Frederic Ramirez-Melenciano, Irion Thompson, Tyler Verry, Jonathan Wang
