newsletterRASPET

...The white aircraft looks like a glider, but there’s something peculiar about this one: It has on
the top of the fuselage an extension with a propeller.
...It represents a different approach to UAVs.
...The Owl is a project of the Raspet Flight Research Laboratory, Mississippi State University’s
highly respected RDT&E facility. It represents a new wave of UAVs that are so light they
require little power.
...This machine ultimately will stay aloft 36 hours to provide surveillance. It will be able to reach
65,000 feet, glide on thermal updrafts and use atmospheric winds, then click on power to lift
again and glide some more. The high-flying version will be called Ethereal.
...This is the type plane that represents what Raspet is all about: leading edge research into future
air vehicles. It’s one of the few university aeronautical research labs that can design, build and
test prototypes of full-scale manned and unmanned aircraft. Current programs include the ultra
light UAV sensor platform, elevated sensor platform and modular composite bridge.
...“Right now our emphasis is on unmanned aerial vehicles,” said Lawrence, a veteran test pilot.
“It’s a big deal, and it’s going to be the future.”
...Established 50 years ago as part of MSU’s Department of Aerospace Engineering, RFRL is
part of the Bagley College of Engineering. It has two Starkville facilities: the 55,000 square foot
prototyping building and 35,000 square-foot flight test lab.
...Lawrence said there are currently 11 professional staff members and 13 students at Raspet,
though the number of students can vary. While its more obvious attribute is RDT&E, teaching is
essential.
...“Everything we do, we look toward our educational mission,” said Lawrence, who brings
bright prospects to the lab to let them see for themselves.
...“We bring them in here, we show them what we’re doing and we give them an exposure to
things that are going on in the department as well as the things we’re doing in the lab,” said
Lawrence. “We think that the best way to develop engineers for tomorrow is to give them hands-
on training.”
...Raspet specializes in full-scale flight vehicle development and test, advanced composites
development and fabrication, computer controlled manufacturing and test of prototype composite
applications.
...It has a fleet of five fixed-wing and one rotary-wing aircraft, three autoclaves,
fabrication/prototyping/testing equipment, a 40,000 square foot hangar/assembly area, an engine
test cell and a ground test vehicle for UAV prototype development. One unique capability is the
large baron autoclave – 10 feet in diameter and 55 feet long.
...The lab in 1959 built XV-11A, the first turbine-powered composite aircraft. In 1989 it was
involved in the Honda UA-5 project, the first all graphite turbofan business-jet. Its experience
with UAVs goes back to 1990.
...The Owl represents the type of work for which Raspet is known. The UAV may one day be a
mainstay for the military and perhaps Homeland Defense.
...The Owl, with a wingspan of less than 40 feet, is a carbon fiber and epoxy composite that
weighs just 155 pounds without equipment. It can take off and land in only 100 feet. It will have
carry just 17 gallons of fuel to power the two-cycle piston engine, yet will have the capability of
remaining aloft about as long as Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk UAV. The Army’s ultralight
UAV sensor platform program call for it to have a capability of reaching an altitude of 36,000
feet that can be controlled by people who are not pilots.
...It will be modular, meaning it can be fitted in different ways for different missions. Although its
250-pound payload capability sounds like little, it’s actually a high payload for its weight.
...The thought process here was first create an efficient platform, then work on capabilities, sand
Tony Vizzini, head of the MSU aerospace engineering department. One of its key attributes will
be a deicing capability, a problem that has caused the loss of a number of Predator UAVs.
...Raspet officials note that the lab serves economic development activities for Mississippi by
providing facilities and staff for flight research/testing for manned and unmanned aerial vehicles.
...“We think that part of our job here at the lab is to create high tech in the state of Mississippi.
We can’t do all the things we need to do to develop this little airplane, one of the things that we
do with every major sub that we hire we tell them that this is something that goes into a spinoff
production they’re going to have to put a plant here in the state,” Lawrence said.
...“I not only want us to be recognized in the U.S., we want worldwide recognition,” said
Lawrence. – Tcp

April 2007