Martin Skunk Works Research Articles

The Power of Connection between Systems Engineering and 3D Wire Harness: Model‐Based Wire Harness Engineering at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works

AbstractLockheed Martin Skunk Works has extended their digital engineering approach for wire harness engineering to span system architecture, logical design, 3D design and manufacturing representation. Their Model‐Based Wire Harness Engineering realizes the promise of Model‐Based Systems Engineering through significant improvements in integrating SysML models and 3D designs.

The evolution of R&D management

R&D has been studied for a long time within different contexts, economies, and environmental demands throughout the years. The transition from early days’ booming markets and economic growth in the 1950s to today’s highly competitive and global market place is reflected in the way R&D has been managed. Early success stories such as the industrial research laboratories Bell Labs, Xerox Park and Lockheed Martin Skunkworks have been replaced by companies like the more market‐focused 3M, the rapid introductions of new product ranges from Japanese manufacturers like Toyota and Sony, and R&D collaborations like Ericsson’s network of companies around the “Bluetooth” technology and standard. The perspective on R&D processes has been different throughout the years, since the structure and prerequisites of the economy have changed and so has the presumption of best practice. One attempt at describing the last 50 years of evolution within the R&D field is introduced below according to many researchers.

X-33 Hypersonic Aerodynamic Characteristics

X-33 Hypersonic Aerodynamic Characteristics

Bringing Launch Costs Down to Earth

This article discusses the three federally funded projects that are underway to develop new rocket engines that can make it more affordable to send payloads into orbits. The new RS-68 propulsion system is Rocketdyne's entry in competition to power the US Air Force's new heavy-lift booster. The most ambitious of the new propulsion system designs is Rocketdyne's XRS-2200 linear aerospike engine, a seemingly nozzle-less oxygen/hydrogen powerplant that is designed to send the autonomously controlled NASA X-33 lifting body into orbit. The X-33 is being developed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works, Palmdale, CA. The key for new launch vehicles, whether they're expendable or reusable, is to get the costs down. The article also highlights that the payload that can be lofted by a launch vehicle depends in large part on engine performance and the ratio of propellant to structural weight. Bell nozzles are designed to offer the best compromise of shape and length for a vehicle and flight path. Rocketdyne's R-68 engine is to be 17 feet tall and 8 feet wide at the base. The key to the R-68 engine design was the selection of hydrogen as the propellant rather than kerosene.

Measurement and empirical prediction of bottom surface acoustic pressures on a hover aircraft model

Acoustic measurements were made on the bottom surface of the 86% scale large-scale propulsion model (LSPM) of an advanced short takeoff and vertical landing (ASTOVL) airplane. The measurements were ob-tained during fixed hover heights where the lower wing surface varied from 5 ft (airplane’s wheels on the ground) through 36 ft above the ground for a wide range of propulsion thrust mixes and airplane control surface configurations. The complete propulsion system provided four exhausts through an integrated unit consisting of an aft located main jet engine, which powered a forward located shaft driven lift fan and was completed with two main engine bleed high-pressure bypass roll jets (in the wings). Flush surface measurements were made at 12 locations on the bottom surfaces and time correlated with the operating propulsion parameters. An empirical acoustic model was made through analyses of the geometry and the data, and was used to predict contours on the bottom of the aircraft. [This work was performed by Lockheed Martin Skunk Works at the NASA-Ames Research Center.]