Skunk Works Research Articles

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.

Transforming the organization, part 2 strategy: moving beyond operational effectiveness

Organizations readily use the tools of efficiency—downsizing, outsourcing, re-engineering, and others—but seldom give needed attention to strategy. Based on experience in the marketplace, the authors offer ideas about strategy meant to be usable given the constraints under which academic libraries exist. First, organizations require a vision, overall direction, or goals. With a goal in mind, leaders can consider meta-strategies, which is to say, strategies that give embryonic plans for moving toward a goal room to grow. Examples are “the presumption of goodwill” and skunk works. Strategy always leads to paradox because deploying resources to one end seems to close off other avenues. The ability of organizations to perform both sides of a paradox decides their success.

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.]

Skunk Works, 1990s-Style

OVERVIEW:In the effort to keep up with smaller, more nimble competitors, large high-technology companies are increasingly turning to skunk works—small groups of scientists, engineers and other personnel who tackle specific problems and try to commercialize the solutions. However, no skunk works comes with a guarantee. Cases in which skunk works have failed to deliver illustrate the factors necessary for success. The corporate culture must be appropriate to support a countercultural entity in its midst. At least one top manager must support the nascent skunk works and insulate its personnel from day-to-day corporate activities. And management must devise a strategy for commercializing the result of the skunk works activity.

The “McDonaldization” of Society

Preface 1. An Introduction to McDonaldization McDonalds as a Global Icon The Long Arm of McDonaldization The Dimensions of McDonaldization The Advantages of McDonaldization A Critique of McDonaldization: The Irrationality of Rationality What Isn't McDonaldized McDonald's Troubles: Implications for McDonaldization A Look Ahead 2. McDonaldization and Its Precursors: From the Iron Cage to the Industry Bureaucratization: Making Life More Rational The Holocaust: Mass-Produced Death Scientific Management: Finding the One Best Way The Assembly Line: Turning Workers Into Robots Levittown: Putting Up Houses - Boom, Boom Shopping Centers: Malling America McDonald's: Creating the Fast-Food Factory Conclusion 3. Efficiency: Drive-Throughs and Finger Foods Streamlining the Process Simplifying the Product Putting Customers to Work Conclusion 4. Calculability: Big Macs and Little Chips Emphasizing Quantity Rather Than Quality of Products Giving the Illusion of Quantity Reducing Production and Service to Number Conclusion 5. Predictability: It Never Rains on Those Little Houses on the Hillside Creating Predictable Settings Scripting Ineraction With Customers Making Employee Behavior Predictable Creating Predictable Products and Processes Minimizing Danger and Unpleasantness Conclusion 6. Control: Human and Nonhuman Robots Controlling Employees Controlling Customers Controlling the Process and the Product The Ultimate Experience of Control? Birth and Death Conclusion 7. The Irrationality of Rationality: Traffic Jams on Those Happy Trails Inefficiency: Long Lines at the Checkout High Cost: Better Off at Home The Illusion of Fun: Ha, Ha, the Stock Market Just Crashed The Illusion of Reality: Even the Singers Aren't Real False Friendliness: Hi, George Disenchantment: Where's the Magic Health and Environmental Hazards: Even Your Pets Are at Risk Homogenization: It's No Different in Paris Dehumanization: Getting Hosed at Trough and Brew Conclusion 8. Globalization and McDonaldization: Does It All Amount to... Nothing? Globalization McDonaldization and Grobalization Nothing-Somthing and McDonaldization Nothing-Something and Grobalization-Glocalization The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Glocalization of Something The Case for McDonaldization as an Example of the Grobalization of Nothing Conclusion 9. McDonaldization in a Changing World: Are There Any Limits? The Forces Driving McDonaldization: It Pays, We Value It, It Fits Other Major Social Changes: McDonaldization in the Era of the Posts Are There Any Limits to the Expansion of McDonaldization? Looking to the Future: De-McDonaldization? Conclusion 10. Dealing With McDonaldization: A Practical Guide Creating Reasonable Alternatives: Sometimes You Really Do Have to Break the Rules Fighting Back Collectively: Saving Hearts, Minds, Taste Buds, and the Piazza di Spagna Coping Individually: Skunk Works, Blindfolded Children, and Fantasy Worlds Conclusion Index About the Author