56 The PCB Design Magazine • September 2015
MilAero007
Highlights
RED Epic Dragon Camera Captures
Riveting Images on Space Station
In October 2014 NASA delivered high-definition,
3D footage of astronauts living and working on the
International Space Station to the Internet, posting
video of astronauts exploring water tension in mi-
crogravity. The same engineers have now delivered
a new camera capable of recording images with
six times more detail than either of the previous
cameras.
NASA's Space Launch System Design
'Right on Track' for Journey to Mars
You know the feeling of pride and achievement
when you've worked really hard on a term paper,
and finally turn it in? That's how the critical de-
sign review team for NASA's Space Launch System
is feeling this week as the program completed its
review.
Agricultural Drones and Flexible Circuits
According to MIT Technology Review, one of the
Top 10 breakthrough technologies last year was
the agricultural drone. I focused on drones in one
of my recent columns, Flexible Circuits and UAV
Applications, which briefly mentioned agriculture
as one of the uses for drones.
Could 'Windbots Someday Explore
the Skies of Jupiter?
Among designers of robotic probes to explore the
planets, there is certainly no shortage of clever
ideas. There are concepts for robots that are pro-
pelled by waves in the sea. There are ideas for
tumbleweed bots driven by wind, rolling across
Antarctica or Mars. Recently a team of engineers
at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory wondered if a
probe could be buoyant in the clouds of Earth or a
distant gas giant planet, like Jupiter.
Airbus Defence and Space and
Lockheed Martin to Upgrade German
Navy P-3C Orion Fleet
Airbus Defence and Space together with its team
partner Lockheed Martin Overseas Services Corpo-
ration (LMOSC) are to undertake a Mid-Life Up-
grade (MLU)—re-winging—of the German Navy
fleet of P-3C Orion maritime patrol and anti-sub-
marine warfare aircraft.
Gary Ferrari Shares His Thoughts
on PCB Design and More
Recently, I had a chance to talk with Gary Ferrari,
the director of technical support at Firan Technol-
ogy Group Corporation (FTG). Our conversation
ranged from CID training to the need for reaching
high school students as a way of introducing more
young people to career opportunities in our indus-
try. We also covered strategies for helping custom-
ers design and build better product, and keeping
designers provided with the most critical part of
their supply chain—information.
Latent Short Circuit Failure in High-Rel
PCBs Due To Cleanliness of
PCB Processes and Base Materials
Latent short circuit failures have been observed
during testing of PCBs for power distribution of
spacecraft of the European Space Agency. Root
cause analysis indicates that foreign fibers may
have contaminated the PCB laminate. These fibers
can provide a pathway for electromigration if they
bridge the clearance between nets of different po-
tential in the presence of humidity attracted by
the hygroscopic laminate resin.
Boeing Salt Lake Team Trades Hand
Tools for Robots
To help meet Commercial Airplanes increased
production rates, Boeing Salt Lake employees are
transforming the way they build and paint 787-9
horizontal stabilizers.
Future Army Nanosatellites to
Empower Soldiers
One Army project is making the future of sat-
ellite communications more responsive to Sol-
diers' needs. The U.S. Army Space and Missile
Defense Command/Army Forces Strategic Com-
mand's Nanosatellite Program, or SNaP, will be
a small satellite communications, or SATCOM,
constellation. This will allow communication
across great distances using existing UHF tacti-
cal radios.
56 The PCB Design Magazine • September 2015
