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Multidisciplinary
Design, Analysis, and
Optimization Branch
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EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITIES: THE NASA AEROQUIZ
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Week of 11/3/97:
Three questions involving the world's first supersonic commercial
airliner -- the British/French Concorde SST...
Q:
As an airplane flies, it burns fuel and becomes lighter over time. For
this reason, the ideal trajectory for a cruising airplane is usually one that
gradually increases in altitude over the cruise portion of its mission.
Air traffic control, however, requires commercial aircraft to cruise at
constant altitudes to help avoid collisions with other aircraft. The Concorde
is exempt from this restriction. Why?
A:
Because Concorde's initial cruise altitude is well over
the subsonic jets' vertical-separation-controlled airspace.
It can thus climb freely from there until it reaches its
ceiling. Additionally, Concorde's airways are the only fixed
ones over the ocean. And with only 3 or 4 flights a day in every
direction, the collision probabilities remain scarce.
Congratulations to Nicolas Cousineau.
Week of 11/10/97:
Q:
As the supersonic Concorde accelerates through the sound barrier, its
aerodynamic center of pressure shifts rearward. How does the crew
maintain the proper balance of the airplane's center of gravity with the
center of pressure during this shift?
A:
By pumping fuel to a rear trim tank.
Congratulations to Anthony lee.
Week of 11/17/97:
Q:
Here's a followup to the very first Aeroquiz question (from 1/13/97)!
Click here to see it and to get
the background necessary to answer this week's question. On a subsonic
commercial airliner, high-pressure engine bleed air is used to pressurize the
fuselage at high altitudes. Air conditioners must be used to reduce the
temperature of this hot air to comfortable levels. On the supersonic Concorde,
however, where the stagnation temperatures at Mach 2 cruise speeds are around
240 degrees Fahrenheit, how is air conditioning achieved?
A:
By using the fuel in the tanks as a heat sink.
Congratulations to Anthony Lee.
Week of 11/24/97:
Q:
An obscure NASA lore question from the archives!
Early in 1964, after his historic Mercury flight in 1961, NASA
astronaut Alan Shepard was grounded from Gemini flights due to an inner
ear problem. He was then named head of the NASA Astronaut Office, which he
reportedly ran with an iron fist. Shepard's mood ranged from easygoing
to very harsh. Shepard's secretary began to use a tactic to silently
alert the Gemini astronauts entering his office to Shepard's mood of the day.
What was it?
A:
Shepard's secretary, Gaye Alford, would hang one of two pictures on
the wall in her office. The pictures were of Shepard smiling and scowling,
and the appropriate on would be displayed as needed.
No one got the correct answer!
- The Aeroquiz Editor.
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