Mentor Blogs

Look, up in the air. It’s a microwave missile. It’s a smart bomb. Actually, it’s CHAMP, the Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project, and it’s arguably the hottest directed-energy innovation in the military and aerospace (mil/aero) market today. Government and industry—including the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL), Boeing Phantom Works, Raytheon’s Ktech subsidiary, … Read More

Hardware, Geek, Kirtland Air Force Base, The Dark Knight Rises, AFRL, Milaero, Boeing, Military, Raytheon’s Ktech subsidiary, Aerospace, Sandia National Laboratories, Mentor, Directed Energy Directorate, Mentor Graphics, EMP, Mentor.com, Boeing Phantom Works, Mil-Aero, Counter-electronics High-powered Microwave Advanced Missile Project

What does a longtime space agency do with lunar research satellites when they have run out of fuel? If you’re the space geeks at National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) Jet Propulsion Lab (JPL) in Pasadena, California, you do something unforgettable: You crash them into moon! Ebb and Flow are appliance-sized probes (or spacecraft) in NASA’s Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) … Read More

Military, Milaero, Mentor, Delta II, Mentor Graphics, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Aerospace, Ebb, Geek, GRAIL, electrical, JPL, Design Automation, Lockheed Martin, Discovery Program, Engineer, Embedded Systems, Flow, nasa, The Boeing Company

The military/aerospace (mil/aero) industry is obsessed with unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) this month. The FAA is occupied with the safe integration of UAVs in public airspace. The Pentagon is buzzing about the first recorded attack on a military drone in the airspace over the Persian Gulf. The public is growing more concerned and vocal about UAVs as they relate to privacy. Unmanned aircraft systems … Read More

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Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), or drones, are the topic of much conversation in the military/aerospace (mil/aero) community; much of the talk centers on UAVs in airspace, in fact. This month, the Pentagon confirmed that an Iranian attack aircraft fired on an unarmed U.S. drone on the morning of Nov. 1, 2012. Iranian leaders and lawmakers do not deny firing on the unmanned aircraft. The point of contention, … Read More

UAV, Sukhoi SU-25 Frogfoot, MQ-1, COTS, Drones, Predator, RPA, RPAS, Aerospace, General Atomics, Mentor.com, Mil-Aero, Hardware, Milaero, Engineer, Military, Geek, Mentor, Iran, Mentor Graphics, unmanned, Unmanned Aerial Vehicle

Unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), now commonly referred to as remotely piloted aircraft (RPA) or remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS) by federal agencies, standards bodies, and military organizations worldwide, are again the hottest topic of discussion in the military/aerospace (mil/aero) community. What has the industry, and the greater public, buzzing? The prospect of sitting in a window seat … Read More

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Following a flight on the back of a modified Boeing 747 aircraft to LAX and traversing Los Angeles roads, the historic NASA Space Shuttle Endeavour is on temporary display in the Samuel Oschin Space Shuttle Endeavour Display Pavilion California Science Center, also called the California ScienCenter, in Exposition Park, Los Angeles, California. The California Science Museum is in the process of building … Read More

Hardware, Geek, Mentor, Military, electrical, nasa, Software, Aerospace, Warfighters, Mentor Graphics, Endeavour, Mentor.com, Engineer, Mil-Aero, Electronic, Milaero, Embedded Systems

Three out of four decommissioned NASA space shuttle orbiters have found new homes at museums in the United States. Endeavour, built as a replacement for Space Shuttle Challenger, recently arrived at its new home in Los Angeles, and the world was watching. This geek was impressed and moved by the thousands of people who shared in Endeavour’s journey, logging its path in real time (and even sharing photos) … Read More

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Marking the end of an era, Space Shuttle Endeavor—the fifth and final NASA space shuttle constructed—arrived at Los Angeles Airport (LAX) on September 21, 2012 to begin its journey on the streets of LA to its final resting place at the California Science Center. NASA offered up three of its four decommissioned space shuttles as donations to museums; many museums competed for the honor of displaying … Read More

Geek, Engineer, Hardware, Warfighters, Toyota, Milaero, CrewMax, Military, nasa, Aerospace, Software, Mentor, Embedded Systems, Mentor Graphics, Endeavour, Mentor.com, electrical, Mil-Aero, Electronic

After 25 missions to outer space and 4,671 orbits around planet Earth, Space Shuttle Endeavour has completed its final voyage, dubbed mission number 26. Mission 26 entailed Endeavour’s move from its previous home in Orbiter Processing Facility (OPF) 2 at Kennedy Space Center (KSC), headquartered in Merritt Island, Florida, to its final resting place at the California Science Center in Los Angeles, … Read More

Mentor, Kennedy Space Center, Mentor Graphics, Technology, OV-105, Columbia, Rockwell Automation, Rockwell Collins, Aerospace, Space Shuttle, Mil-Aero, Geek, Milaero, Hardware, Military, Endeavour, nasa, Engineer

If you enter into discussions with anyone in the military/aerospace (mil/aero) community, you’ll likely hear “sequestration” more than once. Conversations among defense professionals today invariably touch on the topic, some even escalate into heated, impromptu debates. Reactions and predictions on the topic of sequestration vary wildly among mil/aero professionals. At a recent event in Washington, … Read More

Milaero, Mil-Aero, Military, Software, Buck McKeon, soldier, Technology, Aerospace, Warfighters, Obama, Mentor Graphics, Office of Management and Budget, Mentor.com, President Obama, DoD, Sequestration Transparency Act of 2012, Mentor

Sequestration. This one word is evoking powerful reactions from the military/aerospace (mil/aero) community. To sequester means to seize. So, what is being seized when it comes to budget sequestration? Money. Money that the U.S. Congress authorized to be spent is now being taken away from various federal agencies. In fact, the U.S. Federal Government is facing quite a substantial sequestration, and … Read More

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“By NASA’s tally, the United States, the former Soviet Union, Russia, the European Space Agency, China, and Japan have tried to reach Mars 43 times. Of those attempted flybys, orbits, and landings, fewer than one third succeeded,” writes Marc Kaufman, journalist and author, in USA Today. “Only six missions to the surface of Mars have successfully landed, sent home data, and completed their tasks. “What … Read More

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NASA’s Mars Science Laboratory Curiosity rover is the biggest, most expensive, and most technologically advanced planetary expedition ever attempted. At the same time, Curiosity’s entry, descent, and landing (EDL) was, without a doubt, the most ambitious. The EDL phase started when the spacecraft reached the Martian atmosphere, at a distance of roughly 125 kilometers or 78 miles above the surface, … Read More

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Avid space geeks everywhere cheered and breathed a collective sigh of relief when news arrived that the NASA Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) Curiosity rover, a roughly $2.5 billion investment in space exploration, had landed safely on the surface of the Red Planet. Enthusiasts the world over had waited with bated breath for 14 minutes to receive confirmation of the one-ton robot’s successful landing. … Read More

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Without a doubt, the Curiosity rover’s landing—specifically, the EDL or Entry Descent Landing phase—was a nail-biter. Geeks everywhere, especially NASA JPL engineers in California, watched and waited to learn the fate of the Curiosity on the surface of Mars. In fact, the world had to wait roughly 14 minutes—the time it took for communication between the Earth and Curiosity—to learn the Curiosity rover’s … Read More

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