Opening New Science Prospects: International Aeronautics Congress Discusses Relevant Aircraft Engineering Issues
7 December 2023
Aerospace industry is vital for domestic scientific and industrial development as it determines the areas to achieve national economic and technological independence. TsAGI (a part of NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”) lays the cornerstones of new solutions in the area; it celebrated its 105th anniversary on December 1.
Timed to this milestone date, the International Aeronautics Congress started in Moscow on December, 4, organized by TsAGI with support of the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”.
The Congress was opened by Kirill Sypalo, Director General at TsAGI and Corresponding Member of the RAS. ‘Since its very foundation, TsAGI has carried out profound research in aeromechanics, on the one hand, and applied research developments, on the other hand. It is its real mission that we have undertaken. Great technological advance was created by our father founders—such as Nikolay Zhukovsky, Sergey Chaplygin, Andrey Tupolev, Mstislav Keldysh—that must be developed by us, contemporary scientists. This is how we will make a breakthrough in the contemporary areas of technology. Indeed, the Congress will become an effective basis for stronger cooperation between fundamental science, applied science, industry and education,’ he said.
Oleg Bocharov, Russia’s Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, was an honorable guest at the Congress. He congratulated TsAGI on the 105th Anniversary, highlighting that TsAGI will be a key enterprise for solving the aerospace tasks shaped by unprecedentedly high industrial growth and new contemporary challenges.
Welcoming remarks were said by Boris Aleshin, Chief Scientific Officer and Chairman of the Supervisory Board at the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”; Academician of the RAS. According to him, aerospace industry is a cutting-edge of science and technology, and it should unite science and industry, and support top schools of sciences shaped at applied institutes, design bureaus, and enterprises. Opening remarks were also said by Gennady Krasnikov, President and Academician of the RAS; Yuri Koptev, Chairman of Science and Technology Board, Rostec State Corporation; and Yuri Slusar, General Director, UAC.
The Congress continued with a plenary session. A plenary report was made by Andrey Dutov, General Director at the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”, which considered interaction between fundamental and applied science in knowledge lifecycle, technologies and science-intense industrial products, and structuring Russia’s R&T complex. Problems and challenges of long-term development of domestic and international aviation, and the role of fundamental science in it was highlighted by Sergey Chernyshev, Chief Scientific Officer at TsAGI, Vice-President and Academician of the RAS. According to him, there are increasingly stricter requirements on flight safety, noise, aircraft pollutants, etc. So TsAGI is working on the strategic areas of technological development under the guidance of the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”. The areas include developing unconventional aircraft configurations, such as flying wing or regional aircraft with top-mounted engines, creating new-generation supersonic transport, and researching into application of hybrid propulsions, new materials and structures from them.
Two agreements were signed at the plenary session. The first one concerns NRC-RAS cooperation, and aims at fruitful cooperation in science, technology, innovations, expertise and information analysis to stimulate the development of science and technologies in aircraft engineering.
The second agreement deals with creating a World-Class Research Center Consortium on Cutting-Edge Aerospace Technologies. It considers the research-and-technology advance, science team, research-and-technology base, and the assets shaped under the WCRC ‘Supersonic’ Establishment and Development Program. The Consortium aims at the most efficient use of creating breakthrough knowledge and technological solutions to transform them into advanced aerospace projects with extended research areas. The agreement was signed by the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”, the RAS, TsAGI, Rostec, CIAM, GosNIIAS, PFRC UB RAS, KIAM, MAI, Bauman MSTU, etc.
The Conference on Fundamental Knowledge for New-Generation Aerospace Technologies opened in the afternoon. The role of fundamental research and research-and-technology advance in aircraft engineering was highlighted by Sergey Chernyshev (Chief Scientific Officer at TsAGI, Vice-President and Academician of the RAS), in his welcoming speech. It is fundamental knowledge that lays firm basis for breakthrough aviation projects capable of meeting global contemporary challenges, he said. Such cooperation between science and practice is exemplified by activities of WCRC ‘Supersonic’ whose mission is to provide Russia’s global competitiveness in supersonic flight research.
Other reports were made by Academician Vladislav Khomich, Scientific Director, Institute for Electrophysics and Electric Power RAS; Vladislav Klochkov, Deputy General Director for Strategic Development, the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”; Academician Vladimir Kolesnikov, President at Rostov State Transport University, etc.
The aerospace summit continued at the Symposium on Global Challenges in 21 Century Aerospace Science. The Symposium had sessions that embraced TsAGI’s activity areas, such as Regulatory and technological aspects of RPAS development, tests and certification; Advanced Structures and Materials for Civil Aircraft; Advanced Aircraft Aerodynamic Configurations; etc.
The International Aeronautics Congress was held on December 4 and 5 in Moscow within the celebration of TsAGI’s 105th Foundation Anniversary. It was organized by TsAGI with the support of the NRC “Zhukovsky Institute”. The Congress aims to foreground the strategic tasks of increasing aerospace sector competitiveness for shaping unified innovative paths and concentrating research results on the industry’s key technological development areas.