Meteorology for Air Traffic Automation

Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is a branch of fluid mechanics that allows, with the help of a computer, to simulate the movement of a fluid and its heat transfer through numerical calculation, thus allowing to predict the phenomena that will occur in it in a quantitative way, based on the conservation laws that govern the movement of fluids.

Therefore, it is a really interesting element in engineering, both at an educational and professional level.

The High Altitude Platform (HAPS)  test is one of the most innovative and ambitious projects in which the Aerospace Technology Research Group of the University of León is found together with the company Ecosat Airships.

HAPS (High Altitude Platforms) or Pseudo-satellites are unmanned aircraft (RPAS), generally airships or light aircraft, capable of operating in the stratosphere for very long periods of time, autonomously and powered by solar energy.

The Aerospace Engineering Area of the University of León, together with the European Space Agency and Indra, are working together to face the challenge of space debris. To this end, a study is being carried out in order to know the movement of these residues and what will be the trajectory that they will follow, so that a safer space can be guaranteed for future space missions, avoiding any risk of collision.

Since the beginning of the space age in the 1950s, countless space missions have been carried out resulting in a large amount of debris, rocket fragments, spacecraft and instruments, that remain orbiting the Earth without any control.

On July 12th and 13th the Summer Course entitled "Spanish Contributions to the Space Surveillance and Tracking Program (SST)" was held at the Palacio del Conde Luna in the city of León, organized by the Aerospace Engineering Area of the University of León.

The main objective of the conference consisted in the presentation, from a technical perspective, of the challenges posed by space-based threats due to space debris and near Earth space objects (NEOs). Both of them condition the development of the operations in the space. Besides, in some cases, they might entail a risk for the general population if producing an impact.

The architecture and functionality of the different surveillance and tracking systems of those threats were also addressed, emphasizing the most important contributions that Spain is making into this field.