Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Keynote Speaker - NIAC 2021

 2021 NIAC Day 3


Keynote Speaker - Dane Elliot-Lewis

GE Aviation, National Society of Black Engineers


“The future belongs to those who believe in the power of their dreams”

-Eleanor Roosevelt


Vision for a more inclusive and advanced society

This resonates with those who consider themselves a dreamer

We believe in transformative change, envision a society that suspends multiple heavenly bodies


Why are we doing this, why is government money going towards these adventures?

To overcome this small-minded thinking:


“The Americans have need of the telephone, but we do not. We have plenty of messenger boys” - William Preece


Not within a thousand years will man ever fly

I think there is a world market for maybe five computers

Remote shopping, while entirely feasible, will flop

The idea of a personal communicator in every pocket is a pipe dream drivinven by greed.


Inspiration to incubate some new ideas


With 23 years of experience at GE aviation, you can see the love for history, the story of the Panama Canal is resounding, partially because my grandfather was among the West Indian laborers …


Was there a spark or something that influenced you to begin this path of innovation and where did your journey start?

Saturday mornings was spent with a bowl of cereal and cartoons

One cartoon in particular as a five year old: Dastardly and Muttley and their flying machines, a series that follows a villain in wwi biplanes, like roadrunner

The innovation was always around airplanes

Every episode came something new, a new possibility

This began a path to a career in aerospace


A typical adolescence 

This is the point where I decided to be a shuttle pilot


Always doodling, astronauts and regimes of light: how to ensure that challenger never happened again


Spent alot of time absorbing technical manuals and trying to improve on the space shuttle


Turns out space camp became the experience that college interviewers were most interested in, 19 Ronald mauradeen scholars


Was sent to Glenn research center at Langley research center


Supported a study on lubricant fuels,


Kitbash spacecraft models into not something more realistic, but something into the starter universe

Saw the interest and asked why don’t you help me out? Want to understand leaps in physics that will enable warp travel

Began working primarily as a scribe

Mark went on tofound the CalCity foundation, interstellar flight as its mission



This was a huge inspiration to be an astronaut, become a nasa engineer and find out which of the military branches is going to train a pair of glasses to fly fighter jets essentially


Turned out a lot of the space companies folded, so things did not go as planned

What he really wanted to do was to design hardware

No awareness that GE was in the aerospace business at the time

Learn the skillsets to become an engineer and spacecraft designer like he is today


Capability to build something and test it and see it in service


Design engineer, combustor aerodynamic (because it is similar to a rocket engine) and mechanical design, GE still has the largest design ever, 16,000 pounds of thrust

Combustion testing manufacturing support


Designed multiple swirlers and production manufacture, learning manufacturing processes

Also got the first two patents around the hardware

Systems engineer

Performance and preliminary design

Commercial engine certification 

Advanced engine bid and proposal


Helped certify engine with competitors of the G-38 aircraft analysis of the A-10 warhog, turbo fannage, the next role was in certification

That was the ct-92, in China, with the Chinese equivalent, the FAA, and how it meets all of the expectations, and to lay out the certification plan, what are the tests that need to happen, analyses and in that order


Final roles, most recent roles with GE, most direct led teams of 150…


Engineering manager

Technical execution

Building Teams, people development -that means hiring people, firing people


Process improvement, improved through LEAN in order to reduce overburden


Had a wonderful experience at GE, still an itch that had not been scratched


NSBE is an organization that has six hundred chapters around the world, it was formed int he 1970s through undergraduate studies the organization has evolved over the years, but has now created a professional series, and even special interest groups for specific industries


NSBE: Aerospace Special Interest Group

Technical research

Technical development

Aerospace advocacy

Youth outreach


In terms of technical research, internal promotion along the lines of the aerospace development than research.


Project Arusha - Lunar rover, 20k kg rover designed to transport six astronauts

Cabin structures and radiation protection 

Power and drive train, specifically looking at fuel cells

Crew accommodations and habitability

Navigation

East Africa Spaceport


A number of rovers intended to support a lunar base of 48 people 



NSBE research east Africa spaceport

Feasibility studies of an equatorial African spaceport

Leverage geographic advantages

Develop local aerospace expertise


Space policy assessment 

Business lifecycle cost assessments


Really, it focuses around the potential while focusing on the core competency of of the local and regionals in East Africa


NSBE Research: visions for human spaceflight


Unlimited Horizons publication

Rationales study and graduate as many engineers as possible.

Series within the structure to cater to engineers such as myself


All of the opportunities that NASA has, get your opportunities aligned because here are the benefits that NASA has… you guys need to be involved with NIAC, and they get pointed to this symposium, come here and hear it first hand go to him or others


Q: Naturally flows out of what we just talked about, affects … touched by the story that you went to space camp twice, that you would be belittled and would be made fun of so never told anyone. How do we confront this issue? That kids might be ridiculed for going to space camp?

A: There are STEM forces, look at these as careers, there is a whole field of opportunity here. There is an entirely open space, like white space of opportunity

I can create something here, whether it is a home or a business opportunity


Whether there is going to be career or business here, things we cannot even think of, what is better in terms of leveraging, entrepenuership, legacy to give to the children, opens up perfectly, a bit of a capitalistic bent, but there is really no limit in terms of using a creative experience and mind and make something that no one has ever thought of


Geysers, just a little tease, started with Saturday morning cartoons, strip of the visions of the future, and absolutely transported past visions of the American future, an old book etc…


Just wonder about the role of the visioning


Vision is I’m going to put some details behind completely unrelated thoughts, or however that works for you, a timetable as you work through it. There needs to be some concept of tomorrow or that project and a self-motivating factor, helps organize, plan and how to become like may gemison…

I like to visualize myself in the spacelab or the spacehead module, you don’t get anywhere without some vision to drive you or focus you.


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