EUROAVIA Leuven - Brussel

To have a nice chat about the past year, EUROAVIA Leuven Brussel organises a nice BBQ.

Location: Lerkeveld, Waversebaan 220, Heverlee
Price: +- 5euro

Registration: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dFhDVTA2c0NLbkIxRUZ...

A reliable and affordable access to space is one of the major challenges to facilitate a successful exploitation. For more than half a century, man has used rockets to place objects in an orbit around the Earth. Nevertheless, the launcher industry is now more dynamic than ever. New players are entering the market and traditional manufacturers are forced to streamline their process and become more flexible.On the technical side, there are also still possible improvements.
Dr. Guillermo Paniagua from the von Karman Institute will come to Leuven on the 8th of May to tell us all about this from the technical point of view. The presentation will cover the novel propulsion concepts for launchers Dr. Paniagua and his collegues are involved with.

Others look further in the future and abandon the concept of the classical launcher. N. Semino will give us a presentation on this project, the
SpaceShaft. This is a concept for a levitating structure that would serve as an elevator system to near-space altitudes. We will get an overview of the concept and the challenges that have to be overcome in realising this project.

The double lecture takes place on Tuesday 8 May at 20h, as usual in BOKU 03.22 on the engineering campus in Heverlee. Everyone is welcome and as tradition demands, there is a free reception. The presentations will be in English.

On Tuesday the first of May 2012, 20h00, at werktuigkunde 02.15 we will hold our yearly general meeting.

On 25 april we are organising a double visit: to the Redu ESA Station and the Euro Space Center. Registering for this activity is possible until Friday 20 April using following link: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dGdwYmM4b3VTTm92c3F...

in the morning, we will visit the Redu ESA Station. This is a radio-antenna station to track satellites, communicate with them and control them. After this visit, we are going to the Euro Space Center, an educational center where we will board a full-scale mock-up of the Space Shuttle and the European Colombus laboratory. We will also have the opportunity to enter several astronaut training equipment. We'll walk on the moon, turn around our axis and we'll experience desorientation; The cost of this visit is €12.

The visit takes place from 10:30 to 16:00. The drive up there takes 1.5h however, so we'll leave at 8:45 at the parking of the Mechanical Engineering department. We'll be back in Leuven around 17:45.
Because we can't reach Redu with public transportation, we kindly ask you to provide your own cars. Otherwise, cars will be rented and the costs will be split. Thanks!

The Airbus A380, the world’s biggest passenger airliner, truly is a masterpiece of technological design. The transition between drawing board and flight is never easy however. For over two years, the A380 has undergone thorough tests, ranging from extreme weather performance and evacuations to auto landings.
Xavier Lesceu, an official Airbus test pilot en flight instructor for the A380, will guide us through this whole procedure, putting his own experience to good use.

The lecture (in English), in cooperation with VTK, will take place on Wednesday 28 March, followed by a free reception. You can register (not mandatory, but recommended) by clicking HERE.

The doors will open at 19:30 and the lecture starts at 20:00.
Location: aula Pieter De Somer, Charles Deberiotstraat 24, 3000 Leuven

On the 21st of March a visit to Techspace Aero is organised.
This company is specialised in the design of parts for motors used in aviation and space.
They also manufacture these parts and develop test benches for the systems they make. Many modern aircraft have parts which were designed and produced by this Belgian company.

The visit itself will take place from 9:30 to 11:45 am. As it will take approximately one hour to get their, the departure will be around 8:15 am.
The final departure time etc. will be communicated to the participants.

You can enroll through the link below.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/viewform?formkey=dHdQNktSd3lRWFMwX1V...

On March 14th, we are welcome at SABCA Gosselies.
Last year EUROAVIA already was lucky to visit the factory in Lummen.
Major modification on several aircraft take place in this plant in Gosselies (Charleroi).
From time to time, they also assemble airplanes.

The visit itself is from 13:30 till 16:30.
The guided tour can be French spoken.

Subscriptions close on Sunday March 4th at 14 o'clock!

Numbers show that aviation is one of the safest means of transportation. The last decennia this sector is having an increasing growth. Nonetheless it is possible that occasional there is an accident and this often causes a lot of media attention.

These accidents are a source for improvement. That is why every incident has to be investigated. These investigation make sure the reliability and safety can be maintained and improved. During the lecture our guest speaker will tell us about the procedures of an Air Crash Investigation and he will illustrate this with examples.

The lecture takes place on February, 21st in room 03.22 of the civil engineering department. Everyone is welcome, even non-EUROAVIA members. As usual there will be a small reception.