Raytheon Technologies Corp. has been created from an all-stock merger transaction between Raytheon Co. and United Technologies Corp. (UTC) effective April 3, 2020, following the spin-off of UTC’s Carrier and Otis businesses. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Raytheon Technologies is one of the largest aerospace and defense companies in the world with approximately $74 billion in pro forma 2019 net sales and a global team of 195,000 employees, including 60,000 engineers and scientists.

"Raytheon Technologies brings together two companies with combined strengths and capabilities that make us uniquely equipped to support our customers and partners during this unprecedented time. We will also play our part in the war on the COVID-19 pandemic, including doing everything we can to keep our employees around the globe safe and well," said Greg Hayes, CEO of Raytheon Technologies.

Tom Kennedy, Executive Chairman of Raytheon Technologies, said, "Our platform-agnostic, diversified portfolio brings together the best of commercial and military technology, enabling the creation of new opportunities across aerospace and defense for decades to come."

Raytheon Technologies’ four segments:

• Collins Aerospace Systems specializes in aerostructures, avionics, interiors, mechanical systems, mission systems, and power controls across the commercial, regional, business aviation, and military sectors. The segment is led by President Stephen Timm, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, with approximately $26 billion in 2019 net sales.

• Pratt & Whitney designs, manufactures, and services advanced aircraft engines and auxiliary power systems for commercial, military, and business aircraft. The segment is led by President Chris Calio, headquartered in East Hartford, Connecticut, with approximately $21 billion in 2019 net sales.

• Raytheon Intelligence & Space specializes in developing advanced sensors, training, and cyber and software solutions. The segment is led by President Roy Azevedo, headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, with approximately $15 billion in pro forma 2019 net sales.

• Raytheon Missiles & Defense provides advanced solutions to detect, track, and engage threats. The segment is led by President Wes Kremer, headquartered in Tucson, Arizona, with approximately $16 billion in pro forma 2019 net sales.

Raytheon Technologies’ executive leadership team is comprised of Tom Kennedy, Executive Chairman; Greg Hayes, CEO; and Toby O’Brien, CFO.

A team of engineers and physicians at the University of California San Diego is working to turn emergency hand-held ventilators into devices that can work autonomously for long periods of time, without human input.

The team kick-started the project several weeks ago, when news started to trickle in that communities in Northern Italy with widespread COVID-19 were in dire straits.

“One of the biggest things we heard was that there weren’t enough ventilators to treat all of the patients coming into the hospitals,” says James Friend, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering and the Department of Surgery at UC San Diego. “It’s clear that if we’re not careful, we might end up in the same situation.”

The situation in Italy spurred Dr. Lonnie Petersen, MD, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Jacobs School of Engineering at UC San Diego and adjunct in radiology at UC San Diego Health, to reach out to her medical and engineering colleagues, proposing a new collaboration to quickly produce simple ventilators that could be easily built and used to support patients in a crisis.

The team also launched other projects, including converting other air pressure machines, such as CPAPs and Bi-PAPs into ventilators; and adapting existing ventilators to serve more patients.

The first step was to seek consensus with anesthetists and respiratory therapists about minimum requirements for a ventilator. The next was to determine whether engineers could reasonably produce them, and how quickly. “This is a team effort,” says Dr. Casper Petersen, MD, an assistant project scientist at UC San Diego Health, “and we need to include as much expertise as possible early on in the project. We are lucky to have had a lot of very dedicated colleagues rise to the occasion.”

From manual to automatic
Within days, a team of researchers began building devices using premade parts and 3D printers. Their first goal was to convert an existing emergency hand-held manual ventilator model to an automatic one, able to provide breathing assistance without human intervention. The team plans to use tubes placed in the patient’s trachea, connected to the device.

“COVID19 is not a mechanical ventilatory issue – therefore it may not be enough to push air into the lungs – it’s about being able to regulate pressure and volume to increase oxygen uptake,” Dr. Lonnie Petersen says.

The existing manual design features a mask fitted over a patient’s face and a bag that can be squeezed by hand to push air into the patient’s lungs. The team is designing a machine that can do the squeezing instead, freeing doctors and nurses to address other concerns.

The advantage of 3D printing is that it can be used to quickly produce customized parts. Devices can be made on a small scale much faster than by traditional manufacturing methods.

The team is awaiting a few more parts to build a more sophisticated ventilator using an electric pump. “Our aim is to have functional devices as soon as possible,” Dr. Lonnie Petersen says. “Once we’ve got the bare bones system up and running, we can start adding layers of sophistication and automation. Those additional layers will include advanced regulation of air pressure and flow to allow for a more disease-specific and patient-tailored respiratory support.”

The first ventilators will be simple, but the goal is to have something readily at hand when the need arises.

The team has functional prototypes and are ready to test them in simulators, in collaboration with anesthesiologists, before potentially applying to patients.

“Normally, the production timeline on something like this would be months, or even years,” says Dr. Lonnie Petersen. “By building on existing technology and taking multiple steps at once, we aim to reduce that timeline to weeks.”

Other members of the continuously growing team include Drs. Daniel Lee; Preetham Suresh; William Mazzei;  Matthew Follansbee; Micheal Vanietti; Hemal Patel; Theodore Vallejos of UC San Diego Health; Mark Stambaugh of the Qualcomm Institute; and Tania Morimoto, a professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at the Jacobs School.

In response to the suspended FIRST season caused by COVID-19, PTC is inviting FIRST teams around the world to compete virtually in its design competition, Robots to the Rescue, in which teams will be challenged to design a robot that can solve a current real-world problem.

Students are invited to design and compete virtually in Robots to the Rescue using Onshape. Because Onshape is web-based, FIRST students can collaborate remotely while continuing to hone their engineering skills. As part of the six-week competition, FIRST teams, specifically FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition teams, will design a robot that can help solve a real-world problem such as providing food and supplies to people in remote places, or removing pollution from the atmosphere.

“This competition is an opportunity for FIRST students around the world to engage their interest in STEM and collaborate with one another virtually,” says Jim Heppelmann, president and CEO, PTC. “With Onshape, students will use a robust CAD design solution that’s powerful, easy to get started, and fun to use.”

“We’re thrilled that PTC has made the Robots to the Rescue competition exclusively available to FIRST Tech Challenge and FIRST Robotics Competition students,” says Ken Johnson, Director, FIRST Tech Challenge. “We’re grateful to PTC for helping to make the competition possible this year, as well as for its continued support of FIRST over a long-standing relationship.”

Students from around the world can register for the competition online here.

Rockwell Automation, also a proud sponsor of FIRST, and with which PTC has a robust strategic alliance, is also supporting the competition.

NASA's new Internet and social media special, NASA at Home, offers something for the whole family. It brings together a repository of binge-worthy videos and podcasts, engaging E-books on a variety of topics, do-it-yourself projects, and virtual and augmented reality tours, which include the agency's Hubble Space Telescope and International Space Station, as well as an app that puts you in the pilot's seat of a NASA aircraft.

"We know people everywhere, especially students, are looking for ways to get out of the house without leaving their house," said Bettina Inclán, associate administrator for NASA's Office of Communications. "NASA has a way for them to look to the skies and see themselves in space with their feet planted safely on the ground, but their imaginations are free to explore everywhere we go. We've put that information at their fingertips. We hope everyone takes a few moments to explore NASA at Home."

This special also spotlights educational and entertaining resources and activities for families and students in kindergarten and up. Plus, it provides access to everything from formal lesson plans to amazing imagery and stories about how science and exploration help the world.

If you want to practice safe science at home, we have opportunities for citizen scientists to contribute to real ongoing research, from our solar system's backyard to your own backyard. This includes searching for brown dwarfs and planets in our outer solar system and helping track changes in clouds, water, plants, and other life in support of climate research.

NASA at Home will feature ongoing opportunities to interact and hear from agency experts. For example, record-breaking astronaut Christina Koch reads children's books weekdays at 4 p.m. EDT on Instagram live as part of educational and STEM activity for students.

NASA Television also is running NASA at Home-themed programming 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. weekdays, as well as broadcasting around-the-clock with recent mission events and news, conversations with astronauts on the International Space Station, educational looks at science, technology and exploration topics, and historical programs from the agency's storied past.

So, check in regularly with #NASAatHome for the latest and greatest the universe has to offer!