The Cosmodome’s astronaut training room has a new star!
Since May 16th, the Cosmodôme astronaut training room displays a full-scale jet engine model.
It represents an axial flow Rolls-Royce Avon engine, commercialized between 1950 and 1974. It can be found, in particular, on the British Hawker Hunter fighter aircraft (1954-2014) and on the Havilland Comet civil aircraft (1952-1997).
The famous Rolls Royce Limited automobile company, founded in 1906, produced its first aircraft engine in 1914, at the beginning of World War I. The Avon engine quickly became one of its greatest successes. Since 1964, the Avon model has also been used as an electricity-generating turbine.
This model is a loan from the École nationale d’aérotechnique and will be used to complement our science workshops about planes and aviation.
École nationale d’aérotechnique
Founded in 1964, the École nationale d’aérotechnique (ÉNA) is the largest aeronautical institute in North America. Through its three college-level programs in Avionics, Aircraft Maintenance and Aerospace Engineering Technology, unique in the province of Québec, and its $85-million worth of facilities, including 5 hangars housing 6 hangars housing 37 aircrafts, the ÉNA trains a specialized technical workforce in high demand.