FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] Three Honorary Fellows and 29 Fellows Selected February 3, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has selected its Class of 2020 AIAA Fellows and Honorary Fellows. The induction ceremony for the new Fellows and Honorary Fellows will take place on 19

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] Black-Tie Event Honors Aerospace’s Best and Brightest February 3, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has announced the 2020 recipients of its most prestigious awards. Presentation of these premier awards and recognition of the Institute’s newly elected Fellows and Honorary Fellows

SPACE reports that Thursday was NASA’s annual “Day of Remembrance,” when the agency memorializes “three fatal space tragedies: the Apollo 1 fire of Jan. 27, 1967, the Challenger shuttle disaster of Jan. 28, 1986 and the Columbia shuttle accident of Feb. 1, 2003.” NASA said in a statement, “NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, along with other

Aviation International News reports that Vertical Aerospace has “completed the preliminary design review for what will be its first full prototype eVTOL aircraft.” The new design is reportedly “a significant change from the Seraph technology demonstrator aircraft, with a wing added to boost range and speed.” It is scheduled to begin flight in late 2020,

Aviation International News reports that eVTOL are expected to “have a significantly lower external noise signature compared to helicopters, but that does not necessarily translate into instant public acceptance.” Juliet Page, a scientist with the U.S. Department of Transportation’s Volpe National Transportation System, argued that it “is important for eVTOL manufacturers to avail themselves to

SPACE reports that NASA indicated that Voyager 2 “is recovering from a glitch, but engineers are confident that the probe will be back to normal science operations soon.” Mission scientists think that on January 25, Voyager “failed to take a quick spin that it needed to make to calibrate an instrument.” As a result, two

Spaceflight Now reports that following a delay of “more than a week” due to weather, “SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket Wednesday from Cape Canaveral with 60 more satellites for the company’s Starlink Internet network.” The launch means SpaceX is “continuing to build out a fleet of fleet of orbiting broadband relay stations that could

The AP reports that Christina Koch, the astronaut who holds “the record for the longest spaceflight by a woman,” will return “to Earth on February 6, landing in Kazakhstan with two colleagues aboard a Russian capsule.” Koch indicated on Tuesday “that taking part in the first all-female spacewalk was the highlight of her mission.” She added

Aviation International News reports that Kaman Aerospace reported on Tuesday that it “is advancing its military and commercial K-Max [uncrewed] aerial system (UAS) – an autonomously flown version of the K-Max utility helicopter.” Kaman Air Vehicle Senior Director of Business Development Romin Dasmalchi indicated that Kaman “is updating those two helicopters under a U.S. Navy

The Times of Israel reports that during last week’s World Holocaust Forum, Israel’s “cyber defense system fended off hundreds of cyberattacks targeting the country’s international airport and the planes of” world leaders attending the event. Officials from the Airports Authority Cyber Division indicated “that at least 800 distinct cyberattacks targeted Israeli aviation on Thursday while world

Aviation International News reports that SyberJet Aircraft announced Monday that it is “progressing toward amended type certification (TC) for the SJ30i SyberVision with the successful completion of aircraft control identification tests (ACID).” The certification is a part of its work to develop “a new autopilot for the light twinjet.” The autopilot is being developed “jointly”

Reuters reported that according to “people briefed on the calls,” FAA Administrator Steve Dickson “called senior U.S. airline officials on Friday and told them the agency could approve the grounded Boeing 737 MAX’s return to service before mid-year.” The calls came as an FAA statement on Friday said, “While the FAA continues to follow a

The AP reported that on Saturday, NASA’s Andrew Morgan and Italy’s Luca Parmitano conducted a spacewalk and “plugged a leak in a cosmic ray detector outside the” ISS. As a result, “the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer could resume its hunt for elusive antimatter and dark matter by midweek.” The spacewalk was the “fourth and final” effort

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] January 24, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the election of two new division chiefs. Daniel T. Jensen, Rolls-Royce Corporation, was elected by the regional directors to become chief of the Regional Engagement Activities Division (READ). Jeffrey W.

Florida Today reports that SpaceX “has again delayed its next Falcon 9 launch” due to “inclement weather in the area of the Atlantic Ocean hosting the booster landing.” SpaceX said on Thursday, “Weather in the recovery area continues to be unfavorable so team is now targeting Monday, January 27 for launch of Starlink.” The move marks

Reuters reports that Australian Transport Safety Bureau (ATSB) officials are beginning their investigation into Thursday’s C-130 Hercules tanker plane crash which killed three American firefighters working to fight the Australian bushfires. ATSB Chief Commissioner Greg Hood said that the ATSB is “very much into the evidence gathering phase of the investigation” though he indicated that

CNET News reports that NASA plans to decommission the Spitzer Space Telescope on January 30. The telescope had been “unraveling the mysteries of the cosmos since its launch on Aug. 25, 2003.” The mission “lasted much longer than expected,” but as the telescope “has been drifting away from Earth,” the “distance made it too challenging to

Aviation Today reports that Uber believes that it is “right on target” in its efforts to establish its Elevate aerial rideshare service. At the Transformative Vertical Flight conference, Uber Director of Aviation Engineering Mark Moore “moved the conversation away from building and certifying the all-new class of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft and towards

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] January 23, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the 2020 International Student Conference winners. AIAA, in partnership with Lockheed Martin Corporation, sponsors the International Student Conference at AIAA SciTech Forum each year for student members at both

The Orlando Sentinel reports that SpaceX postponed a launch of additional Starlink satellites on Tuesday afternoon “due to ‘extreme weather’ in the rocket’s recovery zone in the Atlantic Ocean, the company said.” SpaceX initially was scheduled to launch “during a launch window that opened at 11:59 a.m.” When conducted, the mission will “carry the fourth batch

FlightGlobal reports that the US Navy’s Bell Boeing CMV-22B Osprey “made its initial flight at Bell’s Amarillo Assembly Center in Texas.” The flight comes “ahead of its manufacturers’ plan to deliver the tiltrotor to the Naval Air Systems Command’s Air Test and Evaluation Squadron 21 in early 2020 for developmental testing,” according to Bell and Boeing.

SPACE reported that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “outlined some ambitious goals for the company’s Starship Mars-colonization system during a flurry of Twitter posts on Thursday.” Starship, “Musk has said,” “will be capable of carrying up to 100 people, and a giant rocket named Super Heavy.” Both systems are intended to be reuseable – part of Musk’s

Aviation International News reported that Leonardo’s “largest remotely piloted air system (RPAS) to date, the Falco Xplorer, made its first flight on January 15.” The Xplorer “took off from the Italian air force flight test center at Trapani, Sicily, and flew for around an hour over the sea before safely returning to the air base.”

FlightGlobal reports that the US Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) X-60A “rocket recently completed test firings of its engine while on the ground at Cecil Spaceport in Jacksonville, Florida.” The X-60A is an “air-launched, single-stage rocket designed to reach hypersonic speeds so that the AFRL can routinely test hypersonic technologies.” It is being constructed by

The Independent reports that Airbus said that it has “completed the first fully automatic vision-based take-off at Toulouse-Blagnac airport.” To do so, the “plane uses image recognition technology installed on the aircraft…rather than using existing ground technology.” Airbus Test Pilot Captain Yann Beaufils said, “We moved the throttle levers to the takeoff setting and we monitored the

Reuters reports that Airbus Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer indicated on Wednesday that the company “sees enough demand for its wide-bodied A330neo passenger jet to keep production stable.” There has “been speculation Airbus would have to trim production of the latest version of its most profitable long-range jet” because some airlines are seen as “unlikely to

Spaceflight Now reports that The Boeing Company’s Starliner crew capsule has returned to the Kennedy Space Center. While “NASA and Boeing engineers investigate the cause of a software error that cut short” the orbital test flight, “preliminary inspections indicate the reusable spacecraft weathered its first trip into orbit better than expected, and Boeing teams are confident

Spaceflight Now reports that SpaceX “plans to launch its next group of Starlink broadband satellites aboard a Falcon 9 rocket as soon as Monday, Jan. 20.” The launch comes shortly after it is scheduled to test its Crew Dragon’s “emergency escape system.” SpaceX’s “ability to achieve back-to-back launch schedule hinges on several factors, including an

Aviation International News reports that engineers at MIT “have developed a method to use carbon nanotubes to produce aerospace-grade composites without an autoclave,” according to a paper published in the journal Advanced Materials Interfaces. MIT Professor of Aeronautics and Astronautics Brian Wardle said, “If you’re making a primary structure like a fuselage or wing, you

Aviation International News reports that Airbus announced Monday that the first BelugaXL air transport has entered service. Furthermore, Airbus “plans to introduce a further five BelugaXLs by 2023, providing the European airframer the much-needed extra transport capacity it needs to support the ongoing production ramp-up of its commercial aircraft programs.” The BelugaXL “will carry complete

Transport Topics reports that aerial UAVs “are emerging as a way to help solve challenges associated with last-mile deliveries in a number of conditions and environments.” FedEx Express SVP of Global Engineering and Transformation Joe Stephens said, “We believe autonomous innovations will provide a number of opportunities for the shipping and logistics industry. It will

Aerospace America reported that during the AIAA SciTech Forum, Earthrise Alliance CEO Lori Garver argued that “climate change should be [NASA’s] top priority.” Garver said that “NASA’s Earth science satellites and scientists do not exist just ‘to show you a pretty picture,’” but instead should be used to “maintain the integrity of the Earth’s atmosphere.”

Aviation Today reported that Bell’s “V-280 Valor tiltrotor aircraft completed a successful autonomous test flight in December” while the company awaits “an Army downselect decision in March to continue forward in the Future Long Range Assault Aircraft program.” Bell V-280 Program Manager Ryan Ehinger “said the technology demonstrator aircraft performed the full range of autonomous flight

The Washington Post reports that following December’s failed Boeing Starliner test, NASA must decide whether it will “require the company to repeat the uncrewed test flight or” whether it will “allow the next flight to proceed, as originally planned, with astronauts aboard.” Requiring The Boeing Company “to redo the test flight without anyone aboard would be costly,

The AP reports that Airbus announced Thursday that it will “expand production at its plant on the U.S. Gulf Coast in Alabama, where it will spend $40 million to construct new facilities and add 275 jobs.” The plan will involve increasing production at the Mobile, Alabama, factory “to seven airplanes monthly by early next year.” Full

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] January 9, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Blue Origin have partnered to create Design/Build/Launch (DBL), a new competition designed to launch experimental payloads to study the effects of short-duration microgravity. AIAA and Blue Origin invite high school students to

The Verge reports that Chinese UAV maker Ehang displayed its autonomous taxi for the first time in the US in a demonstration south of Raleigh, North Carolina Tuesday afternoon, “with approximately 100 people, including the state’s governor, Roy Cooper, looking on.” The all-electric two-seater Ehang 216 “flew along a pre-planned route at over 80 mph.”

The AP reports that Virgin Galactic announced Wednesday that its Virgin Space Ship Unity spacecraft has accomplished the “Weight On Wheels” achievement. This means that “all major structural elements have been assembled and the rocket plane is standing on its own landing gear.” Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides said, “We now have two spaceships which are structurally

Reuters reports that NASA announced Tuesday that it “is opening an independent investigation with [The Boeing Company] over a software glitch that prevented its unmanned astronaut capsule from reaching the International Space Station in December.” NASA said that the “investigative team” will “‘provide corrective actions’ needed before Starliner can fly a crew of astronauts for the

SPACE reports that NASA announced Monday that SpaceX’s Crew Dragon capsule’s “crucial in-flight abort test, or IFA, which had been targeted for Jan. 11, will now take place no earlier than Jan. 18.” NASA “officials wrote in an update” that the “new date allows additional time for spacecraft processing.” The IFA “is the last big

CBS News reports on its website that on Monday, “dozens of agencies met and established a task force with the FBI, FAA and the Air Force” in an effort to solve the mystery of UAVs flying over Nebrasak and Colorado. However, “they’re no closer to an answer.” Full Story (CBS News)

FlightGlobal reports that the FAA has “yet to establish the root cause of a fan-blade fracture involved in an engine failure affecting an Air France Airbus A380.” In a directive, the FAA indicates that “after an analysis of these fractures, the manufacturer determined the fan blades experienced cracks that originated on the internal surface of

Space News reported that China’s “main space contractor,” the China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC), “is aiming to carry out more than 40 launches in 2020, including lunar, interplanetary and space infrastructure missions.” CASC said January 2 that “its major goals include completing the Beidou navigation satellite system, launching missions to Mars and a lunar

Reuters reports that The Boeing Company and the FAA are looking into a “wiring issue that could potentially cause a short circuit on the grounded 737 MAX.” Boeing Vice President for Government Operations Communications Gordan Johndroe said that the company “identified this issue as part of [a] rigorous process, and we are working with the FAA

The Washington Post reports that the UAVs flying in groups after dark in Colorado and Nebraska “have dominated headlines in local newspapers” and “fueled intense speculation on social media and unsettled residents” over the past several weeks, but that they “remain a mystery.” Theories about them range from “government surveillance and alien activity” to “less-nefarious explanations”

The Daily Mail (UK) reports that there are four “major missions bound for Mars this year” from the USA, Europe, China and the UAE. NASA “is launching the Mars 2020 Rover and the Mars Helicopter Scout to gather rock samples for an eventual return to Earth.” A joint European Space Agency and Russian Space Agency mission

The AP reported that on Saturday, US Astronaut Christina Koch “set a record…for the longest single spaceflight by a woman, breaking the old mark of 288 days with about two months left in her mission.” Koch is “expected to spend a total of 328 days, or nearly 11 months, on board the space station before returning

Reuters reports that Dutch aviation consulting firm To70 said that 87 accidents involving large commercial planes around the world in 2019 resulted in 257 fatalities, a significant drop from the 160 accidents and 534 deaths in 2018. While the aviation industry focused “on so-called ‘future threats’ such as drones,” the crashes involving the 737 MAX “are

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] December 30, 2019 – Reston, Va. – Along with the rest of the aerospace community, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) wishes a speedy recovery to the more than a dozen workers injured on 27 December when a nitrogen line ruptured at the Beechcraft aircraft manufacturing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] AIAA Executive Director Applauds the Renewed Focus on National Security Space December 20, 2019 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) applauds the passage of the FY2020 National Defense Authorization Act. Among other things, the $738 billion policy bill establishes a U.S. Space