FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] Executive Director Praises Funding Levels for Aerospace Programs and Reauthorization of the EXIM Bank, Calls on Congress to Return to Regular Order December 20, 2019 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) applauds the passage of the $1.4 trillion appropriations package for Fiscal

Space News reports that start-up Rhea Space Activity (RSA) and “partner” Lunar Resources have developed “a concept to deploy two spacecraft to manufacture a large mirror in space.” According to RSA founder Shawn Usman, the mirror “would be installed, in orbit, into a telescope that would be used to detect hypersonic vehicles.” At a “Space Pitch

Reuters reports that Rolls-Royce “unveiled” a “one-seater electric aircraft on Thursday it hopes will fly in late Spring next year and become the world’s fastest all-electric aircraft.” The aircraft is being built in conjunction with YASA and Electroflight, and “will target a speed of over 300 miles per hour.” It has “the most power-dense battery

Space News reports that the Air Force’s Space and Missile Systems Center “is preparing to launch nine missions in 2020, more [than] doubling the number of launches conducted in 2019.” The missions will include a “National Reconnaissance mission, NROL-129” aboard “a Northrop Grumman Minotaur 4 launch vehicle” and an “Air Force Research Lab experimental payload”

Reuters reports that based on statements made by Chief Commercial Officer Christian Scherer, Airbus “is on course to end 2019 with a rise in its order backlog” thanks to “netting more sales than deliveries across its major products.” Airbus “is expected” to beat The Boeing Company in both orders and deliveries this year. This has

CNET News reports that on Monday, NASA “approved final assembly” of the “X-59 Quiet SuperSonic Technology (QueSST) plane – also known as the Low Boom Flight Demonstrator.” The plane, “built in partnership with Lockheed Martin,” is “designed the break the sound barrier without the thunderous noise.” It is scheduled to make its first flight in 2021.

CBS News reports that The Boeing Company’s Starliner capsule “is on track for launch Friday” to the ISS, according to “mission managers.” Boeing Starliner Program Manager John Mulholland said, “We are actually tracking no spacecraft anomalies right now. The spacecraft is in really good shape.” The Starliner capsule will be atop a United Launch Alliance

Fox Business reports Monday that The Boeing Company will “temporarily halt production of its 737 MAX jetliner in January … escalating the crisis confronting the aerospace giant and raising the prospect of job cuts and furloughs across the global aerospace industry.” The decision by Boeing to suspend production “is likely to reverberate throughout the U.S.

C4ISR & Networks reports that a recently obtained Navy memo “warns of a range of cyber vulnerabilities inherent in the [UAV] system, and offers a range of mitigation strategies.” Obtained by the National Security Archive through a FOIA request, the Navy memo “is housed online as part of the NSArchive’s Cyber Vault project.” Titled “Operation Risks

CBS News reports that on Monday, SpaceX successfully launched a Falcon 9 rocket “boost[ing] the Boeing-built JCSAT-18/Kacific 1 satellite into space.” After “boosting the vehicle out of the dense lower atmosphere,” the Falcon 9 rocket achieved “an on-target touchdown aboard a SpaceX droneship” – eight and a half minutes after launch. After having reached “elliptical

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] December 17, 2019 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics has announced the winners of the AIAA Region VII Student Paper Conference, which was held in Australia this month. “For many undergraduates, an AIAA student conference is the first time they’ve had their research

Space News reported that “NASA leadership” is working on keeping its plan to return humans to the moon by 2024 “on track even if the agency doesn’t get all the funding it’s requested.” While current House and Senate funding bills would provide NASA with funding similar to the $21 billion it originally requested, neither bill

The Wall Street Journal reports that according to people familiar with the matter, The Boeing Company is considering either suspending or cutting back on the production of its 737 Max. Company management reportedly believes that temporarily halting production is the most viable among a variety of difficult options. A production cut would cause an inflation in

Reuters reports that The Boeing Company announced Thursday that it no longer expects the 737 MAX to be approved by regulators in 2019. The announcement comes on the heels of a meeting between Boeing CEO Dennis Muilenburg and FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson. Dickson had said Wednesday that the FAA would not lift its grounding of

The New York Times reports that on Thursday at the American Geophysical Union Conference, NASA announced that “after a difficult year of mapping” the surface of asteroid Bennu, it had located a target landing site for the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft. Mission principal investigator Dante Lauretta said, “We made our final decision based on which site has the greatest

Spaceflight Now reports that on Wednesday, India’s Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV) sent “10 spacecraft from five nations into orbit” from “the Satish Dhawan Space Center, a spaceport located on Sriharikota Island on India’s southeastern coast with the Bay of Bengal.” The payload included “a new Indian radar surveillance platform and a batch of small

Aerospace America reports that Wednesday’s House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee hearing revealed that a “previously unreleased FAA analysis completed after the crash in Indonesia of a Boeing MAX 737…warned of ‘as many as 15 future crashes within the life of the fleet,” according to Committee Chair Peter DeFazio (D-OR). FAA Administrator Stephen Dickson, testifying at the

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] December 11, 2019 – Reston, Va. – Three high school students from the Seattle area will experience what most people only dream of—to have their experiment launched into space Wednesday at 12:55 p.m. EST as part of the Blue Origin New Shepherd payload. The American Institute of Aeronautics and

The Washington (DC) Post reports that Mel Johnson, Deputy Director of Policy and Innovation for the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service, sent an internal email to employees in the FAA’s Aircraft Certification Service. The email said that the FAA will create an Aircraft Certification Safety Program Management Branch. While the email “does not mention the Max directly,”

Forbes contributor Elizabeth Howell reports that NASA “is optimistic astronaut test flights” could occur early next year as a part of 2014 contracts which SpaceX and The Boeing Company signed to “develop commercial crew spacecraft.” Boeing’s Starliner is expected to conduct an uncrewed test flight on December 20 while SpaceX previously sent “an uncrewed Crew Dragon”

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] December 11, 2019 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has issued a Call for Content for ASCEND, a new outcomes-focused, transdisciplinary conference dedicated to the space economy. ASCEND, happening 16–18 November 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada, will focus on three macro themes:

CNN reports that “after nearly a decade of funneling money into a project…that NASA hopes will return astronauts to the moon, the launch vehicle is finally assembled and ready for testing.” However, “the rocket, called SLS or Space Launch System, is still haunted by critiques of long delays and cost overruns.” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine

Aviation Today reports that DHS cybersecurity officials “continue to warn US companies about the dangers of using [UAS] designed or manufactured abroad, according to a sensitive document distributed to private industry by the FBI’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Agency on November 20.” The private industry bulletin “warns companies that they risk the exposure of private data

Aviation Week reported that “plans for International Space Station…astronauts to conduct three high-priority spacewalks before year’s end appear to be slipping into 2020.” The planned spacewalks are the final “two excursions” as part of “a series of four spacewalks to upgrade the orbiting science lab’s $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS).” Amid “the busy pace of

SPACE reported that The Boeing Company’s “first uncrewed test flight of its Starliner spacecraft for astronauts is now set for no earlier than Dec. 20, one day later than planned.” In a statement December 6, United Launch Alliance (ULA) representatives said, “We successfully conducted a wet dress rehearsal (WDR), a critical pre-launch milestone, on Friday.” The

The AP reports that on Thursday, Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides indicated that “Virgin Galactic is on the verge of making more history in 2020 following an ‘incredible’ year of progress.” Whitesides said that after a busy year, which included the company’s IPO debut on the NYSE, “now hopefully you can start enjoying the benefits of having

Space News reports that the U.S. Air Force projects, at a minimum, a two-fold increase in the number national security launches in 2020 versus in 2019. Air Force Space Command Director of the Launch Systems Enterprise Directorate Col. Robert Bongiovi said Thursday, “It’s really going to be an exciting year.” He added, “We could have

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: Michele McDonald 703.264.7542 [email protected] December 5, 2019 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the following lectures will be presented during the AIAA SciTech Forum, held 6–10 January 2020 at the Hyatt Regency Orlando in Orlando, Florida. “The hallmark of the AIAA SciTech Forum

The MRO Network reports that the risks of cybersecurity attacks on the aviation industry are “rising on the threat matrix, says Brian Prentice, a partner at Oliver Wyman.” The MRO industry also faces potential disruptions. Said Prentice, “Cyber is not an IT issue – it is an operational issue and is one of the biggest threats facing

Reuters reports that “researchers on Wednesday described the first published findings from the Parker Solar Probe, a spacecraft launched in 2018 to journey closer to the sun than any other human-made object.” NASA Heliophysics Science Division Director Nicola Fox said, “We were certainly hoping we’d see new phenomena and new processes when we got close to

Manufacturers’ Monthly (AUS) reports that “the role of Australian manufacturing in producing the 1,000th Boeing 787 Dreamliner was celebrated on November 29, with Victorian Minister for Economic Development, Tim Pallas, visiting Boeing’s site in Fishermans Bend in Melbourne.” At the plant, “wing components for the premium commercial aircraft are manufactured. The site is also involved

CNET News reports that on Wednesday, “a brand-new Falcon 9 booster is scheduled to launch a Dragon capsule” to the ISS. The mission “will be the 19th resupply voyage for SpaceX and the third time this particular Dragon capsule is headed to space.” The CRS-19 mission “launch window opens no earlier than 12:51 p.m. ET

Aviation Week reports that “Airbus’ Silicon Valley outpost, A3 (A-cubed), has wrapped up testing on the Vahana autonomous electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) demonstrator.” As of November 14, the tilt-wing eVTOL “complet[ed] 138 flights totaling 13.4 hr.” from its site for “flight testing at Pendleton, Oregon.” The aircraft is “one of two demonstrators built,” but the other demonstrator

Aviation Week reports that astronauts on the ISS have begun “a busy final month of the year with the third of four planned spacewalks to repair the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS) cosmic ray observatory.” Yesterday, NASA astronaut Drew Morgan and ESA astronaut Luca Parmitano concluded a 6-hour spacewalk that originally began at 6:31

The Washington Post reported that the Howard County Police Department “is the latest police agency in Maryland to embrace the potential of drones as the small, buzzing aircraft…become more affordable and easier to use.” However, the fast growth of the “aircraft in law enforcement has also prompted concerns from privacy and civil liberties advocates, who worry that

CNBC reported that last week, the FAA informed The Boeing Company that it will review each of the “new 737 MAX airplanes currently in storage” before allowing them to be delivered to customers due to the “number of challenges for airworthiness certification, production, and delivery, which significantly exceed any that the Boeing system has previously

Space News reports that commercial spaceports increasingly are highlighting their potential as “centers of economic development, including those without any launch activity.” Houston Spaceport General Manager Arturo Machuca said, “We decided we were not going to build our business case immediately around operations.” He explained, “We determined that there were too few players, in terms

Air Transport World reported that the Association of Asia Pacific Airlines (AAPA) said November 22 that cyber attacks pose a growing threat to airlines. Since 2018, AAPA “has hosted four cybersecurity workshops” through its Aviation Cyber Resilience Project in furtherance of “enhancing and strengthening the industry’s ability to prevent and handle cybersecurity threats.” AAPA adopted

ExecutiveBiz reports that The Boeing Company “and Saab are reaching developmental milestones on schedule for the T-7A Red Hawk trainer towards the aircraft’s planned production start in late 2020, Aviation Today reported Friday.” Paul Niewald, chief engineer for the T-7A program at Boeing, said that the two single-engine T-7A test units have completed around 140 test

Aviation Week reports that Gulfstream Aerospace “announced it has made its first European delivery of a G500 business jet.” On October 24, an undisclosed customer “took delivery at Gulfstream’s headquarters in Savannah, Georgia.” However, “according to data from the Aviation Week Network, Blackbird Air in Denmark will operate the aircraft on behalf of a European

AIAA members Ellen Stofan, Mary Lynne Dittmar, and Jim Chilton will be speaking at LAUNCH: The Space Economy…

Aviation Week reported that “two spacewalking astronauts teamed for the second of four planned spacewalks outside the International Space Station…on Nov. 22 to advance an upgrade of the thermal control system on the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer (AMS).” Full Story (Aviation Week – Subscription publication)

Bloomberg reported that “the Southern California factory that has churned out fuselages for every Boeing 747 jumbo jetliner is being sold for parts, potentially hastening the demise of the iconic aircraft.” Since November 20, Boeing 747-8 program supplier Triumph Group has begun “to clear out a storied plant with an online auction of manufacturing gear.” Previously,

The Toronto (CAN) Star reports that Transport Canada is working with other aviation regulators, including the FAA, to coordinate ending the grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX. Canadian Transport Minister Marc Garneau said, “We’re getting there.” Canada will not clear the jet to fly until the company addresses Transport Canada’s concerns about the jet’s software, hardware,

FlightGlobal reports that The Boeing Company is conducting “autonomous teamed flights using small, unmanned jet aircraft in Australia.” Boeing continues its work on the Airpower Teaming System with “small, remote-controlled aircraft with fixed landing gear.” Boeing said that it will attempt increasingly complex maneuvers and missions. Full Story (FlightGlobal)

Spaceflight Now reports that SpaceX’s Starship prototype “ruptured in dramatic fashion Wednesday during a cryogenic loading test at the company’s launch facility in South Texas.” In a statement, SpaceX said, “The purpose of today’s test was to pressurize systems to the max, so the outcome was not completely unexpected.” The company added, “There were no injuries,

Aviation Week reports that General Electric “says the production ramp-up of GE9X engines for Boeing’s 777-9 is resuming.” The announcement comes after “the faster-than-expected test and validation of fixes to the durability problem that forced the airframe-maker to delay the big twinjet’s first flight to early 2020.” The schedule for retrofitting the aircraft “will enable

Reuters reports that the NTSB is calling for changes on the Boeing 737 NG aircraft following an incident last year in which part of an engine on a Southwest Airlines plane broke apart mid-flight, killing a woman who was partially sucked out of a window. NTSB Chairman Robert Sumwalt said, “This accident underlines the vulnerability of

SPACE reports that SpaceX’s Starship could begin lunar missions as soon as 2022. In a NASA Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program conference Monday, SpaceX COO Gwynne Shotwell said, “We are aiming to be able to drop Starship on the lunar surface in 2022. Full Story (SPACE)

Aviation Week reports that “Airbus believes aircraft following another one can reach up to 10% in fuel burn reduction by taking advantage of wake updraft.” The “fello’fly” project will test technical viability and manage “operational issues that may arise with airlines, air traffic management and regulators.” Airbus UpNext CEO Sandra Bour-Schaeffer said, “Birds use the updraft