Aviation Today reports that AFWERX Director Col. Nathan Diller said that the US Air Force’s Agility Prime program has been investing in electric air taxis and could have them in use by 2023. The vertical takeoff and landing capable air taxis potentially could be used to evacuate downed aircrew. Full Story (Aviation Today)

The Drive reports that the first XQ-58A Valkyrie stealthy, affordable UAV is being retired after having completed four public test flights. The test platform will be used as a museum exhibit. The XQ-58A in question “suffered a mishap in late 2019 while completing its third flight, but was subsequently repaired and flew again.” Full Story (The

Space News reports that US Space Force Vice Chief Gen. David Thompson said Wednesday that space vehicles powered by small nuclear reactors could be used for military missions in deep space. Thompson said at the Mitchell Institute virtual forum that nuclear propulsion “holds the potential for significant advantages in terms of efficiency compared to standard chemical

Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company “say a second test flight of the company’s CST-100 Starliner commercial crew vehicle remains on track for launch July 30, with weather the biggest concern.” A launch readiness review “for the uncrewed Orbital Flight Test (OFT) 2 mission July 27 confirmed that both the Starliner spacecraft

TechCrunch reports that Joby Aviation has carried out the lengthiest “test flight of an eVTOL to date: Its unnamed full-sized prototype aircraft concluded a trip of over 150 miles on a single charge, the company said Monday.” The test was carried out this month at the company’s Electric Flight Base in Big Sur, California. The

July 27, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum begins Monday, August 2, kicking off nearly two weeks of high-profile speakers and panelists within the aerospace community, as well as deep technical content from more than 1,000 technical papers covering the latest innovations and important topics in aviation. The 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum

TechCrunch reports that iRocket “has entered into a new partnership with NASA in its quest to reach commercialization in just two years.” The partnership “will give iRocket access to testing facilities and engineering support, chiefly at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.” The company “is hoping that it will conduct its first rocket

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “has completed the high-voltage testing of its all-electric X-57 Maxwell aircraft at the agency’s Armstrong Flight Research Center in California.” The test “plugged an auxiliary power to the” Empirical Systems Aerospace-developed aircraft “to ensure that all integrated systems could function as designed at full power, NASA said Friday.” The test was

Reuters reported that former Virgin Galactic CEO George Whitesides “will fly to space on the aerospace company’s next test spaceflight, CNBC reported on Friday.” Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson “announced the news about Whitesides during a party in New Mexico on July 11, following his own spaceflight, the report said.” Full Story (Reuters)

National Defense Magazine reported that Mike White, principal director for hypersonics in the office of the undersecretary of defense for research and engineering, recently indicated that the “Air Force’s AGM-183A Air-Launched Rapid Response Weapon is poised to be the first hypersonic offensive system to move from development to procurement. … There will be a number of

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 23, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of technical excellence awards to be presented during the 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, which will be held online 9-11 August. The awards ceremony will be held online Wednesday, 11 August,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 23, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of technical excellence awards to be presented during the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum, which will be held online 2-6 August 2021.  The awards ceremony is scheduled for Friday, 6 August, 1300-1430 hrs

Reuters reports that “seismic waves from quakes detected by NASA’s robotic InSight lander have helped scientists decipher the anatomy of Mars, including the first estimates of the size of its large liquid metal core, thickness of its crust, and nature of its mantle.” The findings, disclosed Thursday, “shed light on what had been a poorly understood

FlightGlobal reports that the Sikorsky-Boeing SB-1 Defiant rotorcraft “demonstrated the ability to lift a 2,400kg (5,300lb) sling load in a recent test flight.” The co-axial helicopter “with a pusher propeller is still undergoing flight tests as the US Army reportedly recently sent out request for proposals for its Future Long Range Assault Aircraft (FLRAA) to

The AP reports that Spirit AeroSystems “expects to hire more than 4,600 workers in Wichita by 2024, after losing more than 5,000 jobs during the coronavirus pandemic and since the 737 Max was grounded.” Adam Pogue, Spirit AeroSystems vice president of manufacturing services, “said in a presentation given to the City Council Tuesday the aviation company also

Space News reported that during an AIAA online event Tuesday, Jennifer Warren, Lockheed Martin’s vice president of civil and regulatory affairs, “said space sustainability is a common objective of many countries ‘but I really think achieving and maintaining it requires a level of international collaboration and cooperation that we’re still aspiring to.’” Warren said that

CBS News reports that on Monday, NASA released two new images from the Hubble Space Telescope – the first images released since the telescope resumed operations after fixing a computer anomaly. The two images, captured over the weekend, are of “a ‘rarely observed’ pair of colliding galaxies, and a large ‘unusual’ spiral galaxy, NASA announced.

Reuters reports that on Tuesday, Russian President Vladimir Putin “inspected a prototype of a new Sukhoi fifth-generation fighter” that Russia “unveiled at its annual MAKS air show with an eye on export markets.” The project Checkmate fighter “is likely to be touted as a rival to the U.S. F-35 stealth fighter, said Oleg Panteleyev, head

AIAA congratulates our corporate member Blue Origin on its successful first human flight of its New Shepard rocket today.

Aviation Week reports, “Honda Aircraft Co. is offering a new upgrade package for the HondaJet Elite…

Spaceflight Now reports that The Boeing Company’s “second Starliner crew ferry spacecraft rolled out of its factory early Saturday at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center for mounting on top of a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket set for liftoff July 30 on a redo of a problem-plagued unpiloted test flight in 2019.” ULA’s “ground crew

FlightGlobal reports that US Air Force “plans to start updating its fleet of MQ-9A Reapers with an automatic land-and-take-off capability starting in…

Forbes reports that on Sunday, Blue Origin “announced that everything looks set and ready to go for its first human spaceflight, which will launch” company founder Jeff Bezos “and three others over 100 kilometers above the Earth’s surface before their safe return.” The mission is scheduled to launch Tuesday at 9:00 a.m. EDT. Chief engineer

SlashGear reports that the James Webb Space Telescope “has hit three new significant milestones, as NASA prepares to launch the powerful instrument later this year.” The tower assembly on the telescope “was recently deployed to its full, 10 meter (33 feet) length, before being stowed” in the telescope. The “‘lens cap’ of the telescope – officially

Reuters reports that on Thursday, The FAA “issued a directive to operators of all Boeing Co 737 series airplanes to conduct inspections to address possible failures of cabin altitude pressure switches.” The order, which “covers 2,502 U.S.-registered airplanes and 9,315 airplanes worldwide,” requires operators “to conduct repetitive tests of the switches and replace them if needed.”

The Drive reports that a “total of 46 F-35 stealth fighters are currently without functioning engines due to an ongoing problem with the heat-protective coating on their turbine rotor blades becoming worn out faster than was expected.” During Tuesday’s hearing before the House Armed Services Subcommittee on Tactical Air and Land Forces, “Air Force Lieutenant General

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “will send its small spacecraft with solar sail propulsion to space as part of the Artemis I human exploration mission.” Artemis I mission principal technology investigator Les Johnson “said in a statement published Wednesday the flight of the Near-Earth Asteroid Scout payload is partly meant to demonstrate the use of solar sailing

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 14, 2021 – Reston, Va. – Today, AIAA Foundation was selected to receive a $1 million grant from Blue Origin’s Club for the Future. This generous grant will allow the AIAA Foundation to fuel the next generation of space professionals who will create our off-world future. The AIAA Foundation will engage students and educators with new,

Space News reports that NASA has selected three companies for one-year $5 million contracts “to perform concept studies of nuclear thermal propulsion (NTP) reactors while making plans to fund similar studies for nuclear surface power systems.” NASA contracted BWX Technologies, which will work with Lockheed Martin; General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems, which will work with X-energy

Air Force Times reported that the US Air Force “has approved the Boeing KC-46 tanker to move into limited operations with its centerline drogue system, allowing the aircraft to be tasked for everyday refueling missions that meet certain criteria.” Air Mobility Command Commander Gen. Jacqueline Van Ovost said, “The last six months of operational use

Defense News reports that the US Army “has launched its future long-range assault aircraft competition, quietly releasing a request for proposals limited to two industry teams.” The Army also has “homed in on a schedule to deliver FLRAA prototypes after debating two different options to stay on schedule.” The service “will choose a winner – after

Reuters reports that the FAA announced Monday that it is approving Blue Origin’s application to carry humans into space on the New Shepard launch system. The license “is valid through August and is approved to conduct these missions from its Launch Site One facility in Texas.” Fox Business reports that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos “is scheduled to

The Drive reports that on Friday, NASA said that its “experimental X-56B unmanned aircraft suffered what it described as an ‘anomaly.’” The incident occurred at “around 7:30 AM local time at NASA’s Armstrong Flight Research Center, which is collocated with the U.S. Air Force’s Edwards Air Force Base in California. The drone had just taken off

ExecutiveGov reported that Northrop Grumman’s Cygnus spacecraft is scheduled to lift off atop an Antares rocket August 10 for a mission to the International Space Station. The spacecraft will “deliver another batch of NASA’s science investigations, supplies and equipment to” the ISS. The mission “will support research on 3D printing in space, the behavior of slime

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE July 11, 2021 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates our corporate member Virgin Galactic on its successful flight test of SpaceShipTwo Unity today. AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement: “On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we are

SPACE reports that at 10:40 a.m. EDT Thursday, SpaceX’s CRS-22 Cargo Dragon spacecraft undocked from the International Space Station’s Harmony module. NASA officials said that the spacecraft is expected to land off the coast of Tallahassee, Florida, on Friday at 11:30 p.m. EDT. Experiments from the cargo spacecraft “will be sent back to NASA’s Space Station

Bloomberg reports that “Chinese aviation officials” are considering conducting a “validation flight” for the Boeing 737 MAX, “a step toward lifting the plane’s grounding in that nation after more than two years, according to people familiar with the matter.” The Boeing Company “is preparing to send a delegation of around 35 pilots and engineers to

Reuters reports that International Air Transport Association Director General Willie Walsh said he is “optimistic that we will see a relaxation in relation to transatlantic flying during the coming weeks.” British and American airlines have been pushing the US and UK to “re-open travel between the two countries” amid rising vaccination rates. Reopening transatlantic air travel

ExecutiveGov reports that NASA “is seeking proposals from industry, academia and research institutions to test and demonstrate technology and research payloads on commercial suborbital vehicles as part of the Flight Opportunities program.” The agency “said Wednesday awardees can get up to $650,000 each in the form of a grant or cooperative agreement under the program

The Hill reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “says the private rocket company’s Starship rocket system could be used to collect space junk orbiting the Earth.” Musk tweeted Saturday that the Starship could fly “around space & chomp up debris with the moving fairing door.” According to SpaceX, “the Starship’s fairing door opens when it reaches

FlightGlobal reports that the US Air Force has released an “artist rendering graphic” of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider stealth bomber. This third rendering that has been released by the service “differs from the second rendering, released in early 2020, in that the B-21’s cockpit windows are shown to be divided into multiple pieces: a triangle-shaped

The Washington Post reported that on Sunday, Chinese astronauts Liu Boming and Tang Hangbo “made the first spacewalk outside China’s new orbital station to set up cameras and other equipment using a 15-meter-long (50-foot-long) robotic arm.” Liu and Tang “spent nearly seven hours outside the station, the Chinese space agency said.” Space News reported that a “second

Insider reports that the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing said in a statement last week that Marine Fighter Attack Squadron (VMFA) 314 has become the first USMC F-35C Lightning II Joint Strike Fighter squadron to achieve full operational capability, “meaning it is now fully prepared to wage war from Navy aircraft carriers.” The 3rd Marine Aircraft

MEDIA ALERT July 1, 2021 – Reston, Va. – Registration is open for journalists around the world to gain access to the 2021 AIAA AVIATION Forum (2–6 August) and the 2021 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum (9–11 August). Register for one forum and receive access to both! Request press credentials here These two distinctive events

SPACE reports that at 3:11 p.m. EDT Wednesday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station as part of the Transporter-2 mission. Atop the rocket “was a stack of 88 small satellites – 85 for commercial and government customers and three of SpaceX’s own Starlink internet satellites.” Full Story (SPACE)

Defense News reports that on June 24, the US Air Force “conducted a second flight test of the robot pilot known as Skyborg, which autonomously flew a General Atomics MQ-20 Avenger drone.” The MQ-20 Avenger “flight took place during the Orange Flag exercise at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., over a period of about two

Space News reports that on Tuesday, the launch of SpaceX’s Transporter-2 mission atop a Falcon 9 rocket was delayed “in the final seconds of its countdown when an aircraft violated restricted airspace.” The mission, which will carry 88 satellites for several customers, was scheduled to launch at 2:56 p.m. EDT. However, “the countdown was stopped

FlightGlobal reports that Airbus Defence & Space “has test-flown a new armed intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) version of its C295 transport carrying a mix of precision-guided weapons.” Airbus said that its “C295 Armed ISR [testbed] recently conducted its maiden flight equipped with eight laser-guided missiles and two laser-guided bomb dummies, located on four underwing

CNET News reports that earlier this year, NASA’s Mars InSight lander halted its science mission in order to conserve energy, as its solar panels were covered in dust. Now, “a clever solution to the dust problem means InSight will continue studying the red planet.” On Friday, the InSight team tweeted, “Because of the hard work

Seapower Magazine reports that BAE Systems said in a Monday press release that it is “providing Lockheed Martin with additional electronic warfare (EW) systems, retrofit kits, and spares for the F-35 Lightning II aircraft.” This contract builds on the company’s “on-time delivery of more than 800 state-of-the-art AN/ASQ-239 electronic warfare/countermeasure systems to date, providing F-35 jets