Reuters reports that Alphabet Inc. subsidiary Wing is using its UAVs in Christiansburg, Virginia, to deliver medicine and groceries to local residents. Wing “has seen a major uptick in interest amid the coronavirus pandemic, as emergency regulations keep people at home and complicate many of the simplest tasks.” Last year, Wing “became the first drone

CBS News reported that NASA astronauts Douglas Hurley and Robert Behnken, “who were launched to the International Space Station on May 30 aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft, plan to return to Earth on August 2, weather permitting.” The two astronauts “will descend by parachute to an ocean splashdown to close out a historic 64-day test

Aviation International News reports that Rolls-Royce “continues to report ‘good progress’ on fixing durability problems with the Trent 1000 engine, adding that it has achieved the target of single-digit numbers of aircraft grounded by the end of the second quarter.” This update came after a July 9 statement where the company said, “We have now reached

This year the coronavirus pandemic created hardships and uncertainty unlike any other event in recent memory.

Reuters reports that British Airways (BA), “the world’s largest operator of Boeing 747, said late Thursday it would retire its entire jumbo jet fleet with immediate effect due to the downturn in travel industry caused by the coronavirus pandemic.” BA “added that it will operate more flights on modern, fuel-efficient aircraft such as its new A350s

The AP reports that NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Chris Cassidy “completed their part of a three-year power upgrade to the International Space Station on Thursday, replacing six more outdated batteries with powerful new ones.” The astronauts completed their original task an hour ahead of schedule, and were able “to complete the battery swaps in a single

Bloomberg reports that BAE Systems Plc, “the developer of Britain’s next fighter jet, said it’s considering powering the planned warplane using alternative propulsion such as hybrid or fully electric systems.” BAE Systems, “which is working with engine-maker Rolls-Royce Holdings Plc and others, is ‘examining all options’ to power the plane, manufacturing director Dave Holmes said on

CNET News reports that a Tuesday tweet by SpaceX CEO Elon Musk contained “new images of the receiver that SpaceX is refining for use with its Starlink satellite broadband, which is expected to [begin] offering service in the northern US and Canada later this year.” Musk said in the tweet, “Starlink terminal has motors to self-orient

20 July 2020, 1130–1330 hrs ET The Corporate Membership Strategic Advisory Committee (CMSAC) purpose is to provide guidance and recommendations on Institute policies and procedures related to corporate members and provide feedback to the Institute from the corporate member viewpoint. At this meeting we hope to identify current issues that we as and industry can

Spaceflight Now reports that “four clandestine payloads for the National Reconnaissance Office [NRO] are awaiting liftoff Wednesday from Wallops Island, Virginia, on a Minotaur 4 rocket powered by Cold War-era missile stages stored for more than 30 years until their conversion into a satellite launcher.” Northrop Grumman’s Minotaur 4 is scheduled to launch on Wednesday during

Aviation International News reports that Delta CEO Ed Bastian “said on a Tuesday earnings call that the airline will retire its Boeing 737-700s this year, in addition to the previously announced retirements of its MD-88, MD-90, and Boeing 777s.” At “last count, Delta’s mainline fleet included 10 Boeing 737-700s.” Delta “also has begun ‘working’ with

July 15, 2020 – Reston, Va. – Aerospace leaders from government, industry and academia will discuss the industry’s emerging propulsion and energy technologies, challenges, and opportunities during the 2020 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum held virtually 24–26 August. The AIAA/IEEE Electric Aircraft Technologies Symposium (EATS) will be held 26–28 August, directly following the AIAA Propulsion and Energy

July 14, 2020 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), the largest technical society representing the aerospace industry, is concerned with the drastic changes to the Student and Exchange Visitor Program and H-1B visa policy. Such changes can potentially weaken an already struggling aerospace and defense (A&D) industry, potentially ceding hard-won

Aviation Today reports that the FAA’s NextGen office “recently published its V1.0 Concept of Operations for urban air mobility, developed in collaboration with” NASA and the UAM industry. The document, “an initial communication after discussions with [the] industry last fall, lays the foundation for how high-volume cargo and passenger air taxis will begin to operate within

Space News reports that NASA “has signed an agreement with the Japanese government that brings the agencies closer to finalizing Japan’s roles in the Artemis program.” NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine and Japan’s Minister of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology Koichi Hagiuda signed the Joint Exploration Declaration of Intent on Thursday during a virtual meeting.

SPACE reports that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket “ignited its nine first-stage Merlin engines briefly in a so-called static fire test at” Space Launch Complex-40 of the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The test “clears the way for the planned launch of the Anasis-II military communications satellite for the South Korean government on Tuesday at 5 p.m.

The AP reported that American Airlines may cancel a number of overdue Boeing 737 MAX orders unless The Boeing Company “helps line up new financing for the jets, according to people familiar with the discussions.” This occurs “as airlines are finding financing increasingly difficult and expensive as the coronavirus pandemic has crippled their operations.” American “wants Boeing

Aviation International News reports that compared to last year, “business aviation traffic in the U.S. was down only 7 percent over the extended Independence Day holiday weekend (July 1 to July 5), according to data released today by WingX Advance.” The company “said this illustrates that the segment’s recovery in the world’s key market is

Spaceflight Now reports that on Tuesday, NASA’s Perseverance Mars rover was “hoisted on top of its United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket at Cape Canaveral…passing a major pre-launch milestone after teams repaired a small leak on the launch vehicle and overcame delays caused by coronavirus cases among staff working on the mission.” Perseverance Mission Launch Director

CNET News reports that SpaceX delayed Wednesday’s scheduled launch of its Falcon 9 rocket due to weather concerns. Ten minutes before the scheduled launch time, SpaceX tweeted, “Standing down from today’s mission due to weather; proceeding through the countdown until T-1 minute for data collection. Will announce a new target launch date once confirmed on the

Information Today reports that the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics “partnered with ScienceOpen to bring aerospace-related research from four AIAA journals to the ScienceOpen platform.” The AIAA Journal, the Journal of Aerospace Information Systems, the Journal of Propulsion and Power, and the Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets will be added to the platform. Full Story

The AP reports that NASA “has added more safety fixes for The Boeing Company’s space capsule before it can fly astronauts following a pair of close calls during last year’s test flight.” In “closing out the seven-month investigation, NASA officials said Tuesday they have now identified 80 corrective actions, mostly involving software and testing, that must be

HelpNetSecurity reports that researchers at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) “have determined how to pinpoint the location of a drone operator who may be operating maliciously or harmfully near airports or protected airspace by analyzing the flight path of the drone.” Lead Researcher Eliyahu Mashhadi said, “Currently, drone operators are located using RF techniques and

July 8, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and Blue Origin are pleased to announce the winner of their Design/Build/Launch (DBL) competition. Eleanor Sigrest, a rising senior enrolled in a dual program at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, and the Governor’s School at Innovation Park in

Florida Today reports that SpaceX is planning to launch a Falcon 9 rocket – carrying 57 Starlink satellites and two BlackSky Global satellites – from the Kennedy Space Center on Wednesday at 11:59 a.m. The mission, “which will boost the Starlink internet constellation’s size to nearly 600, has been delayed several times due to technical

The Hill reports that statistics released by the Transportation Security Administration show that air travel over the July 4 weekend fell by 73 percent compared to last year. Air travel “has somewhat bounced back” since the peak of the pandemic, but it “still remains a shadow of prepandemic numbers and has forced the industry to shed

July 7, 2020 – 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 2020 AIAA Propulsion and Energy Forum, which will be held online 24–26 August 2020. “Technical advances are the foundation for the next aerospace innovation,” said Dan Dumbacher,

Space News reported that NASA “plans to issue multiple contracts in the coming months for smallsat launch services in the second phase of a program intended to support the emerging small launch vehicle industry.” NASA’s Launch Services Program “released a draft request for proposals July 1 for its proposed Venture Class Launch Service (VCLS) Demonstration 2

Reuters reported that The Boeing Company “is pulling the plug on its 747 jumbo jet, Bloomberg News reported on Thursday.” The final aircraft is going to “roll out of a Seattle area factory in about two years, according to the Bloomberg report.” Major US airlines such as Delta have already retired the aircraft.’ Full Story (Reuters)

The AP reports that NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken “completed their second spacewalk in under a week Wednesday to replace old batteries outside the International Space Station.” During the six-hour spacewalk, the astronauts “installed another new battery, the third one in this latest series of spacewalks that began last Friday,” and “had enough time to

Space News reports that this week, Blue Origin “delivered a BE-4 rocket engine to” United Launch Alliance, which plans to use two of those engines “in the main stage of its future” Vulcan Centaur rocket. A Blue Origin spokesperson said, “The engine delivered is the first pathfinder engine to be mated with the Vulcan Centaur and

July 1, 2020 – Reston, Va. – The space ecosystem event ASCEND, held 16–18 November, will be fully online, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) announced. “ASCEND is a game changer in building the new space ecosystem and is unlike anything else out there,” said Rob Meyerson, ASCEND executive producer and former president

Defense News reports that Air Force Research Laboratory’s Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator (SHiELD) program manager Jeff Heggemeier said that the service’s “long-planned test of an airborne laser weapon aboard a fighter jet has been delayed until 2023 due to technical challenges and complications spurred by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.” Defense News explains that “SHiELD is

CBS News reports that NASA announced Tuesday that the agency and United Launch Alliance has delayed the launch of the Mars 2020 mission to no earlier than July 30. In a NASA “blog post, the latest delay was blamed on ‘a liquid oxygen sensor line’ that showed ‘off-nominal data’ during a dress-rehearsal countdown June 22

Florida Today reports that on Tuesday, SpaceX is scheduled to launch a Falcon 9 rocket, carrying “the third GPS III satellite part of a constellation of 10 improved satellites for the military,” from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. SpaceX will have a launch window of 15 minutes starting at 3:56 p.m.

Aviation International News reports that Airbus has “completed two years of flight testing for its” Autonomous Taxi, Take-Off, and Landing (ATTOL) project, which “culminated in a fully automatic, vision-based flight of an A350-1000 widebody airliner.” The flight was “achieved through the use of on-board image recognition technology, which the manufacturer described as a world-first in a

SPACE reported that on Friday, NASA astronauts Chris Cassidy and Bob Behnken completed a spacewalk outside the ISS that lasted for 6 hours and 7 minutes. The walk concluded at 1:39 p.m. EDT, after the astronauts successfully “swapped out three aging nickel-hydrogen batteries for two more efficient lithium-ion batteries” in the “first of four excursions to

Reuters reports that in an email to Congress on Sunday, the FAA confirmed that its Type Inspection Authorization Board has finished a review of the Boeing 737 MAX, “clearing the way for flight certification testing to begin. Flights with FAA test pilots could begin as early as [Monday], evaluating The Boeing Company’s proposed changes to the

FlightGlobal reports that General Atomics Aeronautical Systems “has demonstrated three new automatic take-off and landing capabilities for its” MQ-9A Reaper UAV. The updates are a part of a contract with the US Air Force, and allow the UAV “to divert to another airfield, fly in stronger crosswinds and land with greater maximum weight, the company

Space News reports that on Thursday, Virgin Galactic “conducted its second test flight of its” SpaceShipTwo suborbital vehicle from Spaceport America in New Mexico, “and now says it is ready to resume powered flights of the spacecraft.” The company said that during the “high speed” test, the spacecraft reached speeds of Mach 0.85. Full Story

The Washington Post reports that NASA “will name its headquarters building Mary W. Jackson, [after] the first female African American engineer at the space agency, who as one of the ‘Hidden Figures’ overcame rampant racial discrimination and gender bias to help propel the agency at the dawn of the Space Age, NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine announced Wednesday.”

Aviation International News reports that on June 22, F-35 Joint Program Office released photographs that show the US Air Force’s F-35A “has been undergoing Dual Capable Aircraft (DCA) tests,” which allow the aircraft to deliver conventional and nuclear weapons. The F-35A “is expected to introduce its DCA capability in early 2023 with the Block 4 software

Space News reports that NASA “announced June 23 it has created an office with the commercial crew program, called Suborbital Crew or SubC, that will develop a process for NASA personnel to fly on vehicles such as Blue Origin’s New Shepard and Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo.” NASA will focus on developing “‘system qualification’ of commercial suborbital

Airline Geeks reports that according to industry data, “private jet travel has sharply increased in the month of May and into early June[,] with future booking outlook looking strong.” The FAA’s monthly Business Jet report indicated that there was a dramatic rise “in business jet departures” during May, with 190,000 departures having occurred, which was roughly

Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force is expanding its RPA Training Next program to include “advanced, artificial intelligence-infused pilot training” for UAV pilots and sensor operators. In a June 1 interview, Program Director Maj. Adam Smith “said this new, high-tech system of learning has the potential to teach new remotely piloted aircraft aircrew

Florida Today reports that the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket scheduled for Tuesday has been moved to Thursday at 4:39 p.m. from the Kennedy Space Center. The “delay moves the launch closer to worsening weather,” as the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron “predicts a 40% ‘go’ for Thursday.” For the launch, the rocket will

Space News reports that Virgin Galactic “announced June 22 it has signed an agreement with NASA to support development of a program to train and potentially procure rides for private individuals seeking to fly to the International Space Station.” The company “said it signed a Space Act Agreement with the Johnson Space Center to develop a

Aviation International News reported that Baird Equity Research Senior Research Analyst Peter Arment “is seeing a U-shaped recovery in business aviation shifting to a V-shaped one, according to his note to investors.” Arment said, “Flights are continuing on the path to recovery in June, now representing a 21 percent decline [month-to-date] versus 2019 after May activity

Spaceflight Now reports that the first launch of Arianespace’s Vega Rocket “since an in-flight failure nearly one year ago has been postponed to no earlier than Monday night due to unfavorable upper level winds over the Vega launch base in Kourou, French Guiana.” The rocket will carry 53 small satellites for “21 customers in 13 countries,

Aerospace America reports that according to Chair of the National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine’s committee on enhancing air mobility Nick Lappos, US lawmakers should make advanced aerial mobility (AAM) a national priority. Lappos said Thursday during the 2020 AIAA AVIATION Forum, “If the United States doesn’t get together and help establish the rules and