FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] October 25, 2018 – Reston, Va. – The world’s largest technical and professional aerospace society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), invites undergraduate and graduate students to apply for AIAA Foundation scholarships and graduate awards. The AIAA Foundation will present 12 Undergraduate Scholarships and 9 Graduate Awards in 2019

CBS News reports NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine said Tuesday that he expects Russia to resume piloted Soyuz flights in December. Bridenstine said that Russian engineers have a “really, really good idea” what forced Soyuz MS-10 commander Alexey Ovchinin and NASA flight engineer Nick Hague to abort their launch to the ISS on Oct. 11. More Info (CBS

USA Today reports on the future possibility of “putting down a $1,000-reservation to buy a ‘personal helicopter’ – a small, relatively inexpensive, partially electric powered craft designed for two people taking short hops.” Workhorse Group, based in Cincinnati-based Workhorse, “believes it’s on the forefront of electric vertical take off and landing technology, or eVTOL.” The company

Space News reports that engineers have made progress “correcting a faulty gyro on the Hubble Space Telescope, making NASA optimistic the space telescope can resume normal operations in the near future.” Hubble has been kept in safe mode “since the failure of the third of its six gyroscopes Oct. 5.” During a Monday meeting of NASA’s

Aviation International News reports that the US Navy commissioned its first test squadron dedicated to UAVs in a ceremony on October 18. The creation of the squadron was “approved by Chief of Naval Operations, Admiral John Richardson, in April.” Air Test and Evaluation Squadron (UX) 24 continues the “work of the UAS Test Directorate of the

ExecutiveGov reported that NASA is considering the possibility of using the moon as an “observational platform from which scientists can gather data on the sun or other celestial bodies.” NASA Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration Steve Clarke “said such efforts can serve as a step toward developing capabilities to embark on future Mars missions.” Clarke added

Aerospace America reported that the deadline is approaching for companies to submit bids for a US Army-led “Future Tactical Unmanned Aircraft Systems” competition for “runway independent” UAVs slated to begin test flights in 2020. The deadline for responses to the request for proposals is October 29. The Army and Special Operations Command currently operate “hundreds of

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] October 22, 2018 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that Dr. Larry B. Ilcewicz, chief scientific and technical advisor for Advanced Composite Materials at the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), has been selected to receive the 2019 Walter J. and Angeline

SPACE reports that the US Air Force’s X-37B space plane “has now passed the 400-day mark” for its classified mission in orbit. The Orbital Test Vehicle (OTV-5) mission began October 7, 2017 when it launched mounted “atop a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket from Launch Complex 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida.” The only OTV-5

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] October 19, 2018 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce that its Executive Nominating Committee has selected candidates for next year’s election of President-Elect and the Council Nominating Committee has selected candidates for next year’s openings on the AIAA

Bloomberg News reports that The Boeing Company is creating a new unit to focus on new technologies including neuromorphic processing, which “mimics the synapses of the human brain and hack-proof communications links based on applied quantum physics.” Such technologies “increasingly form the core of aerospace innovation, like the networks that may one day manage millions of

Aviation Week reports that with “advanced aerostructures technology already in flight test on an unidentified high-speed military aircraft and ground tests of new low-noise, compact nacelle concepts underway,” UTC Aerospace Systems (UTAS) believes that it is “well-positioned to penetrate the nascent civil supersonic market.” The nacelle development comes amid a “broader UTAS focus on the business

Reuters reports that Honda Aircraft CEO Michimasa Fujino “said on Tuesday he expects deliveries of the HondaJet to rise in 2019 above the estimated 50 aircraft customers will take this year, as the light business plane maker targets Asia for growth.” The company recently introduced a longer-range version of the HondaJet Elite and “announced a new

The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA canceled a spacewalk planned for Friday following the failure of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft last week. No decision has been made on a second spacewalk planned for October 25. According to NASA Johnson Space Center spokesman Kelly Humphries, it will take “a few days at least to sort out the near-term

The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA canceled a spacewalk planned for Friday following the failure of a Russian Soyuz spacecraft last week. No decision has been made on a second spacewalk planned for October 25. According to NASA Johnson Space Center spokesman Kelly Humphries, it will take “a few days at least to sort out the near-term

The AP reported that a second NASA space telescope “has shut down and halted science observations.” Less than a week after the Hubble Space Telescope “went offline, the Chandra X-ray Observatory” experienced a similar issue. In its statement, NASA “said Friday that [Chandra] automatically went into so-called safe mode Wednesday, possibly because of a gyroscope problem.” Hubble

ExecutiveGov reported that the US Navy has begun to “formally test the operation of an F-35C stealth fighter intended to demonstrate fulfillment of the service’s requirements.” F-35C integration office head Rear Adm. Dale Horan “said Wednesday that Strike Fighter Squadron 147 arrived on USS Carl Vinson to assess the aircraft’s capacity to address the Navy’s needs.”

The Seattle Times reports that the NTSB “issued a final report Thursday on the incident in which an Air Canada jet nearly crashed into planes lined up on the ground at San Francisco International Airport.” According to the agency, the incident underscores the need to report dangerous aviation incidents more quickly in order to preserve crucial evidence.

The AP (subscription publication) reports that the Pentagon “on Thursday ordered a temporary pause in all F-35 fighter jet flights in order to inspect the fleet in the wake of a crash last month in South Carolina.” The issue revolves around a potentially bad fuel tube, and “affects more than 250 U.S.-owned jets, as well as nearly

Aerospace America reports that “NASA and its space station partners face a conundrum of timing after Thursday’s Soyuz rocket accident, which miraculously left the crew of a cosmonaut and an astronaut in shape to walk away and hug loved ones.” The capsule, which was due to deliver new crew members to the ISS and serve as

AIAA Profiles AIAA Fellow Karl D. Bilimoria By Michele McDonald, AIAA communications manager AIAA Fellow Karl D. Bilimoria can trace the roots of his career as an aerospace engineer to his childhood visits to Air India. “I have been fascinated by airplanes for as long as I can remember, even in very early childhood,” said Bilimoria,

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] AIAA President Congratulates James Morhard October 12, 2018 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) congratulates former deputy sergeant-at-arms for the U.S. Senate James Morhard on being confirmed as the Deputy Administrator of NASA. AIAA President John Langford made the following statement upon

AP reports that regulators are “ordering that engine software be replaced on some Airbus passenger jets because of a problem that has caused pilots to abort several takeoffs in cold weather.” The FAA and EASA order covers 82 CFM International engines on US-registered Airbus A320neo and A321neo jets. The regulators “said this week operators will have

Reuters reports that The Boeing Company’s “poor performance” in building a rocket for NASA’s Space Launch System (SLS) has “resulted in an $8.9 billion price tag that is double the initial budget and could further delay the launch, the U.S. space agency’s watchdog office said on Wednesday.” NASA’s Office of the Inspector General (OIG) said in

Aviation Today reports that Insitu unveiled a new UAV, the Alticam-14, which has “video imaging capability high enough in quality to positively identify people from the air.” According to Insitu Director of Defense Programs Keith Hirschman, speaking Tuesday at the Association of the US Army’s annual convention, the enhanced intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance capabilities will be

The Washington Post reports that Virgin Galactic founder Richard Branson told CNBC in an interview on Tuesday, “We should be in space within weeks, not months.” Branson added that “then we will be in space with myself in months and not years.” Although Branson has previously estimated that Virgin Galactic and Blue Origin would launch persons into

CBS News reported that President Donald Trump signed the “FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018” Friday, extending FAA funding through 2023 just ahead of an October 7 deadline. ExecutiveGov reported that Secretary of Homeland Security Kristjen Nielsen “said in a statement that the recently passed FAA Reauthorization Act of 2018 would increase the government’s capacity to protect U.S. citizens

Aviation Week reports that seven years after “signing a contract to supply the service module for NASA’s Orion spacecraft,” the ESA is preparing to ship its first module to NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida. According to ESA Exploration Development Group head Nico Dettmann, the timeframe is significantly shorter than the 12 years the agency

Space News reports that NASA expects the missions of its Dawn and Kepler spacecraft “to come to an end in the coming weeks when each exhausts their remaining hydrazine fuel.” During a talk Thursday at the 69th International Astronautical Congress, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Dawn Chief Engineer and Mission Director Marc Rayman “said current estimates had

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] Legislation Extends Agency’s Operations for Five Years October 5, 2018 – Reston, Va. – As the world’s largest aerospace technical society, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) welcomes the passage of the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act of 2018. The legislation streamlines the aircraft certification process,

SPACE reports that NASA’s Parker Solar Probe passed within 1,500 miles of Venus “as planned this morning (Oct. 3), getting an orbit-sculpting gravity assist, NASA officials said.” The spacecraft “remains on course” for its first “close encounter with the sun, which is scheduled to take place from Oct. 31 through Nov. 11.” More Info (SPACE)

Bloomberg News reports that The Boeing Company CEO Dennis Muilenburg anticipates the company’s prototype air taxi will take flight next year. Boeing is also “working with regulators to develop a traffic-management system for the aircraft in five years.” In an interview Wednesday, Muilenburg said that Boeing is “working on both the ecosystem – the regulatory framework

Space News reports that during a press conference Monday at the 69th International Astronautical Congress, representatives of the ESA, JAXA, and Roscosmos “said they were open to extending the station’s operations to 2028 or 2030 in order to maximize the investment they’ve made in the facility as a platform for research and preparation for exploration activities

The Space Review reports that NASA celebrated its 60th anniversary “with a variety of largely virtual events, including a recorded statement from NASA’s current administrator, Jim Bridenstine.” A recent panel at AIAA’s SPACE Forum featured six of the agency’s administrators, and “offered an opportunity to reflect how NASA has changed or sometimes hasn’t changed” over the

Flying Magazine reports that the FAA announced last week that UAVs interfering with wildfire containment crews, law enforcement efforts, or other first responders “are now more likely to face serious civil penalties, even for first-time offenses.” The action is “separate from new provisions included within the FAA Reauthorization legislation that would allow authorities to track, intercept

SPACE reports that a small, Japanese re-entry capsule, “designed to bring back experiments from space, is gearing up for its first test flight” after arriving at the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday aboard a robotic cargo ship. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s HTV Small Re-Entry Capsule (HSRC) is designed to transport experiment samples back to

Bloomberg News reports that during the Farnborough Airshow, Rolls-Royce demonstrated an “array of miniature robots designed to speed up engine overhauls by removing the need for powerplants to be detached from the aircraft during shop visits.” The swarming robots, less than half an inch across, are designed to “roam the turbine in gangs beaming pictures back

The Waitsburg Times reports that at last week’s AIAA SPACE Forum, The Boeing Company “revealed its proposed hypersonic passenger airliner, which would fly much higher and faster than the Concorde.” Boeing envisions the aircraft traveling at Mach 5, “enabling them to cross the Atlantic Ocean in just two hours and the Pacific in three while cruising at

MRO Network reports that the shift toward electric propulsion is “reshaping not only the supply chain, but also the aftermarket.” Although it is “still too early to predict the extent to which electric propulsion will change aviation,” the new technology “looks most likely to reshape the light-aircraft sector, and the promise of lower energy costs, emissions

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE AIAA CONTACT: John Blacksten 703.264.7532 [email protected] AIA CONTACT: Dan Stohr 703.358.1078 [email protected] MEDIA ADVISORY September 27, 2018 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) and the Aerospace Industries Association (AIA) will convene the National Aerospace & Defense Workforce Summit on Tuesday, October 2, from 8:30 a.m. to 2

CNN reports that the US Marine Corps’ F-35B Lightning may fly its “first combat mission within days, according to several US defense officials, who told CNN that the fifth-generation aircraft are currently aboard the USS Essex amphibious assault ship and should soon be in a position to conduct airstrikes over Afghanistan.” The Essex has already sailed

Florida Today reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk elaborated on the company’s plans to establish a colony on the surface of Mars in a series of recent tweets. Expanding on earlier details for the Big Falcon Rocket’s planned Mars mission, Musk “said the latest roadmap shows that a red planet base could be established as soon

Space News reports that NASA hopes to launch the Power and Propulsion Element (PPE) of the agency’s planned Lunar Orbital Platform-Gateway in 2022, “most likely from Cape Canaveral.” The payload will be sent into cislunar space. The component’s “boxy shape and folded-up solar arrays will make it resemble many of the commercial communications satellites launched from

AIAA Profiles AIAA Student Members and 2018 Abe M. Zarem Awardees Geoffrey Andrews and Ken M. Mitchell By Lawrence Garrett, AIAA Web Editor With the calendar turning toward fall and colleges and universities back in session, the Institute’s September spotlight has fittingly come to rest on two outstanding AIAA student members: Geoffrey Andrews, the 2018 AIAA Foundation

Reuters reported that Russia may abandon plans to help build the Deep Space Gateway with NASA because Moscow, according to Roscosmos head Dmitry Rogozin, does not want to play a “second fiddle role.” Russia had agreed last year to partner with the US on plans for the space station, but speaking to Russian television, Rogozin “said

FlightGlobal reported that Airbus Helicopters is preparing for “serial production” of door components for its AS350 helicopter using additive manufacturing techniques. The company’s Donauwörth, Germany facility is in the “process of qualifying the production of titanium door latch shafts for the long-haul aircraft through additive layer manufacturing, with serial production scheduled to start in early 2019.”

Following his keynote address at the AIAA SPACE Forum, Aerospace America interviewed NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, who “said the Trump administration’s goal of landing Americans on the surface of the moon and someday Mars will require companies and international partners.” According to Bridenstine, “we want to do more than even our growing budget can handle,” and as

Space News reports that although The Boeing Company and SpaceX have “been struggling to meet safety thresholds established by NASA for commercial crew vehicles,” executives from both companies speaking at the AIAA SPACE Forum “said they now believed their vehicles met that and related safety requirements.” Boeing Vice President and Commercial Crew Program Manager John Mulholland

ExecutiveGov reports that the FAA has activated the “final component of its nationwide system designed to authorize and track drones in real time.” The North Central region of Low Altitude Authorization and Notification Capability (LAANC) is now operational, “completing the activation of all six components that collectively cover 288 air traffic control stations.” LAANC supports the

Airforce Technology reports that the US Air Force “successfully completed the first automated landing and take-off” of an MQ-9 Block 5 UAV. General Atomics Aeronautical Systems (GA-ASI) is testing automatic take-off and landing capability that will increase the UAV’s suitability for Air Force missions. Development of the MQ-9’s automatic take-off and landing capability is expected to