Industry News

The New York Times reported that on Friday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter made its fifth flight on Mars, making “a successful one-way trip to another flat patch of Mars more than the length of a football field away. The spot where it landed will serve as its base of operations for the next month at least, beginning a

Aviation Today reported that BETA Technology’s ALIA eVTOL “has received the first airworthiness approval for manned flight in an electric aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, the Air Force announced on May 5.” The approval comes after the Air Force tested the ALIA simulator for a year. BETA and the Air Force “will sign a contract

Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force “is beginning to return B-1B bombers to the air after grounding the entire fleet last month to investigate a fuel system issue.” Some B-1B Lancers “resumed flight operations Monday, about two weeks after Air Force Global Strike Command ordered the fleet of 57 aircraft to stand

SPACE reports that The Boeing Company plans to launch its second Starliner test flight “no sooner than July 30 – slightly earlier than the previously announced target of early August. The upcoming liftoff will kick off Orbital Flight Test-2 (OFT-2), an uncrewed mission to the International Space Station.” Boeing “last tried such a test flight in

Military.com reports that the US Air Force announced Wednesday that it “flew an artificial intelligence system onboard a subsonic autonomous drone for the first time last month.” According to an Air Force news release, the “Skyborg autonomy core system, or ACS, was loaded into a Kratos UTAP-22 ‘Mako’ drone for a 130-minute flight test at Tyndall

ABC News reports that Blue Origin “said Wednesday it has opened an online auction for one of six seats aboard the New Shepard, its suborbital vehicle designed for space tourism, for the July 20 flight.” After “completing 15 consecutive missions to space and back with New Shepard, the company said it is ready to fly

Florida Today reports that NASA has approved Sierra Nevada Corp.’s Dream Chaser spaceplane to land on a runway at Kennedy Space Center. The Dream Chaser “is a reusable, space utility vehicle capable of transportation services to and from low-Earth orbit and is capable of a runway landing.” Under a NASA contract, “the plane is now

Reuters reports that the FAA has “asked The Boeing Company to supply fresh analysis and documentation showing numerous 737 MAX subsystems would not be affected by electrical grounding issues first flagged in three areas of the jet in April, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.” The “electrical problems have suspended nearly a quarter of

Breaking Defense reports that the US Army is “asking industry if it can accelerate delivery of a new scout drone…to replace the aging RQ-7 shadow after a successful year of field tests of four competing prototypes, culminating in a rainy-day ‘rodeo’ at Fort Benning.” Army UAS Project Manager Col. Scott Anderson said that a formal requirements

CNET News reports that SpaceX is aiming to conduct a test flight of its Starship SN15 prototype as early as Tuesday. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “said SN15 ‘has hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software and engine,’ including, hopefully, upgrades to cover some of the problems that have prevented SpaceX from sticking the landing so far

SPACE reported that on Friday at 10:49 a.m. EDT, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter lifted off from Mars for the fourth time. Ingenuity “covered 872 feet (266 meters) of ground and reached a top speed of 8 mph (13 kph) during the 117-second jaunt, NASA officials said.” Full Story (SPACE)

The Drive reported that during a demonstration event known as Project Hydra, “five F-35A Joint Strike Fighters and a single F-22 Raptor ‘talked’ with each other using their proprietary stealthy datalinks via a U-2S Dragon Lady spy plane carrying a specialized communications gateway payload.” Skunk Works Vice President and General Manager Jeff Babione said in a statement,

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,

The Wall Street Journal reports that the FAA said Thursday that it has initiated an audit into how a minor design change in the production of Boeing 737 MAX aircraft contributed to a potential electrical issue that led to the grounding of 109 737 MAX aircraft. The agency said regarding the audit that it will assess The

Space News reports that at 11:23 p.m. EDT Wednesday, China launched the Tianhe space station core module atop a Long March 5B rocket, “beginning an intense period of missions for constructing the nation’s own space station.” The core module “separated from the first stage after 490 seconds of flight. Solar array deployment occurred just over an

Martin UAV said in a press release that the US Navy has selected the company’s V-BAT “for a VTOL UAS prototyping and development effort in order to fulfill new technological requirements driven by the changing nature of threats in austere operating environments.” Martin UAV was selected after a technology demonstration at Yuma Proving Grounds, where the

The Daily Mail (UK) reports that NASA has unveiled a plan to send a spacecraft, currently named the Interstellar Probe, 1,000 astronomical units (AUs) – or approximately 92 billion miles – away from Earth in the 2030s. During the mission, the spacecraft “will examine the heliosphere, planets and more.” Probe lead Elena Provornikova said, “For the first

Aviation Today reports that Wingcopter “is debuting a new all-electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) fixed-wing drone capable of ‘triple-drop’ deliveries, according to an April 27 release from the company.” The Wingcopter 198 “has a payload of 13 pounds and a range of 47 miles, according to the release.” Wingcopter 198’s “delivery process is fully autonomous

Space News reports that US Space Force Vice Chief of Space Operations Gen. David Thompson said in an interview that he would prefer a civilian agency take over space management activities. Collision “warning duties are expected to transition to the Department of Commerce by 2024 but there are other issues that a civilian agency should be

FlightGlobal reports that Kaman said Monday that it has flown its uncrewed K-Max Titan helicopter for the first time April 21. The helicopter “was controlled from the ground with a safety pilot on-board during its debut flight, Kaman said.” Kaman “says the unmanned variant is intended to expand the operating envelope of the helicopter to

Reuters reported that Grupo Aeromexico “has agreed to purchase 24 of The Boeing Company’s 737-8 and B737-9 MAX planes, and four 787-9 Dreamliners, as part of a deal that should yield an estimated $2 billion in savings, the Mexican airline said on Friday.” The carrier “said that it had managed to negotiate better conditions in

The New York Times reports that on Sunday, NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter flew on Mars for the third time, traveling further and faster than the previous two flights. The helicopter “perfectly executed its instructions from Earth.” The helicopter “lifted 16 feet off the ground, then flew a round-trip distance of 328 feet before landing back where it started.”

The New York Times reports that at 5:33 a.m. EDT Thursday, Ingenuity lifted off from the Jezero crater on Mars for its second flight on the Red Planet. The helicopter “reached a height of 16 feet, tilted itself by 5 degrees to move seven feet sideways, hovered and turned to point its color camera in multiple directions,

The Daily Mail reports that Commander of the US Air Force’s Global Strike Command Gen. Tim Ryan said Tuesday that he has “ordered a safety stand-down” for the service’s entire B1-B bomber fleet. The decision “was made after a ‘ground emergency’ on April 8 at Ellsworth Air Force Base, South Dakota.” Engineers “discovered what defense website

SPACE reports that on Tuesday, the Perseverance rover used its Mars Oxygen In-Situ Resource Utilization Experiment (MOXIE) instrument “to generate oxygen from the thin, carbon dioxide-dominated Martian atmosphere for the first time, demonstrating technology that could both help astronauts breathe and help propel the rockets that get them back home to Earth.” MOXIE “produces oxygen

Aviation Week reports that a “major upgrade package has been approved for the next batch of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reapers that will be ordered later this month by the U.S. Air Force.” Inside Defense reports that in a press release issued Wednesday, the Air Force said that the “MQ-9 multidomain operations (M2DO)

Space News reports that the NASA and SpaceX Crew-2 mission to the International Space Station has passed its launch readiness review ahead of its launch, which is scheduled for Thursday at 6:11 a.m. EDT. NASA Commercial Crew Manager Steve Stitch “said officials resolved the one technical issue remaining from the Crew-2 flight readiness review April 15.

Aviation International News reports that “every flight operating in Europe could become on average more than 25 percent ‘greener’ by 2030 while using existing technology, according to a new so-called think paper published by Eurocontrol on Tuesday.” The paper “asserts that the aviation industry can make significant progress toward the ‘perfect green flight’ through measures

FlightGlobal reports that the US Naval Research Laboratory flew a Hybrid Tiger UAV from the Aberdeen Proving Grounds in Maryland “for more than 24h in November 2020, its longest flight demonstrated.” The electric UAV “was powered by a hydrogen fuel cell and solar panels on its wings, as well as using energy harvesting techniques, such as

The Washington Post reports that NASA “shared the full video of its Ingenuity helicopter’s flight on the surface of Mars on April 19. Engineers also shared a reconstruction of the flight as well as photos from chopper’s landing camera.” Florida Today reports that the flight “was captured on several cameras including a video camera on the Perseverance

The AP reported that on Saturday at 12:55 a.m., NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Russian cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov returned to Earth from their mission aboard the International Space Station. Spaceflight Now reported that the crew landed in Kazakhstan aboard a Soyuz spacecraft, ending their 185-day mission. Full Story (Associated Press); More Info (Spaceflight Now)

Aviation International News reported that on Thursday, Gulfstream conducted the “sixth and final test aircraft in” the company’s G700 program. The “fully-outfitted aircraft flew for more than three and a half hours, reaching an altitude of 48,000 feet and a top speed of Mach 0.935.” This aircraft “will be put through a test regimen that will

Military.com reports that for the first time, Sikorsky “flew its Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft prototype in two demonstrations this week for service leaders and soldiers at Redstone Arsenal in Huntsville, Alabama.” Lockheed Martin said in a press release that during Tuesday and Thursday’s demonstrations, the S-97 Raider “flew high-speed passes, hovered and showed off its maneuverability.”

SPACE reports that on Saturday at 8:42 p.m. EDT, NASA’s New Horizons “will reach 50 AU (astronomical units) from the sun – or 50 times the distance the Earth is from the sun.” Currently “in the Kuiper Belt beyond Pluto, NASA’s New Horizons” will become “just one of five spacecraft to reach 50 AU.” The milestone

ExecutiveGov reports that the Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) “is working with the U.S. Marine Corps to improve the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft’s survivability and establish its assault-support elements in high-threat situations, National Defense Magazine reported Wednesday.” Col. Matthew Kelly, head of the Department of Defense’s joint V-22 program, “noted that his office is also

Space News reports that Arianespace “announced April 13 that it would provide a free cubesat launch to one deserving space technology startup, lab or university.” The competition, dubbed Destination: A Better Life on Earth, is part of Arianespace’s “plan to unveil a range of smallsat rideshare offerings in June at VivaTech 2021, the fifth edition

Spaceflight Now reports that Blue Origin is planning to launch its New Shepard booster and crew capsule on a suborbital test flight at 11:15 a.m. EDT Wednesday. The launch will take off from Blue Origin’s “expansive desert launch site north of Van Horn, Texas.” Blue Origin said that the test flight is a “verification step

FlightGlobal reports that the European Union Aviation Safety Agency has “drawn up an initial set of certification requirements for electric or hybrid propulsion systems for future aircraft types.” The special condition “has been shaped from an initial proposal in January last year, following extensive comments from multiple aerospace companies including Airbus, The Boeing Company, Embraer,

Space News reports that at 1:34 p.m EDT Monday, Northrop Grumman’s MEV-2 satellite servicer docked “with Intelsat’s in-orbit 10-02 spacecraft.” The docking marked “the first time a satellite servicer has docked with an in-service commercial satellite in geosynchronous orbit (GEO).” The two spacecraft “will stay locked together for five years to extend the life of

Space News reports that DARPA “selected Blue Origin and Lockheed Martin to develop competing spacecraft concepts for a demonstration of nuclear thermal propulsion, the agency announced April 12.” The contracts were awarded under the demonstration rocket for agile cislunar operations (DRACO) program. Through the program, DARPA is looking “to demonstrate nuclear thermal propulsion technology –

The Daily Mail (UK) reported that on April 4, two satellites, one from SpaceX and one from OneWeb, came within 190 feet of each other in space. The close encounter of the two satellites triggered “several ‘red alerts’ from the US Space Force’s 18th Space Control Squadron, The Verge reports.” In anticipation of the encounter, “SpaceX

FlightGlobal reported that on Friday, the first prototype of the Korea Aerospace Industries (KAI) KF-X fighter program “was unveiled during a ceremony at KAI’s Sacheon production facility.” Reuters reported that the next-generation aircraft, officially named the KF-21 Boromae, is “designed to be a cheaper, less-stealthy alternative to the U.S.-built F-35, on which South Korea relies.” During Friday’s

Space News reports that a Russian Soyuz spacecraft bringing Russian cosmonauts Oleg Novitsky and Pyotr Dubrov and American astronaut Mark Vande Hei to the International Space Station arrived April 9, “a few hours after launching from Kazakhstan.”  The Soyuz 2.1a rocket launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome at 3:42 a.m. ET and docked with the station’s

ExecutiveGov reports that The Boeing Company “will provide a maximum of 144 F-15EX Eagle II jets to support the Air Force’s efforts to increase the F-15 fleet’s readiness capacity and replace the F-15C/D variants, the service said Wednesday.” The jet was unveiled Wednesday by Lt. Gen. Duke Richardson, military deputy for the Office of the Assistant

SPACE reports that the NASA’s Mars helicopter Ingenuity “has unlocked its two rotor blades as preparations continue for the vehicle’s first flight, due to occur no earlier than Sunday (April 11).” NASA’s JPL said in a tweet Thursday, “The blades of glory, aka rotor blades of the #MarsHelicopter, have been unlocked and are ready for testing.

Reuters reports that Airbus “accelerated jet deliveries in March, putting it within reach of matching or even eclipsing last year’s first-quarter total, which was only partially affected by the coronavirus crisis, tracking estimates showed on Wednesday.” The company “delivered 122 aircraft in the first three months of 2020.” Airbus “delivered 53 jets in the first two

CNET News reports that on Wednesday, NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft conducted a flyover of asteroid Bennu, from which it had collected a sample in October 2020. NASA said that it decided to do the flyby to examine “the extent of the mess it made” on the asteroid when it collected the sample. NASA “said Osiris-Rex successfully

Florida Today reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to launch from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station during an instantaneous window that opens at 12:34 p.m. EST Wednesday. The rocket will carry a batch of Starlink satellites. The 45th Weather Squadron “said conditions during the window should be 90% ‘go’ for liftoff. Risks

The Hill reports that the US Air Force’s “first flight test of the rocket booster for its prototype hypersonic missile failed Monday when the test weapon did not launch, the service said Tuesday.” During the “test flight over the Point Mugu Sea Range off the Southern California coast, a B-52H Stratofortress was supposed to launch the

SPACE reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk said Monday that the Starship SN11 prototype failed to land in the March 30 test flight because “a (relatively) small CH4 leak led to fire on engine 2 & fried part of avionics, causing hard start attempting landing burn in CH4 turbopump. This is getting fixed 6 ways to