Industry News

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

Defense News reports that the US Air Force announced Monday that during the Kratos XQ-58A Valkyrie UAV’s “sixth flight test at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, it opened its payload bay doors during flight for the first time and released an ALTIUS-600, a small, tube-launched autonomous drone made by Area-I.” The Valkyrie is “an ‘attritable’

Bloomberg reports that Flydubai said that it plans to return its Boeing 737 MAX jets to service April 8. The airline “idled 14 Boeing Max jets in March 2019, when the model was grounded worldwide in the wake of a second deadly crash in five months. The low-cost carrier has ordered 251 Max jets as it

SPACE reported that NASA’s Perseverance rover’s SuperCam laser is studying a green rock that the rover discovered on the Red Planet. The laser works by creating “a cloud of vaporized rock, the composition of which can be analyzed by SuperCam’s cameras and spectrometers.” Scientists “hope that over time, the laser will give us more information about

SPACE reports that NASA has pushed the earliest date for its Ingenuity helicopter to make its first flight on Mars from April 8 to April 11. NASA’s JPL said in a tweet that Ingenuity “is preparing to do something that’s never been done: controlled, powered flight on another planet. Takeoff is now slated for no

The Canadian Press reports that according to Canada’s Department of National Defence Assistant Deputy Minister of Material Troy Crosby, officials remain on track to ending its “decade-long search for a new fighter jet for the Royal Canadian Air Force next year despite challenges and delays from the pandemic.” In an interview with the Canadian Press, Crosby

Spaceflight Now reports that NASA Astrophysics division director Paul Hertz said that the two issues the Hubble Space Telescope recently experienced are likely related to aging hardware. The Hubble Space Telescope is approaching the 31st anniversary of its launch. It went into safe mode on March 7 because of a software issue. Efforts to recover the

FlightGlobal reports that China Eastern Airlines expects that deliveries of the Boeing 737 MAX will resume from 2023 – “even while it works with the airframer to return the aircraft to service.” According to fleet plans included in its full-year results for 2020, the airline indicated that it expects to introduce 46 737 MAX aircraft in

Spaceflight Now reports that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter “is being lowered from the belly of the Perseverance rover this week as ground teams run through a choreographed long-distance command sequence to safely release the $80 million rotorcraft onto the surface of Mars.” The deployment “is projected to take around six days, assuming everything goes as planned.

Defense News reports that on Monday, the US Air Force announced that “three F-35A squadrons will officially call Tyndall Air Force Base, Fla., home starting in September 2023.” Seventy-two Lightning IIs “will join the 325th Fighter Wing, which previously handled F-22 Raptors at the Florida Panhandle base. Each squadron will take charge of 24 aircraft.

CNBC reports that on Tuesday, Virgin Galactic “unveiled the latest spacecraft addition to its fleet, VSS Imagine, with the spacecraft representing the first of its next-generation SpaceShip III class of vehicles.” The rollout “of VSS Imagine gives the space tourism company a second spacecraft to begin testing, as Virgin Galactic continues to work through final

Aviation International News reports that Aerion announced the initial details for its second aircraft Monday. More details on the 50-passenger Mach 4-plus AS3 are expected later this year, but Aerion “sketched out a goal of reaching near-hypersonic speeds and a 7,000-nm range.” The company projects the aircraft to fly before the end of the decade

SPACE reported that NASA’s Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) has completed its first two years of work and has found 2,241 new exoplanet candidates to study. Massachusetts Institute of Technology Researcher Natalia Guerrero, who is lead author in the study, said, “The exciting thing is to look at the map of TESS exoplanets as a

Reuters reports that Southwest Airlines “said on Monday it had reached a deal with planemaker The Boeing Company for 100 orders for a variant of the 737 MAX aircraft, with the first 30 jets scheduled for delivery in 2022.” Full Story (Reuters)

The Drive reports that the US Air Force “invested $134 million in repairs for 39 T-1A Jayhawk twin-engine jet trainers grounded after being severely damaged in a Texan hailstorm,” for an average of $3.4 million per jet. The two repair lines “were at an L3 Harris facility in Waco, Texas, and at the 309th Aerospace Maintenance and

SPACE reports that SpaceX “may attempt to test fire – then launch – its latest Starship rocket prototype at the company’s South Texas facility on Friday.” Cameron County, Texas, officials “have approved road closures ahead of an engine test and launch of the Starship SN11 vehicle on Friday.” SpaceX “has not stated it actually will attempt

Aviation International News reports that Ryanair hopes the FAA and the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) “will finalize the licensing process of the Boeing 737 Max 200 in the coming days, paving the way for Europe’s largest LCC to finally take delivery of its first example in April.” Ryanair Group CEO Michael O’Leary said during