Industry News

Reuters reports that the Saudi civil aviation authority (GACA) “announced on Sunday that Boeing 737 Max planes will be allowed to return to service to and from the kingdom after meeting safety requirements.” Full Story (Reuters)

Space News reported that Lockheed Martin “is redesigning the bus used for Global Positioning System satellites so they can be upgraded with new hardware on orbit, a company executive said Feb. 25.” The company’s Senior Director of Military Space Mission Strategy Eric Brown said that the move is significant because the prominent thought today is

SPACE reports that the NASA Parker Solar Probe completed its fourth swing past Venus on February 20. The probe is on a mission to fly closer to the sun than any previous spacecraft, but needs to “whiz past Venus a total of seven times, with each pass pulling the spacecraft closer to the sun.” The Parker

Reuters reports that Australia’s Civil Aviation Safety Authority lifted its grounding of the Boeing 737 MAX on Friday, becoming the first country in the Asia-Pacific region to clear the jet to fly. Authority head Graeme Crawford said, “We…are confident that the aircraft are safe.” While no Australian airline flies the 737 MAX, Singapore Airlines and Fiji

Florida Today reports that SpaceX is aiming to launch 60 Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket at 8:37 p.m EST Sunday. SpaceX set the date after completing a static fire test Wednesday. Full Story (Florida Today)

Aviation International News reports that General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) reported Wednesday that business jet deliveries decreased by 20.4% in 2020. Relative to the year prior, Bombardier saw deliveries decrease by 28 units, Gulfstream by 20, Dassault by six, Embraer by 23, Textron Aviation by 74, and Honda Aircraft by one. Full Story (Aviation International News)

Space News reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 booster “failed to land after its most recent launch Feb. 15 because of ‘heat damage’ it sustained.” During the 47th Spaceport Summit on Tuesday, SpaceX senior adviser for build and flight reliability Hans Koenigsmann “said the failed landing during an otherwise successful launch of Starlink satellites remains under

Aviation Today reports that NASA’s Ingenuity “will be the first aircraft to attempt controlled flight on another planet.” Ingenuity will attempt test flights on Mars in the spring and will “remain within a 0.6-mile (1-kilometer) radius of Perseverance so it can communicate wirelessly with the rover.” The Perseverance rover will communicate with relay orbiters around Mars

ABC News reports that NASA “released stunning new video for the first time Monday from its Perseverance rover’s audacious landing on Mars last week.” The video, “shot from multiple cameras, captures the rover’s entry, descent and landing on the red planet’s Jezero Crater.” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) Director Michael Watkins said, “This is the first

Air Force Times reports that the Air Force issued a request for information (RFI) Thursday, which stated that it is looking for industry assistance in transitioning the C-130 software to a DevSecOps approach. The RFI stated, “The end goal is to establish a lean, user-centered approach that will ultimately redefine how capability is delivered to the

Reuters reported that on Friday, NASA scientists “presented striking early images from the picture-perfect landing of the Mars rover Perseverance, including a selfie of the six-wheeled vehicle dangling just above the surface of the Red Planet moments before touchdown.” The “color photograph, likely to become an instant classic among memorable images from the history of spaceflight,

Bloomberg reported that the FAA “is using a network of satellites” to follow all Boeing 737 Max “flights around the world,” as the agency monitors “the plane after its 20-month grounding.” The network, “provided by Virginia-based Aireon LLC,” is “capable of tracking planes in even the most remote regions as if they were under surveillance

Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company said Wednesday that the second uncrewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight test will be pushed from March 25 to no earlier than April 2. The test was delayed in order “to replace hardware damaged during processing of the spacecraft.” The announcement “comes after Boeing recently replaced avionics units

Air Force Times reports that the US Air Force began the process of retiring its B-1 Lancer Wednesday, “as the ‘Bone’ bomber flew to the Air Force’s boneyard where divested aircraft are kept in storage.” The Air Force plans to retire 17 of its 62 B-1 aircraft. According to the service, divesting its most battered

ABC News reports that after a tense, seven-minute descent Thursday afternoon, NASA’s Perseverance rover successfully landed on Mars. After a “seven-month journey through the cosmos,” Perseverance touched down on the Red Planet’s Jezero Crater at 3:55 p.m. ET. Shortly after landing, “the rover, nicknamed ‘Percy,’ sent its first image back to Earth.“ Thursday’s landing was

Reuters reports that on Wednesday, the FAA “issued an airworthiness directive for certain Boeing Co 787 airplanes, asking for inspection of the jets following reports of torn decompression panels in the bilge area.” The FAA “estimates that the directive affects 222 787 airplanes that are part of the U.S. registry.” Full Story (Reuters)

Florida Today reports that NASA has scheduled the landing of its Mars Perseverance Rover on Mars’ Jezero Crater for 3:55 p.m. EST Thursday. During what is “known as the ‘Seven Minutes of Terror,’ Perseverance will enter the Martian atmosphere, shed its head shield, deploy parachute, slow to a speed of 1.7 miles per hour, drop

SPACE reports that the Russian Progress MS-16 cargo ship docked safely at the International Space Station Wednesday, bringing “new research experiments, crew supplies (such as clothing and food), fresh water, nitrogen gas and propellant for the station’s Zvezda service module propulsion system,” among other cargo. When it leaves the station, Progress “will remain connected to Pirs

Aviation International News reports Gulfstream Aerospace’s G700 is “on track for market entry in late 2022,” with its flight-test program having accumulated 1,100 flight hours in the last year and completing most of its development testing in preparation for certification flight trials. Gulfstream Senior VP of Innovation, Engineering, and Flight Colin Miller said that the

CNET News reports that for the first time in a year, “SpaceX appears to have missed the landing of its Falcon 9 first stage booster.” CNET adds that “it seems very likely” that the Falcon 9 used in the launch of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband satellites on Monday “crashed in the ocean.” Meanwhile, the next set

Aviation Week ran an article responding to a reader question asking whether the Boeing 767 is likely to remain in service for the next 10 years. “The short answer: absolutely. For starters, Boeing is still delivering the aircraft,” having made its 1,000th delivery on February 2. “Aviation Week’s 202 Civil Aviation Fleet and MRO Forecast

SPACE reports that the Spacecraft Fire Safety Experiment-V (Saffire-V), “which occurred after a Northrop Grumman Cygnus spacecraft departed the International Space Station on Jan. 6, is the latest in a series of fire studies to protect astronauts on long-term missions.” Saffire-V “lasted 26 hours, then the Cygnus spacecraft, which was filled with trash, burned up

Bloomberg reports that a “turboprop design is gaining momentum within Airbus SE as the solution to its challenge of developing a hydrogen jet by 2035, according to people familiar with the matter.” The “propeller plane would carry around 100 passengers for about 1,000 nautical miles.” The “other two designs are for a 200-seat blended wing,

Bloomberg reports that United Airlines is scheduled to resume flights on the Boeing 737 MAX…

ExecutiveGov reports that Ball Aerospace “has been selected to support a NASA small satellite technology demonstration, Solar Cruiser, the company reported on Wednesday.” The company “will perform several mission-critical functions, including the integration and test of the satellite bus with the solar sail system that will form the completed Sailcraft.” Ball Aerospace’s “efforts will inform

The Denver Post reports that on Monday, Sierra Nevada Space Systems announced that the Cape Canaveral Spaceport Shuttle Landing Facility in Florida has been granted a license by federal authorities to be used as a re-entry site for commercial spacecraft. As Sierra Nevada prepares the Dream Chaser commercial spacecraft “for a planned 2022 flight to the

Aviation International News reports that The Boeing Company “has flown the first KC-46A tanker for the Japan Air Self-Defense Force.” The aircraft conducted “its maiden flight from Paine Field in Everett, Washington on February 8. The aircraft is due for delivery later this year.” Japan has four KC-46As on order, “with at least another two

Bloomberg reports that the Boeing 737 MAX “will resume flights in Europe after a near two-year grounding following two fatal crashes, with Czech leisure airline SmartWings AS planning to bring back its seven-plane fleet.” SmartWings “will restart operations this month and aims to return all of the aircraft to service by the summer, it said

The AP reports that Millie Hughes-Fulford, “a trailblazing astronaut and scientist who became the first female payload specialist to fly in space for NASA, died following a yearslong battle with cancer, her family said. She was 75.” Hughes-Fulford “was selected by NASA for its astronaut program in 1983 and five years later, in June 1991, spent

Space News  reports that the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is seeking input from the space industry “about their capabilities to manufacture large structures on the moon” for a new project, which was announced Friday, called, “Novel Orbital and Moon Manufacturing, Materials and Mass-efficient Design.” DARPA Defense Sciences Office Program Manager Bill Carter said in

The Wall Street Journal reported that the decrease in international air travel related to the pandemic has put The Boeing Company’s 777X program in doubt, as the jetliner was designed for long-haul routes with hundreds of passengers. Boeing plans for the first 777X to be delivered in 2023, which is about three years behind schedule and

Breaking Defense reports that Air Force Research Lab Director Brig. Gen. Heather Pringle said that the “high-priority Skyborg program to develop low-cost, autonomous drones able to team with piloted aircraft could reach initial operating capability by 2023.” Pringle told the Mitchell Institute Thursday, “We’re really excited about that December demo because it was a first-ever kind

India EducationDiary reports that AIAA and NASA “will host a moderated webinar to discuss technology innovations with NASA’s Mars Perseverance rover during a virtual event at 10 a.m. EST Wednesday, Feb. 10.” The event “will livestream on NASA’s website and on YouTube through AIAA’s event landing page.” During the event, NASA “science, technology, and engineering experts

The Houston Chronicle reports that on Tuesday, Nanoracks’ Bishop Airlock, which was attached to the ISS on December 19, powered on for the first time since its attachment to the station. The airlock is the ISS’ “first commercial airlock,” and “is the station’s first permanent, complex element to be owned and operated by a commercial company.”

FlightGlobal reports that last October, the US Army conducted crewed-uncrewed teaming between the Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopter, a Textron Shadow RQ-7BV2 Block 3 tactical UAV, and a General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-1C Gray Eagle Extended Range UAV. The teaming test “is meant to demonstrate part of the US Army’s version of Joint All-Domain Command & Control.”

CNET News reports that SpaceX has scheduled the launch of a Starlink mission for Thursday at 1:19 a.m. EST. Another Starlink mission, whose Monday launch date was delayed, is now scheduled to launch Thursday at 5:36 a.m. EST. The two missions, scheduled within five hours of each other, would “represent the 18th and 19th Starlink launches

FlightGlobal reports that Bell “recently demonstrated its Autonomous Pod Transport 70 (APT 70) cargo drone autonomously delivering a package over a 4mi (6.44km) preprogrammed route in north Texas.” The demonstration “took place on an undisclosed date at the AllianceTexas Mobility Innovation Zone, a region that’s agreed to allow testing of and experimentation with novel ground

Aviation International News reports that Rolls-Royce “has successfully conducted its first tests on a business jet engine using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel (SAF), it announced” Monday. The “latest experiment used a Pearl 700 engine that’s under development for the new Gulfstream G700 and confirmed that the company’s current commercial and business jet powerplants ‘can

SPACE reports that tech entrepreneur Jared Isaacman “has chartered a trip to Earth orbit with” SpaceX on a mission that he will command. The Inspiration4 mission will see a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule “spend an estimated two to four days circling Earth and then come back down for an ocean splashdown.” The mission will have four

The Daily Mail (UK)  reported that Dr. Fatima Ebrahimi, a physicist at the Department of Energy’s Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory, “has invented a new fusion rocket [concept] that could one day take humans to Mars.” The spacecraft would use “magnetic fields to shoot plasma particles from the back of the rocket and propel the craft through

The Washington Post reports that SpaceX CEO Elon Musk criticized the FAA after the agency canceled the launch of SpaceX’s Starship test flight Thursday. Musk wrote in a tweet, “Unlike its aircraft division, which is fine, the FAA space division has a fundamentally broken regulatory structure. … Their rules are meant for a handful of expendable launches

Aviation International News reports that Bell delivered 57 helicopters in the fourth quarter of 2020, down from 76 deliveries in the same period a year prior. Bell reported “revenue of $871 million,” which “was down from $961 million in the fourth quarter of 2019, while profit declined by $8 million to $110 million.” Backlog “was $5.3

Florida Today reports that forecasters from the US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron said Wednesday that they expect 90% “go” weather conditions for SpaceX’s Saturday launch of 60 Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket. The mission is scheduled to launch “during a 10-minute window that opens at” 7:24 a.m. EST. Conditions “in the Atlantic

Reuters reports that General Dynamics’s Gulfstream Aerospace reported 40 business jet deliveries in the fourth quarter of 2020, which was down from 44 in 2019. The aerospace unit “posted a 16.9% fall to $2.44 billion. Total revenue fell 2.7% to $10.48 billion.” However, “the broader business jet market saw an order boost late in 2020 as

The Houston Chronicle reports that NASA announced Tuesday that the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft will leave asteroid Bennu on May 10. OSIRIS-REx Deputy Project Manager Michael Moreau said, “Leaving Bennu’s vicinity in May puts us in the ‘sweet spot,’ when the departure maneuver will consume the least amount of the spacecraft’s onboard fuel.” The departure date “could also

The AP reports that the Boeing 737 MAX “has been approved to resume flights in Europe, following nearly two years of reviews after the aircraft was involved in two deadly crashes that saw the planes grounded worldwide, the European aviation safety agency said Wednesday.” Changes made to the aircraft mandated by the EASA “include a package of

CNBC reports that “private investment in space companies last year set a new annual record,” according to a new Space Capital report. Space Capital managing partner Chad Anderson wrote in the report, “With another $2.9 billion invested in Q4, 2020 was a record year for [space infrastructure companies] with $8.9 billion invested. … Despite expectations that

Aviation Today reports that Rolls-Royce Germany will leverage “artificial intelligence (AI) in a new partnership with Altair for its engineering, testing, and design of aerospace engines to reduce and accelerate certification and design iterations, reduce extensive physical testing, and improve product quality.” Sam Mahalingam, Chief Technical Officer at Altair, told Aviation Today, “Successful proof of

Aviation International News reported that Airbus Helicopters “started in-flight tests onboard the European aerospace group’s rotary-wing Flightlab facility.” The Flightlab facility is “exclusively dedicated to maturing new technologies for the company’s current helicopters and future fixed-wing and eVTOL aircraft designs,” and “will be used to test hybrid and electric propulsion, autonomy, noise reduction, and improved maintenance

SPACE reported that data from NASA’s Cassini mission revealed that lake Kraken Mare on Saturn’s moon Titan “is more than 1,000 feet (300 meters) deep.” The data showed that Kraken Mare “contains a mix of methane and ethane, which differed from previous models suggesting ethane would prevail due to the lake’s size and geographical position