Industry News

The Washington Post reports that on Wednesday, the FAA lifted its ban on Boeing’s 737 Max, “20 months after the aircraft was grounded following two crashes within five months that killed 346 people.” The ruling confirms the FAA’s satisfaction with “software and other fixes, and new pilot training,” and that the aircraft is safe to

Aviation International News reports that The Boeing Company’s “newly released 2020 World Air Cargo Forecast anticipates more than 60 percent fleet growth over 20 years, driven largely by market requirements for medical supply transport and continuing e-commerce growth.” Specifically, it “projects a demand for 2,430 freighters over the next 20 years, including 930 new production

Aerospace America reports from AIAA’s Ascend that moderator Mary Lynne Dittmar of the Coalition for Deep Space Exploration led a panel discussion in which “a handful of space industry officials” argued for the incoming administration to help “increase commercial activity in low-Earth orbit,” and “each panelist agreed that NASA should not build or operate another space

IHS Jane’s 360 reports, “The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) put its Bell Boeing MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft into service on 6 November, making it the first international partner to operate the US-made platform,” according to US Naval Air Systems Command, which also called it “a major milestone for both the Japanese and V-22 Joint

Reuters reports, “Virgin Galactic has rescheduled a test flight planned from its New Mexico spaceport later this week after the U.S. state imposed fresh COVID-19 restrictions.” The flight was scheduled for November 19-23. Full Story (Reuters)

Space News reported, “A National Reconnaissance Office satellite flew to orbit Nov. 13 aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket.” The launch took place “at 5:32 p.m. Eastern from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida.” Full Story (Space News)

IGN reported that “the U.S. Air Force is working with aerospace defense firm Lockheed Martin to deploy lasers on fighter jets by 2025” under the program name “SHiELD” for “Self-Protect High Energy Laser Demonstrator.” The program envisages “a pod-mounted laser on the fuselage or wing of a fighter jet designed to shoot down incoming air-to-air and

Spaceflight Now reports that the United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 rocket “made its third trip to a Cape Canaveral launch pad Thursday, rolling into position for liftoff Friday afternoon with a classified payload for the U.S. government’s spy satellite agency.” The US Space Force’s 45th Weather Squadron issued a forecast Thursday morning that indicates a 90

FlightGlobal reports, “American Airlines expects to defer up to 18 Boeing 737 Max deliveries in the coming years but still anticipates acquiring 18 new Max from Boeing this year.” American also is “deferring delivery of some Airbus A321s.” Full Story (FlightGlobal)

SPACE reports that NASA Commercial Crew Program Manager Steve Stitch said Tuesday that the test flight for the Boeing CST-100 Starliner commercial crew capsule has been delayed until early 2021 due to ongoing software checks. The uncrewed NASA mission, Orbital Flight Test 2, “was targeted to launch by the end of this year after The Boeing

The AP reports that the Tavistock Development Corp. said Wednesday that it is developing the nation’s first eVTOL regional hub in Orlando’s Lake Nona area. The company plans to complete construction of the hub in five years. Once completed, “the vehicles will be able to take passengers from Orlando to Tampa in a half hour, officials said

Bloomberg reports SpaceX “won formal NASA approval to carry astronauts to the International Space Station, reaching a milestone for a commercial space vehicle three months after completing a crewed test mission.” The certification “enables SpaceX’s Dragon capsule and Falcon 9 rocket to begin regular crew rotations to the orbiting lab, with the next flight planned for

Reuters reports Canada-based CAE Inc. on Tuesday “reported positive cash flow and earned a surprise adjusted quarterly profit, as client usage of its civil aviation training centers rebounded since the start of COVID-19, lifting shares as much as 7.4%.” CAE “expects a stronger second half of the fiscal year, compared with the first, and to generate

ExecutiveGov reports that the US Space Command, Space Force, and Southern Command held a virtual event with South American partners from Chile, Peru, Brazil, and Colombia to discuss common space-focused national security interests. Canada was included in the event “to gather input on Latin America’s space interests.” According to USSPACECOM Chief of International Engagements Lt.

Reuters reports that three sources said the FAA will lift its grounding order on the Boeing 737 Max 7 as early as November 18. FAA Administrator Steve Dickson said he expects “this process will be finished in the coming days, once the agency is satisfied that Boeing has addressed” the safety issued involved in the two

The AP reports four astronauts “arrived at Kennedy Space Center on Sunday for SpaceX’s second crew launch, coming up next weekend.” For NASA, “it marks the long-awaited start of regular crew rotations at the International Space Station, with private companies providing the lifts.” This will also “be double the number of astronauts [of] the test flight earlier

CNBC reported Virgin Galactic CEO Michael Colglazier “outlined his long-term goals for the space tourism on Thursday, saying he sees the company bringing in up to $1 billion in annual revenue per spaceport in the years ahead.” While a “daily launch tempo is years away still for Virgin Galactic,” the company “is working to complete development

The AP reports that Virgin Galactic “said Thursday that it expects to launch its first manned test flight into space from New Mexico this month.” The test flight of the company’s VSS Unity from Spaceport America is scheduled to take place between November 19 and 23. Full Story (Associated Press)

Bloomberg reports that Amazon is starting its own air cargo operations in Europe. Amazon Air will run an air hub based from Leipzig/Halle airport in Germany and employ 200 workers at the hub. Operating “its own aircraft will let the world’s largest e-commerce company offer ‘more flexible delivery options,’ Amazon said. Full Story (Bloomberg)

USA Today reports that “for the first time, astronomers have discovered a ‘fast radio burst’ that came from within our own Milky Way galaxy, according to new research published Wednesday.” The radio bursts, which were first discovered in April, “are the closest ones detected to date, and their proximity has allowed the team to pinpoint their

Inside Defense reports that DoD “is asking for help rethinking how to protect the United States from long-range missiles, particularly how to redesign the $202 billion system of sensors, command and control networks and interceptors optimized for ballistic missile threats to also account for cruise missile and maneuvering hypersonic weapons.” On November 4, the “Missile Defense

Air Force Times reports that on Wednesday, the US Navy’s Blue Angels will conduct the final flight of its F/A-18 Hornet fighter. The flight “marks the end of the F/A-18 A/B/C/D platform’s 34 years as the Blue Angels’ aircraft as the team transitions to F/A-18 E/F Super Hornets.” Full Story (Air Force Times)

Aviation International News reports that business aviation flight hours increased more than 87% between the second and third quarters, according to Jet Support Services’ (JSSI) quarterly Business Aviation Index. Business aviation activity recovered to more than 78% of its 2019 levels, “after average flight hours reached all-time lows in April due to the COVID-19 pandemic.” JSSI

Florida Today reports that ULA has postponed the launch of an Atlas V rocket carrying a satellite for the National Reconnaissance Office. The mission was scheduled to lift off Tuesday evening, but ULA now plans to launch the rocket at 5:54 p.m. EDT Wednesday. ULA said in a statement, “Upon arriving at the launch pad we

Florida Today reported that on Tuesday, ULA is scheduled to launch its Atlas V rocket carrying a National Reconnaissance Office intelligence satellite. On Saturday, the US Space Force “said it expects 90% ‘go’ conditions for the rocket’s 5:58 p.m. liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. The window at Launch Complex 41 will remain open

Reuters reported that Japan Airlines said Friday that it will retire 24 Boeing 777s by March 2023. The announcement comes after Japan-based ANA “said it would reduce its fleet by more than a tenth by retiring 35 planes, including 777s jets this year.” Full Story (Reuters)

CNET News reports that on Thursday, NASA issued requests for ideas “that address how to unload payloads from lunar landers.” The Lunar Delivery Challenge reads, “These landers will range in size depending on the program requirements, so ideally the solution should be flexible enough to handle a variety of payloads being off-loaded from a range of

The Los Angeles Times reports that on Tuesday, the Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health released a study, “sponsored by Airlines for America and a consortium of other airline businesses,” on the likelihood of contracting COVID-19 on an airplane. The study concluded that “there has been little evidence to date of onboard disease transmission.” The study

CBS News reports that NASA plans to launch a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket carrying the Crew-1 mission to the ISS on November 14. The mission was pushed back earlier this month because a different Falcon 9 rocket suffered from an engine problem that led to a last-second abort of the mission to send a US Space

Business Insider reports that on Wednesday, The Boeing Company announced five agreements with aerospace partners to create 250,000 jobs in Canada. Based on “new data and projections from economists at Ottawa-based Doyletech Corp., the total economic benefits to Canada and its workforce for the acquisition of the F/A-18 Block III Super Hornet will last for at

The AP reports that the European Space Agency “says it has agreed to provide several modules for NASA’s planned outpost around the moon, in return for a chance to send European astronauts to the lunar orbiter.” ESA said Tuesday that ESA Director-General Jan Woerner signed an agreement with NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine to provide “essential elements” for

FlightGlobal reports that Pratt & Whitney “shipped 114 large commercial aircraft engines in the third quarter of 2020,” a 24% increase from the previous quarter. Although the company reported a “$615 million operating loss in the third quarter, the company insists it continues investing in its future, noting plans to open a new engine manufacturing

SPACE reports that SpaceX announced Monday that it is preparing to send four astronauts to the ISS on November 14. The Crew-1 mission, scheduled to launch on a Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center, “will be the first operational flight of SpaceX’s Crew Dragon astronaut taxi and the second Crew Dragon mission to carry

Bloomberg reports that DoD has postponed the approval for the full-rate production of Lockheed Martin’s F-35 due to a delay in combat simulation testing. The testing had been moved from 2017 to December of this year before it was “postponed again because of difficulties finishing technical preparations.” Jessica Maxwell, spokesperson for Under Secretary of Defense for

CNBC reported that American Airlines COO David Seymour said during a town hall last week that the company sees the “finish line” approaching in the FAA’s recertification of the 737 MAX. The airline “is planning to start flights with employees after Thanksgiving, estimating the FAA will lift the flight ban in mid-November, Seymour said.” American “is

CNBC reported that on Saturday at 11:31 a.m. EDT, SpaceX launched 60 Starlink satellites into orbit. The batch of satellites launched atop a Falcon 9 rocket in the second Starlink mission last week. The Falcon 9’s first stage landed on the Just Read the Instructions droneship in the Atlantic Ocean nine minutes after liftoff. Full Story (CNBC)

SPACE reports that SpaceX postponed the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket Thursday, which was scheduled to launch 60 Starlink satellites into orbit at 12:14 p.m. The launch was scrubbed approximately 15 minutes before scheduled liftoff “due to mission assurance concerns.” SpaceX tweeted, “Standing down from today’s launch of Starlink to allow additional time for mission

Reuters reports that Airbus “has asked suppliers to be ready to support a conditional 18% increase in production of its best-selling single-aisle A320 jet family once demand recovers from the coronavirus crisis, the European planemaker said on Thursday.” Airbus “said it had asked suppliers to ‘protect’ a production rate of 47 A320-family jets a month,

The AP reports that a Soyuz MS16 capsule carrying NASA astronaut Chris Cassidy and Roscosmos cosmonauts Anatoly Ivanishin and Ivan Vagner returned from the ISS on Wednesday, landing in Kazakhstan at 10:54 p.m. EDT. Cassidy, Ivanishin, and Vagner “spent 196 days in orbit since arriving at the station on April 9.” Before leaving, the Russian cosmonauts

FlightGlobal reports that The Boeing Company “has conducted the first taxi test of the Airpower Teaming System (ATS) loyal wingman aircraft being developed in Australia.” Boeing Australia “notes that this is the first time the unmanned aircraft has moved under its own power, and reiterated that a maiden sortie is planned by the end of

The AP reports that “the window for the final round of testing of Virgin Galactic’s rocket-powered spacecraft opens later this week as the company inches toward commercial flights.” On Monday, in an update to New Mexico lawmakers, Virgin Galactic President Mike Moses “said the space tourism company already has done nine flights from Spaceport America in southern

FlightGlobal reports that The Boeing Company and the US Navy (USN) “plan to co-develop a supersonic land and sea strike missile to be carried aboard the F/A-18 Super Hornet fighter.” Boeing announced Tuesday that it “has been awarded $30 million to develop the Supersonic Propulsion Enabled Advanced Ramjet (SPEAR) flight demonstrator with the USN’s Air Warfare

Space News reports that NASA’s OSIRIS-REx spacecraft successfully landed on the surface of the asteroid Bennu Tuesday at 6:12 p.m. Eastern Time.  The spacecraft quickly extended its sampling arm and “fired a burst of nitrogen gas to kick up fine material on the surface, trapping that material inside the device.”  The Touch-and-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism

FlightGlobal reports that DoD’s Office of Operational Test and Evaluation “plans to test fly its Fifth Generation Aerial Target (5GAT) prototype for the first time in October at Dugway Proving Ground in Utah.” The UAV “finished ground-based testing at Dugway’s Michael Army Airfield in September, the DoD says on 14 October.” Initial “flight test objectives

Florida Today reports that SpaceX is looking to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center this weekend, carrying a load of Starlink Internet satellites. Launch is scheduled for Sunday morning at 8:27 a.m. from launchpad 39A.  Roughly eight minutes after launch, “the rocket’s 162-foot first stage will target an autonomous landing on

The AP reported that on Tuesday, NASA will attempt to gather samples from asteroid Bennu. NASA’s Osiris-Rex mission “is looking to bring back at least 2 ounces (60 grams) worth of asteroid Bennu, the biggest otherworldly haul from beyond the moon.” The spacecraft is aiming to touch down on a crater named Nightingale. Once “it drops out

Reuters reports that American Airlines “plans to return Boeing 737 Max jets to service for passenger flights by the end of this year depending on certification of the aircraft from the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), it said on Sunday.” The airline “said it will operate a daily 737 Max flight between Miami and New York

Florida Today reports that SpaceX is looking to launch its Falcon 9 rocket from the Kennedy Space Center this weekend, carrying a load of Starlink Internet satellites. Launch is scheduled for Sunday morning at 8:27 a.m. from launchpad 39A.  Roughly eight minutes after launch, “the rocket’s 162-foot first stage will target an autonomous landing on

The Washington Post reports that a DoD study on “the risk of catching the coronavirus on a packed commercial flight concluded that a person would have to be sitting next to a infectious passenger for at least 54 hours to receive a dangerous dose of the virus through the air.” Researchers “concluded that, if passengers wear surgical

In continuing coverage, Space News reports that the Soyuz-2.1a rocket lifted off from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan, at 1:45 a.m. EDT, carrying NASA astronaut Kate Rubins and Roscosmos cosmonauts Sergey Ryzhikov and Sergey Kud-Sverchkov to the ISS. The spacecraft, “making an ‘ultra-fast’ two-orbit approach, docked with the station’s Rassvet module at” 4:48 a.m. EDT. The three-member crew is