Industry News

Bloomberg reports that the US Air Force “has delayed by four years a decision on whether the $44 billion KC-46 tanker program should be approved for full-rate production while contractor The Boeing Company tries to show it has fixed the flawed camera system used for the plane’s midair refueling mission.” An Air Force “statement issued late

The New York Times reports that major US airlines “are preparing for a limited rebound next month as more Americans book vacations in places like Florida and the mountains and national parks in the West.” The increase in bookings “would offer some hope to the travel industry, which racked up billions of dollars in losses” amid

FlightGlobal reports that NASA and Lockheed Martin’s X-59 Quiet Supersonic Technology (QueSST) demonstrator is scheduled to be tested in the fall of 2021. The tests will be conducted to see if the demonstrator “retains its unique boom-softening shape while in flight.” The test flights will also be used to see “how sound from the jet will

Reuters reports that The Boeing Company Airpower Teaming System Program Director Shane Arnott said that the firm “sees mass production of its unmanned, fighter-like jet developed in Australia likely happening by the middle of the decade.” Arnott “said up to 16 of the Loyal Wingman drones could be teamed with a manned aircraft for missions and

SPACE reports that NASA’s Parker Solar Probe “made its fifth daring flyby of the sun this weekend.” The spacecraft “has been conducting a marathon of solar observations since May 9 as scientists affiliated with the mission look to crack more secrets about how the sun works.” The “closest approach of this orbit, called a perihelion, occurred

The Miami Herald reports that on Saturday, asteroid 2002 NN4 – with a diameter of approximately 1,000 feet – is expected to pass by Earth, from about 3 million miles away, according to NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory’s list of near-Earth objects. The Herald reports that 2002 NN4 is “said to be bigger than about 90% of asteroids,

Reuters reports that New Zealand “said on Friday that it will purchase five C-130J-30 Super Hercules transport aircraft from Lockheed Martin to replace its existing fleet.” New Zealand Defence Minister Ron Mark said in a statement, “Along with the new fleet, the $1.521 billion project will deliver a full mission flight simulator and other supporting

GovCon Wire reports that NASA’s Science Mission Directorate “has launched a three-phase Entrepreneurs Challenge focused on leveraging emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning and robotics to advance mission goals.” NASA “said Thursday it plans to pick 15 to 20 participants for the first challenge event on July 29 ahead of downselecting the final 10

FlightGlobal reports that the US Air Force “has formally launched its search for an unmanned air vehicle (UAV) to replace the General Atomics Aeronautical Systems MQ-9 Reaper beginning in 2030.” The service “is conducting market research to find its next medium-altitude UAV for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR), as well as air-to-ground strike, missions, Air Force

CNBC reports that on Tuesday, Delta Air Lines planned to make the last flight of its McDonnell Douglas aircraft. Delta “expected to retire the twin-engine MD-88s at the end of this year and the MD-90s by the end of 2022, but a sharp drop in travel demand has prompted it to idle more than 600 planes

CNN reports that NASA’s Commercial Crew program “can expand the amount of astronauts on” the International Space Station – “which means that more science, and even new types of experiments, can happen in the unique microgravity environment.” Two “decades of research on the space station has allowed scientists to realize the potential of eliminating gravity as

Spaceflight Now reports that “days after launching astronauts for the first time, SpaceX is set to resume a speedy cadence of satellite launches Wednesday night with liftoff of a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the company’s next batch of Starlink broadband relay stations.” The launch is scheduled for Wednesday at approximately 9:25 p.m. EDT, from Cape Canaveral’s

Aviation Week reports that the US Marine Corps “is gauging industry interest in manufacturing technology to detect or intercept unmanned aircraft, with plans to purchase six to 10 systems.” The “counter-unmanned aircraft system (C-UAS) or similar product must provide air surveillance capable of detecting, recognizing, classifying, and identifying an unmanned aircraft, according to a May 26

USA Today reported that DOT “is on the cusp of giving final approval to a lengthy list of cities that could lose some of their airline service” due to the fall in demand for air travel during the COVID-19 pandemic. The list is DOT’s “latest attempt…to help airlines cope with a dearth of passengers and conserve

CBS News reported that a “prototype using next-generation propulsion technology being developed by SpaceX for its planned heavy lift Starship rocket exploded in a towering fireball two minutes after a brief engine test firing on the Texas Gulf Coast Friday, destroying the test vehicle and its firing stand.” A “static firing earlier this week appeared to

Space News reports that China “is preparing to carry out 11 missions in two years to construct a space station and will soon select a new batch of astronauts for the project.” The “first module for the Chinese space station will launch next year, said Zhou Jianping, chief designer of China’s human spaceflight program, on the

The Seattle Times reports that a “modified Cessna Caravan turboprop that typically seats nine passengers flew Thursday for the first time powered not by a gas-powered engine, but by electricity.” Two Seattle-area aviation companies were “behind the airplane’s 30-minute-long, all-electric first flight at Moses Lake,” Washington. Redmond-based MagniX “designed the light electric motor,” while Seattle-based AeroTEC

In continuing coverage, Space News reports that on May 20, the US Army “signed a three-year agreement with SpaceX to experiment using Starlink broadband to move data across military networks.” The “upcoming evaluation of SpaceX’s Starlink broadband by the U.S. Army will look primarily at the reliability of the service and potential vulnerabilities of the satellites

Reuters reports that on Wednesday, The Boeing Company “said it has resumed production of its 737 MAX passenger jet at the company’s Renton, Washington, plant at a ‘low rate.’” Boeing “said last month it expected to resume 737 MAX deliveries in the third quarter following regulatory approvals, with production restarting at low rates in the second

SPACE reports that SpaceX, with the goal of landing humans on Mars, is “testing early versions of the spacecraft it envisions using on such journeys, evaluating potential landing sites and thinking through what a long-term base on the Red Planet might look like many years from now.” SpaceX Principal Mars Development Engineer Paul Wooster said

The Wall Street Journal reports that The Boeing Company and Airbus are collaborating with academics, engineers, and medical experts to study how the novel coronavirus behaves on airliners and how manufacturers can minimize the spread of the virus. Boeing said that it is working on computer models to examine how the virus spreads, while Airbus is working

Update, 4:45 p.m. EDT:  Wednesday’s launch of the NASA/SpaceX Demo-2 mission was scrubbed due to weather. Next attempt is Saturday, May 30 at 3:22 p.m. EDT. USA Today reports NASA and SpaceX are set to launch a new era of spaceflight Wednesday afternoon when two American astronauts lift off on a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket

Spaceflight Now reports that “making its first flight, a privately-funded air-launched rocket developed and built by Richard Branson’s Virgin Orbit failed to reach space Monday after release from the company’s modified 747 carrier airplane over the Pacific Ocean.” Virgin Orbit’s “two-stage LauncherOne suffered an ‘anomaly’ soon after ignition of its kerosene-fed first stage engine, the company

Military reported that the US Air Force has “launched the bidding process for its next-generation ‘Skyborg’ program, aimed at pairing artificial intelligence with a human piloting a fighter jet.” The USAF “posted a solicitation notice last week on the government’s acquisition and awards website,” and, according to the posting, “multiple companies could potentially win contract awards

Aerospace America reported that on Monday, the FAA approved Garmin’s Autoland technology – “a set of software plus a radar altimeter and control servos that can land a small plane when a pilot is incapacitated.” Fully “automated general aviation flight would still require breakthroughs such as in sensing and avoiding other aircraft, but analysts see Autoland

Aviation International News reports that “on Tuesday, the NTSB found that a helicopter air ambulance operator’s ‘inadequate management of safety’ was the probable cause of the fatal crash of a Bell 407 in Zaleski, Ohio, on Jan. 29, 2019.” The NTSB “found that Survival Flight’s routine failure to use preflight risk assessment had become ‘normalized’ and

CNET News reports that NASA announced Wednesday that it has targeted the Osiris-Rex spacecraft to touch down on the Bennu asteroid on October 20. The “Touch-and-Go (TAG) sample collection will involve Osiris-Rex contacting Bennu for about five seconds. It will fire off a charge to shake up the surface and then collect a sample and

Aviation International News reports that Air France-KLM “will retire its fleet of Airbus A380s, ending any uncertainty over the superjumbo’s return to service following the Covid-19 crisis, the group said Wednesday. Initially scheduled by the end of 2022, the airline’s accelerated retirement of the A380 fleet marks the latest blow for the Airbus superjumbo’s prospects

Spaceflight Now reports that a Japanese HTV “cargo freighter is ready for launch Wednesday with the last set of six lithium-ion batteries to upgrade the International Space Station’s solar power truss.” The launch is scheduled for 1731 GMT (1:31 p.m. EDT) from Tanegashima Space Center. The HTV will launch aboard a H-2B rocket, and “mark the

Aerospace America reports that the idea for NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab to begin designing ventilators amid the COVID-19 pandemic came from flights project engineer David Van Buren. Within 35 days of Van Buren explaining “the concept to co-workers at the Left Field design bay,” the “team finished building the first of two prototypes and two days

GovCon Wire reports that the US Air Force “has issued a broad agency announcement to seek technical proposals for a potential $400M program that aims to advance prototyping and experimentation work on Skyborg unmanned air vehicles.” The “notice posted Friday says the Skyborg Protoyping, Experimentation and Autonomy Development program aims to develop low-cost UAVs designed to

Space News reports that a US Naval Research Laboratory “experiment to capture solar power in space for use on Earth is now in orbit and ready to be tested.” The experiment launched aboard the X-37B spaceplane on May 17. The “technology aboard the plane is a ‘photovoltaic radio-frequency antenna module’ to be tested as part

CNET News reports that the launch of the SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket, scheduled for Sunday, has been rescheduled to 3:10 a.m. Tuesday. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “said the first VisorSats would be included in the batch of 60 satellites” set to launch aboard the Falcon 9 rocket. It is “not clear how many of the satellites

Aviation Today reported that the US Navy “has completed calibration testing of the Leonardo Osprey 30 AN/ZPY-8 radar for the Northrop Grumman MQ-8C Fire Scout drone and is to finish flight testing of the radar by December, as the Fire Scout moves toward planned deployment next year.” The Active Electronically Scanned Array (AESA) AN/ZPY-8 radar “uses

SPACE reports SpaceX’s Demo-2 mission launch, scheduled for May 27, “is less than two weeks from launching NASA astronauts to the International Space Station for the first time, but some big obstacles still stand in the way.” Director of NASA’s Spaceflight Division Phil McAlister told NASA Advisory Council’s Human Exploration and Operation Committee, “We are still

Aviation Today reports that the Federal Aviation Administration “is planning to have remote ID service for drones – a foundational component of integrating unmanned aircraft into the national airspace – up and running by sometime next year, according to documents viewed by Avionics International.” Through the “remote ID system described in the agency’s proposed remote

Aviation International News reports that two Bell Boeing MV-22B Block C Ospreys “were delivered to Japan on May 8 to be prepared for hand-over to the Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF).” The Ospreys “are to operate from a new base being built at Saga airport on Kyushu island, but in the meantime, they will operate from

Space News reports that Planet “announced that its next six SkySat satellites will fly to low Earth orbit on SpaceX Starlink missions scheduled later this summer.” The “six SkySats will be evenly split across two launches on SpaceX’s Falcon 9, Planet said May 13 in a news release.” The “first three – SkySats 16-18 –

SPACE reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “is scheduled to launch the company’s Crew Dragon capsule on May 27 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) in Florida, sending NASA astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station (ISS).” However, Demo-2 “is far from a climax; as its name suggests, it’s a

Aviation International News reports that Gulfstream Aerospace can “begin deliveries of the fly-by-wire G600 to customers in Europe, following EASA certification of the large-cabin jet, the Savannah, Georgia-based aircraft manufacturer announced” Monday. According “to Gulfstream, the G600 can fly 5,500 nm at its Mach 0.90 high-speed cruise or 6,500 nm at its Mach 0.85 long-range

Florida Today reports that United Launch Alliance (ULA) and SpaceX both plan to launch rockets this weekend “if schedules hold.” The ULA Atlas V Rocket, carrying the X-37B spaceplane, is scheduled to launch “between 6:30 a.m. and 11 a.m. Saturday,” from Cape Canaveral’s Launch Complex 41. On Sunday, a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “is slated to

Aviation Today reports that Uber is developing a design of Skyports “despite a dearth of industry standards and regulations” for urban air mobility. Uber, through Uber Elevate, “is working with at least eight developers of electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft, to be used for urban aviation in concert with cars, scooters and other modes

ExecutiveGov reported that NASA “is awarding six U.S. universities roughly $2.4 [million] in funding under the Artemis Student Challenges with the aim of generating student interest in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics, as well as in the Artemis mission, the NASA-led spaceflight program whose goal is to return humans to the moon.” The

Bloomberg reports that Lockheed Martin and the US military “have eliminated all of the [F-35’s] deficiencies believed to endanger pilots and about 90% of other serious flaws that could hamper missions.” According to US Department of Defense data compiled by the Government Accountability Office, “that’s down from 111 ‘Category 1’ safety-of-flight and mission-impeding deficiencies in

Airforce Technology reports that Lockheed Martin Skunk Works “has partnered with the US Air Force (USAF) Test Pilot School to demonstrate an autonomous intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) system to advance troop effectiveness in denied communications environments.” The “autonomous ISR system is integrated into an F-16 using a pod solution developed by Lockheed Martin. This

Aerospace America reported that in Amanda’s Miller’s telephone interview with University of Colorado, Boulder aerospace and engineering sciences Professor Scott Palo – who chairs AIAA’s Small Satellite Technical Committee – the two discussed his work with University of Colorado graduate students on the development of the MAXWELL cubesat. In his basement, Palo “has hooked up

Space News reports that NASA “is finalizing a plan to gradually reopen its field centers once the peak of the coronavirus pandemic passes, but agency leadership said that would be a slow process that would vary based on the conditions at each center.” During an “online town hall meeting broadcast on NASA TV May 6, NASA

GPS World reports that on Wednesday, the FAA “announced the eight companies that will assist the federal government in establishing requirements for future suppliers of Remote Identification (Remote ID).” The eight companies chosen are: Airbus, AirMap, Amazon, Intel, One Sky, Skyward, T-Mobile, and Wing. Transportation Secretary Elaine Chao said, “The FAA will be able to

Space News reports that the Heat Flow and Physical Properties Package instrument on NASA’s InSight Mars lander “has struggled for more than a year to make its way into the Martian surface,” but the instrument “is now making steady, but slow progress with the help of the lander’s robotic arm.” The instrument “was to deploy a

Aviation Today reports that with the US “government and military eager for a profitable domestic small UAS industry to emerge, software developer Auterion seeks to be part of the solution by bringing together the fragmented industry around its hardware and software solutions, built off of the open-source PX4 ecosystem used by millions of drones flying