Aerospace America

The October–December issue of Aerospace America is now live.  Don’t miss the cover story, “Heavy Traffic Ahead” by Jonathan O’Callaghan. SpaceX has proven that thousands of satellites can be operated without collisions in low-Earth orbit, but that task could become more difficult as Amazon and others deploy their own megaconstellations. Jonathan O’Callaghan explores the factors at play. Full Story

In “Hypersonic Flight Testing’s Unlikely Rescuer,” Keith Button examines companies developing Mach 5 passenger planes and capsules for on-orbit manufacturing and how they could supply the Pentagon the extra hypersonic test platforms it has long been seeking. Button spoke to some of the aspiring providers about applications and the status of their technologies. Full Story

Also, Jon Kelvey takes “A Closer Look at SpaceX’s Mars Plan.” Despite meeting all objectives of the 10th Starship test in August, SpaceX’s goal of sending the first Starships toward Mars this decade may still be out of reach. Kelvey examines the proposed plan and the required technologies. Full Story

AIAA CEO Clay Mowry recaps AIAA’s 2025 CTO Summit in “Embracing Disruption to Unlock Top Technologies for the Future of Aerospace.” Mowry writes, “Our discussions were so valuable I want to share some of the early insights we gained. We are finalizing the Institute’s comprehensive CTO Summit Report with their top insights and recommendations in the coming weeks.” Full Story

In Editor’s Notebook, “Our Path Forward,” Aerospace America Editor-in-Chief Marjorie Censer writes, “Aerospace America has begun a new chapter. We’ve moved to a quarterly print edition and are dramatically increasing the amount of news we’re posting on our redesigned website. Our site now includes a multimedia section, where you can catch up on videos and webinars from AIAA. We’re ensuring AIAA’s daily email newsletter, My Daily Launch, is packed with the Aerospace America news you need. We are rapidly responding to news as it happens — and making sure it reaches you by email, social media and on our website.” Full Story

Also, see if you can solve the AeroPuzzler, “‘‘Seeing’ Dark Energy”

Q: Dark energy, of course, is invisible. Yet scientists discovered the existence of it partly through visible light observations from |the Hubble Space Telescope. How can this be?

Send a response of up to 250 words to [email protected]. By responding, you are committing that the thoughts and words are your own and were not created with the aid of artificial intelligence. DEADLINE: noon Eastern Nov. 21. Full Story

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