Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that a SpaceX launch “from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station on Tuesday night marked the Space Coast’s 57th launch of the year equaling the record total seen in 2022.” A Falcon 9 with 22 SpaceX Starlink internet satellites “lifted off from Canaveral’s Space Launch Complex 40 at 8:36 p.m.” This was the first-stage booster’s 16th flight “with a recovery landing downrange on the droneship Just Read the Instructions in the Atlantic.” For SpaceX it “was its 53rd mission from either Canaveral or Kennedy Space Center this year while United Launch Alliance has flown three times and Relativity Space has flown once.” SpaceX is the “lone launch provider this year from KSC having flown 11 times while ULA, SpaceX and Relativity combined for 46 launches from Canaveral.” Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
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SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, 17 October 2023
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
SPACE reported that The Boeing Company and NASA officials have announced that the Starliner’s first crewed flight will launch in April. The next major milestone “for Starliner’s progress will be loading propellant into the vehicle’s service module.” Successful propellant loading will begin a 60-day launch window in order to prevent valve corrosion on the spacecraft’s propulsion system. Full Story (SPACE)
FlightGlobal reports that the General Aviation Manufacturers Association (GAMA) “revealed the sector’s full-year figures for unit deliveries and billings.” The major airframers “boosted their aircraft output in 2022, revenue increases tended to be even greater, indicating some impact from inflation perhaps, but also that manufacturers are better able to maintain their prices.” For example, business jet deliveries increased in number by only two aircraft, but total value of the jets went up 4.5%. The top five manufacturers – Bombardier, Dassault, Embraer, Gulfstream and Textron Aviation – “all saw their unit deliveries and billings rise in 2022.” Full Story (FlightGlobal – Subscription Publication)
Aviation Week reported that Embraer “delivered 102 executive jets during 2022, including 50 in the fourth quarter (Q4), up from 93 in 2021, as sales in the segment continue its momentum, the company says.” Embraer delivered “66 light business jets during the year, including 33 in Q4, and 36 mid-size jets.” More Info (Aviation Week – Subscription Publication)
Aviation Week reports Avio’s Vega C launch vehicle “failed to place Pléiades Neo 5 & 6 satellites into orbit on Dec. 20.” The rocket took off “as scheduled at 10:47 p.m. local time at Europe’s spaceport in French Guiana, and the first stage successfully separated.” Full Story (Aviation Week)
CBS News reported that SpaceX “launched its third Falcon 9 rocket in less than two days Saturday, sending 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit using a recycled first-stage booster which was making its record 15th flight.” This was “also the California rocket builder’s 59th launch so far this year, nearly doubling its 2021 record.” The 54 Starlink satellites “were released in a batch, pushing the total number of Starlink satellites launched to date by SpaceX to 3,612, as SpaceX continues to populate its globe-spanning constellation of laser-linked broadband relay stations.” While “not all of the satellites are still operational or in orbit…space statistician Jonathan McDowell estimates 3,230 were operational going into Saturday’s flight.” Full Story (CBS News)
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SpaceX launches 54 Starlink Satellites to low-Earth orbit from Launch Complex 39A on Saturday, December 17, 2022, at 4:32 p.m. ET.
(SpaceX; YouTube)
December 16, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2022 Region VII Student Conference, held in November at the University of Adelaide, Australia.
Attendees presented 34 papers and represented 23 universities from 12 countries, including Australia, Bangladesh, China, Germany, India, Italy, Japan, Netherlands, New Zealand, Paraguay, the United Arab Emirates, and the United Kingdom.
AIAA holds conferences in each region for university student members at the undergraduate and graduate levels. This is the first year since the program’s inception that High School Members were invited to present. These conferences are a way for students to present their research and be judged on technical content and presentation skills by AIAA members working in the aerospace industry.
Lockheed Martin is the generous sponsor of all seven of the AIAA Student Conferences. Additionally, special thanks to the University of Adelaide, the Adelaide Section, the judges, Professor Rey Chin, Dr. Patrick Neumann, and AIAA Region VII Director Cees Bil for coordinating the Region VII Student Conference.
For the undergraduate and masters categories, first-place winners received a cash prize of $500 and an invitation to participate in the AIAA International Student Conference, to be held in conjunction with the 2023 AIAA SciTech Forum in National Harbor, Md., 23–27 January. Second-place winners received a cash prize of $300 and third-place winners received $250. The high school winner received $100.
High School Category
“Exploring How the Hybridisation of Laser-Microwave Hybrid Wireless Power Transfer System (LMHWPTS) has Increased Efficiency in Comparison to the Two Commonly Established Traditional Models,” ShivNaveed Raina, Scholars International Academy (United Arab Emirates)
Undergraduate Category
1st Place – “Symmetry-Enforced Coherent Structure Background Oriented Schlieren,” Daniel Smith, Monash University (Australia)
2nd Place – “Neural Network based Model-Predictive Upset Recovery Control in Real-Time,” Omar Mourad, University of Stuttgart (Germany)
3rd Place Tie: “Enhancing 2-Component – 2-Diminsional Particle Image Velocimetry Using Physics-Informed Deep Learning,” Michael Pangestu, Monash Uniarge tversity (Australia)
3rd Place Tie: “Enhancing Large Eddy Simulation Sub-grid Scale Closure Model Estimation Using Convolutional Neural Networks,” Kevin Liu, Monash University (Australia)
Masters Category
1st Place – “Reinforcement Learning Based Linear Quadratic Regulator for the Control of a Quadcopter,” Vishal Kashyap, Queen Mary University of London (United Kingdom)
2nd Place – “Magnetic Disturbance Analysis of Spacecraft using Electromagnetic Thrusters,” Celine Jane, Victoria University of Wellington (New Zealand)
3rd Place – “Designing an Automated Barking Drone to Detect and Repulse Cattle in Real World,” Aaron Sew, Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (Australia)
Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is the world’s largest aerospace technical society. With nearly 30,000 individual members from 91 countries, and 100 corporate members, AIAA brings together industry, academia, and government to advance engineering and science in aviation, space, and defense. For more information, visit aiaa.org, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Bloomberg reports that SpaceX “successfully launched 40 satellites for competing communications company OneWeb on Thursday.” It’s the first of three “planned missions the unlikely collaborators are set to perform over the coming months despite their separate efforts to build megaconstellations that will beam broadband Internet coverage to Earth.” Full Story (Bloomberg)
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OneWeb 1 Mission, December 8, 2022
(SpaceX; YouTube)
SPACE reports that SpaceX is “now targeting Sunday (Dec. 11) for the launch of a private Japanese moon lander after a series of delays.” If all goes according to plan, a Falcon 9 rocket “will launch the Tokyo-based company ispace’s Hakuto-R lander toward the moon on Sunday at 2:38 a.m. EST (0738 GMT), SpaceX announced today.” Sunday will be “a big day for space fans: NASA’s Orion capsule is scheduled to return to Earth that afternoon, wrapping up the agency’s Artemis 1 moon mission.” The coming SpaceX flight, “which will kick off ispace’s Mission 1, was originally supposed to get off the ground last month. It has been pushed back several times, however, so SpaceX could perform additional checks on the Falcon 9.” The company said “in today’s update that the Falcon 9 and the Hakuto-R lander, which is also carrying a small United Arab Emirates moon rover, are both ‘looking good for launch’ no earlier than Sunday.” Full Story (SPACE)
SPACE reports that NASA officials said the agency’s “Space Launch System (SLS) megarocket hit all of its marks during its first-ever liftoff two weeks ago.” The Nov. 16 launch “kicked off NASA’s highly anticipated Artemis 1 mission, sending an uncrewed Orion capsule on a nearly 26-day trek to the moon and back. The SLS appeared to perform exactly as planned during the liftoff, and further analyses support those initial impressions, NASA officials announced on Wednesday.” Artemis mission manager Mike Sarafin said in a statement, “The first launch of the Space Launch System rocket was simply eye-watering. … While our mission with Orion is still underway and we continue to learn over the course of our flight, the rocket’s systems performed as designed and as expected in every case.” Full Story (SPACE)
