Tag: 2022

NASA Says SLS Megarocket Performed as Planned in First-Ever Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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)

SpaceX Launch Marks a Tie of 2022’s Record Number of Launches

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)

Video

SpaceX launches 22 Starlink satellites atop a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral, 17 October 2023
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

Archer Aviation Debuts Midnight

Aerospace America reports that Archer Aviation yesterday publicly revealed at its Palo Alto, California facility a production version of the four-seat eVTOL the company aims to get into service in 2025. The version is called Midnight, and flies with fixed-wings with 12 rotors. Six stationary propellers on the wing trailing edges provide lift, while the six others on the wing leading edges tilt forward to transition from hover to cruise flight. “Two doors on each side will accommodate four passengers and a pilot, and large windows will provide a panoramic view for the occupants. ‘The landing gear will keep the fuselage low to the ground, so that stepping aboard will be about like getting into a sport utility vehicle,’ said Julien Montousse, vice president of design and innovation and a former auto designer.”
Full Story (Aerospace America)

SpaceX Rocket Launches with Rival Satellite Payload

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)

Video

OneWeb 1 Mission, December 8, 2022
(SpaceX; YouTube)

SpaceX Targeting December 11 for Japanese Moon Lander Launch

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)

SpaceX Launched Satellite On Tuesday, Plans Saturday ISS Resupply Mission Launch

Florida Today reports that a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket “dodged inclement weather around Cape Canaveral Space Force Station to boost a French communications satellite to orbit late Tuesday, wrapping up one of two missions slated for this week.” The rocket’s Eutelsat 10B payload lifted off even though an earlier weather forecast predicted only a 10% “go” chance. The satellite’s purpose is to provide broadband internet for aviation and maritime applications.
Full Story (Florida Today)

Video

Eutelsat 10B satellite launch, November 22, 2022
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

AIAA Announces 2021–2022 Section Award Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Awards Honor Outstanding Section Programming in a Variety of Categories

Updated 8 September 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has announced its 2021–2022 section awards winners. The section awards honor particularly notable achievements made by member sections in a range of activities that help fulfill the Institute’s mission of shaping the future of aerospace. Each of the 56 local sections throughout the U.S. and overseas offer technical programs and activities tailored to local aerospace professionals, students, and educators.

Section awards are given annually in five categories based on the size of each section’s membership. Each winning section receives a certificate and a cash award. The award period covered is 1 June 2021–31 May 2022. The Institute believes that vital, active sections are essential to its success.

“Across AIAA, local sections are where the action begins. We believe that vital, active sections are essential to the Institute’s success. Congratulations to these sections for their noteworthy achievements!” said Dan Dumbacher, AIAA Executive Director.

The Outstanding Section Award is presented to sections based upon their overall activities and contributions through the year. The winners are:

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First Place: Central Coast of California, Michelle Itzel-Montoya (U.S. Space Force), section chair
Second Place: Delaware, Daniel Nice (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair
Third Place: Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair

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First Place: Northwest Florida, Ryan Sherrill, section chair
Second Place: Palm Beach, Randy Parsley (Pratt & Whitney), section chair
Third Place: Wichita, Atri Dutta (Wichita State University), section chair

MEDIUM

First Place, Tucson, Teresa Clement (Raytheon Corporation), section chair
Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair
Third Place: Illinois, Harry Hilton and Laura Villafañe Roca (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), section chairs

LARGE

First Place: San Diego, Joel Perez (Ursa Major Technologies), section chair
Second Place (tie): Northern Ohio, Joseph Connolly (NASA Glenn Research Center), section chair
Second Place (tie): St. Louis, Sanjay Jayaram (Saint Louis University), section chair

VERY LARGE

First Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Jeffery Puschell (Raytheon Intelligence and Space), section chair
Second Place: Greater Huntsville, Theresa Jehle, section chair
Third Place: Rocky Mountain, Alexandra Dukes (Lockheed Martin Space Systems), section chair

The Communications Award is presented to sections that have developed and implemented an outstanding communications outreach program. Winning criteria include level of complexity, timeliness, and variety of methods of communications, as well as frequency, format, and content of the communication outreach. The winners are:

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First Place: Central Coast of California, Steven Boelhouwer (ManTech International), communications officer
Second Place: Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair
Third Place: Delaware, Daniel Nice (Northrop Grumman), section chair

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First Place: Sydney, Daniel Walsh (Qantas Airways), section chair
Second Place: Northwest Florida, Ryan Sherrill, section chair, and Angela Diggs (AFRL), section vice chair
Third Place: Long Island, David Paris, section chair

MEDIUM

First Place: Phoenix, Scott Fouse (Fouse Consulting Services), section chair
Second Place (tie): Greater Philadelphia, LizaMarie Kupp (St. John Paul II Academy), section vice chair
Second Place (tie): Carolina, John Blanton (Classic Engineering), section chair
Third Place: Tucson, Huntington Gazecki (Raytheon Missiles & Defense), communications officer

LARGE

First Place: Albuquerque, Robert Malseed, newsletter editor
Second Place: San Diego, Stevie Jacobson (General Atomics Aeronautical Systems), section webmaster
Third Place (tie): Northern Ohio, Edmond Wong (NASA Glenn Research Center), communications officer
Third Place (tie) St. Louis, John Shultz (The Boeing Company), communications officer

VERY LARGE

First Place (tie): Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Ken Lui (Ken’s Consulting), webmaster
First Place (tie): New England, Hiroaki Endo (Schenck USA), section chair
Third Place (tie): Greater Huntsville, Tracie Prater (NASA Marshall Space Flight Center), section vice chair
Third Place (tie): Hampton Roads, Lee Mears (NASA Langley Research Center), newsletter editor

The Membership Award is presented to sections that have supported their membership by planning and implementing effective recruitment and retention campaigns. The winners are:

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First Place: Delaware, Christina Larson (Northrop Grumman), communications officer
Second Place: Adelaide, Patrick Neumann (Neumann Space), section chair
Third Place: Southern New Jersey, Scott Doucett (FAA), membership officer

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First Place: Northwest Florida, Philip Thomas (ERC Incorporated), membership officer
Second Place: Wichita, Mary Drouin (Spirit Aerosystems), membership officer
Third Place: Utah, Michael Miller (Northrop Grumman Corporation), membership officer

MEDIUM

First Place: Tucson, Robert Michalak (Paragon Space Development), membership officer
Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jason Boyer (The Boeing Company), membership officer
Third Place, Illinois, Ashraf Omran (JHU/APL), membership officer

LARGE

First Place: San Diego, Joel Perez (Ursa Major Technologies), section chair
Second Place: St. Louis, Alex Friedman (The Boeing Company), membership officer
Third Place: Orange County, Robert Welge (Robert’s Engineering Development), membership officer

VERY LARGE

First Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Aldo Martinez Martinez (The Boeing Company), and Sherry Stukes (JPL), membership officers
Second Place (tie): Hampton Roads, Richard Winski (NASA Langley Research Center), membership officer
Second Place (tie): Greater Huntsville, Paul Palies (University of Tennessee Space Institute), membership officer

The Public Policy Award is presented for stimulating public awareness of the needs of aerospace research and development, particularly on the part of government representatives, and for education section members about the value of public policy activities. The winners are:

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First Place: Delaware, Di Ena Davis, public policy officer
Second Place: Central Coast of California, Michelle Itzel-Montoya (U.S. Space Force), public policy officer and section chair

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First Place (tie): Northwest Florida, Michael Kelton (U.S. Air Force), membership officer
First Place (tie): Palm Beach, Kevin Simmons (BLUECUBE Aerospace), public policy officer

MEDIUM

First Place: Greater Philadelphia, Joi Spraggins (Legacy Bridges STEM Academy), public policy officer
Second Place: Illinois, Mordechai Levin (Masterflight Foundation) and Mark Wendtland (Eblana Photonics), public policy officers

LARGE

First Place: Northern Ohio, Michael Heil (ML Heil Consulting), public policy officer
Second Place (tie): Orange County, Kamal Shweyk (Boeing Commercial Airplanes), public policy officer
Second Place (tie): San Diego, Mike Curtin, public policy officer

VERY LARGE

First Place: Greater Huntsville, Naveen Vetcha (ERC Incorporated), public policy officer
Second Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Jordan Chilcott, public policy officer
Third Place: Rocky Mountain, Lisa Gregg (Lockheed Martin Space Systems)

The STEM K-12 Award is presented to sections that have developed and implemented an outstanding STEM K-12 outreach program that provides quality education resources for K-12 teachers in the STEM subject areas. The winners are:

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First Place: Central Coast of California, Thomas Stevens (U.S. Air Force), STEM K-12 outreach officer
Second Place: Delaware, Daniel Nice (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair
Third Place: Point Lobos, Giovanni Minelli (Naval Postgraduate School), section chair

SMALL

First Place: Palm Beach, Shawna Christenson (Aerospace and Innovation Academy), STEM K-12 outreach officer
Second Place: Northwest Florida, Judith Sherrill, STEM K-12 outreach officer
Third Place, Wichita, Brian Kaplinger (University of Kansas), STEM K-12 officer

MEDIUM

First Place: Tucson, Michelle Rouch (Artwork by Rouch), STEM K-12 officer
Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Christopher Reynolds (Lockheed Martin Corporation), STEM K-12 officer
Third Place: Antelope Valley, Robert Jensen (Sierra Lobo), STEM K-12 officer

LARGE

First Place: St. Louis; Jackie Blumer (Greenville Jr. High School), STEM K-12 outreach officer
Second Place: Cape Canaveral, Melissa Sleeper (Storm Grove Middle School/School District of Indian River), STEM K-12 outreach officer
Third Place: Northern Ohio, Jonathan Kratz (NASA Glenn Research Center), STEM K-12 officer

VERY LARGE

First Place: Rocky Mountain, Trip Carter (Lockheed Martin Corporation), education officer
Second Place: Greater Huntsville, Robin Osborne (ERC), STEM K-12 officer
Third Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Khushbu Patel, and Arpie Ovsepyan (Herbert Hoover High School), STEM K-12 outreach officers

The Section-Student Branch Partnership Award recognizes the most effective and innovative collaboration between the professional section members and student branch members.

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First Place: Adelaide, Mahdy Alhameed (University of Adelaide), section secretary
Second Place: Central Coast of California, Steven Serniak, (U.S. Space Force), programs officer
Third Place: Iowa, Roger Kassebaum (Founders Bootcamp), university liaison

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First Place: Twin Cities, Kristen Gerzina (Northrop Grumman Corporation), section chair, and Robert Halverson (University of Minnesota)
Second Place: Wichita, Linda Kliment (Wichita State University), education officer
Third Place: Northwest Florida, John Fay (Torch Technologies), education officer

MEDIUM

First Place: Tucson, Peter Olejnik (University of Arizona), young professional officer
Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair
Third Place: Illinois, Andrew Strubhar (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign), student branch liaison

LARGE

First Place: San Diego, Joel Perez (Ursa Major Technologies), section chair
Second Place (tie): St. Louis, Charles Svoboda (The Boeing Company), education officer
Second Place (tie): San Gabriel Valley; Gregory Davis (JPL), university liaison
Third Place, Central Florida, Christopher Stevens (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair

VERY LARGE

First Place: Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Khushbu Patel, STEM K-12 officer, and Luis Cuevas (Lockheed Martin Corporation), education officer
Second Place: Rocky Mountain, Marshall Lee (BedRock Systems), section vice chair
Third Place: New England, Phoenix Robbins (Raytheon Technologies), education officer, and Charlie Wilson, council member

The Young Professional Activity Award is presented for excellence in planning and executing events that encourage the participation of the Institute’s young professional members, and provide opportunities for leadership at the section, regional, or national level. The winners are:

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First Place: Delaware, Taylor Coleman, young professional officer
Second Place: Adelaide, Samuel Moyes (Flinders University), section vice chair
Third Place: Central Coast of California, Steven Serniak (U.S. Space Force), young professional officer

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First Place: Utah, Cliff Rossberg (Northrop Grumman Corporation), young professional officer
Second Place: Northwest Florida, Alexandra Straub (U.S. Air Force), young professional officer
Third Place: Wichita, Andrew Sklar (Renew Wichita), young professional officer

MEDIUM

First Place: Tucson, Peter Olejnik (University of Arizona), young professional officer
Second Place: Greater Philadelphia, Jonathan Moore (Lockheed Martin Corporation), section chair
Third Place: Antelope Valley, Jason Lechniak (NASA Armstrong Flight Research Center), section chair

LARGE

First Place: St. Louis, Stephen Clark (The Boeing Company), young professional officer
Second Place: Northern Ohio, Halle Buescher (HXFive), young professional officer
Third Place: San Diego, Joel Perez (Ursa Major Technologies), section chair

VERY LARGE

First Place: Hampton Roads, Michelle Lynde (NASA Langley Research Center), Brett Hiller (NASA Langley Research Center), and Morgan Walker (NASA Langley Research Center), young professional section officers
Second Place: Rocky Mountain, Marshall Lee (BedRock Systems), section vice chair
Third Place: Houston, Josh Kivijarv, young professional officer

The Outstanding Activity Award allows the Institute to acknowledge sections that held an outstanding activity deserving of additional recognition. The winners are:

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Delaware, Daniel Nice (Northrop Grumman), section chair. The Teen Warehouse Event. The AIAA Delaware Section was invited by The Link Incorporated to showcase the opportunities in aerospace field to The Teen Warehouse. AIAA recruited a group of five individuals from Northrop Grumman Corporation’s Elkton, Md., facility. The diverse panel, all with various backgrounds and positions within Northrop, showcased career opportunities ranging from manufacturing, operations, business, finance, and engineering. Being from a solid rocket world the “Break it Down—Let’s Talk Rocket Science” presentation revolved around the history of propulsion, an exciting a look into solid rocket motors, and was capped with a build-your-own foam rocket activity. The foam rocket activity focused on techniques to build, launch trajectory, and teamwork. There were over 20 teens present and another dozen or more via Zoom.

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Palm Beach, Randy Parsley (Pratt & Whitney), section chair. Preparing Middle and High School Students to Write, Publish, and Present Technical Work at Aerospace Conferences. The AIAA Palm Beach Section council members prepared dozens of local high school students to write and submit papers to several conferences, including the International Astronautical Congress. Last fall, 11 students travelled to Dubai, UAE, where they made six separate presentations on topics ranging from orbital settlements and CubeSat propulsion to the most recent NASA-selected CubeSat they are building. The Palm Beach Section council members also guided ~24 students who had 32 other papers accepted at several different conferences.

MEDIUM

Antelope Valley, Jason Lechniak (NASA Ames Flight Research Center), section chair. Engineering Week History Symposium. This four-hour virtual event, with over 50 attendees, put together lessons learned from a distinguished speaker on the X-1, and high-level leadership and engineers in the C-17 and F-16 high angle of attack programs. The final presentation was from the surviving flight test engineer of the B-1 accident where one pilot was killed.

LARGE

San Diego, Nick Candrella, (Naval Air Warfare Center), section vice chair. Aerospace Trivia Night, Networking for Scholarships. This event allowed students to network with members so they could search for scholarship sponsors and members could meet students and other members while having a great time. The trivia setup required at least teams of two, with some fun team names. Each team got one Ghirardelli Chocolate Squares sampler pack, with eight rounds of three questions each (Movie, Event, “Name that Equation!”), giving 30 seconds to guess each answer. The event took place at a local brewery. The section ordered pizza to provide a good intermission with time to network.

VERY LARGE (tie):

Greater Huntsville, Robin Osborne, pre-college outreach officer. Rocket City Invitational Quiz Bowl Tournament. The section hosted the first-ever AIAA Rocket City Invitational academic quiz bowl for Alabama. There were 18 teams with 84 students from 15 high schools (many outside of Huntsville) and two middle schools. Awards were presented to the winners of a separate online, pre-tournament Buzzword Challenge open to all section members, and a traditional, in-person quiz bowl tournament for the 18 teams. Through a $3,000 grant that the section won through The Boeing Company, the section commissioned the National Academic Quiz Tournament to write a custom question set for the Buzzword platform covering a wide variety of topics in aerospace and aviation. You can play a sample game at www.naqt.com/buzzword/special/aerospace.jsp.

VERY LARGE (tie):

Los Angeles-Las Vegas, Jeffery Puschell (Raytheon Intelligence and Space), section chair. Los Angeles-Las Vegas Section University Student Branches Mini-Conference 2022. This event supported the rising stars of American aerospace. Students discussed their projects and life in the pursuit of their career. The career panel and other sessions offered professional inspirations and guidance as well. The keynote speech by Dr. Henry B. Garrett touched the importance of professionalism with the example of the space weather, solar storm, and recent SpaceX Starlink launch anomaly.

Media contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804.397.5270

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, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

AIAA Statement on Successful Artemis I Launch

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

November 16, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher:

“Congratulations to the entire NASA/industry Artemis team on the successful launch of the Artemis I mission from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B. Witnessing this engineering marvel move from concept to production, and now to operation, is an inspirational moment for us today and for the Artemis generation. Kudos on this tremendous achievement!

We are excited to see our nation’s space program prepare to take the next steps toward the surface of the moon. The Artemis program provides a fundamental new capability enabling us to retain and grow U.S. leadership in space by establishing a sustainable presence on the moon in preparation for human exploration beyond Earth’s orbit.

We salute the lead contractors contributing to the success of Artemis: Lockheed Martin for the Orion spacecraft; Aerojet Rocketdyne, Boeing, Northrop Grumman, and Teledyne Brown for the powerful Space Launch System (SLS); and Jacobs for the Exploration Ground Systems. We also salute the European Space Agency and Airbus for their contribution to the Orion spacecraft, the European Service Module. We also commend the thousands of suppliers supporting these companies on the Artemis program.

AIAA recognizes the countless professionals across the aerospace industry involved from the earliest days of the Artemis program, including those AIAA professional and corporate members who have helped design, build, test, and operate this new system. Over the years, these innovators have chronicled their work by authoring articles for AIAA journals and meeting papers for AIAA forums. Their original research results and technological progress on Artemis have been published in AIAA’s Aerospace Research Central (ARC) at arc.aiaa.org. AIAA is committed to ensuring students and professionals have access to the most important advances in aerospace science and technology through ARC.

We applaud the entire NASA/industry Artemis team for shaping the future of aerospace.”

Media contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804.397.5270

Video

Launch of the Artemis I mission from NASA Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39B, 16 November 2022 at 1:04 a.m. EDT. (Launch takes place at the 3:17:08 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)

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.

AIAA Announces University Student Design Competitions Winners

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

October 17, 2022 / UPDATED October 21, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of its 2021–2022 Design Competitions. AIAA Design Competitions give undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to respond to requests for proposals outlining a design problem that requires specialized technical solutions. Several of the competitions allow students to perform theoretical work and gain real-world insight into the design process.

“Design competitions help students solve real-life problems and prepare them to make a difference in the aerospace community. These young people receive useful and constructive feedback from technical experts from AIAA technical committees. The experience is about so much more than winning a prize,” said Dan Dumbacher, AIAA executive director. “Congratulations to the winners. You are shaping the future of aerospace!”

Five competitions were held in the following categories:

Aircraft: Undergraduate Team, Graduate Team
Missile Systems: Graduate Team
Space: Undergraduate Team
Engine (Trial Basis): Undergraduate Team

The 2021–2022 AIAA Design Competitions winners are:

Undergraduate Team Aircraft Design

- First Prize: Nanyang Technological University (Singapore), for their design “Fireflighter.” Puay Him Ler, Wenhui Tock, Szecsenyi Tamas, Kenneth Neoh, Cherng En Lee, Wen Yue Tang. Prof. Wai Tuck Chow, faculty advisor. Team Name: Fireflighter.

- Second Prize: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois), for their design “AE-443 Njord.” Macy Nanda, Ram Dwarakanth, Maverick Emerson, Nicholas Hall, Alan Hong, Nikhil Wagher, Kuan-Ta Wu. Prof. Jason Merret, faculty advisor. Team name: Njord.

Third Prize: University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (Champaign, Illinois), for their design “N513-Firehawk.” Scott Brindise, Quang Do, Jason McIntyre, Rohan Patel, Andrew Strubhar, Maryna Syb, Shri Tandon, Yiyang Wang. Dr. Jason Merret, faculty advisor. Team name: Albatross.

Graduate Team Aircraft Design

- First Prize: Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Lombardi, Italy), for their design “Colibr-e: An Agile Hybrid-Electric STOL Aircraft.” Luca Bottà, Alessandro Garatti, Andrea Romani, Carlo Spitale, Marco Tomasoni. Lorenzo Trainelli, faculty advisor, Carlo E. D. Riboldi, project advisor. Team name: Colibr-e

- Second Prize: Université de Liège (Liège, Belgium), for their design “HARPON.” Hugo Agnello, Emrah Altin, Maxime Borbouse, Julien Caudron, Simon Dehareng, Hasan Sait Erdogan, Bruno Fontaine, Hugo Stegen, Adrien Vandyck. Adrien Crovato, Arnaud Budo, and Thomas Lambert, project advisors. Dr. Ludovic Noels and Dr. Dimitriadis Grigorios, faculty advisors. Team name: Kingfisher Aerospace.

Third Prize: Politecnico di Milano (Milan, Lombardi, Italy), for their design “Hexi: A hybrid-electric STOL air taxi for advanced air mobility.” Anna Sofia Passerelli D’Onofrio, Luca Caccetta, Maria Vittoria Rossetti, Nicola Tartari, Matteo Guidotti, Irene Salmoiraghi, Maria Ieva. Lorenzo Trainelli, project advisor, Carlo E.D. Riboldi, faculty advisor. Team name: Team HExi

Graduate Team Missile System Design

- First Prize: Georgia Institute of Technology (Atlanta, Georgia), for their design “Hypersonic UPRISE: Unmanned Platform for Reconnaissance Intelligence and Surveillance Efforts.” William Cammack, Baptiste Cramette, Joey Ji, Antonio Macias Salil Sodhi, Gowtham Venkatachalam, Tyler Wills, Karen Yehoshua. Dr. Dimitri Mavris, faculty advisor. Dr. Brad Robertson and Dr. Ken Decker, research advisors. Team name: Hypersonic Uprise.

Second Prize: University of Kansas (Lawrence, Kansas), for their design “Hypersonic Jayhawks Reusable Penetrating Hypersonic ISR Platform.” Nathan Wolf, Gerell Miller, Zachary Rhodes, Justin Clough, Garin McKenna, Jack Schneider. Dr. Ron Barrett, faculty advisor. Team name: Hypersonic Jayhawks.

Undergraduate Team Space Design

- First Prize: Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg, Virginia), for their design “Manned Sample Acquisition Mission to Phobos and Deimos.” Juliana Ruiter, Nathan Horner, Carson Peters, Jacob McDaniel, Aidan Messick, Tanushree Manohar Shinde, Connor Poole, Musfique Mazumder, Matthew Smith, Shelly Natoli. Kevin Shinpaugh, faculty advisor Team name: Project Chariot.

Second Prize: University of Texas at Austin (Austin, Texas), for their design “Scientific Phobos And Deimos Explorer (SPADE).”Reece Appel, Teja Gorantla, Shannon Scott, Nicholas Delurgio, Shea Popov, Sir Jherg Jones, Nils Schlautmann, Christian Hinton, Rye Seekins, Pete Lealiiee Jr. Adam Nokes, faculty advisor. Team name: Space Pirates.

Third Prize: University of Maryland, College Park (College Park, Maryland), for their design “Martian Moons Explorer Vehicle.” Nicolas Pouliquen, Michael Hanlon, Nico Lagendyk, Ryan Quigley, Thomas Brosh, Nathaniel Wunderly, Rahul Jain, Derek Hounkale, Gracelyn Pham. Jarred Young, faculty advisor. Team name: Project Cupid.

Undergraduate Team Engine Design
For 2022, AIAA conducted this competition on a trial basis using a new format, with teams that elected to participate. Four teams participated in this year’s competition. They received no prize funds for their placements.

- First Place: Beihang University (Beijing, China), for their design “BH-22.” Xilong Fang, Guohe Jiang, Shiying Song, Ziyu Qin, Wenhao Ma. Xingmin Gui, project advisor. Min Chen, faculty advisor. Team name: Flyingbird.

Second Place: Arab Academy for Science, Technology, & Maritime Transport (Alexandria, Egypt), for their design “AAP-100.” Abdelmageed Elgammal, Asser Mohamed, Ahmed Mostafa, Ahmed Sharaf. Prof. Dr. Yehia Eldrainy, project advisor. Prof. Dr. Aly Esmail, faculty advisor.

Third Place: Turkish Naval Academy (Istanbul, Turkey), for their design “Future High Bypass Engine.” Muhammad Abdullah Kacmaz, Oguzhan Pala, Muzaffer Onalan, Mehmet Ali Keles. Associate Professor Dr. Dogus Ozkan, faculty advisor. Team name: Two Blue Eyes.

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.

Boeing’s Starliner on Track to Launch in April

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)

GAMA Reveals Aviation Sector Full-Year Numbers for Deliveries and Billings

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)

Embraer Increased Deliveries in 2022

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)

Vega C Launch Failure Sets Inquiry Panel from ESA, Arianespace in Motion

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)

SpaceX Launches 54 New Starlink Satellites into Orbit

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)

Video

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)

SpaceX Scrubs Starlink Launch Attempt a Third Time

Spaceflight Now reports that for “the third day running, bad weather forced SpaceX to scrub a Falcon 9 launch attempt at Cape Canaveral Thursday night. The Falcon 9 is now scheduled to lift off Friday, weather permitting, to carry the next 54 Starlink internet satellites into orbit.” The launch is planned to take place Friday at 9:05 p.m. EDT, “when forecasters predict a 50-50 chance of acceptable weather conditions. The persistent threat of evening thunderstorms remains in the outlook Friday night, but with a slightly lower chance of violating weather constraints.” Friday’s launch, “designated Starlink 4-34, will carry 54 more Starlink internet satellites into orbit.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)

Boeing Increases Aviation Personnel Demand Forecast

Aviation International News reports that The Boeing Company’s 2022 Pilot and Technician Outlook “sees a need for 2.1 million personnel to meet the demand for commercial air travel, including 602,000 pilots, 610,000 maintenance technicians, and 899,000 cabin crewmembers.” Boeing “further projected a doubling of the commercial fleet, reaching 47,080 aircraft by 2041.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

AIAA Hosting NASA’s Bhavya Lal for Policy Webinar

MEDIA ALERT

February 8, 2022 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) will host Bhavya Lal, NASA Associate Administrator, Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, for an ASCENDxWebinar, 12 p.m. EST, Tuesday, Feb. 15. The webinar is sponsored by Jacobs. Registration for the free Zoom event is open now, however participation is limited:

ASCENDxWebinar: Policy Discussion with NASA’s Bhavya Lal

During the webinar, Dr. Lal will speak about NASA’s newly established Office of Technology, Policy, and Strategy, its responsibilities, how it will support the Biden Administration’s priorities, and review other agency activities. The session will include questions from the webinar moderator, as well as those attending the Zoom event, using the chat function.

Powered by AIAA, ASCEND stands for Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration and New Discovery. ASCENDx events accelerate momentum toward the October ASCEND apex event.

AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270
NASA Headquarters Media Contact: Robert Margetta, [email protected], 202-358-0918

About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND promotes the collaborative, interdisciplinary, outcomes-driven community of professionals, students, and enthusiasts who are accelerating humanity’s progress toward our off-world future! For more information on ASCEND, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

AIAA Statement on Blue Origin’s Successful NS-20 Mission

March 31, 2022 – Reston, Va. –The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:

“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate the Blue Origin team on its successful NS-20 mission. This mission continues building on Blue Origin’s vision to see millions of people living and working in space for the benefit of Earth. Through this mission, we are seeing Blue Origin’s progress opening up access to space travel for more even people from all walks of life.

We are especially thrilled to follow George Nield’s journey as part of the NS-20 astronaut crew. Dr. Nield is a member of the AIAA Board of Trustees, a lifetime member of the Institute, and an AIAA Fellow. We can’t wait to hear about his experience!

Astronaut training, day two. Credit: Blue Origin–© — Astronaut training, day two. | Credit: Blue Origin–©

We recognize the dedicated aerospace industry professionals involved in making today’s mission a success. We salute our corporate member, Blue Origin, and their entire team, for helping shape the future of aerospace.

AIAA is honored to be one of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future partner organizations to help develop and inspire the next generation of space professionals.”

Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell

About ASCEND Powered by AIAA, ASCEND promotes the collaborative, interdisciplinary, outcomes-driven community of professionals, students, and enthusiasts around the world who are accelerating humanity’s progress toward our off-world future! For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

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, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.

Video

New Shepard Mission NS-20 Webcast Replay (Blue Origin via YouTube)

Lockheed Martin Agrees to Deliver 151 to 153 F-35s in 2022

Reuters reports that Lockheed Martin announced Monday that it had “agreed with the Pentagon to deliver 151 to 153 F-35 fighter aircraft in 2022, fewer than the 169 jets it had hoped to deliver.” Lockheed Martin “also said it was expecting to deliver 156 aircraft to the United States beginning 2023 and for the ‘foreseeable future.’”
Full Story (Reuters)

China Deploys Zhurong Rover on Mars

Reuters reported that China’s Zhurong rover “drove down the ramp of its landing capsule on Saturday and onto the surface of Mars, making China the first nation to orbit, land and deploy a land vehicle on its inaugural mission to the Red Planet.” The rover “drove down to the surface of Mars at 10:40 a.m. Beijing time (0240 GMT), according to the rover’s official Chinese social media account.” Zhurong “will move and stop in slow intervals, with each interval estimated to be just 10 metres (33 feet) over three days, according to the official China Space News.”
Full Story (Reuters)