CNN reports 2022 “promises to be yet another year solidifying the private sector’s grip on modern space travel.” SpaceX is planning “to put its colossal 400-foot-tall Starship rocket – intended to eventually reach Mars – into Earth’s orbit for the first time.” The article also mentions concerns over the overcrowding of space with debris and satellites.
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Tag: 2022
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.’”
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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.”
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Sources: Boeing Looks to Increase 737 MAX Output in Fall 2022
Reuters reported that The Boeing Company “has drawn up preliminary plans for a fresh sprint in 737 MAX output to as many as 42 jets a month in fall 2022, industry sources said, in a bid to extend its recovery from overlapping safety and COVID-19 crises.” The plans “would lift output beyond an early 2022 target of 31 a month, which the sources said Boeing aims to reach in March.” Boeing “hopes to speed monthly output from single digits now to about 26 a month at the end of 2021 at its Renton factory near Seattle, two of the sources said.” The news “comes as demand for medium-haul jets such as the 737 MAX and competing Airbus A320neo begins to recover from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, boosted by widespread vaccinations, especially in the busy U.S. domestic market.”
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