The Wall Street Journal reports Airbus set a record for the highest number of orders in a single year, with 2,319 gross orders last year, more than doubling its orders compared to 2022 and 29.1% higher than its 1,796 record set in 2014.
Full Story (Wall Street Journal – Subscription Publication)
Tag: 2023
Orbital Launch Activity Hit Record in 2023
Aviation Week reports that the number “of orbital launch attempts last year rose by 20% over 2022, with 223 flights attempted and 212 reaching orbit, according to statistics compiled by Jonathan McDowell, a Harvard-Smithsonian Center astrophysicist who maintains a database of worldwide astronautical activity.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
L3Harris Approved to Produce Hypersonic Missile Tracking Satellites
Space News reports the Space Development Agency approved L3Harris “to move into production on “16 Tracking Layer Tranche 1 satellites “designed to detect and monitor hypersonic missiles aimed at the U.S. or its allies.” Defense Daily reports, “The Tranche 1 Tracking Layer will identify and track hypersonic weapons and advanced missiles, as part of the SDA’s Proliferated Warfighter Space Architecture.”
Full Story (Space News); More Info (Defense Daily)
Blue Origin’s New Shepard Rocket Successfully Launches
AP reports that Blue Origin successfully “launched a rocket carrying experiments on Tuesday, its first flight since engine trouble caused a crash more than a year ago.” The New Shepard rocket “soared from West Texas, lifting a capsule full of tests, many of which were aboard the failed Blue Origin launch in September 2022.” No one “was aboard that flight or this latest one.” This time, the capsule “made it to the fringes of space, exposing the experiments from NASA and others to a few minutes of weightlessness, before parachuting back down to the desert.” The rocket “landed first, after releasing the capsule.” It “reached an altitude of 66 miles (107 kilometers) during the 10-minute flight.”
Full Story (Associated Press)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
Video
Blue Origin New Shepard Mission Launch 19 Dec. 2023
(YouTube)
Blue Origin Delays New Shepard Launch
SPACE reports that Blue Origin’s first mission “in more than 15 months was officially delayed on Monday (Dec. 18) after a last-minute scrub.” Blue Origin’s New Shepard suborbital vehicle “was originally supposed to lift off as early as 9:30 a.m. EST (1430 GMT or 8:30 a.m. EST) on Monday.” Following a one-hour delay “due to cold temperatures at the company’s West Texas site, however, Blue Origin announced a scrub on X, formerly known as Twitter.” Officials said, “We’re scrubbing #NS24 today due to a ground system issue the team is troubleshooting. We’ll provide a new launch target for this week soon.”
Full Story (SPACE)
AIAA Statement on Design/Build/Launch Student Experiments Onboard Successful Blue Origin New Shepard Mission
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 19, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA CEO Dan Dumbacher:
“Congratulations to the Blue Origin team on today’s successful return to flight for their New Shepard rocket. AIAA recognizes the countless industry professionals who support New Shepard. We applaud AIAA Corporate Member Blue Origin for its perseverance in addressing the findings from the NS-23 mission mishap to achieve this successful mission today.
We are thrilled that two AIAA-sponsored student experiments were conducted during today’s New Shepard flight. The two experiments are winners of the Design/Build/Launch (DBL) competition sponsored by AIAA and Blue Origin:
- Improving Fluid Management Through A Novel Microgravity Slosh Mitigation Technique by Eleanor Sigrest, graduate and valedictorian of a dual program at Forest Park High School in Woodbridge, Virginia, and the Governor’s School at Innovation Park, Manassas, Virginia
- Acoustic Levitation Under Variable G by Puneeth Bheesetty, Anna Porter Puckett, and Jaden Shawyer, graduates ofGranby High School, Norfolk, Virginia
The DBL program is targeted to high school students, giving them an opportunity to develop creative research proposals for experimental payloads designed to study short-duration microgravity effects. The winners received $1,000 grants to prepare their work for flight onboard New Shepard.
We are excited to witness these students conducting their microgravity experiments and we can’t wait to hear more about their results. Their enthusiasm and passion inspire us as we anticipate their remarkable career journeys toward shaping the future of aerospace.”
AIAA 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, or LinkedIn.
Video
Blue Origin New Shepard Mission Launch 19 Dec. 2023
(YouTube)
Airline Industry Has One of Its Safest Years In 2023
FlightGlobal reports, “While the airline industry might have had an inauspicious start to 2024 in safety terms, it can still point to a recent safety record that is both historically impressive and broadly moving in the right direction.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal – Subscription Publication)
AIAA Statement on NASA’s Psyche Launch
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 13, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement:
“Congratulations to NASA on today’s successful launch to study the metal-rich asteroid Psyche. We believe this mission is fueled by our human drive to learn more about the origins of our solar system. We look forward to following the mission’s progress.
We commend NASA’s entire Psyche team, including AIAA Corporate Members: NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Maxar Technologies, and SpaceX, along with Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Arizona State University (ASU) in Tempe, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Malin Space Science Systems, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, NASA Glenn Research Center, NASA Headquarters, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Planetary Science Institute, Smithsonian Institution, Southwest Research Institute, University of Arizona, University of California Los Angeles, Yale University, and over a dozen other universities and research institutions. We applaud the international partnership on this mission with the German Space Agency (DLR), the Côte d’Azur Observatory in France, and Technical University of Denmark.
On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we recognize the professionals in the aerospace industry involved in making this mission a success. We applaud the Psyche team for making important contributions to shaping the future of aerospace.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca 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, and follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
AIAA Statement on Senate Confirmation of the Honorable Michael Whitaker as FAA Administrator
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 2, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) Executive Director Dan Dumbacher made the following statement on the Senate confirmation of the Honorable Michael Whitaker as FAA Administrator:
“On behalf of the Institute’s nearly 30,000 professional and student members, congratulations to the Honorable Michael Whitaker on being confirmed as the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) Administrator. We are pleased to see strong bipartisan support for our nation’s aviation regulatory agency.
We see significant opportunities for the FAA to continue its important mission ensuring the safe and efficient operation of the largest aerospace system in the world, including the integration of space operations into the U.S. airspace system and regulation of the commercial space industry around the launch and reentry of space vehicles.
Under Administrator Whitaker’s leadership, we anticipate the FAA will benefit from his depth of aviation experience in government and the private sector, as well as his commitment to safety.
AIAA looks forward to supporting Administrator Whitaker in his new role as we strive to maintain our nation’s leadership in aviation, while also helping make critical advances in technology development and research to advance safer, smarter, and more sustainable flight.”
Media Contact: Rebecca 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.
B-21 Raider Undergoing Flight Testing
Defense News reported that the “B-21 Raider took to the air for the first time in November, nearly a year after its public debut in California. In 2024, the U.S. Air Force’s next stealth bomber could take even greater steps.” The first B-21 Raider “flew to Edwards Air Force Base on Nov. 10. It is now undergoing flight testing, which also includes ground tests and taxiing.” The USAF has “confirmed at least six B-21s are in various stages of construction by Northrop Grumman or are undergoing tests. The program is now in the engineering and manufacturing development phase, the service said in November, and Ellsworth Air Force Base in South Dakota is expected to receive its first Raider in the mid-2020s. The service plans to buy at least 100 B-21s, an advanced stealth bomber, to replace the aging B-1B Lancer and B-2 Spirit bombers. It will provide the service with new abilities to conduct penetrating deep-strike missions, and the aircraft will be able to carry both conventional and nuclear weapons.”
Full Story (Defense News)
NASA’s Lucy Spacecraft Passes First of 10 Asteroids on Trip to Jupiter
AP reports that on Wednesday, NASA’s Lucy spacecraft “encountered the first of 10 asteroids on its long journey to Jupiter.” The spacecraft “swooped past the pint-sized Dinkinesh, about 300 million miles (480 million kilometers) away in the main asteroid belt beyond Mars.” It was “a quick hello,” according to NASA, “with the spacecraft zooming by at 10,000 mph (16,000 kph).” Lucy came “within 270 miles (435 kilometers) of Dinkinesh, testing its instruments in a dry run for the bigger and more alluring asteroids ahead.” Dinkinesh is “just a half-mile (1 kilometer) across, quite possibly the smallest of the space rocks on Lucy’s tour.” Lucy’s main targets “are the so-called Trojans, swarms of unexplored asteroids out near Jupiter that are considered to be time capsules from the dawn of the solar system.” The spacecraft “will swing past eight Trojans believed to be up to 10 to 100 times bigger than Dinkinesh.” It’s due to “zip past the final two asteroids in 2033.”
Full Story (Associated Press)
Airbus Helicopters Uncrewed VSR700 Completes First Test Flight Campaign
Aviation Week reports that Airbus Helicopters’ uncrewed VSR700 rotorcraft “has completed its latest flight test campaign, demonstrating its ability to take off and land in fully automatic mode on a French Navy frigate.” The flight test campaign “took place Oct. 2-9 on board the Provence frigate off the Mediterranean coast.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
JetBlue Predicts Pratt & Whitney Engine Issues to Ground Aircraft through Next Year
FlightGlobal reports that JetBlue Airways “expects six of its Airbus A321neos to be grounded by Pratt & Whitney (P&W) engine problems by year-end – and for that number to rise in 2024.” JetBlue CFO Ursula Hurley said, “We’ll end next year with a high single-digits, low double-digits number of aircraft on the ground.” During its October 31 quarterly earnings call, the carrier “described how it stands to be affected by P&W’s recall of PW1100G geared turbofan (GTF) engines due to disk problems, which has caused broad fleet disruptions among A320 operators.” JetBlue currently “has 25 A321neos in service and four in storage, according to Cirium fleets data.” The majority of GTF engines “on JetBlue’s aircraft were manufactured post-2021, meaning that they were made outside of the production run of engines that currently need inspection.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
Embraer Sees Backlogs Rise in Q3
Aviation Week reports that Embraer “delivered 28 executive aircraft and 15 commercial aircraft during the third quarter (Q3) of 2023, up 30% from 33 total aircraft delivered for the period a year ago.” The Brazil-based manufacturer “delivered 19 light jets and nine midsize jets during the quarter, up 22% from a year ago.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Safety Panel Expresses Concerns About ISS Transition Plans
Space News reported that a “NASA safety panel expressed concerns about NASA’s plans to shift from the International Space Station to commercial successors, including funding for an ISS deorbit vehicle.” During its October 26 public meeting, NASA’s Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel “issued a recommendation calling on NASA to provide a ‘comprehensive understanding’ of the requirements needed to transition from the ISS to commercial space stations, called commercial low Earth orbit (LEO) destinations, or CLDs, by the agency.” David West, a member of the panel, said, “NASA should develop a comprehensive understanding of the resources and timelines of the ISS-to-commercial-LEO transition plan to a much higher level of fidelity, to provide confidence that the nation will be able to sustain a continuous human presence in LEO.” West added that plan “should include ‘explicit defensible assumptions’ as well as specific metrics and deadlines for judging the progress by companies in developing a commercial business case for their stations ‘and is sufficient to support the development, production and operation of one or more commercial platforms to replace the ISS.’”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX’s Starship Faces US Review on Path to Launch Resumption
Bloomberg reports that the US Fish and Wildlife Service “initiated a formal review of the upgrades SpaceX has made to its Starship launch system, one of the final regulatory steps before flights can resume following its explosive April debut.” The agency “said in an emailed statement Thursday that it initiated the review – a consultation under the Endangered Species Act – with the Federal Aviation Administration on Oct. 19.” The FWS now “has as long as 135 days to create an updated biological opinion about how Starship and its launches impact the local environment, however the agency does not ‘expect to take the full amount of time,’ a representative said in the statement.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)
NASA’s Ingenuity Helicopter Achieves Longest Flight in 18 Months
SPACE reports that NASA’s Ingenuity helicopter “conducted its 63rd Mars flight on Thursday (Oct. 19), covering 1,901 feet (579 meters) of ground in the process.” That was “its longest distance since Flight 25,” NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory said. Ingenuity “flew for 2,310 feet (704 m) on Flight 25, which occurred on April 8, 2022.” This latest sortie “lasted 143 seconds, according to the mission’s flight log.” Ingenuity “got a maximum of 39 feet (12 m) above the ground and reached a top speed of about 14.1 mph (22.7 kph).”
Full Story (SPACE)
NASA, ISS National Lab, and AIAA Team Up for Live Space Station Downlink at 2023 ASCEND
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 18, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The world’s premier outcomes-focused, interdisciplinary space gathering – 2023 ASCEND – will hear directly from the crew onboard the International Space Station (ISS). Each year in Las Vegas, ASCEND brings together space industry professionals, students, and enthusiasts to accelerate building our off-world future.
On Monday morning, 23 October, the event will open with a unique session entitled, “From Dreaming to Doing: Utilizing Creativity and Imagination to Accelerate our Off-World Future,” moderated by Kara Cunzeman, director of Strategic Foresight, The Aerospace Corporation, and ASCEND Guiding Coalition member. The speakers will explore what it means to create and inspire, and why systematic thinking about the future is essential for building humanity’s sustainable off-world future.
During that exciting session, the conference will receive a special call from space, as NASA astronauts Loral O’Hara and Jasmin Moghbeli join ASCEND live from the International Space Station. Cunzeman will lead a discussion with the astronauts on the importance of space exploration, improving diversity in STEM fields, and ways to build our sustainable off-world future through collaboration.
For those planning to attend 2023 ASCEND, the opening session and downlink conversation are set to begin at 0800 hrs PT in the Summit Ballroom, Caesars Forum, Las Vegas. The panelists may be available for potential interviews from media attending the event. Please contact Rebecca Gray, AIAA Director of Communications, at [email protected] to coordinate.
Media Contacts
AIAA: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
ISS National Lab: Patrick O’Neill, [email protected]
About the International Space Station (ISS) National Laboratory: The International Space Station (ISS) is a one-of-a-kind laboratory that enables research and technology development not possible on Earth. As a public service enterprise, the ISS National Lab allows researchers to leverage this multiuser facility to improve life on Earth, mature space-based business models, advance science literacy in the future workforce, and expand a sustainable and scalable market in low Earth orbit. Through this orbiting national laboratory, research resources on the ISS are available to support non-NASA science, technology and education initiatives from U.S. government agencies, academic institutions, and the private sector. The Center for the Advancement of Science in Space (CASIS) manages the ISS National Lab, under cooperative agreement with NASA, facilitating access to its permanent microgravity research environment, a powerful vantage point in low Earth orbit, and the extreme and varied conditions of space. To learn more about the ISS National Lab, visit www.issnationallab.org.
About ASCEND
Powered by AIAA, ASCEND, which stands for Accelerating Space Commerce, Exploration, and New Discovery, is the world’s premier collaborative, outcomes-driven, interdisciplinary community designed to accelerate the building of our off-world future. For more information, visit ascend.events, or follow ASCEND on LinkedIn, Twitter, 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, or follow AIAA on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
NASA Using SpaceX Falcon Heavy to Launch Psyche Mission
The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports NASA is using SpaceX’s Falcon Heavy rocket “for the first time, aiming to send a probe named Psyche to an asteroid with the same name this week.” The Psyche probe is “set to lift off from KSC’s Launch Pad 39-A as early as 10:16 a.m. Thursday, although weather forecasts show only a 20% chance for good conditions. … The $700 million satellite managed by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory aims to unlock the asteroid Psyche’s secrets, which scientists suspect is metal-rich.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)
Virgin Galactic Completes Fourth Commercial Suborbital Flight
Space News reports Virgin Galactic completed its fourth commercial suborbital space flight on October 6, “carrying three customers that included the first person from Pakistan to go to space. Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo vehicle, VSS Unity, took off from Spaceport America attached to its VMS Eve mothership at 11:28 a.m. Eastern. VSS Unity released from the plane at 12:10 p.m. Eastern, flying to an apogee of 87.5 kilometers before gliding back to a runway landing at the spaceport.”
Full Story (Space News)