Tag: aeronautical engineering

JSX Plans to Add Over 300 Hybrid-Electric Aircraft to Charter Fleet

Aviation International News reports that on Tuesday, public charter operator JSX “announced its intention to acquire more than 300 hybrid-electric aircraft from three different manufacturers as part of its efforts to decarbonize its US regional air services.” The fleet expansion plans “cover up to 332 aircraft, including a letter of intent with Electra for 82 of its nine-passenger eSTOL aircraft (32 firm orders and 50 options), up to 150 of Aura Aero’s 19-seat Era model (50 firm plus 100 options), and up to 100 of Heart Aerospace’s 30-seat ES-30 (50 firm and 50 options).” According to JSX, it “aims to start operating the first of the new aircraft in 2028, without saying which of the three new types will be delivered first.” The Texas-based company’s fleet currently “includes 48 of Embraer’s 30-seat ERJ145 aircraft, providing up to 120 public charter flights daily under DOT Part 380 and FAR Part 135 rules to 24 US destinations.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)

NASA Celebrating 25th Anniversary of ISS

ABC News reports, “NASA and its astronauts are celebrating the 25th anniversary of the International Space Station being in orbit.” On Wednesday, the agency “broadcast a live conversation between the Expedition 70 crew and NASA Associate Administrator Robert Cabana and Joel Montalbano, space station program manager.” The space station “has been continuously occupied for more than 23 years, ‘testing technologies, performing science, and developing the skills needed to explore farther from Earth,’ NASA said in a press release. According to NASA, the station has been visited by 273 people from 21 countries and has conducted more than 3,300 [investigations].”
Full Story (ABC News)

China Makes Progress on Engine Program for Super Heavy Rocket

Space News reports, “China is progressing with a program to develop full-flow staged-combustion-cycle methane engines to power its reusable Long March 9 super heavy-lift launcher.” Work to develop “engines producing 200 tons of thrust includes progress on overall design and components. Testing includes firing prototype and scaled components such as igniters, gas generators and thrust chambers.”
Full Story (Space News)

2024 Space Coast Expects to See Most Astronaut Launches Since 2009

The Orlando (FL) Sentinel reports that the business “of sending humans into space has not yet risen to the levels seen during the space shuttle program, but 2024 could see the most U.S.-based orbital launches in 15 years.” There are seven missions “slated from either Kennedy Space Center or Cape Canaveral Space Force Station that look to place 26 humans into orbit.” It’s the highest number “of crew launching from the Space Coast since 2009.” That year “saw five shuttle launches with 35 humans on board.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

Tool Bag Dropped During ISS Spacewalk

CNN reports that NASA astronauts Jasmin Moghbeli and Loral O’Hara “marked their first spacewalk this month with a tool bag floating through space.” The pair “concluded their maintenance work outside the International Space Station (ISS) in six hours and 42 minutes, according to the space agency.” The spacewalk on November 1 “saw Moghbeli and O’Hara complete works on the station’s solar arrays, which track the sun, but they ran out of time to remove and stow a communications electronics box.” Leaving this task “for a future spacewalk, the pair instead conducted an assessment of how the job could be done.” During the mission, a tool bag “gave them the slip and was ‘lost,’ NASA said, with flight controllers spotting it using the ISS’ external cameras.” Fortunately, the tools “were not required for the remainder of their tasks.” According to EarthSky, “a website tracking cosmic events, the tool bag is currently orbiting Earth ahead of the ISS, and can potentially be spotted from Earth with a pair of binoculars during the next few months until it disintegrates in our planet’s atmosphere.”
Full Story (CNN)

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)