The New York Times reports, “Members of Boeing’s largest union approved a new contract on Monday, ending a weekslong strike that was one of the country’s most financially damaging work stoppages in decades. The contract was endorsed by 59 percent of those voting, according to the union, the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)
Tag: Aerospace News
Yearslong Leaks on International Space Station Deemed “Top Safety Risk”
Scientific American reports, “In the hostile conditions beyond Earth, a spacecraft is all that stands between an astronaut and certain death. So having yearslong seemingly unfixable leaks on the International Space Station (ISS) sounds like a nightmare scenario. It’s also a reality, one that a recent agency report calls ‘a top safety risk.’”
Full Story (Scientific American)
A400M Operators Set to Receive New Upgrades, Support Package
Aviation Week reports, “Airbus’ A400M airlifter is set to receive a series of upgrades as part of a new agreement between the launch customer nations. The upgrades package, called Block Upgrade 0, will update the turboprop-engine transport aircraft’s flight management systems, ensure the wider fleets are compliant with NATO requirements, and improve the aircraft’s communications capabilities.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Will China Beat US in Race to Return Mars Samples to Earth?
SPACE reports, “It appears that China has moved up its agenda for bringing Mars samples to Earth, and aims to do so before the U.S. achieves this same goal. NASA’s Mars sample return plan, a joint effort with the European Space Agency (ESA), continues to be scrutinized. A newly launched strategy review team will advise agency leadership about what to do now and offer recommendations by year’s end, or early next year.”
Full Story (SPACE)
US Army Purchases Long-Endurance Solar Drones to Monitor Pacific Operations
Defense News reports, “The Army’s 1st Multi-Domain Task Force has used a small number of Kraus Hamdani Aerospace K1000 Ultra Long-Endurance, solar-powered unmanned aircraft system across the Pacific theater in places like the Philippines and Guam in recent years. Now the Pentagon has ordered $20 million worth of the systems for the unit as well as special operators.”
Full Story (Defense News)
China’s Three-Person Crew Arrives at Tiangong Space Station
AP News reports, “A Chinese space ship carrying a three-person crew docked with its orbiting space station as the country seeks to expand its exploration of outer space in competition with the United States, even as it looks for cooperation from other nations. The team of two men and one woman will replace the astronauts who have lived on the Tiangong space station for the last six months, conducting a variety of experiments and maintaining the structure.”
Full Story (AP News)
NASA’s Perseverance Rover Captures Stunning View of Big Mars Crater
SPACE reports, “NASA’s Perseverance rover took a break from its Mars mountaineering expedition recently to survey its old stomping grounds. The car-sized Perseverance landed on the floor of the 28-mile-wide (45-kilometer-wide) Jezero Crater in February 2021 to hunt for signs of past Mars life and collect dozens of samples for future return to Earth.
Full Story (SPACE)
Japan Grounds Ospreys Following Hard Landing During Exercise
Aviation Week reports, “The Japan Ground Self-Defense Force (JGSDF) has grounded its fleet of Bell Boeing V-22 Ospreys following a hard landing incident. The Japan Defense Ministry Joint Staff says the incident took place on the country’s Yonaguni Island on Oct. 27. The V-22 was participating in Exercise Keen Sword, a joint wargame with the U.S. military, where it was transporting military personnel simulating a medical evacuation.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
American Airlines Sets New Record with its Longest Flight by Distance
Simple Flying reports, “American Airlines made history this morning with the arrival of its inaugural nonstop service from Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport to Australia’s Brisbane Airport. The flight set a new record for the longest route by distance flown by American Airlines, and it is now the longest route on the growing Brisbane Airport network map.”
Full Story (Simple Flying)
NASA Determines Cause for Orion Heat Shield Charring
Aviation Week reports, “NASA says it has determined why its Orion spacecraft returned from its 25-day Artemis I flight test around the Moon with unexpected charring in its heat shield. Agency officials, however, declined to release its findings, pending ongoing internal discussions about next steps.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Lilium Set to File for Insolvency Protection to Salvage eVTOL Aircraft Plan
Aviation International News reports, “Lilium is about to file self-administration proceedings in a German court, implementing a form of insolvency protection as it scrambles to line up further investment to complete the development of its eVTOL aircraft. The company announced the move on October 24, a week after the German parliament’s budgetary committee rejected its application for a €50 million ($54 million) loan guarantee, which blocked a matching €50 million loan from the state of Bavaria.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
NASA’s Europa Clipper Has Some Stops on its Long Road to Jupiter and its Moons
SPACE reports that the NASA Europa Clipper mission is on its way to Europa, but it has some stops to make before it investigates “the potential habitability of Jupiter’s icy ocean moon Europa.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Crew-8 Splashes Down Off the Coast of Pensacola, Florida
Spaceflight Now reports that three U.S. astronauts and a Russian cosmonaut have “returned to Earth after spending more than seven months in space.” Crew-8 includes NASA astronauts Matthew Dominick, Michael Barratt, and Jeanette Epps, and Roscosmos cosmonaut Alexander Grebenkin.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
NASA’s SpaceX Crew-8 Re-entry and Splashdown
(NASA; YouTube)
Blue Origin’s Second Human-rated New Shepard Makes First Flight
Space News reports, “Blue Origin carried out the first flight of a new model of its New Shepard suborbital vehicle Oct. 23, a mission the company called ‘nominal and on target’ despite going to a slightly lower altitude than past flights. The uncrewed NS-27 mission lifted off from Blue Origin’s Launch Site One in West Texas at 11:26 a.m. Eastern. The company had scrubbed an initial launch attempt Oct. 7 for unspecified technical issues that could not be resolved before the launch window closed, and Blue Origin called off a second attempt Oct. 13 ‘to troubleshoot a GPS issue.’”
Full Story (Space News)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
Video
New Shepard Mission NS-27 (Launch at 10:53 mark)
(Blue Origin; YouTube)
GE Aerospace Expands Use of its AI-Powered Blade Inspection Technology
Aviation Week reports, “GE Aerospace is expanding the use of its artificial intelligence-enabled blade inspection tool to its two most advanced commercial engine platforms. GE, which first debuted the AI-enabled blade inspection tool (BIT) at MRO Americas last year, has been using the technology to improve speed, accuracy and consistency of GEnx engine inspections. The company is now releasing similar AI-enabled BITs for GE9X and CFM International Leap engine platforms.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
ULA Preparing Vulcan Rocket for First National Security Mission
Spaceflight Now reports, “Less than a month after the second of two planned certification launches, United Launch Alliance is getting a Vulcan rocket ready for its first national security mission: United States Space Force 106 (USSF-106). On Monday, ULA shared photos of the 109.2-foot-long (33.3 m) booster being hoisted into the Vertical Integration Facility to begin the stacking process. In the days and possibly weeks to come, the 38.5-foot-long (11.7 m) Centaur 5 upper stage will be added along with four solid rocket boosters and the payload fairings.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
FAA Announces Pilot Training, Certification Rules for Air Taxis
Reuters reports, “The Federal Aviation Administration on Tuesday finalized comprehensive training and pilot certification rules for flying air taxis, addressing a key hurdle to the deployment of electric vertical takeoff and landing aircraft. The FAA called the rule ‘the final piece in the puzzle for safely introducing these aircraft in the near term.’ Some flying companies hope to begin flying commercial passengers as soon as 2025.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Strong Growth Ahead for Business Aviation Per Honeywell Forecast
Flying Magazine reports, this week the annual Honeywell Global Business Aviation Outlook was released, “predicting strong and stable growth in the industry for the next five years. The forecast also predicts demand for 8,500 new business aircraft worth $280 billion during that period, up a little from earlier forecasts and prompting some manufacturers to ramp up production. At the same time, customer demand has leveled off, suggesting a more balanced market is taking hold, according to the survey.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Intelsat’s IS-33e Satellite a ‘Total Loss’ After Breaking Up in Orbit
Via Satellite reports, “Intelsat confirmed on Monday the Intelsat-33e satellite is a “total loss” after a recent anomaly. Intelsat first reported a service outage on the satellite on Oct. 19. U.S. Space Forces-Space (S4S) on Saturday confirmed the satellite broke up in orbit. S4S is currently tracking 20 pieces of debris while conducting ongoing analysis and reported no immediate threats.”
Full Story (Via Satellite)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches Eutelsat Satellites from California
Reuters reports, “Eutelsat, the world’s third-biggest satellite operator by revenue, launched 20 satellites for its communications network on Sunday, using Elon Musk’s SpaceX in its first move since the merger of two European companies last year. A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket took off with Eutelsat satellites from California’s Vandenberg Space Force Base at 0513 GMT. ‘This is the first OneWeb launch of the satellites since the merger,’ CEO Eva Berneke told Reuters in an interview. ‘We will be launching more satellites over the coming years.’”
Full Story (Reuters)
Video
NASA’s Europa Clipper Launch (Launch at 1:06:40 mark)
(NASA; YouTube)