Tag: Aerospace

York Space’s Dragoon Launches Aboard SpaceX Falcon 9

Space News reports, “A U.S. military satellite built by York Space Systems launched to orbit June 23 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. The spacecraft, named Dragoon, lifted off from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California as part of SpaceX’s Transporter-14 mission — a rideshare flight carrying dozens of small satellites for government and commercial customers.”
Full Story (Space News)

Video

SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches the Transporter-14 rideshare from Vandenberg, California on June 23, 2025 (Launch at 30:10 mark)
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)

NASA’s Psyche Spacecraft Reignites Thrusters After Switching to Backup Mode

Ars Technica reports, “A NASA spacecraft bound for an unexplored metal-rich asteroid has reignited its plasma thrusters, continuing its cruise deeper into the Solar System after switching to a backup fuel line. The $1.4 billion Psyche mission, built to explore an asteroid with the same name, has four electric thrusters fueled by xenon gas. Psyche’s solar-electric propulsion system is more fuel-efficient than conventional rocket thrusters, and it works by flowing xenon through an electromagnetic field, which ionizes the gas and expels the ions at high speed to produce thrust.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)

Airbus’ Racer Rotorcraft Achieves Speed Target

Aviation Week reports, “Airbus Helicopters has achieved its speed target with its Racer compound rotorcraft, successfully flying the experimental aircraft at 240 kt. (276 mph) in April. The aircraft reached the speed with power margin to spare, test pilots say, and after only 25 flying hours—one-eighth of the flying hours that have been “justified” for the flight-test program—which points to the maturity of the aircraft’s design.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

GA-ASI Partners with Saab to Enhance AEW&C System Performance on MQ-9B

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) and Saab have partnered to integrate an Airborne Early Warning and Control (AEW&C) system onto GA-ASI’s MQ-9B Remotely Piloted Aircraft. To validate the new capability, flight demonstrations are planned for 2026. GA-ASI’s MQ-9B line includes the SkyGuardian® and SeaGuardian® models, the United Kingdom’s Protector, and the new MQ-9B STOL (Short Takeoff and Landing) model currently in development.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)

NASA Chief Says X-59 Will Still Play Key Role in Return to Supersonic Flight

Aviation Week reports, “The X-59 low boom demonstrator remains highly relevant, says NASA’s acting administrator. Although running years behind its original schedule, the NASA aircraft is still expected to play a key role in helping ICAO and the FAA develop a noise certification standard for sonic booms that could clear the way for legal overland civil fight at higher supersonic speeds.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

Bristow Doubles Pre-Orders of Vertical Aerospace’s VX-4

Flight Global reports, “Vertical Aerospace is to join forces with Bristow Group to establish what is effectively a wet-leasing operation focused on the electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft developer’s VX4. An expansion of an existing ‘strategic partnership’ dating from 2021, the agreement also sees helicopter operator Bristow double its pre-orders and options for the VX-4, increasing both to as many as 50 units.”
Full Story (Flight Global)

New Executive Order Aims to Usher in New Generation of U.S. Aircraft

Flying Magazine reports, “President Donald Trump has signed an executive order that aims to usher in a new generation of drones, self-flying planes, and electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) air taxis while shutting out “unfair foreign competition” from countries like China. The order, “Unleashing American Drone Dominance,” contains a package of measures designed to bolster the U.S. drone industry by lifting restrictions and streamlining manufacturing, testing, and access for American-built uncrewed aircraft systems (UAS).”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)

Archer Aviation Performing Piloted Flights of its Midnight Electric Aircraft

Electrek reports, “All-electric aircraft developer Archer has entered a key development phase ahead of full-fledged flight certification and commercial operations. Last week, Archer completed a piloted flight in its flagship Midnight aircraft, demonstrating a conventional takeoff and landing instead of vertical (it can do both). Check out the entire flight video.”
Full Story (Electrek)

Resilience Lunar Lander to Attempt ‘Sea of Cold’ Moon Landing This Week

SPACE reports, “The Japanese company ispace is poised to make a historic moon landing this week. The company’s Resilience lunar lander will attempt to touch down in Mare Frigoris (“Sea of Cold”), a basalt plain in the moon’s northern hemisphere, on Thursday (June 5) at 3:24 p.m. EDT (1924 GMT). You’ll be able to watch the landing attempt online via a live webcast on ispace’s YouTube page, beginning about one hour before landing.”
Full Story (SPACE)

Advanced Air Mobility, AI Crucial Topics Planned for 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum

By Jeremy Wang, Co-founder and COO, Ribbit

The AIAA AVIATION Forum is the venue to tackle both longstanding challenges from detect-and-avoid – to emerging trends like how we’re dealing with decarbonization – combined with autonomy and sustainability coming together on the same platforms.

The event is regarded as the forefront of aviation business, research, development, and technology. This year’s theme, “Navigating the Future: Sustainability, Safety, and Innovation.” I am particularly excited that the program we’ve designed promises to deliver insights about the future of advanced air mobility (AAM) and autonomy.

We expect over 2,500 aviation professionals from academia, industry and government to attend the 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum on 21–25 July in Las Vegas.

Convergence of Autonomy and Sustainability

An example of convergence is Joby Aviation’s landmark emission-free hydrogen-electric flight last summer that demonstrated the potential for emissions-free regional travel. The air taxi featured a hydrogen-based power plant on board.

There’s talk about hybrid electric being incorporated into some of the newer eVTOL aircraft concepts to try and address the range challenges of pure battery systems.

Must-see Sessions

The Forum’s opening plenary and Forum 360 will give us a glimpse into the aviation industry in 2050. Our opening speakers will share their insights that will define aviation in the next three decades.

“Injecting intelligence,” or bringing together autonomy, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning into platforms, will serve as one of the daylong themes of the conference.

The world is entering a state of increased tension between longstanding adversaries and democratic countries. That’s spurring a lot of pressure for us to innovate more quickly and to onboard new capabilities sooner than we ever have in the past. Three of the Forums 360 panel discussions will cover some of the biggest challenges and opportunities. One will cover U.S. collaborative combat aircraft developments, featuring the director of the U.S. Air Force’s 40^th Test Flight Squadron from Eglin Air Force Base and the deputy director of Data & Analytics Enablement for National Defense Canada.

A key theme with autonomy is the concept of affordable mass, a strategy for developing and deploying low-cost weapon systems and aircraft to counter high-volume adversary capabilities.

There is a huge capability gap between the large Predator and Reaper UAS and the tiny drones used in defense. In this “Goldilocks zone,” aircraft can be scaled to better address the threats from integrated air defense systems.

Autonomy is going to be pretty critical to operating in the kind of environment we’re now seeing in Eastern Europe and increasingly over the Indo Pacific and possibly the Arctic.

We also will be exploring the role of AI and new types of sensors in these autonomous systems and how they should be certified, as well as concepts of human machine teaming and human autonomy teaming.

Finally, the “AI Certification: Busting the Myth” session will address the most prevalent misconceptions about AI technologies in aviation, ranging from “AI will one day directly control aircraft” to “AI systems are not safe.” The speakers will ground the talk in conceptual, scientific evidence and practical, operational experience.

To hear from dozens of expert speakers and join us in the conversation, register now for 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 21–25 July, Las Vegas.

About the Author

Jeremy Wang, a third-year member of the AIAA AVIATION Forum’s Guiding Coalition, is the co-founder and COO of Ribbit, a venture-backed startup developing dual-use autonomous aircraft to serve rural, coastal, and remote regions. Ribbit is credited with the first fully automated gate-to-gate flight in Canada and serving federal contracts delivering advanced autonomy for air and joint operations. Prior to Ribbit, Wang was the CTO of Canada’s top-ranked commercial drone operator where he oversaw the development of special-purpose drones for industrial and defense applications.

Register now for AIAA AVIATION Forum
The 2025 AIAA AVIATION Forum is your direct flight to the forefront of aviation business, research, development, and technology. Registration is now open.

Register for the event here and save before the 23 June Early Bird deadline.