Aviation Week reports, “Kratos Defense and Security recently completed the first flight of its Thanatos stealthy uncrewed combat air vehicle, proving out the aircraft’s basic design as the company now focuses on flying a fully integrated system. Steve Fendley, president of Kratos’ Unmanned Systems Division, tells Aviation Week the company hopes to learn more about the system as it evolves over the next 6-12 months. The company would not say when the first flight occurred, just that it was within the past several months.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: Aerospace
Proba-3 Mission Set to Create ‘Solar Eclipses on Demand’
The Washington Post reports, “A space-exploration organization solved a technological feat more than a decade in the making — launching a pair of satellites capable of creating artificial solar eclipses. It is considered a breakthrough development in solar physics, according to scientists and the European Space Agency, which oversaw the Proba-3 mission and its launch last Thursday in India. Through a precise flying formation, the satellites will create a six-hour window for scientists to research the sun’s outer atmosphere — an opportunity previously restricted.”
Full Story (Washington Post)
Boeing Secures $450.5M for Japan F-15 Super Interceptor
Aerotime reports Boeing has been awarded $450.5M by the USAF to modernize Japan’s F-15J fleet, incorporating advanced radars, electronic warfare, and mission systems. The uprades “will significantly enhance Japan’s air defense fleet’s operational capabilities and situational awareness. Additionally, the Japan Super Interceptor variant will have the capability to launch Lockheed Martin’s Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM).”
Full Story (Aerotime)
US Naval Air Systems Command Grounds V-22 Ospreys After New Incident
Aerotime reports, “The US Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) has issued an operational pause for all Bell-Boeing V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft flights across the US Navy, Marine Corps, and Air Force as of December 6, 2024. The decision, first reported by AP, follows a precautionary landing of a US Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) CV-22 Osprey on November 20, 2024, at Cannon Air Force Base, New Mexico, likely due to a material failure.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
USAF General Says Crewed Warplanes Will Be Needed for Many Years
Defense One reports, “The U.S. military is many years away from letting robots take over the role of human pilots, according to the Air Force official who oversees development of AI piloting technology. ‘There may be someday we can completely rely on robotized warfare’ but ‘it is centuries away,’ said Brig. Gen. Doug Wickert, commander of the 412th Test Wing.”
Full Story (Defense One)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 23 Starlink Satellites from Cape Canaveral
Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX launched its latest Falcon 9 shortly after midnight on Sunday, adding 23 more Starlink satellites to its growing mega-constellation. The midnight hour launch featured 13 satellites which have Direct to Cell capabilities. Liftoff of the Starlink 12-5 mission from pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station happened at 12:30 a.m. EST.”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
A SpaceX Falcon 9 launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral, December 9, at 12:12 a.m. ET (Launch at 0:59:49 mark)
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
AIAA Announces Class of 2025 Honorary Fellows and Fellows
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 9, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) proudly congratulates its newly elected Class of 2025 Honorary Fellows and Fellows. The class will be inducted during a ceremony on Tuesday, 29 April, in Washington, DC, and celebrated during the AIAA Awards Gala on Wednesday, 30 April, AIAA Awards Gala tickets will be available in early 2025.
“Congratulations to each member of the Class of 2025 AIAA Honorary Fellows and Fellows for their remarkable accomplishments. They are among the most respected names in the aerospace profession,” said Dan Hastings, AIAA President. “These distinguished individuals have earned the respect and admiration of the global science and engineering community. We are in awe of their creativity and exceptional contributions that have advanced aerospace.”
Honorary Fellow is AIAA’s highest distinction, recognizing preeminent individuals who have made significant contributions to the aerospace industry and who embody the highest possible standards in aeronautics and astronautics. In 1933, Orville Wright became the first AIAA Honorary Fellow. Today, 245 people have been named AIAA Honorary Fellow.
AIAA confers Fellow upon individuals in recognition of their notable and valuable contributions to the arts, sciences or technology of aeronautics and astronautics. Nominees are AIAA Associate Fellows. Since the inception of this honor 2,092 persons have been elected as an AIAA Fellow.
“The Class of 2025 Honorary Fellows and Fellows are impressive aerospace professionals. They are dreamers who have transformed our understanding of flight and exploration, pushing the boundaries of human potential. I am privileged to call them friends and colleagues. Their groundbreaking work reminds me that innovation is born from passion, persistence, and the audacious belief that we can always reach a little further than we thought possible,” added AIAA CEO Clay Mowry.
2025 AIAA Honorary Fellows
Maj. Gen. Charles F. Bolden Jr., USMC (Ret.), The Charles F. Bolden Group LLC
Alec Gallimore, Duke University
The Honorable Steven J. Isakowitz, The Aerospace Corporation
2025 AIAA Fellows
Maj. Gen. James B. Armor Jr., USAF (Ret.), The Armor Group LLC
Hamsa Balakrishnan, Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Brett A. Bednarcyk, NASA Glenn Research Center
John Maurice Carson III, NASA
Paul J. Cefola, University at Buffalo
Todd K. Citron, The Boeing Company
Stephen B. Clay, Air Force Research Laboratory
William A. Crossley, Purdue University
Boris Diskin, NASA Langley Research Center
Mary Lynne Dittmar, Axiom Space (retired) / Dittmar Associates
Stephen N. Frick, Lockheed Martin Space
Demoz Gebre-Egziabher, University of Minnesota
Luisella Giulicchi, European Space Agency
Vinay K. Goyal, The Aerospace Corporation
Michael J. Hirschberg, The Vertical Flight Society
Tristram Tupper Hyde, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Oliver L.P. Masefield, SolvAero Consulting GmbH
Richard G. Morgan, University of Queensland
Natasha A. Neogi, NASA Langley Research Center
Robert Pearce, NASA
Mason Peck, Cornell University
Lisa J. Porter, LogiQ, Inc.
Joseph M. Powers, University of Notre Dame
Michael G. Ryschkewitsch, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Murray L. Scott, Advanced Composite Structures Australia
Philippe R. Spalart, Flexcompute
Paul F. Taylor, Gulfstream Aerospace Corporation
Manuel Torres, Lockheed Martin
Media Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270
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 X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Vega C Successfully Launches for First Time in Nearly Two Years
Space News reports, “A Vega C successfully launched an Earth observation satellite Dec. 5 in the rocket’s first flight since a failure nearly two years ago. The Vega C lifted off from the European spaceport at Kourou, French Guiana, at 4:20 p.m. Eastern. The launch was previously scheduled for Dec. 4 but delayed a day because a problem with the mobile launch gantry at the pad.”
Full Story (Space News)
Video
Vega-C rocket launches Sentinel-1C satellite in return to flight, Dec. 5, 2024 (Launch at 37:02 mark)
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)
U.S. Airlines Eyeing Air Taxis for Airport Shuttle Service
Aviation Week reports, “Millions of dollars have flown into the nascent electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) sector over the past several years, as investors bet that quiet, emissions-free air taxis will unlock a new wave of demand for urban air mobility (UAM). While those services are not expected to reach scale until the next decade, air taxi startups are looking toward the airport shuttle mission as an initial launch application in the coming years, promising to shave long trips on congested urban road networks down to 10-20 mins. or less.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
AIAA Announces 2024 Region VII Student Conference Winners
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 5, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) is pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Region VII Student Conference, held 25–26 November at Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia, and online.
Attendees presented 46 papers and represented 20 universities. The conference had a strong international presence with students from 11 countries including Australia, Bangladesh, China, India, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, Nigeria, South Korea, Turkey, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Papers presented at the conference will be published by AIAA and available on Aerospace Research Center (ARC) in January 2025.
“We are thrilled to see our student members in action during the Region VII Student Conference. It’s vital for university students to gain practical experience presenting their research findings and receiving valuable feedback from aerospace professionals,” said AIAA CEO Clay Mowry. “We look forward to seeing these students shape the future of aerospace!”
For the undergraduate, masters, and undergraduate team categories, first-place winners received a cash prize of $500 and an invitation to participate in the International Student Conference during the 2025 AIAA SciTech Forum, 6–10 January, Orlando, Florida. Second-place winners received a cash prize of $300 and third-place received $250. The high school students received $100 for first place, $75 for second place, and $50 for third place.
AIAA student conferences give students an opportunity to present and publish their work in front or their peers and members of the industry. The AIAA Foundation sponsors student conferences. All of the AIAA seven regions host a conference each year. The Regional Student Conferences for Regions I-VI will take place in spring 2025.
2024 AIAA Region VII Student Conference Paper Winners
High School Category
- 1st Place: Anay Ashwin, Haileybury College, Australia, “Venna Regolith Sample Acquisition Device – A Novel Proof of Concept for Lunar Rovers”
- 2nd Place: Henri Kim, Seoul Foreign School, South Korea, “Effects of Boeing 767 Winglet Types on Flight Efficiency: A Computational Fluid Dynamics Approach”
- 3rd Place: Cheney Wu and Nate Osikowicz, Cranbook Schools, United States, “An Airfoil Tensegrity Design: Concept, Algorithm Development, and Programming Implementation”
Undergraduate Category
- 1st Place: Said Mouhaiche and Anne Bettens, University of Sydney, Australia, “Lazily Reformulating Design Optimization as a Classification Problem”
- 2nd Place: Leon Phillips and Daniel Edgington-Mitchell, Monash University, Australia, “Investigating the Influence of Separate Propellant Streams in Rotating-Detonation Engine Injectors”
- 3rd Place: Thomas Finley and Daniel Edgington-Mitchell, Monash University, Australia, “Modelling and Schlieren Analysis of Shock Wave Reflections Over a Turbine Cascade”
Masters Category
- 1st Place: Zhen Hong Chai and Tulasi Parashar, Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand, “Performance Insights into Applied-Field Magnetoplasmadynamic Thrusters with the Princeton AF-MPD Database”
- 2nd Place: Shiva Jogu and Karan Das, Amity University, India, “Mitigating Shock Wave Challenges through Secondary Recirculation in Mixed Compression Supersonic Air Intake”
- 3rd Place: Serika Yokoyama and Kikuko Miyata, Meijo University, Japan, “Discussion on Autonomous Sensor Data Selection Method for Planetary Rover Localization and its Verification”
Team Category
- 1st Place: Hardit Saini, Milcha Masresha, Andrews Agyei, Raima Rahman, Omar Abdi, Aamna Abbasi, Imad Foughali, and Eldad Avital, Queen Mary University of London, United Kingdom, “Small Horizontal Axis Wind Turbine Aerodynamic-Structural Design for Improved Performance Using Gurney Flaps”
- 2nd Place: Asif Hasnayeen, Md Redwan Iqbal, Farhan Syeed, Morsalin Sheikh, and Gp Capt A N Somanna, Military Institute of Science and Technology, Bangladesh, “Construction of a Small Fixed Wing UAV for Surveillance”
- 3rd Place: Lisa Dsouza, Adithya Vijay, Pranay Agrawal, Ullas AJ, Katkam Naveen, Anurag Kumar Jha, and NK Gahlot, Amity University, India, “Numerical Analysis of Pintle Nozzle Geometry Optimization for Improved Thrust in Rocket Engines”
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 X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.