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)
Tag: engineering
Northrop Anticipates Next B-21 Production Award by End of the Year
Defense One reports, “Northrop Grumman anticipates getting a second contract to continue producing the Pentagon’s new B-21 Raider by the end of the year, executives announced today. ‘With B-21, we are on track for meeting the milestones associated with an award’ for Low-Rate Initial Production Contract 2, or LRIP 2 ‘and so we are expecting that to happen in the fourth quarter,’ CEO Kathy Warden told investors during the company’s third-quarter earnings call Thursday.”
Full Story (Defense One)
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)
AIAA Statement on Blue Origin’s Successful NS-27 Mission
October 24, 2024 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA CEO Clay Mowry:
“On behalf of the 30,000 professional and student members of AIAA, we congratulate Blue Origin on its successful NS-27 mission, debuting its second human-rated vehicle. We eagerly anticipate learning more about the results from the multiple payloads onboard.
New Shepard missions embody the promises of space for the benefit of Earth. Reusability is the future of launch. Sustainable space vehicles like New Shepard continue helping decrease the cost of access to space as we see the space economy growing.
We applaud AIAA Corporate Member Blue Origin for 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. Visit aiaa.org, and follow AIAA on X/Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
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)