Aviation International reports, “Joby Aviation, a next generation aviation company, today announced it has successfully flown a first-of-its-kind hydrogen-electric air taxi demonstrator 523 miles, with water as the only by-product. The aircraft, which takes off and lands vertically, builds on Joby’s successful battery-electric air taxi development program, and demonstrates the potential for hydrogen to unlock emissions-free, regional journeys that don’t require a runway.”
Full Story (Aviation International)
Tag: engineering
FAA Clears Falcon 9 to Resume Launches
Space News reports SpaceX is ready to resume Falcon 9 rocket launches as soon as July 27 after completing an investigation into an upper stage anomaly two weeks earlier. “SpaceX said it is targeting as soon as July 27 at 12:21 a.m. Eastern for the rocket’s return to flight, carrying a set of Starlink satellites on the Group 10-9 mission from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Two other Falcon 9 launches, also of Starlink satellites, are tentatively scheduled for July 28 from Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg Space Force Base.”
Full Story (Space News)
NASA’s MESSENGER Discovers Mercury Has Layer of Diamond 10 Miles Thick
SPACE reports, Using data from NASA’s MESSENGER spacecraft, scientists have determined that the solar system’s tiniest planet, Mercury, hides a not-so-tiny secret: “a 10-mile-thick diamond mantle may lie beneath the crust of Mercury, the closest planet to the sun.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Safran Joins Boeing X-66A Sustainable Flight Demonstrator Project
Aviation Week reports, “Boeing has selected Safran to provide the electrical power generation system for the airframer’s X-66A aircraft which is in development as part of NASA’s Sustainable Flight Demonstrator project. The Safran Electrical & Power system, consisting of a variable frequency generator and its associated control unit, will be adapted to integrate with the Pratt & Whitney PW1500G geared turbofan that has also been selected for the aircraft.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
NASA Readies Artemis 2 Core Stage for Vehicle Assembly Building
Spaceflight Now reports the massive 212-foot-long core stage of the Space Launch System rocket arrived at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center late Tuesday morning. “On Wednesday, teams from Jacobs, the prime contractor for NASA’s Exploration Ground Systems (EGS) Program at the Kennedy Space Center, will unpack the core stage and slowly roll it into the Vehicle Assembly Building (VAB).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
General Dynamics Business Jet Revenue Increases 50%
Reuters reports that General Dynamics reported an 18% rise in second-quarter revenue on Wednesday, helped by higher demand for its ammunitions and nuclear-powered submarines and “a 50% increase in business jet deliveries in the quarter.”
Full Story (Reuters)
Eve Air Mobility Unveils First Full-Scale eVTOL Prototype
Aerotime reports that Eve Air Mobility “has announced the roll-out of a prototype of its first full-scale electric vertical take-off and landing (eVTOL) aircraft. According to the Eve Air Mobility statement, the remotely operated variant of the eVTOL aircraft will now undergo a series of thorough tests.”
Full Story (Aerotime)
Boeing Closer to Understanding Thruster Failures After Latest Testing
AP News reports, “Boeing is closer to understanding what went wrong with its astronaut capsule in orbit, now that testing is complete on a spare thruster here on Earth. … Officials said Thursday there’s still no return date for astronauts Butch Wilmore and Suni Williams. Engineers will first disassemble the thruster that was test-fired in New Mexico over the past couple of weeks. Then they’ll analyze the data before clearing Starliner for the trip home.”
Full story (AP News)
AIAA Unveils ASCEND Diverse Dozen Op-Eds on Space Sustainability and Environmentalism
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 19, 2024 – Reston, Va. – AIAA published the 2024 ASCEND Diverse Dozen (D12) Op-Eds – a collection of unique perspectives on today’s most pressing space sustainability challenges. The 12 visionaries who comprise the D12 will present their ideas on the opening day of 2024 ASCEND, 30 July – 1 August, Las Vegas. Organized as rapid-fire lightning talks, the D12 will address burning topics from the challenges of balancing growth through responsible space sustainability to orbital debris risking human space exploration.
ASCEND is the world’s premier outcomes-focused, interdisciplinary space event designed to accelerate building our off-world future. In its fifth year, D12 is produced in partnership with astrodynamicist Moriba Jah, chief scientist and co-founder of Privateer. More than 50 people have participated in the D12 program since 2020. Read all their Op-Eds here.
This year, the D12 is supported by the Office of Space Commerce, NOAA, U.S. Department of Commerce helping amplify underrepresented voices as they promote messages on space sustainability.
The 2024 ASCEND D12 cohort includes startup founders, association leaders, aerospace and engineering scholars, and policy experts in the space industry. They hail from Canada, Germany, New Zealand, Nigeria, North Macedonia, Pakistan, the United States and its territory, Puerto Rico.
The 2024 ASCEND Diverse Dozen are:
- Nifemi Awe, Management Consultant, PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP
- Priyanka Dhopade, Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland
- Martina Dimoska, Founder and President, International Space Alliance
- Jose Figueroa, Founder, Aqua/Sky Launch Innovations
- Amir Gohardani, CEO, Springs of Dreams Corporation
- Kim Macharia, Executive Director, Space Prize Foundation
- Isabelle Mierau, Founder, Space Debris DAO
- Sumbal Mushtaq, Founder, Astralbeam Organization
- Alma Okpalefe, Executive Director, World Space Week Association
- Carolyn Overmyer, Director, Orion Chief Engineer, Lockheed Martin Space
- Olga Stelmakh-Drescher, Chief Policy, Legal & Government Relations Officer, Exolaunch
- Salman Ali Thepdawala, Ph.D. Candidate and Munich Aerospace Scholar, University of Bundesweehr – Munich
Registration for 2024 ASCEND is open. Press passes are available.
Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
About AIAA
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 Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Instagram.
Commander of U.S. Space Command Conveys Confidence in Falcon 9’s Quick Return to Flight
Space News reports, “The head of U.S. Space Command expressed confidence July 17 that SpaceX’s Falcon 9 rocket will soon return to flight following a recent mishap. Speaking at the Aspen Security Forum, Gen. Stephen Whiting, commander of U.S. Space Command, revealed that he visited SpaceX’s Starlink satellite factory in Seattle the day after a July 11 incident that led to the grounding of the Falcon 9 fleet. ‘We showed up and some of their senior leaders were there and they were very transparent, giving us insight into what had happened,’” Whiting said.
Full Story (Space News)