Spaceflight Now reports, “SpaceX completed its latest Falcon 9 launch from pad 39A NASA’s Kennedy Space Center early Wednesday evening. The Starlink 6-51 mission came about a week-and-a-half after the launch of its first Bandwagon-1 rideshare mission from that same launch pad.” Liftoff occurred at 5:26 p.m. EDT.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
SpaceX launches a Falcon 9 with 23 Starlink satellites from pad 39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center.
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
Aviation International News reports, “Safran Helicopter Engines will continue to support its Arriel engines powering U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) MH-65 helicopters, following the renewal of its support-by-the-hour (SBH) contract. More than 240 Arriel engines are covered under the five-year renewal period. Engine support will be provided by Safran Helicopter Engines USA in Grand Prairie, Texas.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Aviation Week reports, “In what the FAA has termed ‘a major federal action,’ the U.S. aviation regulator has granted Boom permission to conduct supersonic overland tests of the company’s XB-1 demonstrator. The special flight authorization (SFA) is the first ever issued by the FAA for tests of a civil supersonic aircraft, as all non-military aircraft are currently prohibited from operating above Mach 1 over land in the U.S.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
The U.S. Department of Education and four nonprofit space organizations are spotlighting
the benefits of space and STEM career opportunities
April 17, 2024 – WASHINGTON – Women in Aerospace (WIA), the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA), Club for the Future, and Space Foundation, in partnership with the U.S. Department of Education, are launching a new national space STEM awareness campaign, Space4All, that aims to increase understanding about the benefits of space for life on Earth. The campaign was first announced on April 8 when Vice President Kamala Harris issued a Call to Action to bring the benefits of space to communities across America. The campaign will spotlight the relevance, impact, and accessibility of space and highlight pathways to success in space-related STEM education and careers. There will be a specific focus on reaching underrepresented communities to ensure equitable, diverse, and inclusive growth within the space industry.
The five-year public awareness campaign was initiated by the National Space Council and aligns to the Interagency Roadmap to Support Space-Related STEM Education and Workforce with the goal to Inspire, Prepare and Employ a diverse space workforce. The campaign is now spearheaded through a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and these four nonprofit space organizations. More than 150 additional corporate, federal, and community-based organizations have joined the campaign as Space Champions.
As the lead government partner, the U.S. Department of Education adds expertise in connecting with students and preparing them for future success. “Our nation prospers when all students know and understand that they belong in STEM fields and that careers in space offer boundless opportunities for their success,” said U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education Cindy Marten.
“The Space4All awareness campaign is historic, inclusive, and mission-specific – fill the workforce gap in space,” said WIA Board Chair and SAIC Vice President of Business Development Transformation Bridget Chatman. “WIA and SAIC are fully committed to working alongside our partners and the government to develop a STEM- and space-literate nation. We will continue to lead by addressing the student pipeline and workforce gaps that our nation faces today in real and impactful ways.”
AIAA CEO Dan Dumbacher stressed the timeliness of this initiative, pointing out that “By 2025, the U.S. STEM workforce will need 3.5 million new workers. We need to attract all of the brightest minds to join this exciting industry, especially from traditionally underrepresented communities. Today, only 16 percent of aerospace and defense workers are Black and Hispanic. The aerospace industry can do better, and we must address the lack of STEM-literate workers immediately with long-term solutions.”
“Our mission at Club for the Future is to inspire and mobilize future generations to pursue STEM careers to harness space for the benefit of Earth. We’re excited to partner with likeminded organizations to create opportunities for students to join the future space workforce,” said Michael Edmonds, President of Blue Origin’s Club for the Future.
“This is a pivotal moment for the space industry,” added Heather Pringle, CEO of the Space Foundation. “Commercial and government space entities face a complex and demanding future, with an accelerating space economy coupled with a shrinking talent pool and fierce competition for individuals with the right skills and experience. When we also consider the declining number of students pursuing STEM degrees, we need all hands on deck. Space Foundation is proud to collaborate with the Space4All campaign to raise awareness of our ongoing efforts and amplify our recent partnership with Space Workforce 2030 so we include more audiences in the many exciting opportunities throughout the space industry.”
Corporate champions are including the Space4All message in their ongoing activities and community outreach. The campaign is also attracting commercial champions that are not traditionally involved in space, including BET News and Documentaries and 23XI Racing, among others. Early efforts will bring an immediate boost to visibility and reach for the campaign.
In addition, Boys & Girls Clubs of America and the Association of Science and Technology Centers will be key champions in reaching students and families across the country, especially those in underrepresented communities. Boys & Girls Clubs serve 3.3 million young people each year, and ASTC represents more than 600 museums and science centers that engage more than 110 million people annually. The Space4All campaign and its corporate champions will work with these and numerous other nonprofit organizations to offer support and resources to increase focus on space STEM content and hands-on activities.
The campaign will also work with influencers and celebrities to further the reach of the Space4All message. Notable names include Emily Calandrelli (The Space Gal), Leland Melvin, Maynard Okereke (Hip Hop MD), Dr. Sian Proctor, and William Darrell “Bubba” Wallace Jr.
Dr. Sian Proctor, Inspiration4 mission pilot and first Black woman to pilot a spacecraft, helped launch the campaign with this video. As the Space4All movement accelerates, resources and events will be added to the campaign website, Space4All.us.
Contact: Rebecca Gray, [email protected]
About Space4All
Space4All is a national space STEM awareness campaign, managed through a public-private partnership between the U.S. Department of Education and four nonprofit organizations – Women in Aerospace, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Blue Origin’s Club for the Future, and Space Foundation. Space4All was developed around these essential themes:
For more information, visit Space4All.us.
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 Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Instagram.
By Russell Boyce, AIAA Aeronautics Domain Lead
Originally published by Royal Aeronautical Society
In the pursuit of a sustainable and high-tech future, researchers, engineers, and pioneers are driving innovation in aviation. 2024 will be a landmark year with the first certification of electric VTOL aircraft, flight testing of new supersonic vehicles, expanded use of automated or autonomous systems, and continued progress of military programs. As aviation accelerates, innovators are bridging the gap between visionary concepts and tangible technological reality every day.
However … the world is facing rapidly evolving generational-scale challenges – societal, economic, environmental, security – alongside those rapidly evolving technical capabilities. How do we achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050 while simultaneously advancing multimodal mobility solutions that take the world forward? What could a disruptive “AI-in-the-DNA” future look like for the world, and for the mobility solutions we will trust? What does the future highly skilled workforce look like, how will they be different from today, and how will they have been educated and trained?
The aerospace sector cannot and does not exist in isolation from such challenges, nor from the broad landscape – or ecosystem – of policy, technology, investment, business, government, and end-user stakeholders grappling with them. Our community is brilliant at technology, but that’s not enough. It is critical that we embrace system-of-systems thinking, building understanding and collaboration across the ecosystem of stakeholders, so that the technological innovations we have no difficulty in creating are financeable, certifiable, publicly acceptable, and driven by and tuned for the challenges.
Over the coming decade, we will see many new aeronautics capabilities introduced. The next generation will experience flight in ways we are just imagining. AIAA is excited about advancing these opportunities as we move from vision through velocity, transitioning technology into reality. AIAA is even more excited about the ways that will unfold as partnerships with non-aerospace stakeholders to address global needs.
To join this timely conversation, plan to attend the 2024 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 29 July–2 August 2024, in Las Vegas, Nevada. Thought leaders from across the ecosystem will share, discuss, and debate the opportunities and challenges. New advances in aviation will be unveiled across a vast technical program. The conversation will flow from the big picture view from 50,000 feet, through developments poised to shift the transportation paradigm, to addressing global challenges, embracing transformational technologies both from within and from without (there’s blue sky over the horizon), and finally asking “where to from here?”
We cannot predict the entire future of aviation, but the AIAA community is set to lead its shaping. Visit aiaa.org/aviation for more information.
To join the conversation and learn more, attend the 2024 AIAA AVIATION Forum, 29 July–2 August, in Las Vegas. Visit: aiaa.org/aviation for more information.
About the Author
Russell Boyce, an AIAA Fellow, has spent 35 years building and leading teams in the development of hypersonic technologies and intelligent space systems. His roles have included DSTO Chair for Hypersonics at University of Queensland, and Chair for Intelligent Space Systems and Director of UNSW Canberra Space at University of New South Wales. The latter included spinning off multiple space companies, and playing a lead role in the establishment of the Australian Space Agency. Boyce is also a regular facilitator for senior executive strategic thinking with the global top 5 business school INSEAD, co-publishes the monthly podcast “Leadership in a Disruptive World,” and is passionate about combining disruptive, out-of-the-box thinking with the development of current and future leaders. As AIAA’s Aeronautics Domain Lead, Boyce is working with his Space and Aerospace R&D Domain counterparts to bring about the system-of-systems thinking and actions needed for the future of aerospace.
Aviation Week reports, “With some 75% of the new single-aisle engine market and the worst post-pandemic supply chain issues in the rearview mirror, CFM International’s focus is now on increasing the time on wing of its Leap engines … CFM CEO Gaël Méheust told Aviation Daily that the durability of the Leap is set to meet the standard set by the previous generation CFM56.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Aviation Week reports, “Companies in the space sector raised $6.5 billion from January to March, an increase of 33% over the fourth quarter of 2023, according to a new report by early-stage venture capital firm Space Capital. The bulk of the investment went to more mature companies, especially late-stage startups. They received $4.3 billion, about 66% of the total. In contrast, growth-stage investments fell 51%.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launches 23 Starlink satellites from Cape Canaveral
(Spaceflight Now; YouTube)
SPACE reports, “Dana Weigel, the first woman to helm the International Space Station [as] program manager, says she’s excited to oversee so much commercial space activity on the orbiting complex. Weigel officially took helm of the International Space Station (ISS) program manager position on Sunday (April 7), succeeding Joel Montalbano. She was previously deputy ISS program manager
Full Story (SPACE)
Ars Technica reports, “US and Japanese officials have signed an agreement to cement a partnership that will pave the way for a Japanese astronaut to walk on the Moon. The Japanese astronaut, still unnamed, will become the first international astronaut to walk on the Moon under the auspices of the NASA-led Artemis program.”
Full Story (Ars Technica)
Unmanned Systems Technology reports that the U.S. Navy PMA 263 has chosen Kraus Hamdani Aerospace to equip the U.S. Marine Corps with its K1000ULE solar-electric VTOL UAS. “Once in the hands of the U.S. Marine Corps. the K1000ULE will enhance the Navy’s capacity to perform Intelligence, Surveillance, and Reconnaissance operations faster and with the ultimate objective of saving lives.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
K1000ULE VTOL Landing
(Stefan Kraus; YouTube)