Tag: engineering

N3 to Add MRO Capacity in Expansion at Arnstadt Site

Aviation Week reports that Rolls-Royce engine maintenance specialist N3 Engine Overhaul Services “is targeting the overhaul of nearly 200 engines next year and plans to expand capacity at its facility in Germany over the next two years to facilitate future ramp-ups.” The Lufthansa Technik and Rolls-Royce joint venture “plans to invest €150 million ($167.3 million) at the Arnstadt site, located in the Thuringia region in central Germany.” N3 says the project “aims to further establish it as an important European location in the global maintenance network for Rolls-Royce aircraft engines while creating hundreds of new jobs.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)

USSF Considers New Satellites That Feature Self-Adjusting Orbits, Threat Response

Space News reports that the US military “has long relied on large, expensive satellites parked in fixed orbits above the Earth.” Some US Space Force leaders “believe it’s time to change that model in favor of more mobile and renewable satellites that can maneuver to avoid attack.” USSF Space Systems Command Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Guetlein said, “We’ve got to be better at dynamic space operations.” Speaking Dec. 13 at the Space Force Association’s Spacepower conference, Guetlein “said the strategic competition with China in space will require the U.S. to shift its reliance on fixed assets in preset orbits to more ‘dynamic’ systems – satellites that can move, be upgraded and adapt their tasks as needed.” The concept “was first unveiled by US Space Command’s deputy chief Lt. Gen. John Shaw, who recently retired.” He “described it as the need for satellites to maneuver away from threats or towards objects of interest.”
Full Story (Space News)

SpaceX Stands Down Both Falcon Heavy, Falcon 9 Launches

The Orlando Sentinel  reports that SpaceX “is standing down from attempting to launch its powerhouse Falcon Heavy for now, citing the need for ‘systems checkouts’ while weather would have been an issue the next couple of days.” It has already “delayed a Falcon 9 launch as well.” After delaying a Sunday attempt “to launch Falcon Heavy from Kennedy Space Center’s Launch Pad 39-A because of weather and then scrubbing a Monday night attempt less than an hour before its planned liftoff because of a ‘ground side issue,’ SpaceX had announced it would try again Wednesday.” But late Tuesday, “it called off those plans.” USSF-52 is a mission “to send up the Space Force’s secretive mini shuttle, the X-37B Orbital Test Vehicle built by Boeing, on what would be the spacecraft’s seventh trip to orbit.” The classified missions “have sent it on longer and longer duration flights each time, having spent nearly 909 days in space the last time around.” Weather was also the reason “it called off both a late Tuesday attempt and a planned Wednesday attempt to launch a Falcon 9 from nearby Cape Canaveral Space Force Station’s Space Launch Complex 40 on another Starlink mission.”
Full Story (Orlando Sentinel)

Southwest Airlines CEO Promises Carrier is “Absolutely Ready” for Holiday Travel

Bloomberg reports that vowing to “avoid a repeat of catastrophic holiday delays that stranded thousands of passengers last year, Southwest Airlines Co.’s leader said the company was ‘absolutely ready’ for an impending travel crush.” Company CEO Bob Jordan said the carrier has overhauled its operations since last year’s debacle, and has “added workers and improved training to new cold-weather equipment and revamped technology.”
Full Story (Bloomberg)

Blue Origin to Resume New Shepard Suborbital Launches

Space News reports that Blue Origin “has announced plans to launch its New Shepard suborbital vehicle on its first flight since a mishap more than 15 months ago.” Blue Origin “announced on social media Dec. 12 that it will launch its New Shepard vehicle no earlier than Dec. 18 from its West Texas test site.” The vehicle “will carry 33 experiments as well as 38,000 postcards from Club for the Future, the educational nonprofit affiliated with the company.” The mission, designated NS-24, “would be the first for New Shepard since a mishap on a September 2022 flight, NS-23.”
Full Story (Space News)

Dassault Falcon Jet Announces $100M Expansion in Little Rock, Arkansas

The AP reports that on Tuesday, Dassault Falcon Jet “announced a $100 million expansion of its facility in Little Rock that the jet manufacturer said will add 800 new jobs. Dassault announced it had selected Little Rock for the expanded completion center for the development and delivery of its new Dassault Falcon 6X business jet and future Falcon programs. The company already has 1,400 workers at its two facilities in Little Rock.”
Full Story (Associated Press)

ULA Vulcan Centaur Rocket’s Maiden Launch Delayed to January

SPACE reports that the premiere “of the Space Coast’s newest launch vehicle, carrying a moon lander aiming for the first commercial touchdown, will likely slip to the beginning of 2024.” United Launch Alliance (ULA) “performed a wet dress rehearsal (WDR) of the company’s new Vulcan Centaur rocket over the weekend, which includes loading propellant into the spacecraft and running through launch-day procedures up to the moments before engine ignition.” However, the test did not go to plan. A social media post from ULA CEO Tory Bruno Sunday indicated the test “ran the timeline long so we didn’t quite finish.” Vulcan’s first launch, “which includes the rocket’s Centaur second stage, was scheduled for Dec. 24 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in coastal Florida.” But the incomplete WDR “means that window is likely out.” The next window “opens Jan. 8, and will last four days, the CEO clarified in a follow-up post.” Each of those opportunities “include an instantaneous launch window to accommodate the mission’s main payload: Astrobotic’s Peregrine lunar lander, headed for the moon.”
Full Story (SPACE)

FAA to Set New Maintenance Requirements for Pratt & Whitney PW1100G Engines

FlightGlobal reports that the FAA “plans to place new maintenance requirements on airlines after learning that more components in Pratt & Whitney PW1100G engines may be affected by a powder-metal manufacturing problem.” The FAA “laid out new proposed requirements in a regulatory filing released on 11 December, saying some PW1100G rotors, hubs and air seals will need ‘accelerated replacement’ due to the manufacturing issue.” The proposal “would affect 430 US-registered PW1100Gs, which power Airbus A320neo-family jets.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)

SpaceX Falcon Heavy Rocket Launch of X-37B Space Plane Delayed

SPACE reported that a SpaceX Falcon Heavy rocket “is poised to launch the X-37B space plane for the US Space Force on Monday evening (Dec. 11) after a one-day delay due to weather, and you can likely watch the action live.” Liftoff of the Falcon Heavy “is scheduled to occur from Launch Complex-39A at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, during a 10-minute window that opens at 8:14 p.m. EST (0114 GMT Dec. 12).” The upcoming launch “will be the seventh launch to date for the reusable X-37B space plane its first-ever ride on a Falcon Heavy, which could have consequences for its coming orbital mission.” Five of the six X-37B launches “to date have employed United Launch Alliance Atlas V rockets, with one other using a SpaceX Falcon 9.”
Full Story (SPACE)