Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “AeroVironment (AV) has successfully demonstrated its JUMP® 20 uncrewed aircraft system (UAS) with a heavy fuel engine. The higher horsepower and lower fuel burn rate provided by the heavy fuel engine expands the capabilities of AV’s proven JUMP 20 platform.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Techology)
Tag: June 2024
FAA Approves Joby Aviation’s Use of In-House Software for Air-Taxi Operations
Reuters reports, “Joby Aviation said on Thursday the FAA has authorized the use of the air-taxi maker’s in-house software to perform tasks such as managing pilot workload and matching passengers with aircraft similar to ride-hailing apps. The nod for the operating system, known as ElevateOS, comes as Joby gears up to launch its commercial air-taxi operations as early as 2025.”
Full Story (Reuters)
ESA’s Ariane 6 Moved to Launch Pad for First Flight
SpaceWatch.Global reports, “The ESA has transferred Ariane 6’s upper composite with the payloads it will launch to Europe’s Spaceport in French Guiana. The upper part of the rocket journeyed from the encapsulation hall in Europe’s Spaceport to the launch pad in the morning and placed on top of the rocket … Ariane 6 is on schedule to launch on July 9”
Full Story (SpaceWatch.Global)
Will the Air Force Proceed with a Next-Gen Fighter Jet?
Defense One reports, “Delays in Lockheed Martin’s F-35 program and Boeing’s lackluster performance on its own defense efforts could be driving recent—and unexpected—comments from Air Force leaders that it might not build a next-gen fighter jet. Aviation observers were thrown for a loop last week when service chief Gen. David Allvin declined to commit to building the future Next Generation Air Dominance aircraft…”
Full Story (Defense One)
Airborne Lasers Offer New Hope for Missile Defense Agency
Breaking Defense reports, “Airborne lasers are back in the sights of the Missile Defense Agency — a decade after the first attempt to build a system collapsed, having swallowed 16 years and $5 billion in research and development.” Mark Lewis, formerly “the Pentagon’s senior scientist now CEO of the Purdue Applied Research Institute (PARI), gave MDA a thumbs up for taking a new look at the concept, noting that the technology has come a long way since 2014.”
Full Story (Breaking Defense)
Perseverance Rover Finds Mysterious Boulder “Never Observed Before” on Mars
CBS News reports, “While exploring a crater on Mars that may give scientists insights into life that potentially once existed there, NASA said its Perseverance rover made an unprecedented discovery. The rover, which landed on the Red Planet in 2021 specifically to probe the ancient Jezero crater, found a mysterious light-toned boulder earlier this month that was the first of its kind seen on Martian land.”
Full Story (CBS News)
Blue Origin Permitted to Bid on National-Security Launches
Defense One reports, “The Pentagon has picked three companies—Blue Origin, SpaceX, and United Launch Alliance—for its new satellite launch competition that was built to usher new entrants into the market … This marks a big win for Blue Origin, which has yet to fly a national security mission.”
Full Story (Defense One)
Cessna Citation Ascend Completes First Test Flight
Flying Magazine reports, “The second Cessna Citation Ascend test article has completed its first test flight, advancing development of the business jet program, according to Textron Aviation. The milestone flight for the aircraft—called P1—on Wednesday over Wichita, Kansas, follows that of the Ascend prototype, which completed its first flight in 2023, making the P1 aircraft the first conforming production flight test aircraft, Textron said.”
Full Story (Flying Magazine)
Powerful Solar Storm Shows Radiation Will be a Real Challenge for Mars Colonists
SPACE reports that a powerful solar storm in May 2024 created auroras on Mars that have provided scientists with crucial information that could aid future crewed missions. “Researchers with NASA’s MAVEN orbiter, 2001 Mars Odyssey orbiter, and Curiosity Mars rover each played key roles in capturing data from the event that will help us better understand our neighboring planet and plan for future crewed visits to it.”
Full Story (SPACE)
Aurora’s Centaur Aircraft Completes In-Air Data Collection
Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “Aurora Flight Sciences has carried out flight testing with its Centaur optionally piloted aircraft (OPA), based on a certified twin-engine general aviation aircraft. Centaur is equipped with an EO/IR camera, maritime surveillance radar, and Automatic Identification System payloads.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)