Aviation Week reports, “The prospect of flying premium passengers direct to airport terminals in clean, quiet electric air taxis has moved a step closer, but significant progress must still be made if it is to become a reality. In early August, Joby Aviation agreed to acquire the passenger business of urban helicopter service provider Blade Air Mobility.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: September 2025
SpaceX Aims to Launch NASA’s IMAP Mission to Map Boundaries of Our Solar System on Sept. 23
SPACE reports a SpaceX Falcon 9 launch on Sept. 23 will send three spacecraft a million miles from Earth to map the heliosphere and expand our understanding of space weather and atmospheric science. “A Falcon 9 rocket is scheduled to lift off from Launch Complex-39A, at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, on Sept. 23 at 7:32 a.m. EDT.”
Full Story (SPACE)
First US Navy E-130J Phoenix II Command Aircraft Rolls Out
FlightGlobal reports the first airframe for the US Navy’s new E-130J Phoenix II strategic airborne command post “has rolled off the production line,” marking a milestone in “the $3.5 billion TACAMO modernisation … programme.”
Full Story (FlightGlobal)
SPHEREx Mission: Mapping the Universe in Unprecedented Detail
From the Institute
In the vast expanse of space, a revolutionary observatory no larger than a small car is quietly transforming our understanding of the cosmos. SPHEREx, NASA’s Spectro-Photometer for the History of the Universe, Epoch of Reionization and Ices Explorer, represents a remarkable achievement in astronomical engineering—a mission that delivers extraordinary science from a deceptively modest package.
Full Story (Aerospace America)
Juno Spacecraft Discovers Auroral ‘Footprints’ of Jupiter’s Moon Callisto
SPACE reports, “In a landmark observation by a team of international researchers, NASA’s Juno spacecraft has, for the first time, clearly detected the auroras of Jupiter’s moon Callisto. This discovery completes the set of auroral signatures we have from all four Galilean moons: Io, Europa, Ganymede and Callisto.”
Full Story (SPACE)
SpaceX Marks 2,000 Starlink Satellites Deployed in 2025
Spaceflight Now reports the Starlink 17-9 mission added another 24 broadband satellites to its low Earth orbit constellation of more than 8,300. Liftoff from pad 4E at Vandenberg took place “Saturday morning … at 11:06 a.m. PDT (2:06 p.m. EDT / 1806 UTC).”
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Video
SpaceX launches Starlink satellites from Vandenberg Space Force Station in California on Falcon 9 (Launch at 30:04 mark)
Spaceflight Now; YouTube
US Air Force’s New ‘Doomsday Plane’ Begins Flight Tests
Defense News reports, “The Air Force and aerospace firm Sierra Nevada Corp. have started flight tests on the service’s next-generation ‘doomsday plane.’ Flight tests for the E-4C Survivable Airborne Operations Control, or SAOC, are being held at the Aviation Innovation and Technology Center in Dayton, Ohio, the company said in a Wednesday release.”
Full Story (Defense News)
Cargo Dragon Completes First “Boost Kit” Maneuver to Help Maintain Space Station’s Altitude
Aviation Week reports, “NASA’s 33rd SpaceX Cargo Dragon resupply mission to the ISS has completed its first “boost kit” propulsion maneuver to help maintain the orbital laboratory’s altitude. The maneuver, conducted on Sept. 3, lasted 5 min. and 3 sec., raising the low point of the nearly 1 million-lb. ISS’s orbit by about 1 mi., a NASA mission update said. The maneuver positioned the orbital lab in a 260- by 256.3-mi.-high orbit as it circles the Earth at a 51.6-deg. inclination to the equator.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Joby Conducts Successful Demonstration of its Superpilot Autonomous Flight Technology
Military Aerospace reports Joby Aviation Inc. “announced a first-of-its-kind demonstration of its autonomous flight technology. As part of the Resolute Force Pacific (REFORPAC), a Department-Level Exercise led by Pacific Air Forces, Joby conducted a successful demonstration and validation of its Superpilot autonomous flight technology over the Pacific Ocean and Hawaii, logging more than 7,000 miles of autonomous operations across more than 40 flight hours.”
Full Story (Military Aerospace)
Full Story (Military Aerospace)
SpaceX Falcon 9 Launches 28 More Starlink Satellites into Orbit from Cape Canaveral
SPACE reports a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket launched from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station Wednesday morning, Sept. 3, carrying 28 Starlink wireless internet satellites “into low-Earth orbit (LEO), deploying the satellites about an hour after liftoff,” which took place at 7:56 a.m. EDT.
Full Story (SPACE)
Video
SpaceX launches 28 Starlink Satellites from Cape Canaveral, Florida. (Launch at the 0:14 mark)
VideoFromSpace; YouTube