Aviation Week reports, “NASA is continuing to speed up the rate of X-59 flight tests as the Quesst low-boom supersonic demonstrator program builds up to its first Mach 1 faster-than-sound milestone flight. The needle nose Lockheed Martin Skunk Works-built aircraft has so far accumulated around 19.6 flight hours on 16 flights, eight of which were completed in April.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
Tag: TEMPO
SpaceX Launches NASA’s TEMPO from Cape Canaveral
Florida Today reports that SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket from Cape Canaveral early on Friday morning “carrying a communications satellite and hosted NASA payload – a roughly $200 million pollution-detecting mission – to orbit high above Earth.” The payload for Friday’s launch “was Intelsat 40e, a commercial communications satellite owned by Luxembourg operator Intelsat.” Upon activation, the satellite will “deliver high-speed internet to private airplanes, vehicles, and mobile devices.” Before that happens, “the satellite will go through checkouts before becoming operational at its final location in geostationary orbit high above North America where its orbit will match Earth’s rotation, allowing it to continuously service a specific part of the planet.”
Full Story (Florida Today)
Video
Intelsat IS-40e Mission
On Friday, April 7 at 12:30 a.m. ET, a Falcon 9 launched the Intelsat IS-40e mission from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.
(SpaceX; YouTube)