The Miami Herald reports that after “running through a successful test fire this month, SpaceX is set to fly its massive Starship and Super Heavy rocket, and is just waiting on the Federal Aviation Administration for the green light, according to one company official.” The company said the static fire test in which 31 of the rocket’s 33 engines performed as expected was the first and only necessary step towards an orbital test flight.
Full Story (Miami Herald)
Tag: Test Flight
Beta Technologies Partners with Blade Air Mobility on eVOTL Test Flight
Aviation International News reports that on Tuesday, Beta Technologies “made a test flight of its six-seat, all-electric Alia-250 EVA eVTOL at the Westchester County Airport (KHPN) in White Plains, New York.” The flight, which was performed in cooperation with Blade Air Mobility, “was the first of an eVTOL aircraft in the New York metropolitan area.” The Alia-250 flew “alongside a conventional helicopter before pulling away for a second pass above the airport to highlight the eVTOL’s comparative quietness.” Beta claims that “its noise profile is one-tenth that of a conventional helicopter.” In April 2021, Blade “agreed to facilitate the purchase of up to 20 passenger-configured Alia-250s by its network of operators.” Blade intends to “deploy these aircraft on routes between its network of dedicated terminals in the U.S. Beta has also agreed to provide and install charging infrastructure at certain key locations.”
Full Story (Aviation International News)
China Conducts Blended Wing Body Verification Scale Model Flight
Aviation Week reports that China has flown a “verification scale model of the BWB-330 blended wing body concept aircraft” designed by Northwestern Polytechnic University and aircraft manufacturer Comac. The model represents “a future civil airliner design that would carry 300-330 passengers.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
World’s Largest Aircraft Flies Record Test Flight Carrying Hypersonic Talon-A
The Daily Mail (UK) reports that the world’s largest aircraft “with a 383-foot wingspan recently took to the skies over the Mojave Desert in California to complete a six-hour test flight for a new record.” The Stratolaunch Roc carrier plane “conducted its second test flight Friday morning while carrying the Talon-A separation test vehicle.” The flight is “a significant step for the company’s progress toward the separation test and its first hypersonic flight of TA-1 within the first half of 2023.” The primary objectives “for Friday’s flight, which is the craft’s ninth take off, included flight outside of the local Mojave area for the first time and evaluation of the separation environment.” Zachary Krevor, chief executive officer and president of Stratolaunch, said in a statement: “Our amazing team is continuing to make progress on our test timeline, and it is through their hard work that we grow closer than ever to safe separation and our first hypersonic flight tests.”
Full Story (Daily Mail)
SpaceX Prepares Starship for Test Flight
The Hill reports that the first launch “of SpaceX’s massive rocket, called Starship, could be coming soon.” The company shared “a series of photos highlighting the vehicle’s progress ahead of its highly anticipated test flight.” Starship consists “of two major components: a massive first-stage booster called the ‘Super Heavy’ and an upper stage known as ‘Starship.’” In typical SpaceX fashion, “both aspects of the craft are designed to be fully reusable.” The company has been “working its way towards the program’s first orbital test flight, which CEO Elon Musk says is coming soon, and could take place as soon as the end of February.”
Full Story (The Hill)
NASA, Boeing Push Starliner Test Flight to Early April
Space News reports that NASA and The Boeing Company said Wednesday that the second uncrewed Boeing CST-100 Starliner flight test will be pushed from March 25 to no earlier than April 2. The test was delayed in order “to replace hardware damaged during processing of the spacecraft.” The announcement “comes after Boeing recently replaced avionics units on the vehicle that were damaged by a power surge that NASA said was caused by ‘a ground support equipment configuration issue during final checkouts’ of the spacecraft.” Boeing also is “working to complete testing of software on the spacecraft, addressing one of the key issues with the first OFT mission in December 2019.” NASA “said that teams have completed about 95% of the recommendations identified by an independent review of that mission nearly a year ago, which focused primarily on software.”
Full Story (Space News)
SpaceX Could Launch SN15 as Early as Tuesday
CNET News reports that SpaceX is aiming to conduct a test flight of its Starship SN15 prototype as early as Tuesday. SpaceX CEO Elon Musk “said SN15 ‘has hundreds of design improvements across structures, avionics/software and engine,’ including, hopefully, upgrades to cover some of the problems that have prevented SpaceX from sticking the landing so far without a rapid unscheduled disassembly.” SN15 “has undergone some initial testing, and Musk initially tweeted that the aim was to launch last month, but that target continued to slip.” On Thursday, the FAA “said it had approved a launch license covering SN15, SN16 and SN17.” SN15 “could launch anytime (or not at all) within the approved windows once all the required closures and permissions are in place.”
Full Story (CNET News)
Volocopter Flies eVTOL Prototype
Aviation International News reported that Volocopter made the first FAA-approved flight of an eVTOL aircraft Tuesday at the EAA AirVenture show in Oshkosh, Wisconsin. The crewed Volocopter 2X prototype flew a four-minute sortie at around 164 feet. Volocopter confirmed that it is working on the four-seat VoloConnect aircraft, expected to have a 60-mile range and top speed of 155 mph.
Full Story (Aviation International News)
Boom XB-1 Technology Demonstrator Getting Closer to Supersonic Milestone
Aviation Week reports, “Boom Supersonic’s XB-1 technology demonstrator probed deeper into the transonic speed regime during its ninth test flight from Mojave Air & Space Port, California, on Dec. 13, paving the way for an attempt to reach and exceed Mach 1, now targeted for early 2025. Piloted by Boom chief test pilot Tristan “Geppetto” Brandenburg, the XB-1 expanded the altitude envelope to over 27,700 ft., continued tests of the Flutter Excitation System (FES), and reached a maximum speed of Mach 0.87.”
Full Story (Aviation Week)
SpaceX Targets November 18 for Starship Flight 6 Launch
Spaceflight Now reports that SpaceX “announced on Wednesday a target launch date of Nov. 18” for its sixth test flight of Starship. This will be the fastest turnaround for the Starship program as SpaceX works towards what needs to become a weekly launch cadence for NASA’s Artemis program.
Full Story (Spaceflight Now)
Rolls-Royce Completes Pearl 10X Test Flights
Flight Global reports, “Rolls-Royce has completed flight testing of the Pearl 10X engine it is developing for the Dassault Aviation Falcon 10X business jet after a six-month campaign. Installed on the propulsion specialist’s Boeing 747-200 testbed – contributing to the jet’s unique five-engine configuration – the powerplant has been in flight test since 29 March.”
Full Story (Flight Global)
Video
Rolls-Royce’s Most Powerful Pearl 10X Engine Getting Ready for First Flight
(Global Update; YouTube)
XQ-58A Valkyrie Test Flight Successful
Unmanned Systems Technology reports Kratos Defense & Security Solutions “recently completed a successful flight of its production XQ-58A Valkyrie aircraft for the Block 2 Valkyrie Maturation Program.” During a test flight performed at Yuma Proving Ground, the XQ-58A flew “longer, higher, at a heavier mission weight, and at a longer range than the platform has previously been approved for” and demonstrated. The flight also “demonstrated encrypted communications with redundant radios/communications” and “key autonomous capability for the end of mission phase of flight and recovery of the aircraft without RF comms.”
Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
Boeing Planning Starliner Test Flight Atop ULA Atlas V on May 19
The Houston Chronicle reports that The Boeing Company has announced that it plans to launch its CST-100 Starliner test flight – originally scheduled for August 3 of last year – on May 19. “Next month, Boeing will launch its Starliner spacecraft atop a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket. They will lift off from the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.”
Full Story (Houston Chronicle)
Boom Eyes Third XB-1 Test Flight After Successful Second Sortie
Flight Global reports, “Boom Supersonic’s successful second test flight of its XB-1 demonstrator on 26 August positions the company to accelerate the pace of the flight-test programme, with a third flight potentially coming next month.”
Full Story (Flight Global – Subscription Publication)
AIAA Statement on SpaceX Starship Test Flight
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 18, 2023 – Reston, Va. – The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) issued the following statement from AIAA Executive Director Dan Dumbacher:
“Congratulations to the SpaceX team on today’s test flight of Starship from Starbase, Texas. It is exciting to witness a new launch vehicle achieving so many of its test objectives toward reaching orbit. The art and science of engineering requires testing and taking risks to understand the limits of systems and where designs should be improved. This test flight is a valuable learning experience, especially around the performance of its boosters. We look forward to seeing the team’s progress toward enhancing this new space launch capability and flying again.
With Starship, SpaceX is taking a step toward humans living and working off our planet. Flight tests, taking risks, and pushing new technologies that are still in development will lead to this future.
We are excited to see commercial space launch companies advancing technology in the cislunar ecosystem and pushing on to Mars. Expanding the boundaries leads to success.
AIAA recognizes the countless industry professionals who have helped design, build, and test Starship. We applaud AIAA Corporate Member SpaceX for taking this step forward in shaping the future of aerospace.”
AIAA Media Contact: Rebecca B. Gray, [email protected], 804-397-5270 cell
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, or LinkedIn.
Blue Origin’s New Glenn Rocket Launches on its Inaugural Flight
Scientific American reports, “A few minutes after 2:00 A.M. EST, a hulking, 320-foot-tall rocket slipped its tethers at the Cape Canaveral Space Force Station and heaved itself into the sky on a bluish-white pillar of flame, briefly turning night into day along the eastern shore of Florida’s Space Coast. About 8 minutes later, the rocket’s large, first-stage booster failed to stick its landing on a barge in the Atlantic—not exactly the desired outcome, but not unusual for the first attempt to land a booster upright.”
Full Story (Scientific American)
More Info (AIAA Statement)
Video
New Glenn at liftoff during the NG-1 mission, January 16, 2025. (Launch at 04:00:41 mark)
(NASASpaceflight; YouTube)
SpaceX’s Starship Rocket Disrupts Florida Airports With Unsuccessful Test Flight
The New York Times reports, “Starship — the huge spacecraft that Elon Musk says will one day take people to Mars — failed during its latest test flight on Thursday when its upper stage exploded in space, raining debris and disrupting air traffic at airports from Florida to Pennsylvania. It was the second consecutive test flight of the most powerful rocket ever built where the upper-stage spacecraft malfunctioned. It started spinning out of control after several engines went out and then lost contact with mission control.”
Full Story (New York Times – Subscription Publication)
Video
SpaceX Starship launches on flight 8, catches booster but loses ship again (Launch at 00:25:35 mark)
(VideoFromSpace; YouTube)
Joby Achieves Testing Milestone with Simultaneous Flight of Two eVTOL Aircraft
CompositesWorld reports, “Joby Aviation Inc. (Santa Cruz, Calif., U.S.) has successfully flown two of its electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) aircraft simultaneously for the first time, marking another important milestone in the company’s flight testing program.”
Full Story (CompositesWorld)
Video
Joby Aviation’s Two Aircraft Flight
(Joby Aviation; YouTube)