Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Momentus is preparing its Vigoride space tug for vibration testing in advance of its targeted June launch aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket.

Greece is purchasing six more Dassault Rafales from France, boosting its planned fleet to 24 aircraft.

Joby Aviation has begun building the first production prototype for certification flight testing of its S4 electric vertical takeoff and landing air taxi.

NASA’s Jasmin Moghbeli and the European Space Agency’s Andreas Mogensen have been selected as the first two of four astronauts planned for launch aboard the SpaceX Crew-7 Dragon no earlier than 2023 for a six-month mission aboard the International Space Station.

Airbus has selected GE Aviation’s Catalyst turboprop engine as the powerplant for the Eurodrone medium-altitude long-endurance uncrewed air system.

The maintenance center for the Pratt & Whitney F135 is rebounding from a dismal performance in 2019 and 2020, which led to an engine shortage and the grounding of more than 50 U.S. F-35s.

The South Korean military carried out kill chain training on the same day as North Korea’s latest intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) test on March 24.

Boeing has added Airbus Helicopters to its German teaming arrangements as it pushes its CH-47 Chinook transport helicopter for Germany’s military heavy lift helicopter need.

DARPA has kicked off its orbital Moon manufacturing program, naming eight research teams for the initiative.

Neuraspace, a Portuguese startup looking to use artificial intelligence for space debris and satellite collision avoidance services, has landed more than $2.7 million from Armilar Venture Partners to accelerate the commercialization of its platform.

Barry Matsumori, a SpaceX veteran and until recently the CEO of space optical communications startup BridgeComm, was named the chief operating officer of Impulse Space Propulsion, the new in-orbit transfer services company founded by Tom Mueller, a SpaceX co-founder and its longtime chief technology officer.

The U.S. Senate has passed legislation aimed at marshaling federal efforts to promote the advanced air mobility industry.

For decades, the U.S. Air Force relied on its workhorse fleet of MQ-1 Predators to track and identify targets and attribute events on the ground.

A UK consortium led by Embraer company Eve UAM has completed a concept of operations for urban air mobility in London that identifies the near-term challenges and actions required to enable electric air taxi service.

NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test mission promises some real drama as it zeros in on its target later this year.

The missile flew east toward Japan, but splashed down short of the northern tip of the island of Honshu, South Korean military leaders reported.

Airbus Helicopters has begun testing the autonomous takeoff and landing capabilities of its VSR700 rotary-wing unmanned aircraft system.

Switzerland plans to have as many as 28 of its Lockheed Martin F-35s built in Italy, becoming the third customer to build the Joint Strike Fighter in Europe.

The UK’s Cranfield Aerospace Solutions has secured £10.5 million ($13.8 million) in investment from HydrogenOne Capital Growth and Safran to develop hydrogen fuel-cell electric propulsion for aviation.

NATO leaders have pledged to increase materiel support to Ukraine and further strengthen the alliance’s presence in Eastern Europe.

Startup Dark Fission Space Systems announced plans on March 22 to build and demonstrate a nuclear thermal rocket engine in orbit within five years.

Japanese commercial UAV company Terra Drone has raised $70 million in Series B venture capital from local investors and will apply the funds toward a drone air traffic management service.

The COVID-19 pandemic may be abating, but for suppliers such as Canada’s Magellan Aerospace the effects continue to hit home.

A Canadian satellite recently came “dangerously close” to another nation’s satellite, a Canadian Space Agency official says.

NASA plans to extend its Human Landing System contract with SpaceX to cover a second crewed landing on the Moon and launch a parallel procurement leading to a second commercial provider for crewed transportation services to and from lunar orbit and the lunar surface.