A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center at 9:03 p.m. EST on Nov. 10 to deliver a Crew Dragon spacecraft carrying four astronauts to the International Space Station for NASA.
Startup Archer Aviation has transported its Maker technology demonstrator to a flight test center in California in preparation for a first hover flight of the electric vertical takeoff and landing vehicle before year’s end.
The leader of the National Guard Bureau said he supports a proposal to cut one C-130 wing in the component, though the rest of the Hercules fleet needs to be modernized not just for homeland missions but also for wartime needs, as Congress, the U.S. Air Force and the Guard wrestle over the airlifter’s required fleet size.
In a search to add suppliers to help it build rockets, United Launch Alliance visited Wichita aerospace suppliers Nov. 10, accompanied by Sen. Jerry Moran (R-Kansas).
Northrop Grumman has frozen the design for a satellite that could steer from low earth orbit an interceptor launched against a hypersonic glide vehicle or ballistic missile.
About 6 hr. ahead of when SpaceX was due to launch four new crewmembers to the International Space Station on Nov. 10, Russia conducted a 361-sec. burn of the station’s core module to maneuver the outpost away from a potential conjunction with a piece of orbital debris from China’s 2007 ASAT test.
Satellite operator Iridium announced on Nov. 10 that its Certus 100 satellite communications service is now commercially available for aviation and other applications.
The U.S. Army’s Future Vertical Lift program has flown dozens of firsts over the last several weeks with a UH-60 Black Hawk “surrogate” for the Future Armed Reconnaissance Aircraft equipped with a prototype of the future helicopter’s launcher.
Existing composite materials and manufacturing processes will not scale to the production volumes envisioned for advanced air mobility and startups should consider collaborating to qualify new technologies, urges a company formed to help companies scale up manufacturing.
Zero-emissions propulsion startup Universal Hydrogen has signed an agreement with a clean-energy subsidiary of Australian mining company Fortescue Metals Group to secure a supply of green hydrogen through to 2035.
The U.S. Army is confident that the Lockheed Martin Precision Strike Missile can fly beyond 500 km after the service lost telemetry tracking data of the missile during a long-range test last month.
Belarusian fighter aircraft escorted Russian Tupolev Tu-22s “Backfire” bombers and Sukhoi Su-35 fighters in an apparent show of force after Poland moved thousands of military personnel close to the border in an attempt to stop thousands of migrants crossing from Belarus.
Norwegian regional airline Wideroe is continuing its journey toward introducing zero-emissions aircraft, signing an agreement with Embraer’s Eve subsidiary to study electric vertical takeoff and landing operations in Scandinavia.
Taiwan wants to be able to better counter “Grey Zone threats” posed by China, which the island says are designed by the mainland to “seize Taiwan without a fight.”
Development costs for NASA’s Orion deep-space capsule through the Artemis II crewed flight test—which is now not expected until May 2024—will increase by $2.5 billion due to an expanded scope of work, delays from pandemic-related supply issues and other factors, boosting the program’s overall cost to $9.3 billion.
South Korean automaker Hyundai has renamed its urban air mobility division Supernal and plans to begin certification of its electric air taxi in the U.S. in 2024, aiming to launch commercial flights in 2028.
Romania’s Ministry of the Interior has signed a contract to buy a fleet of up to 12 Sikorsky Black Hawk helicopters to be used by the country’s emergency services agency.
Airbus Helicopters has performed what it claims to be the first helicopter flight on 100% sustainable aviation fuel, albeit powering only one of the two engines on the H225 testbed.
Startup ZeroAvia has partnered with India’s Hindustan Aeronautics to develop a supplemental type certificate for its conversion of the 19-passenger Dornier 228 regional turboprop to hydrogen-electric propulsion.
For the aerospace and defense industry, the breakup of General Electric has spurred a flurry of brainstorming over how GE Aviation could combine with other A&D assets to form the next industry colossus.
