Russia’s Roscosmos and Tunisian telecommunication company Telnet Holding signed a memorandum of understanding on Aug. 13 in Moscow calling for the preparation of Tunisia’s first person to travel into space, Roscosmos chief Dmitry Rogozin said.
Contractors vying to develop the future system that would defend the U.S. against intercontinental ballistic missiles say they can meet the aggressive schedule being pushed by military leaders.
Slingshot Aerospace, an Austin, Texas, startup focusing on space traffic-control products and services, has acquired another startup, Stellatus Solutions, which was building a platform for competing satellite operators to communicate among themselves.
It was a week of ups and downs for the urban air mobility (UAM) industry, illustrating the turbulence roiling the nascent market as companies jockey for leading positions.
UK startup Electric Aircraft Group (EAG) has secured an investment from Irish regional airline CityJet to advance its plans to develop a hydrogen-electric 90-seat regional aircraft for entry into service in 2030.
Opener’s BlackFly might start its life as a toy for the affluent early adopter, as did the Ski-Doo and the Sea-Doo, but its designer believes the single-seat electric vertical-takeoff vehicle will ultimately find multiple practical uses.
Satellite communications provider Inmarsat announced a major upgrade to its L-band network on Aug. 12 that promises higher data speeds and smaller, lower-cost terminals for aviation users.
Overair is emphasizing low noise and robust performance margins as it unveils the production configuration for its Butterfly quad-tiltrotor electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing air taxi.
As NASA’s Osiris-Rex asteroid sample return mission speeds back to Earth to drop off materials gathered from the surface of Bennu, scientists have used data gathered during 30 months of close-up reconnaissance to determine the 500-meter-wide (1,640-ft.) object poses an extremely small impact threat to Earth.
Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan has suggested the country will invest in a fleet of firefighting aircraft after a series of devastating forest blazes forced the country to call on international help.
The Cygnus, named for the late NASA astronaut Ellison Onizuka, carries 8,210 lb. of crew supplies, ISS equipment, science experiments and technology demonstrations.
Airbus has said the partnership’s Bridge Tanker proposal will be based on the Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT), but comments from a Skunk Works executive suggest advanced upgrades could be added for the U.S. version of the international best-seller.
A specialist in dexterous robotic manipulators has received $1 million in U.S. Army funding to develop a system to autonomously refuel Boeing AH-64 Apache helicopters in the field.
Africa has emerged as a proving ground for drone delivery, headlined by Zipline’s large-scale on-demand medical delivery networks in Rwanda, Ghana and now Nigeria. Now the continent is turning its attention to urban air mobility.
Tokyo-based startup SkyDrive has begun cooperating with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency on aerodynamic research to support development of its planned electric urban air vehicle.
