Denise Donnell, the first woman to command the New York Air National Guard, was promoted to the two-star rank of major general at Stratton Air National Guard Base. Donnell was the first woman to command one of the New York Air National Guard's five flying wings and is one of only five women to attain the rank of major general in the New York National Guard, according to Gov. Kathy Hochul's office. Donnell's two-star general's rank was pinned on by her father, Dr. Robert Donnell, and brother, Air National Guard Technical Sgt. John Donnell. Hochul appointed Donnell as commander of the 5,800 airmen and women of the nation's largest Air Guard contingent in April. The Air National Guard members under Donnell's command respond when disaster strikes in New York and conduct critical missions overseas, according to a summary provided by the governor's office. Members of the Guard's 107th Attack Wing,....
When Adefunke Adeyemi walks into the room, you can immediately feel there is a force of nature at work. She has a disarming smile, a firm handshake, and a clear sense of purpose. The new secretary-general of AFCAC is on a mission. This can only be good news for the civil aviation industry across the whole of Africa as it embarks on the rocky road of implementing the single African air transport market (SAATM) agreement. This aims to remove restrictions on Africans’ ability to travel, work and live within their own continent by transforming restrictive laws and promoting visa-free travel to enhance movement as part of a continental free trade agreement. Taking up the AFCAC role in July, Nigeria-born Adeyemi had spent 12 years working with the International Air Transport Association (IATA) and has been a keen advocate for the ideal of the SAATM agreement. She is thrilled to be....
Raytheon Technologies has successfully completed its first engine run of the company's regional hybrid-electric flight demonstrator, marking a key milestone towards flight testing, targeted to begin in 2024. The propulsion system's initial run took place at Pratt & Whitney's innovation facility in Longueuil, Quebec and performed as expected. The system fully integrates a 1 MW electric motor developed by Collins Aerospace with a highly efficient Pratt & Whitney fuel-burning engine, specially adapted for hybrid-electric operation. This powerplant technology will enable more efficient engine performance during the different phases of flight, such as take-off, climb and cruise, reducing fuel burn and CO2 emissions by up to 30% compared to today's most advanced regional turboprop aircraft. "Hybrid-electric propulsion technology offers significant potential to optimise efficiency across a range of different aircraft applications, helping our industry meet its ambitious goal for achieving net zero CO2 emissions," said Jean Thomassin, executive director new products....
Emirates has noted a 154% increase in vegan meals year on year as Veganuary kicks off for 2023. Currently Emirates offers more than 180 recipes catering to vegan passengers or those looking for a healthy meal onboard, and has been serving vegan meals since the 1990’s. Initially, vegan requirements were focused on specific routes such as Addis Ababa where vegan meals are required during certain times of the year by those practicing the Ethiopian Orthodox faith, or across the Indian subcontinent where multiple faiths encourage a plant-based diet. Over recent years however, vegan dishes have been rapidly gaining popularity on US, Australian, some European and UK routes, with Emirates noting a sizeable increase in interest in vegan dishes over the last decade. Routes showing recent increasing interest in vegan meals include Beirut, Cairo, and Taiwan. Current vegan meal favorites in Economy Class include a creamy spinach and avocado mousseline, with....
Northrop Grumman has completed ground-based tests to demonstrate critical technology required for a 2025 demonstration of space-based solar power. “As far as the technologies go, we’re very confident in our design and we’ve proven it out,” Tara Theret, Northrop Grumman’s Space Solar Power Incremental Demonstrations and Research (SSPIDR) program director, told SpaceNews. “Now, it’s just building, testing and integrating the rest of the hardware on a challenging timeline.” Northrop Grumman announced the successful demonstration of a key element of SSPIDR, the ability to beam radio frequency energy toward various antennas by steering the beam. The testing was conducted in one of Northrop Grumman’s anechoic test chambers in Baltimore. Next, Northrop Grumman will “take those findings and translate them into our prototype, which we anticipate launching in 2025 to actually show the capability of beaming RF energy down to the planet,” said Jay Patel, vice president of Northrop Grumman Remote Sensing....
The US Space Systems Command recently launched a cubesat intended to demonstrate commercial weather imaging technologies for military use. The Electro-Optical/Infrared (EO/IR) Weather Systems (EWS) demonstration launched on the SpaceX Transporter-6 rideshare that deployed more than 110 small satellites. Over a planned one-year demonstration, the Space Force wants to assess the capabilities of an imaging cubesat made by Orion Space Solutions to provide timely weather imagery data from low Earth orbit. This is a priority for the Defense Department that needs to fill a gap in weather coverage as the military’s decades-old Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) satellites are running out of fuel and projected to be out of service between 2023 and 2026. Congress for years pressed the Air Force, and now the Space Force, to find alternatives to DMSP and consider commercial options. The launch of Orion’s prototype cubesat “satisfies the 2020 National Defense Authorization Act congressional mandate....
Raytheon Intelligence & Space announced that it has selected a Lockheed Martin bus to build a missile-tracking satellite for the US Space Force. The US Space Systems Command selected two satellite designs — one by Raytheon and the other by Millennium Space Systems — for a planned constellation of sensors in medium Earth orbit (MEO) to detect and track ballistic and hypersonic missiles. Both companies’ proposals last year cleared Space Force design reviews. The Pentagon is adding a layer of MEO satellites to the nation’s missile-defense architecture to provide extra eyes on enemy hypersonic missiles. Compared to current sensors in geostationary satellites, sensors in medium orbits would see closer to Earth and track a wider area than satellites in low Earth orbit. “This is an advanced solution to counter emerging missile threats facing our country,” said Roger Cole, executive director of strategic systems at Raytheon Intelligence & Space. Raytheon’s infrared....
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems won a contract from Advanced Space to build a satellite that the Air Force Research Laboratory plans to launch to deep space in 2025. General Atomics, based in San Diego, California, announced that it will produce an ESPA-class satellite bus, integrate and test payloads for Advanced Space, the prime contractor for AFRL’s Oracle experiment. AFRL’s Space Vehicles Directorate in November awarded Advanced Space a $72 million contract to develop a spacecraft for the Oracle mission, intended to monitor deep space, far beyond Earth’s orbit. The Oracle spacecraft will carry an optical payload made by Leidos and AFRL’s green propellant experiment for a two-year demonstration. Oracle will seek to detect objects and demonstrate spacecraft positioning and navigation techniques far beyond geosynchronous Earth orbit, in the vicinity of Earth-moon Lagrange Point 1, about 200,000 miles from Earth. The GEO belt is about 22,000 miles above Earth. Scott Forney,....
China is aiming to expand the use of its coastal Wenchang spaceport to both allow a greater overall launch rate and establish new facilities needed for crewed lunar missions. The Wenchang Satellite Launch Center was completed in 2014 and has since allowed China to launch its new generation kerolox and cryogenic rockets. These have in turn enabled the country to launch interplanetary and lunar missions and construct and supply its Tiangong space station. Now though the spaceport is being expanded to additionally facilitate commercial launches and the growth of China’s commercial space sector and, eventually, launch a new-generational crew launch vehicle and the super heavy-lift Long March 9 rocket. The development is an apparent part of long term plans for China to upgrade its overall space capabilities. “In the near future, Wenchang will see its launch frequency go from between six to eight times a year, to 20 or 30....
Impulse Space recently announced that it will launch its first orbital transfer vehicle late this year on a SpaceX rideshare mission. Impulse Space said its LEO Express-1 mission, using a transfer vehicle it is developing called Mira, is manifested for launch on SpaceX’s Transporter-9 rideshare mission currently scheduled for launch in the fourth quarter of 2023. LEO Express-1 will carry a primary payload for an undisclosed customer. Barry Matsumori, chief operating officer of Impulse Space, said in an interview that the mission can accommodate additional payloads, like cubesats. The mission profile is still being finalized, but he said the vehicle, after making some initial deployments, may raise its orbit, then lower it to demonstrate operations in what’s known as very low Earth orbit, around 300 kilometers. The performance of Mira depends on how much payload it is carrying, but he estimated that the vehicle can provide about 1,000 meters per....
1st women to command one of New York Air National Guard’s five flying wings
Africa’s new secretary general of AFCAC on a mission
Raytheon Technologies successfully completes its 1st hybrid-electric flight demonstrator
Emirates witnesses 154% increase in vegan meals as Veganuary kicks off for 2023
Northrop Grumman completes ground-based tests to demonstrate critical technology
US Space Systems launch cubesat to demonstrate commercial weather imaging technologies for military use
Lockheed Martin to build missile-tracking satellite for US Space Force
General Atomics Electromagnetic Systems wins contract to build satellite to be launched into deep space in 2025
China to expand coastal Wenchang spaceport for more lunar missions
Impulse Space to launch 1st orbital transfer vehicle late in 2023
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