In Pictures: Top Aerospace & Defense Stories, May 04, 2022

Junkers Aircraft Proposes Reviving Ju-52 Transport

Swiss light aircraft developer Junkers Aircraft is proposing reviving development of the Ju-52 trimotor as a potential low-cost transport aircraft. The Ju-52NG would reuse the basic configuration of the wartime transport aircraft, using the corrugated duralumin skin, but introducing new-generation avionics and piston engines. Credit: Bernd K

German Project Developing Hydrogen Propulsion For Light Aircraft

German general aviation manufacturer Flight Design displayed a mockup of a version of its F2 light sport aircraft with zero-emission hydrogen fuel-cell propulsion at the Aero Freidrichshafen 2022 show on April 27-30. The F2e-HY demonstrator is a modified version of Flight Design’s F2e electric trainer.Credit: HyFly

Axiom First Commercial Customer For Canadarm3

MDA has made the first commercial sale of its Canadarm3 robotic arm technology to Axiom Space. As part of the contract, the company will deliver 32 external robotic interfaces for Axiom Space’s under-construction Axiom Station, MDA said March 3. Credit: Axiom Space

Program Dossier: A330 Multi-Role Tanker Transport (MRTT)

The Airbus A330 Multi-Role Tanker-Transport (MRTT) is a European air-refueling tanker derived from the widebody civil airliner bearing the same name. The A330 MRTT’s originated as a larger application of the A310 MRTT. The A310 MRTT was itself a development of the A310 MRT, which was originally considered in 1994 as a replacement for older tankers. Airbus believed a market for 110 aircraft existed, and with A310-300s already in service with a number of western air arms a tanker conversion was a logical step.

Stratolaunch Completes First Pylon Flight Test

Stratolaunch successfully completed the first flight of the Roc carrier aircraft with the large underwing pylon developed to carry and launch the company’s Talon-A hypersonic testbed vehicle at Mojave, California, on May 4. The flight lasted just less than 5 hr. It was the longest of the five Roc test missions conducted to date and begins a short envelope expansion phase with the pylon attached before the start of captive carriage tests with Talon-A, which are targeted for around September. Credit: NASA Spaceflight.com

Russia’s Glonass To Add High Orbital Satellites In 2026

The deployment of the high-orbiting segment of Russia’s Glonass global navigation satellite system is expected to start in 2026, Chief Designer Sergey Karutin said in an interview with Roscosmos CEO Dmitry Rogozin on the Sputnik radio station on May 2. Karutin said the new satellites will operate at an altitude of almost 38,000 km (23,600 mi.), while the current spacecraft fly at 19,100 km. Credit: https://www.glonass-iac.ru/guide/gnss/

NASA Eyes Early June For Artemis I Wet Dress Rehearsal

NASA is preparing for a second attempt at a Wet Dress Rehearsal (WDR) for the Artemis I Space Launch System (SLS) in early June. The agency has completed repairs to a leak in a liquid hydrogen propellant line in the tail service mast at the base of the Artemis I SLS rocket that was one of several issues that interrupted efforts to conduct a WDR in April. Credit: NASA

Conops Shows UAM Could Grow Quickly In Rio de Janiero

By 2035, Rio de Janiero could see a fleet of 245 urban air taxis flying 4.5 million passengers a year on more than 100 routes linking 37 vertiports, Eve UAM forecasts in the first concept of operations for urban air mobility (UAM) to be developed in Brazil. Credit: Eve UAM

Hydroplane Wins USAF Backing For Hydrogen Propulsion

Hydrogen-propulsion startup Hydroplane has received a second U.S. Air Force small business contract to demonstrate a fuel cell-based powerplant. The Los Angeles-based company plans to fly the system in a Piper Cherokee light aircraft in 2023. Credit: Hydroplane

Satellogic Outlines New Constellation, Financial Targets

Satellite-based remote sensing startup Satellogic expects to grow its low Earth orbit constellation to as many as 34 Earth observation satellites by the fourth quarter, executives say. The company has 22 satellites on orbit after five were lofted on SpaceX’s Transporter-4 launch in March. Satellogic, which in January started publicly trading after a reverse merger with a special purpose acquisition company (SPAC), said in April that it plans to have at least 200 on orbit by 2025, including 60 around early 2024. Credit: Satellogic

Crowdsourcing Generates Lunar Exploration Technologies

NASA and its crowdsource partner HeroX have announced the winners of their “Honey I Shrunk the NASA Payload, the Sequel” challenge for miniaturizing payload prototypes for Moon missions to fill scientific knowledge gaps. Credit: NTL NASA Tournament Lab

Astroscale’s Servicing Spacecraft Completes Rendezvous Demo

Astroscale has completed rendezvous operations with its ELSA-d orbital debris removal demonstration despite losing half the servicing spacecraft’s maneuvering thrusters. The servicer has now been moved a safe distance away from its target satellite while Astroscale assesses the next step. Credit: Astroscale concept

Air Mobility Initiative To Test AAM Technology In Germany

Airbus is to test its CityAirbus NextGen electric vertical takeoff and landing (eVTOL) platform with a series of research projects centered around the German city of Ingolstadt. The newly established Air Mobility Initiative (AMI) will trial the eVTOL platform, unmanned traffic management technologies and study integration of the system into a city infrastructure, including the integration of so-called vertiports. Credit: Airbus Helicopters

U.S. Army Extends FARA Development By Up To Four Years

The U.S. Army has delayed key milestones for the Future Attack Reconnaissance Aircraft (FARA) program by up to four years, budget and solicitation documents show. The new schedule delays the contract award for the engineering and manufacturing development (EMD) phase of the FARA program by up to 1.5 years to the third quarter of fiscal 2025. Credit: Bell/Sikorsky

Raytheon Technologies Rolls Out Corporate Venture Capital Office

Two years after forming from its predecessor companies, Super Tier 1 aerospace supplier and large defense prime Raytheon Technologies has opened a corporate ventures office to make small venture-capital-style investments. Similar to other corporate VC offices that have been created or reinvigorated at other large A&D companies in recent years, RTX Ventures—“RTX” is the company’s stock ticker—will take stakes in startups or projects whose technology augments Raytheon’s products and services. Credit: Raytheon Technologies

Phantom Space Places 200-Plus Engine Order With Ursa Major

Start-up launch vehicle and satellite developer Phantom Space has emerged from stealth mode with a purchase agreement for more than 200 rocket engines from Colorado-based propulsion company Ursa Major. The order is made up of 5,000-lb.-thrust Hadley and 50,000-lb.-thrust Ripley oxygen-rich staged combustion engines. Credit: Ursa Major

From Junkers Aircraft proposing to revive its Ju-52 transport to German project developing hydrogen propulsion for light aircraft. Take a look at these and more in our daily roundup of aerospace & defense news.

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