Gallery: Aerospace & Defense Roundup: November 2, 2021

U.S. researchers have developed a technique to manipulate satellites and orbital debris magnetically for repair or removal. Read the full story.

Credit: DLR

The White House has nominated Adm. Christopher Grady, the current commander of the U.S. Navy’s Fleet Forces Command, to serve as the next vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff after a delay that raised concerns about a gap in the position. Read the full story.

Credit: U.S. Navy

Startup SkyDrive has become the first Japanese company to formally initiate the type certification process for an electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing vehicle. Read the full story.

Credit: SkyDrive

Area-I has unveiled a new Air Launched Effects design that adds 300% more payload and 20% greater endurance than the Altius-600, the Anduril Industries-owned company said. Read the full story.

Credit: Area-I

Recently public new-space company Redwire is buying Techshot, a microgravity biotechnology company that provided the first U.S. system capable of manufacturing human tissue in microgravity, among other innovations. Read the full story.

Credit: TechShot

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University and Airborne International Response Team have joined forces to study the use of small unmanned aircraft systems by public safety and emergency response organizations. Read the full story.

Credit: Kent County Sheriff’s Office, Michigan

Assuming a successful Dec. 18 launch of the James Webb Space Telescope from French Guiana atop an Ariane 5 rocket, the many thousands of experts who have worked on the $9.7 billion mission will have to hold their breath for another six months before the world’s most technically complex space observatory reaches its final orbit, fully deploys and checks out. Read the full story. 

Credit: webbtelescope.org

A European project to demonstrate a modular hybrid-electric propulsion architecture for future small short/medium-range regional aircraft has been completed with flight tests of a second power train demonstrator. Read the full story.

Credit: Pipistrel