Aerospace and defense electronics specialist Mercury Systems, which is rejiggering its operations after a string of bolt-on acquisitions, has signed a definitive agreement to acquire Avalex Technologies.
Where several of its rival electric vertical-takeoff-and-landing (eVTOL) developers have chosen to be vertically integrated, Vertical Aerospace is relying on Tier 1 suppliers funding their own technology development work in return for gaining access to a new aviation market.
Three International Space Station crewmembers inaugurated spacecraft dockings at the orbital lab’s new Russian segment Nauka Multipurpose Laboratory Module on Sept. 28 as they separated from the 11-year-old Rassvet Mini Research Module-1 in their Soyuz MS-18 to redock at Nauka.
China has again flexed its domestic fighter-development capabilities at the Zhuhai Airshow, this time flying the Chengdu J-20 with the locally built WS-10C turbofan as well as rolling out the Shenyang J-16D electronic warfare aircraft.
China unveiled its new Cai Hong-6 jet-powered high-altitude long-endurance (UAS, along with a number of other unmanned technologies at the 2021 Zhuhai Airshow on Sept. 28.
The U.S. Space Force is investing $24.35 million in Rocket Lab’s new medium-lift Neutron booster, with emphasis on the rocket’s upper stage for possible use in the National Security Space Launch program.
Privately owned Terran Orbital plans to invest $300 million to build a factory at Kennedy Space Center capable of producing 1,000 small satellites per year.
Landsat 9, the latest satellite in a long-running Earth observation collaboration between NASA and the U.S. Department of Interior’s U.S. Geological Survey, was successfully launched on Sept. 27 from a foggy Vandenberg Space Force Station, California.
Isotropic Systems, a British flat-panel satellite antenna systems maker backed by Boeing and venture capitalists, says it has landed $37 million in fresh funding, enough to fully fund development of its multibeam ground antenna through expected product launch in 2022.
The test by DARPA’s Hypersonic Air-breathings Weapon Concept is a key step on path to fielding a follow-on hypersonic cruise missile by the U.S. and Australian air forces later in this decade.
The first Embraer KC-390 Millennium airlifter destined for the Portuguese Air Force has been powered on for the first time. Portuguese Air Force officials from the service’s Monitoring and Inspection Mission to the KC-390 program watched the aircraft being powered up on Sept. 21, the Portuguese Air Force said.
Astraius wants to use a Boeing C-17 airlifter to conduct horizontal launch of its Hera II two-stage launch vehicle, which is an adaptation of the Hera target missile used by the U.S. Defense Department to test missile defense systems.
The sell-off of ITP has been at the top of a list of potential asset disposals as Rolls-Royce looks to rebuild its balance sheet following the pandemic, which has heavily impacted the company’s commercial engine business.
The Joint Counter-small Unmanned Aerial System Office and the U.S. Army’s Rapid Capabilities and Critical Technologies Office recently completed a second demonstration of systems that can help counter small drones as the military faces a sense of urgency to stop this threat.
Astroscale Japan has selected Rocket Lab to launch the first step in a two-part mission to demonstrate the removal of a large piece of space debris from low Earth orbit.
Landsat 9, the latest in a half-century of overlapping NASA/U.S. Geological Survey satellites focused on monitoring changes to the planet’s surface and natural resources, is planned for a Sept. 27 launch.
Los Angeles-area Karman Missile & Space Systems, a budding mid-tier supplier to defense primes, has bought Systima Technologies, which is claimed to be one of the few companies worldwide that can integrate energetic and mechanical systems into the structural design of space or hypersonic systems.
As part of preparations to develop a full-scale, ultra-efficient X-plane technology demonstrator later this decade, NASA has issued a request for information to industry ahead of a formal solicitation for proposals planned for early 2022.
