Aerospace Daily & Defense Report

Launch vehicle developer Firefly Aerospace has raised $75 million in a Series A venture capital round, the Los Angeles startup announced May 4, while seed investor Noosphere Ventures sold $100 million of its holdings to investors on the sideline.

A SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center May 4 on its 26th mission delivering small Starlink internet connectivity satellites in low Earth orbit.

Startup Eta Space is to demonstrate technologies for propellant depots in space under a NASA contract to build a test payload for launch into low Earth orbit in late 2023 on a Rocket Lab Photon satellite.

Sierra Nevada Corp.’s (SNC) commercial space enterprise plans to land, service, and launch the company’s winged reusable Dream Chaser from Cape Canaveral on cargo missions to the International Space Station.

Scottish fuel-cell specialist Hy-Hybrid Energy is working with an undisclosed partner on a hybrid-electric propulsion system for aircraft that combines a gas turbine with a battery and a solid oxide fuel cell (SOFC) that operates on jet fuel.

As aircraft and propulsion developers look to electrical systems operating at kilovolt levels, Safran has teamed with a pyrotechnics specialist to develop an ultrafast method of shutting down high-power networks before electric arcing can cause potentially catastrophic damage.

The Kachin Independence Army (KIA), an armed rebel group in Myanmar, said it shot down a Myanmar military helicopter that was part of an air strike

European engineering services company AKKA Technologies is to assist French startup Aura Aero with development of its planned 19-seat Electric Regional Aircraft and Integral E electric aerobatic aircraft.

UK F-35s will see action again in the skies over Iraq and Syria, this time operating from the carrier HMS Queen Elizabeth.

Egypt is planning to more than double the size of its Dassault Rafale fleet after inking agreements with France for 30 more aircraft.

The manufacturer spent January through April and $3 million trying to recover SXM-7 to no avail, and now warns it could push out the timeline for its key Worldview Legion satellite program due to supplier issues.

The settlement allows Honeywell to pay $8 million in fines over a two-year period, plus another $5 million on compliance measures.

The U.S. Navy has received approval for its next-generation air combat training system to enter limited production.

Satellite inspection service provider HEO Robotics has partnered with Australian in-space transportation startup Space Machines to launch an on-orbit inspection camera in 2022.

Vanessa Wyche, a 31-year NASA veteran, will serve as the acting director of NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

The U.S. Navy has opened the market research phase for a highly advanced anti-ship cruise missile.

A Chinese startup plans to capture an object in orbit using a net as part of a small-satellite mission to demonstrate technology for space resource utilization.

Virgin Orbit has awarded the UK division of Spanish-based space system supplier AVS a contract to build the portable ground operating system to support satellite launches from Spaceport Cornwall starting in 2022.

ZeroAvia’s plans to demonstrate long-distance hydrogen fuel cell-powered flight have been set back after its demonstrator aircraft was involved in a landing accident.

Italy has deployed its F-35 Joint Strike Fighters for Baltic Air Policing, the first time the fighter has been used for the mission. The Italian Air

Four NASA and Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency astronauts made a weather-delayed return to Earth from the International Space Station (ISS) on May 2.

U.S. Vice President Kamala Harris will chair the National Space Council, senior administration officials told reporters May 1.

Space tourism company Virgin Galactic, which heralded a wave of space companies going public quickly, will restate its official 2020 financial results and has postponed its first-quarter results report to May 10.

The U.S. Space Force has awarded a $228 million contract to Raytheon Technologies for the GPS Next-Generation Operational Control System Follow-On.

The U.S. State Department has approved a Foreign Military Sales package worth an estimated $2.42 billion for six Boeing P-8I aircraft for the Indian Navy.