Aerospace & Defense Roundup: April. 21

Kopter Group’s SH09 single-engine light helicopter has been rebranded the AW09 to reflect the aircraft’s entry into the product line of Leonardo Helicopters. The rebranding of the aircraft comes almost exactly a year after Leonardo’s $185 million takeover of the Kopter business was completed last April and aligns with the naming strategy of Leonardo’s helicopter products, which are suffixed with the number nine. Credit: Kopter Group/Leonardo

High winds and rough seas downrange of Kennedy Space Center prompted NASA on April 21 to delay for one day the SpaceX Crew-2 launch to the International Space Station (ISS), with liftoff now targeted for 5:49 a.m. EDT on April 23. Liftoff had been scheduled for 6:11 a.m. EDT on April 22. Credit: Aubrey Gemignani/NASA

Europe and Japan have launched a joint research program to advance the direct conversion of CO2 to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). The 4AirCRAFT project is one of three launched by the European Commission’s Directorate General for Research and Innovation with Japan’s Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology. Credit: Chalabala / Getty Images

An alliance has been launched with the goal of accelerating investment in sustainable aviation fuels by creating a certificate system that provides a standardized approach to verifying and tracking the emissions reductions from the low-carbon fuels. Credit: Finnair

Virgin Orbit has signed a six-flight contract to deliver a constellation of hyperspectral imaging satellites being developed by Qinetiq and HyperSat into low Earth orbit. Terms of the agreement, announced on April 21, were not disclosed. The satellites host a spectrometer to measure contiguous spectral bands reflecting from the Earth’s surface. The information is captured in 3D data cubes that are analyzed to reveal the distinctive spectral signatures of objects, materials and processes. Credit: Greg Robinson/Virgin Orbit

A major upgrade package has been approved for the next batch of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. (GA-ASI) MQ-9 Reapers that will be ordered later this month by the U.S. Air Force. Credit: USAF

While it supports NASA’s ongoing Mars helicopter test campaign, the rover Perseverance on April 20 completed its first run of another technology demonstration, successfully converting some of the planet’s carbon dioxide atmosphere into oxygen. “The results are full of promise as we move toward our goal of one day seeing humans on Mars,” Jim Reuter, NASA associate administrator for the Space Technology Mission Directorate, said in an April 21 press release. Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

Bill Nelson, a former Democratic senator from Florida, soared through a hearing on his nomination to become the next NASA administrator before a Senate committee he once helped to lead. Credit: Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee

Airbus’ OneSat new-generation satellite program is ready to enter the production phase, says Francois Gaullier, head of Airbus Telecom Systems. The telecommunications project passed final design review with customers Inmarsat, Intelsat, Optus and SKY Perfect JSAT. The European, French and UK space agencies (ESA, CNES and UKSA, respectively), which support the program, were also involved. Credit: Airbus

Technicians have removed the Space Launch System (SLS) core stage from its test stand at NASA’s Stennis Space Center in Mississippi in preparation for a weeklong trip to Kennedy Space Center, NASA said on April 21. The Boeing-built core stage completed a yearlong integrated Green Run test series at Stennis, culminating in an 8-min.,19-sec. full-duration hot fire of the booster’s four Aerojet Rocketdyne RS-25 engines on March 18. Credit: NASA

Robotic Skies, which is building a maintenance service network for commercial and industrial drones, has received an investment from Japan-based Drone Fund. The venture capital fund specializes in drone and air mobility and has an investment portfolio of more than 40 startups in Japan and overseas. Credit: Robotic Skies