Aerospace & Defense Roundup: September 15

Arianespace and its Starsem affiliate successfully conducted a 10th launch for satellite broadband provider OneWeb, sending a Russian-made Soyuz 2.1b medium-lift rocket into orbit from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. The booster, operated by Roscosmos, lifted off at 11:07 p.m. local time/2:07 p.m. EDT on Sept. 14, just 14 hours after SpaceX had dispatched another 51 Starlink satellites into orbit as part of a rival high-speed broadband network. Credit: Roscosmos

Rolls-Royce has completed the first flight of its electric-powered Spirit of Innovation aircraft, also known as Accel. The highly modified Sharp Nemesis NXT racing aircraft, which has been notionally described by engineers as a “battery with wings strapped on,” took to the air at Boscombe Down, England, and flew for 15 min., the aero-engine manufacturer announced on Sept. 15. Credit: Rolls-Royce

The U.S. Air Force expects to demonstrate an amphibious takeoff-and-landing capability for the Lockheed Martin MC-130J Commando II in less than 1.5 years, using a rapid prototyping schedule and digital design. Credit: U.S. Air Force

Shareholders in Atlas Crest Investment approved the blank-check company’s reverse merger with urban air mobility startup Archer Aviation in a Sept. 14 vote. The deal is expected to close on Sept. 16 and Archer will begin trading publicly on the New York Stock Exchange on Sept. 17. Credit: Archer Aviation

AE Industrial Partners (AEI), a U.S.-based private equity (PE) firm specializing in aerospace, defense and government services, is rolling up UAV-related businesses under the UAV Factory brand, according to a new announcement. Colin Anderson Productions Pty Ltd./Getty Images

Recently public Spire Global, a Luxembourg-registered nanosatellite operator for cloud-enabled data analytics, is buying satellite-based Automatic Identification System (S-AIS) services startup ExactEarth of Canada for around $161.2 million in cash and stock. Credit: Rick Jo/Getty Images

A SpaceX Falcon 9 successfully launched Inspiration4, the first all-civilian, non-government human spaceflight, from Kennedy Space Center, Florida, to begin its three-day mission in low Earth orbit. Credit: SpaceX

Europe needs to strengthen its defense cooperation and be more willing to act on its own to deal with global security crises, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has suggested. Credit: Odd Andersen/Getty Images

NASA has awarded five companies $146 million in contracts to develop and evaluate lunar Human Landing System (HLS) concepts beyond Artemis III, the mission that is to mark the agency’s return to the Moon with astronauts. The 15-month, firm fixed-price contracts, announced late Sept. 14, were awarded to Dynetics, of Huntsville, Alabama ($40.8 million); Lockheed Martin, of Littleton, Colorado ($35.2 million); Northrop Grumman, of Dulles, Virginia ($34.8 million); Blue Origin Federation, of Kent, Washington ($25.6 million); and SpaceX, of Hawthorne, California ($9.4 million). Credit: NASA

BAE Systems has teamed up with UK uncrewed air system developer Malloy Aeronautics to develop a heavy lift multicopter for the littoral mission. The two companies see the proposed T-650 all-electric lithium-ion battery-powered multicopter—capable of carrying a payload of up to 300 kg (661 lb.)—airlifting supplies to troops on the front line, plucking injured personnel off the battlefield, and even acting as a carrier for air-launched torpedoes, and so partly replacing the role of ship-borne anti-submarine warfare helicopters. Credit: BAE Systems/Malloy

Veteran NASA astronaut Mark Vande Hei, who launched to the International Space Station (ISS) aboard Russia’s Soyuz MS-18 on April 9, will remain aboard the station until March 2022 with cosmonaut Pyotr Dubrov, potentially setting a new record of 353 days for the longest U.S. human spaceflight. Credit: NASA

Israel’s Urban Aeronautics has secured an initial $10 million of the at least $100 million it needs to raise through a Series A funding round to support development of the CityHawk vertical-takeoff air taxi. Credit: Urban Aeronautics