Today's Aerospace Pulse
Blue Origin’s New Glenn suffers catastrophic engine failure during static fire
A BE‑4 methane/LOX engine on Blue Origin’s New Glenn rocket failed four seconds after ignition, causing a catastrophic explosion that destroyed the first‑stage booster and damaged Launch Complex 36A. No personnel were injured. An FAA‑led investigation, supported by the U.S. Space Force, is under way.
Also developing:
By the numbers: Disciplined Growth Acquisition Corp raises $150M in IPO
No Refunds, Long Waits, Canceled Rebookings: Travelers Face Airline Policy Chaos
Airlines in the Middle East and Asia are grappling with a surge of flight cancellations caused by the Iran war, leading to widespread confusion over refunds and rebookings. Carriers have adopted divergent waiver policies—some, like Emirates and Qatar Airways, issuing blanket waivers for March, while others, such as Etihad and Air India, rely on rolling waivers that apply to limited windows. These inconsistent approaches have resulted in long customer‑service wait times, denied refunds, and multiple rebooking attempts for stranded travelers. The situation highlights gaps in the industry’s post‑pandemic crisis response playbook.
Good News for United: Southwest to Exit Chicago O’Hare and Washington Dulles Airports in June
Southwest Airlines will cease all flights at Chicago O’Hare (ORD) and Washington Dulles (IAD) on June 4, ending service at two United hubs. The carrier will continue its dominant presence at Chicago Midway, operating roughly 244 daily departures to over...
European Space Agency Taps Terran Orbital Subsidiary for Defense Deal
Terran Orbital’s subsidiary Tyvak International secured a contract with the European Space Agency to build Farinella, a 6U CubeSat for the RAMSES planetary‑defense mission. The spacecraft will study near‑Earth asteroid Apophis during its close approach on 13 April 2029, providing data to...
Air India Evaluates East Asia Routes Amid West Asia Airspace Disruptions
Air India is assessing new long‑haul services to East Asian hubs such as Osaka, Jakarta and Phnom Penh, with a Boeing 787 earmarked for the Japanese capital. The move comes as the carrier activates contingency routes to bypass closed Gulf airspace caused...
Avianca Eyes Caracas, MSC Adds a 777F, SF Brings in a 747, Board Shuffle at One Air
Avianca Cargo inaugurated a weekly A330 freighter service between Bogotá and Caracas, adding 60 tonnes of capacity and supplementing it with passenger belly space. MSC Air Cargo took delivery of its seventh Boeing 777F, named Castor, to expand its Europe‑Asia...
This 300-Mile Cargo Drone Is Moving Closer to Deployment
Elroy Air has been chosen for the U.S. Department of Transportation’s eVTOL Integration Pilot Program, becoming the sole cargo‑focused participant among air‑taxi developers. Its Chaparral autonomous VTOL drone can transport up to 300 pounds over roughly 300 miles using a hybrid‑electric powertrain...
Podcast: Axiom CEO Discusses the Next Wave of Commercial Activity in LEO
In a Space News Space Minds podcast, Axiom Space CEO Jonathan Cirtain outlines the next wave of commercial activity in low‑Earth orbit (LEO). He highlights Axiom’s roadmap to launch the first fully commercial space station by 2028 and the expanding...
NASA’s Artemis II Moon Mission Daily Agenda
NASA’s Artemis II will launch aboard the Space Launch System for a ten‑day Orion test flight around the Moon. The crew—Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and CSA astronaut Jeremy Hansen—will conduct system checkouts, trajectory correction burns, a translunar injection, and a...
Safer Space Travel: Scientists Create a Cosmic Ray Simulator
An international team led by ESA has commissioned the first European galactic cosmic ray (GCR) simulator at the GSI/FAIR accelerator in Darmstadt. Using a hybrid active‑passive approach that varies iron ion beams and passive modulators, the facility reproduces the mixed...
Following Congressional Rebuke, Air Force Awards E-7 Contracts
The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing two sole‑source contracts— a $2.3 billion option and a $99.3 million radar‑source modification— pushing the E‑7 Wedgetail program’s total value above $5 billion. The awards implement the FY 2026 Consolidated Appropriations Act, which directed the service to continue...
China to Begin Construction of Its Mars Sample Return Spacecraft
China’s state‑run media announced that construction of the Tianwen‑3 Mars sample‑return spacecraft will begin this year, with a launch planned for 2028. The mission targets a return of at least 500 grams of Martian material to Earth by around 2031. Tianwen‑3...
Nominations Open for Member Advancement
The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA) has opened nominations for its Member Advancement program, inviting members to recognize peers who have made outstanding contributions to the aerospace sector. Eligible candidates must satisfy detailed criteria outlined on the AIAA...
Tiny NASA Spacecraft Delivers Exoplanet Mission’s First Images
NASA’s 6U CubeSat, part of the SPARCS exoplanet mission, has returned its first images of a distant planetary system. Launched in early 2025, the spacecraft captured ultraviolet and visible light data of the star Proxima Centauri and its orbiting exoplanet,...
KLM Evacuates a Boeing 787 Dreamliner That Has Been Stranded On the Tarmac in Dubai For 12 Days
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines evacuated a Boeing 787 Dreamliner that had been stranded on Dubai International Airport’s tarmac for 12 days after the Iran‑Israel conflict shut regional airspace. The aircraft, registration PH‑BHH, took off on March 12 without passengers under a...
AF Week in Photos
U.S. Air Force showcased a week of diverse operations, from F‑35A combat missions in the Middle East supporting Operation Epic Fury to Arctic F‑22 sorties defending North American airspace. Joint exercises highlighted B‑2, Navy F‑35C and F/A‑18E maritime strikes, while...
Six Confirmed Deceased in Loss of U.S. KC-135 Over Iraq
A U.S. Air Force KC-135 aerial refueling aircraft crashed over western Iraq on March 12, 2026, killing all six crew members. The loss occurred during Operation Epic Fury and was confirmed not to be the result of hostile or friendly fire. The...
Hélène Huby, CEO of The Exploration Company: ‘Only the Crazy People Change the World’
Hélène Huby, founder and CEO of The Exploration Company, leads a five‑year‑old spacetech startup that builds reusable, refillable cargo vehicles for low‑Earth‑orbit missions. The firm has already demonstrated semi‑successful cargo deliveries to and from space at a fraction of traditional...
UK Billionaire Backs Construction of World’s Largest All-Lens Telescope
British billionaire Alex Gerko is financing MOTHRA, a distributed‑aperture telescope built from 1,140 high‑end Canon telephoto lenses that together provide a 4.7 meter effective aperture. The array is being assembled at the Obstech‑El Sauce Observatory in Chile, with construction started in...
Intercepting Shahed and Other Strike UAVs — a New Stage in the Evolution of Air Defense Technologies
Drone Fight Group, Bat Drones and Ukrainian maker PG Robotics have begun serial production of the Angel Spire interceptor drone, aimed at neutralising Shahed‑type loitering munitions and other hostile UAVs. The platform can cruise between 150 and 290 km/h and reach targets up...
Eutelsat Ends Express AT1 and AT2 Capacity Deals After Satellite Disruption
Eutelsat has terminated its capacity contracts on the Russian‑owned Express AT1 and Express AT2 satellites after Express AT1 failed on March 4 and Express AT2 is being relocated from 140° East. The leases had complemented Eutelsat’s own 36° East fleet (Eutelsat 36C/36D). The company estimates the terminations will...
Qatar Airways Point-to-Point Charter Flights Not Touching Doha For Stranded Passengers
Qatar Airways has launched a handful of point‑to‑point charter flights to relocate stranded passengers, operating roughly fifteen services—about 5% of its pre‑conflict schedule. The flights, announced on March 13‑14, connect Hanoi‑Paris, Bangkok‑Munich, Bangkok‑Warsaw and Colombo‑Frankfurt and are only bookable through...
High-Density Thick Film Substrates
Remtec announced its high‑density thick‑film multilayer ceramic substrates, targeting military, avionics, space and industrial markets. The product line offers 6‑8 conductor layers on alumina, aluminum nitride or beryllia, with either gold or low‑cost silver interconnects delivering 1‑3 mΩ/sq conductivity. Features include...
PrSM Increment 2 Takes Flight and Advances Army’s Moving-Target and Maritime Capability
Lockheed Martin announced the successful first flight test of the Precision Strike Missile Increment 2 on March 12, 2026, launching from a HIMARS and flying 350 km. The test demonstrated a new multi‑mode seeker capable of locking moving maritime targets, expanding the missile’s mission...
Aaronia Presents High-End Solutions at Satellite in Washington
Aaronia AG will showcase its latest USB real‑time spectrum analyzers and full product line at Satellite 2026 in Washington, D.C. The company highlights the SPECTRAN™ V6 series, featuring sweep speeds over 3 THz/s and up to 450 MHz real‑time bandwidth, as well as the...
Press Release: Boeing Taps Astronics for 737 MAX Fuel Tank Access Doors
Boeing has chosen Astronics Corporation to supply fuel‑tank access doors for its 737 MAX program. The components will be produced at Astronics' Clackamas, Oregon facility, leveraging the company's multi‑discipline engineering and vertically integrated manufacturing. Astronics highlighted its long‑standing partnership with Boeing...
Kazakhstan Must Choose: Be Eurasia’s Tech Broker or Become a Pawn in the New Global Space Race
Kazakhstan stands at a crossroads, deciding whether to leverage its Baikonur launch site and AI capabilities to become Eurasia’s trusted broker of space and deep‑tech, or to remain a passive host for rival powers. The global space economy is projected...
NASA Begins Building Nuclear-Powered Dragonfly Drone for 2028 Launch to Saturn Moon Titan
NASA’s Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory has started building and testing the Dragonfly rotorcraft, a nuclear‑powered drone destined for a 2028 launch to Saturn’s moon Titan. The car‑sized craft will use a radioisotope power system, marking a shift from solar‑driven...
Around the Commercial Drone Industry: Public Safety Partnership, Updates to Blue UAS List, and GrubHub Drone Delivery
DRONERESPONDERS signed a national operations agreement with the National Real‑Time Crime Center Association to fast‑track Drone‑as‑First‑Responder (DFR) programs across U.S. emergency agencies. The Defense Contract Management Agency took over the Blue UAS Cleared List from the Defense Innovation Unit, aiming...
Deutsche Aircraft Appoints Nils Heuer as Director of Global Sales
Deutsche Aircraft has named Nils Heuer Director of Global Sales, tasking him with leading the civil regional and multi‑role/special‑mission markets for the D328eco program. Heuer brings three years of direct D328eco sales experience and a background at Lufthansa Technik, blending...
Nordic Air Cargo Symposium Comes to Latvia
The Nordic Air Cargo Symposium returns on 27‑28 April 2026 in Riga, Latvia, serving as the sole regional gathering for Northern Europe’s air freight sector. The two‑day event combines a networking reception, a full‑day conference and, for the first time,...
Quito Announces Airport Expansion and New Routes
At ACI Airport Day in Quito, global aviation experts discussed the emerging "airport city" model and its economic potential. Corporación Quiport announced a 5,000 sq m expansion of Mariscal Sucre International Airport’s cargo terminal, a new cargo aircraft stand and upgraded truck staging,...
Who’s Working With China on Space?
China is rapidly expanding its international space network, now engaging with over 60 countries across Africa, Latin America and beyond. The strategy relies on low‑cost, turnkey packages that bundle satellite design, launch, financing and training, often delivered through state‑owned Great...
Hawaii’s Surf Air Mobility Order 25 BETA Technologies ALIA eCTOL Aircraft
Surf Air Mobility has placed a firm order for 25 all‑electric ALIA CTOL aircraft from BETA Technologies, with an option for up to 75 more. The partnership will integrate BETA’s electric planes and charging infrastructure into Surf Air’s regional platform,...
Isar Aerospace to Launch Astroscale ELSA-M Orbital Debris Removal Mission
Tokyo‑based Astroscale has signed a launch contract with Germany’s Isar Aerospace to fly its ELSA‑M orbital‑debris removal demonstrator no earlier than 2028, pushing the mission back two years from the original 2026 target. The launch will use Isar’s two‑stage Spectrum...
Airbus Prepares Valkyrie Combat Drone for German Air Force
Airbus is preparing flight tests of a Kratos XQ‑58A Valkyrie‑based uncrewed combat aircraft equipped with its European‑developed MARS mission system for the German Air Force. The two Valkyrie prototypes, being readied at Airbus’ Manching facility, are slated for maiden flights...
AvTalk Episode 361: When Saving Money Costs Lives
In this episode the hosts discuss the cascading impacts of the Middle East conflict on regional airspace, highlighting widespread closures, reduced airline capacities, and the scramble by carriers like Air India and Lufthansa to add flights and repatriate passengers. They...
U.S. Army Tests APEX Counter-Drone Round for Apache
The U.S. Army conducted live‑fire trials of a new 30 mm Aviation Proximity Explosive (APEX) round on AH‑64 Apache helicopters at Yuma Proving Ground. Over the course of the evaluation, crews fired roughly 1,200 rounds, pitting the APEX munition against the...
UAE’s First Combat Use of M-SAM II Could Raise Export Prospects for South Korean Air Defence
South Korea’s M‑SAM II missile, part of the Cheongung II air‑defence suite, was employed by the United Arab Emirates to intercept Iranian projectiles launched after the U.S. Operation Epic Fury. The engagement, beginning on 28 February, marks the first overseas combat use of...
Israel Destroys World’s Sole KC‑747 Tanker, 55‑year‑old Legend
The world’s only KC-747 tanker (Boeing 747-131F 5-8107) was destroyed by an Israeli airstrike at Mehrabad Airport in Tehran on March 7. This 55-year-old legend refueled IRIAF F-4E Phantoms during the daring 1981 Operation H-3 attack on Iraq’s H-3 base.
Guardian ISR Constellation to Lead Missile Defense, Launches 2027
.@Leonardo_live: Guardian ISR constellation a centerpiece of missile-defense dome; launches start 2027/28; space division CAGR >20% 2026-2030. @telespazio @thalesgroup @AirbusSpace @defis_eu @NATO.https://t.co/2TbiKQFFQ5 https://t.co/Z2WRU6VQv9
How GEOINT Can Sustain US Advantages in Africa
Geospatial intelligence (GEOINT) is emerging as a cost‑effective tool for the United States to maintain strategic advantage across Africa. Commercial remote‑sensing satellites now deliver frequent, high‑resolution imagery that monitors infrastructure, mineral extraction, and environmental stress without on‑the‑ground presence. The intelligence...
Space
In this week's Rocket Report: • Artemis II clears flight readiness review • SpaceX activates second Starbase launch pad • Firefly successfully returns to flight • Pentagon orders high-altitude missile interceptors https://t.co/MhSVS4wljv
U.S. Aims for Permanent Moon Base by 2030
The US Plans to Break Ground on a Permanent Moon Base by 2030. Here's What It Will Take. https://t.co/iFMEKPvEh5 https://t.co/ba8zh0uL7V
Q&A: Rebecca Evernden on UK Space Strategy
Rebecca Evernden, the newly appointed director of the UK Space Agency, outlined a four‑pillar strategy—satellite communications, launch capability, in‑orbit servicing and manufacturing, and space domain awareness—to drive economic growth and national security. She emphasized that the agency’s launch ambitions remain...
Nine Years Later, Tanker Crews Still Fly Together
From 2017, riding on a KC-135 over Iraq. Nine years later they are still at it. Active, Guard and Reserve tanker crews have been the most open and welcoming to me throughout my career covering military aviation. Horrible days for a...
US Uses Mostly Air‑Launched Munitions, Standoff Missiles 1%
In presser this morning, @PeteHegseth says that "only 1 percent" of the munitions the U.S. is dropping on Iran today are "standoff munitions," meaning Tomahawk missiles and the like. They've shifted almost exclusively, he says, to munitions launched from aircraft...
China Ends Month-Long Launch Hiatus with Separate Guowang and Shiyan-30 Satellite Missions
China resumed orbital launches after a month‑long pause, lifting off a Long March 8A carrying the 20th batch of Guowang internet satellites and a Long March 2D launching the Shiyan‑30 technology demonstrators. The Guowang batch adds to a constellation targeting 13,000 satellites,...
Ukraine Shows Airpower's Limits for Iran Conflict
The limits of airpower - what are the lessons from #Ukraine in #Iran ? #avgeek #defence #Iranwar https://t.co/qhtkN3j2VB https://t.co/h0v6Nal4fT
Astroscale UK Plans 2028 ELSA-M Satellite Deorbit Mission
.@Astroscale_UK to launch ELSA-M mission to deorbit @EutelsatGroup OneWeb sat on @isaraerospace Spectrum rocket in Japan's FY ending April 2028 "or later," @astroscale_HQ told investors. Launch to be from @AndoyaSpace Norway or Europe's Guiana Space Center. @esa @spacegovuk https://t.co/JrgZkgjmMZ
China Upgrades BeiDou Navigation Birds In-Orbit
China's Satellite Navigation Office announced an in‑orbit, over‑the‑air upgrade program for the 50‑satellite BeiDou constellation. The initiative will optimise satellite performance, strengthen joint debugging, and improve user‑experience across sectors such as transport, agriculture and disaster response. The upgrades are part...