ThinKom Unveils Space-Optimized ThinAir Nexus Aircraft Antenna
ThinKom introduced the ThinAir Nexus, a space‑optimized aircraft antenna that delivers multi‑orbit, multi‑constellation inflight connectivity in a footprint comparable to single‑orbit electronically steered antennas. The Nexus supports gigabit‑class throughput for GEO, MEO and LEO satellites and can be upgraded via a simple modem swap to accommodate new networks. Powered by ThinKom’s patented VICTS technology, the antenna boasts 65 million on‑wing hours of reliability and a low power draw that enables continuous gate‑to‑gate operation. Installation is streamlined to four fuselage lugs, making it attractive for both new builds and retrofits across narrow‑body and regional jets.
ACS UK Showcases Customized Premium Cabin Interiors with OMNIA at AIX 2026
ACS UK returned to Aircraft Interiors Expo 2026 to unveil OMNIA, a unified showcase of customized premium cabin interiors. The display highlights an adaptive galley worktop that doubles usable crew surface, an autonomous lighting dimmer for independent lighting control, and...
Strategic Celestography and Lunar Competition: Artemis, CLEP, and the Struggle for Positional Advantage
The United States' Artemis program and China’s Lunar Exploration Program (CLEP) are racing to secure strategic footholds on the Moon and in cislunar space. Both powers target the lunar south‑pole for its water‑ice deposits and favorable solar illumination, while leveraging...
The U.K. Just Spelled Out What a Carrington-Class Solar Storm Would Cost — and the Numbers Should Change Policy
The UK’s National Risk Register now quantifies a Carrington‑class solar storm as a trillion‑dollar threat, estimating $0.6‑$2.6 trillion in first‑year global damages and tens of billions of pounds in domestic losses. The country’s electricity sector alone underpins roughly $112 billion of GDP,...
Jazeera Airways Adds Air-Land Cargo Operation to Navigate Airspace Closures
Kuwait‑based low‑cost carrier Jazeera Airways has launched an air‑land cargo service from Saudi Arabia’s King Fahd International Airport in Dammam and Qaisumah‑Hafar Al‑Batin to bypass the closure of Kuwait International Airport amid the US‑Iran conflict. The cargo is processed by...
Key Senate Appropriator Rejects Proposed NASA Budget Cuts
Sen. Jerry Moran, chair of the Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice and Science subcommittee, announced he will fight the administration’s proposed 23% cut to NASA’s FY2027 budget, aiming to keep funding near last year’s $24.4 billion level. He emphasized a balanced budget...
Volta Space Technologies Leverages Government Partnerships and Funding to Develop Laser-Enabled Lunar PV Power Network
Volta Space Technologies is developing LEPTON, a laser‑enabled power‑transmission network that will beam electricity from low‑lunar‑orbit satellites to surface assets. The company secured a slot on Firefly Aerospace’s Blue Ghost Mission 2, targeting a 2028 demonstration that will power a lander‑mounted...
Saudi Aviation Boom Raises Big Questions for the Middle East
Saudi Arabia’s aviation sector is entering a rapid growth phase, spurred by aggressive fleet expansion and the launch of the new national carrier, Riyadh Air. The surge will demand over 58,000 new pilots across the Middle East in the next...
India: AAI Launches New Platform for Infrastructure Monitoring & Airport Profiling
India’s Airports Authority (AAI) unveiled an Integrated Digital Monitoring Platform, combining a BIM‑based Project Monitoring System with an Online Airport Directory Dashboard. The AI‑enhanced platform offers real‑time visibility into infrastructure development, financial progress, and operational performance across Indian airports. Interactive...
Q&A: Building a Broadband Constellation for a Contested Space Era
Logos Space Services, founded by former NASA and Google executive Milo Medin, received FCC approval to launch up to 4,178 low‑Earth‑orbit broadband satellites operating in K‑, Q‑ and V‑band frequencies. The company’s private‑network architecture uses super‑narrow beams to boost capacity,...
Back to Normal? EL AL’s Bold Expansion Raises Bigger Questions About War, Risk, and the Skies Above the Middle East
Israel’s flag carrier EL AL is rapidly restoring near‑normal service, reopening routes to major European hubs and long‑haul destinations such as New York and Bangkok. The airline aims to operate about 40 destinations with roughly 660 weekly flights, signaling confidence that immediate...
Avianca Cargo Adds Quito-Miami Flights Using Amazon Capacity
Avianca Cargo has added a new Quito‑Miami service, operating five flights per week. The flights use lift capacity provided by Amazon Air Cargo, extending the partnership that began in 2025 with Bogotá‑Miami. The route is aimed at meeting rising demand...
Lockheed Martin Nails Historic Orion Splashdown With NASA, Paving Way for Moon Return
Lockheed Martin celebrated the successful splashdown of NASA’s Orion spacecraft, concluding the Artemis II mission that sent astronauts on a 10‑day journey beyond the Moon. The splashdown validates Orion’s deep‑space re‑entry capabilities and reinforces Lockheed’s role as the prime contractor for...
A Worst-Case Solar Storm Could Knock Out Satellites, GPS and Power Grids, Report Warns
Scientists from the U.K.’s Science and Technology Facilities Council released a 80‑page report outlining a worst‑case solar‑storm scenario that could recur every 100‑200 years. The analysis warns that a severe geomagnetic event could trip power‑grid safety systems, age or destroy...
PAL Adds More US Routes Through American Airlines Deal
Philippine Airlines (PAL) has expanded its codeshare partnership with American Airlines, adding new connections from San Francisco and Seattle to Miami and New York, plus five additional U.S. cities from Los Angeles. The U.S. Department of Transportation approved the amendment,...
Navoi International Airport Becomes TIACA Member
Navoi International Airport in Uzbekistan has become a member of the International Air Cargo Association (TIACA), signaling its ambition to be a leading cargo hub between Europe and Asia. The airport is rapidly gaining recognition for its strategic location and...
Protolabs Joins Space Foundation at Space Symposium
Protolabs announced its partnership with the Space Foundation ahead of the 41st Space Symposium in Colorado Springs, where it will exhibit its aerospace manufacturing capabilities. The company highlights its ITAR‑compliant, AS9100‑certified factories in the U.S. and Europe, emphasizing rapid, high‑mix,...
Lufthansa Cargo Warns of Potential Delays as Pilots Strike
Lufthansa Cargo warned customers on April 13 that a two‑day pilots strike could delay shipments across its network. The strike, involving pilots from Lufthansa Cargo, Lufthansa Airlines and CityLine, is slated to end at midnight on April 14. While flights...
Proba-3’s First Results Are Already Rewriting What We Thought We Knew About Solar Wind
ESA’s Proba‑3 twin‑satellite mission has released its first scientific data, revealing solar‑wind speeds in the inner corona that far exceed existing model forecasts. The formation‑flying pair creates an artificial eclipse, allowing the ASPIICS coronagraph to observe the Sun’s innermost atmosphere...
Korean University Students Invited to Build UAM Aircraft and Plan Vertiports of the Future
South Korea’s Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Transportation Safety Authority have launched the 2026 National University Student UAM Olympiad, inviting university teams to design urban air‑mobility aircraft and plan vertiport infrastructure. The competition runs from April 10...
M-17, Apache & Super Hercules– Unveiling IAF’s Playbook for US-Style CSAR Ops To Hunt Missing Pilot
In April 2026 a US F‑15E was downed over Iran, prompting a rapid combat search‑and‑rescue (CSAR) effort. Within 15 minutes a package of MC‑130J Combat King II aircraft and HH‑60W Black Hawks, escorted by fighter jets, was launched to locate...
Beyond the Runway
Israel‑based eVTOL maker AIR has delivered the first production version of its heavy‑lift cargo aircraft, a 550‑lb (249 kg) uncrewed platform designed for vertical take‑off and landing. The aircraft, featuring fold‑able wings, advanced electric motors and a larger cargo bay, is...
War Risk Economics Reshape Air Cargo Pricing
Air cargo rates are climbing as the Iran‑Israel conflict forces airlines to avoid Gulf airspace, lengthening routes and boosting fuel consumption. Carriers are now separating war‑risk premiums, fuel surcharges and insurance costs from base rates, making pricing more layered and...
Cargo-Only Airlines on the Rise in Latin America
Latin America’s air‑cargo landscape is shifting from belly‑hold shipments to dedicated freighters as nearshoring, e‑commerce and new trade lanes boost demand. LATAM Cargo reported moving over one million tonnes in 2025, generating $1.7 billion in revenue and expanding its Europe‑South America...
Spirit Airlines' Long Shot
Spirit Airlines is emerging from its second bankruptcy with a plan to shrink its fleet to roughly 76‑80 aircraft, concentrate operations on four core markets, and introduce a larger premium cabin. The carrier previously rejected a Frontier merger and saw...
Ukraine Confirms Rocket Launches Into Space During Wartime
Ukraine’s Main Intelligence Directorate (GUR) confirmed two wartime rocket launches that crossed the Kármán line, reaching 100 km and 204 km altitudes. The unit also performed a pioneering air‑launch from a transport aircraft at 8,000 m, a first for Europe and only the...
First Proba-3 Science: Surprisingly Speedy Solar Wind
The European Space Agency’s Proba‑3 mission has turned artificial eclipses into a repeatable laboratory, delivering 57 artificial solar eclipses and over 250 hours of high‑resolution corona video since July 2025. Using the ASPIICS coronagraph, scientists tracked slow‑wind plasma blobs moving at 250‑500 km s⁻¹,...
South Africa’s Politics Might Stifle The Growth Of Its Space Programme
South Africa’s Portfolio Committee on Science, Technology and Innovation warned that political and fiscal missteps are jeopardising the nation’s nascent space programme. SANSA has poured $18.3 million into the EO‑Sat1 satellite, yet the project was stalled for six years due to...
Satair Deploys ASRS in Singapore
Satair, an Airbus Services subsidiary, has commissioned an AutoStore automated storage and retrieval system (ASRS) at its Singapore hub, marking the company’s third global deployment after Hamburg and Dulles. The Swisslog‑installed solution packs 23 robots and 60,000 bins into a...
Bell 505 Sets Latin American Order Record
Bell announced at Chile's FIDAE air show that its 505 light helicopter set a record number of orders in Latin America for 2025. While the exact order count was not disclosed, the Southern Cone now hosts more 505s than any...
The Satellite War on Terrestrial Telecoms Has Already Begun
The convergence of silicon‑carbon battery advances, relaxed FCC power‑limit rules and higher‑bandwidth LEO satellite capabilities is bringing satellite direct‑to‑device (DTD) connectivity closer to everyday use. Early demonstrations—MTN’s 2025 voice call in South Africa and Vodafone’s 2026 video call—show that smartphones...
Rheinmetall Launches Joint Venture with Destinus for Cruise Missile Output
Rheinmetall and Destinus have formed a 51‑49 joint venture, Rheinmetall Destinus Strike Systems, to mass‑produce advanced cruise missiles and ballistic rocket artillery from a new plant in Unterlüß, Germany, slated to start operations in late 2026. Destinus already manufactures over...
Turkish Jet Drone Optical Sensor Detects Target at 110 Km
ASELSAN confirmed that the KARAT infrared search‑and‑track (IRST) system on the Bayraktar KIZILELMA UCAV detected a passenger airliner at a range of 110 km during a performance‑validation test. The detection distance matches the average range of comparable IRST units on modern...
Kenya's Jambojet to Add Dar, Resume Entebbe by 2027
Kenya’s low‑cost carrier Jambojet announced plans to launch flights to Dar es Salaam and to restart its Entebbe service by early 2027. The airline will receive two additional DHC‑8‑Q400 aircraft—one by September 2026 and another by March 2027—bringing its fleet to 11...
South Korean Airlines Make Changes to Thai Flights
South Korean low‑cost airlines are slashing Thai services as jet‑fuel prices surge amid the ongoing Middle East conflict. T'way Air will trim its Bangkok‑Incheon schedule to two weekly flights after May 10 and has lifted its passenger fuel surcharge from 1,900...
Spike in Transfer Traffic at Heathrow Due to Conflict in Middle East
Heathrow Airport saw a 10% jump in transfer passengers in March as airlines rerouted flights around Middle‑East airspace closures. The hub handled 6.6 million passengers, a 6.9% year‑on‑year increase, but its growth still lags behind many EU rivals because runway slots...
The Largest Orbital Compute Cluster Is Open for Business
Kepler Communications launched the largest orbital compute cluster in January, featuring 40 Nvidia Orin edge processors spread across ten satellites linked by laser communications. The firm announced a partnership with Sophia Space, which will upload its proprietary operating system to...
SORA Is Choking the Drone Industry…And We Need to Say It Out Loud
The EU's Specific Operations Risk Assessment (SORA) was designed to enable complex drone missions, but in practice approval times now stretch from three to twelve months. The lengthy, inconsistent process stems from a resource‑heavy framework that few fully understand, creating...
Hexagon To Expand Into NDT with Waygate Technologies Acquisition
Hexagon AB signed a definitive agreement to acquire Waygate Technologies for roughly $1.45 billion, adding non‑destructive testing (NDT) capabilities to its Manufacturing Intelligence (MI) business. Waygate, a German‑based NDT leader with about $630 million in annual revenue and 1,500 employees across 25...
PDW Attritable Multirotor Strike Drone Moves Into Production
Performance Drone Works (PDW) announced that its Attritable Multirotor strike drone has entered full‑scale production. The system is built for rugged, contested environments and offers interchangeable 5", 7" and 10" arm configurations with a universal payload interface. It can carry...
Waygate Technologies & GE Aerospace Drive the Future of Automated Engine Maintenance
Waygate Technologies and GE Aerospace have launched automated Menu Directed Inspection (MDI) templates for GEnx‑1B and ‑2B engine borescope inspections. The templates, integrated into Waygate’s Mentor Visual iQ+ borescope, embed AI‑driven guidance and real‑time data labeling. They standardize imaging of...
As Artemis II Is Celebrated, the World Faces Hard Questions About US Leadership in Space
Artemis II completed the first crewed lunar fly‑by in over five decades, carrying the first woman and the first person of colour to orbit the Moon. The mission is a milestone in NASA’s broader goal of establishing a permanent lunar base...
Aircraft Lease MOU Not Binding Contract, Says Fiji Court
A Fiji court has ruled that a memorandum of understanding (MOU) for an aircraft lease does not constitute a binding contract. The judgment arose from a dispute involving Sunflower Aviation's attempt to secure leased aircraft under the MOU. The court...
Starship’s Commercial Moment: What Operational Starship Flights Would Do to Launch Economics
SpaceX’s Starship is on the cusp of commercial operation after the FAA approved up to 25 launches per year from Starbase and the V3 Raptor engine fired for the first time in early 2026. Analysts estimate near‑term launch costs between...
The Satellite Manufacturing Market After Starlink: How Mass Production Changed the Economics of Building Spacecraft
Starlink’s assembly line now produces about five satellites per day at roughly $400,000 each, slashing unit costs far below the $150‑$300 million price tag of traditional GEO spacecraft. Global satellite‑manufacturing revenue rose 17% to $20 billion in 2024, with U.S. firms delivering...
OneWeb UK Ups Revenue in 2025
OneWeb Holdings UK, the London arm of Eutelsat, posted a 44.5% jump in revenue to $186 million for the year ending June 2025. Staff costs were cut by a third, falling to $82.8 million, while the operating loss shrank 66% to $456 million. Eutelsat...
Launch Control
China is rapidly expanding its sea‑based launch capability, fielding the 160‑meter Tai Rui semi‑submersible barge that can fire Long March 11 rockets derived from the DF‑31 ICBM. State‑funded tracking vessels such as Yuanwang‑7, which can operate for over 100 days and monitor 1,200...
Recapping the Historic Artemis II Mission Around the Moon
NASA’s Artemis II mission completed a historic crewed flyby of the Moon, covering nearly 700,000 miles before splashing down in Houston. The ten‑day flight launched on a Space Launch System (SLS) rocket carrying the Orion capsule and a four‑person crew. Over the...
EU Tests of China’s C919 Speed up as Pilots Stay in Shanghai ‘Permanently’: Sources
China’s aviation regulators have accelerated the European certification of the COMAC C919 by stationing EASA technicians and pilots in Shanghai for ongoing flight tests. The third phase of a four‑stage process is underway, leveraging more than three years of domestic...
Analyst: SpaceX Making 340 Satellites per Month
SpaceX is now manufacturing roughly 340 Starlink satellites each month, topping 4,000 units annually—a 40% jump from 2024. The network’s ground‑station footprint expanded to about 503 sites in 2026, more than double the 2024 count. Quilty Space projects Starlink revenue...