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The Raptor, SpaceX's engine used to power the upcoming Starship, has been reaching new levels of power during its development. On Monday, CEO Elon Musk announced that the engine reached 330 bar of chamber pressure without exploding. That's 31 bar higher than what the engine achieved back in February 2019, when it beat the previous record-holder for an operational engine, Russia's RD-180. Teslarati noted that the engine beat the Soviet Union's RD-701 engine, which at 300 bar, previously held the public record for the highest combustion chamber pressure for an orbital-class rocket.

A gap of over two weeks between the cryogenic proof test and a static fire of SN5 was longer than expected – based on how quickly SN4 moved into engine testing. Two primary factors are the cause of this gap. The first is that numerous upgrades to the ground support equipment have been made since Starship SN4 exploded at the launch pad. Thus, it has taken time to work out all of the kinks. The second and largest reason is that unlike Starship SN4, SN5 is being prepped for a flight test right out of the gate. SpaceX does not...

The video highlights just how much fly-by-wire automation is needed to make the Raptor's super maneuverability a reality. Lt. Col. Randy "Laz" Gordon is an accomplished test pilot, engineer, and F-22 Raptor squadron commander who lent his expertise about all things aviation, and especially about the F-22's incredible fly-by-wire flight control system, to students taking MIT's Private Pilot Ground School in 2019. His lecture is astonishingly accessible considering the complexities of the systems and concepts he describes and will give anyone a remarkable appreciation for just how incredible the super-maneuverable Raptor'sflight control system really is. Gordon covers so much ground...

"... In service with the Navy and Marine Corps since 1983, the flexible design has gone through a Porsche 911-like evolution. Two type series of the original Hornet, the A/B and C/D preceded the Boeing F/A-18E/F Super Hornet, a larger more capable version of the F/A-18 introduced in 1999. Since then the Super Hornet has been updated with “Block II” models and now there’s a “Block III” Super Hornet....

In the next 24 hours, no less than three rockets — built by Rocket Lab, SpaceX and Interstellar Technologies — will launch from three different countries in a space age triple-header. But if you want to watch them all online, you're going to need to stay up late (or rise super early). The action will begin early Saturday (June 13) with the launch of a Rocket Lab Electron booster carrying five small satellites for the U.S. National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and the University of South Wales Canberra Space. Liftoff is scheduled for 12:43 a.m. EDT (0443 GMT) from Rocket Lab's...

The SpaceX Demo-2/Dragon spacecraft was successfully launched into space on Saturday May 30, 2020, marking the first-ever collaboration between NASA and a private entity, Elon Musk's SpaceX. The Falcon 9 booster was comprised of nine SpaceX Merlin rocket engines, which use RP-1 (refined petroleum) and liquid oxygen as propellants to develop the immense thrust necessary for a heavy space-bound launch vehicle. All the news reports were dutifully filled with superlatives regarding this unprecedented public-private joint venture, and it was indeed a very significant accomplishment. It's not often that the two normally-opposing spheres of industry come together in such a positive...

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Kennedy Space Center Merritt Island, Florida3:47 P.M. EDTTHE PRESIDENT:  Well, thank you very much.  I just want to say this is a very exciting day for our country.  We have been at this long and hard for three and a half years.I want to thank Elon for — who’s been a friend of mine for a very long time, somebody I have great respect for.  But this is 24/7 for you.  You’re always thinking about this.  You’re thinking about other things, too; you have plenty to think about.  But this has been your baby.MR. MUSK:  This is the top...

The aircraft was on a routine night training mission when the incident occurred. BY TYLER ROGOWAY MAY 20, 2020 THE WAR ZONE Details remain scarce at this time, but an F-35 Joint Strike Fighter that was flying out of Eglin AFB, which is located on the Florida panhandle, has crashed. Thankfully, the pilot was able to eject and is safe. The incident occurred at around 9:30 pm local time and the F-35A was on a routine night training mission. This is the second crash of an aircraft operating out of the base in less than a week, with an F-22...

NASA’s top executive concentrating on human spaceflight, Doug Loverro, has resigned just a week before the scheduled start of a milestone space mission. Loverro became NASA’s associate administrator for human exploration and operations last December, and was playing a leading role in NASA’s Artemis moon program as well as preparations for next week’s launch of a SpaceX Crew Dragon mission to the International Space Station. That mission, set for liftoff on May 27 from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida, is due to send NASA astronauts Doug Hurley and Bob Behnken to the station for a stay that could last...

Public affairs officer Capt. Jennifer Casey died in the crash, pilot seriously injured after jet crashed into house in Brocklehurst. Kamloops Mayor Ken Christian said the Snowbirds remain parked at Kamloops Airport for the foreseeable future. The incident took place seconds after a pair of Snowbirds aircraft took off from Kamloops Airport at about 11:45 a.m. Dozens of versions of video of the crash and its aftermath circulated on social media in the hours that followed. The videos show one of the planes flying vertically before a pilot is ejected, followed by an airborne explosion and the subsequent crash. Some...

EGLIN AIR FORCE BASE, Fla. (AFNS) -- An F-22 Raptor assigned to the 43rd Fighter Squadron, and part of the 325th Fighter Wing currently based at Eglin Air Force Base, crashed at approximately 9:15 a.m. May 15. The location of the crash was approximately 12 miles northeast of Eglin AFB’s main base on the test and training range. The pilot ejected safely from the aircraft and was transported to the 96th Medical Group hospital on Eglin AFB for evaluation and observation. He was listed in stable condition. The name of the pilot has not been released. There were no other...

The first flight of NASA astronauts from U.S. soil in nearly nine years finally has a launch date: May 27. The mission will launch astronauts Bob Behnken and Doug Hurley to the International Space Station on a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft in a final test flight for NASA. The mission, Demo-2, will mark NASA's first crew launch from American soil since the agency's space shuttle fleet retired in July 2011. Liftoff is set for 4:32 p.m. EDT (2032 GMT) from historic Launch Pad 39A, the same site used for NASA's Apollo and shuttle missions.

LCRT would be an ultra-long-wavelength radio telescope capable of capturing some of the weakest signals traveling through space. “It is not possible to observe the universe at wavelengths greater than 10 meters [33 feet], or frequencies below 30 MHz, from Earth-based stations, because these signals are reflected by the Earth’s ionosphere,” said Bandyopadhyay. “Moreover, Earth-orbiting satellites would pick up significant noise from Earth’s ionosphere,” which is why “such observations are very difficult.” It’s for this reason that wavelengths greater than 10 meters have yet to be explored by scientists. Consequently, this telescope would be a tremendous boon to astronomers and...

Boeing will continue indefinitely its shutdown of local factory operations rather than reopening Wednesday as planned, it told Washington state employees Sunday via email. “Boeing is extending the temporary suspension of operations at all Puget Sound area and Moses Lake sites until further notice,” the company told employees. Boeing has about roughly 70,000 employees in the state. The decision affects about 30,000 of them, mostly production workers. Employees who can work from home will continue to do so and volunteer employees will continue to maintain essential services at the plants. The company said its decision was based on its “continuing...

Stratolaunch's website now reveals that the company has reinvented itself as a builder, tester and operator of hypersonic vehicles — those that can travel at least five times the speed of sound, or Mach 5. The huge plane is key to this new mission, hauling vehicles aloft to test various payloads in the extreme environments imposed by hypersonic flight. Those vehicles will include Stratolaunch's Talon-A, a 28-foot-long (8.5 m), 6,000-lb. (2,722 kilograms) reusable craft capable of reaching Mach 6. The huge dual-fuselage plane — which used to be called Roc, but is now apparently known as the Stratolaunch Carrier —...

Japan shed a little bit of history this week as the last of the country’s RF-4E/J Phantom II reconnaissance jets, part of a fleet that has served for more than 50 years, flew for the last time. The last six recon Phantoms flew for the last time on March 9, and the country will retire its entire Phantom fleet by the end of the year. Meanwhile, Tokyo is pursuing the development of a new fighter jet it will design with help from the U.S.. The six jets, part of the 501 Hikotai squadron, were RF-4 photoreconnaissance variants of the iconic...

Eight days after a Boeing Co. 737 Max went down in the Java Sea, killing all aboard, the planemaker issued a worldwide warning to pilots identifying the malfunction that triggered the crash. The bulletin, which was followed almost immediately by a similar notice from U.S. regulators, listed the symptoms cockpit crews faced in such an emergency and explained how to counteract it. News reports described the problem. Yet less than five months later a second 737 Max went down, slamming into a field in Ethiopia, after suffering the same malfunction. As the one-year anniversary of that crash approaches, many questions...

The Boeing Starliner didn't see any testing shortcuts before its flawed flight test, officials said Friday, but the company vowed to expand tests in the future. Boeing (BA) stock fell. In December, the Boeing Starliner set off on an uncrewed test, but it failed to reach the International Space Station as planned because a software error prevented it from getting into the proper orbit. It was later revealed that an internal timer on the capsule was off by 11 hours, causing the Boeing Starliner to believe that it was further into the mission. Another software issue was found with the...

Boeing recently discovered some of its stored 737 MAXes have foreign objects in the fuel tanks. The entire fleet of 400+ newly produced but undelivered MAXes is being inspected. Foreign objects, called foreign object debris (FOD) in aviation parlance, consist of tools or rags. FOD has been found in the fuel tanks of some MAXes. MAXes are stored at four locations in Washington State and in San Antonio (TX). It’s unlikely that the FOD inspections will delay recertification or testing of the MAX. The FAA was informed by Boeing. It takes up to three days to inspect each airplane, LNA...