Hide/Show Archive Navigation.

All News

January 29, 2024

Virgin Galactic Completes Flight 11

Company Begins Passenger Service in Earnest

Virgin Galactic completed its 11th tourist space flight, taking up 4 passengers on "Galactic 06". The manifest included "Astronauts" 023 to 026: Lina Borozdina, Robie Vaughn, Franz Haider, and Neil Kornswiet. The launch took place at Spaceport America, when the VSS Unity took to the skies under the wing of Virgin's mothership VMS Eve. The flight marked the very first time all 4 passenger seats were taken up by paying non-company passengers.

Aeronautical Recognition Offered to Pioneering Personnel

The National Aeronautic Association's Robert J. Collier Trophy is up for grabs for 2023, and nominations are accepted through January 31st. The trophy is annually awarded to the "greatest achievement in aeronautics or astronautics in America with respect to improving the performance, efficiency, and safety of air or space vehicles". The trophy has one particular addendum for such pioneering ideas, however - the advancement has to have proven itself valuable through actual, demonstrated use in the preceding year. As such, the trophy's recipients offer a pretty thorough timeline of aeronautical improvements over the years.

Teal 2 Drone Will Host Autonomous Target ID, Tracking

Red Cat Holdings has announced efforts to integrate "advanced AI capabilities" into the US Army's Short Range Reconnaissance Program. The UAV specialist is looking to incorporate Teledyne FLIR's Prism AI platform, allowing the future recon UAVs to autonomously classify, detect, and track objects and targets while underway, day or night. Red Cat subsidiary Teal Drones is heading up the integration after being selected by the US Department of Defense's Defense Innovation Unit, and the Army, as one of 2 finalists in the Short Range Recon program.