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MIRCE Functionability Actions
22 March 2023: Relativity launches first Terran 1 Rocket but failed to reach Orbit
Relativity launched the Terran 1 rocket from Launch Complex 16 at Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Lift-off was delayed by nearly 90 minutes because of upper-level winds as well as a boat that strayed into restricted waters. The rocket’s first stage, powered by nine Aeon 1 methane-fuelled engines, appeared to operate as planned, passing through the region of maximum dynamic pressure known as “Max-Q” 80 seconds after lift-off, which was a major goal for this launch to demonstrate the integrity of the rocket’s 3D-printed structure. Stage separation took place 2 minutes and 45 seconds when the rocket’s single Aeon Vacuum upper stage engine ignited. However, footage from a camera on the stage showed the plume flickering seconds after ignition, and telemetry on the company’s webcast of the launch indicated the vehicle was slowing. Mission control declared an anomaly with the upper stage five minutes after lift-off, but didn’t immediately disclose additional details about the failure. Relativity scrubbed its first Terran 1 launch attempt March 8 because of a problem with ground systems that were unable to get liquid oxygen propellant in the rocket’s upper stage to the right temperature. The company tried again three days later only to abort two countdowns during a three-hour window, one because of a sensor reading just 0.5 seconds before lift-off and the other because of a drop in fuel pressure in the upper stage at T-45 seconds.
17 March 2023: SpaceX launches 2 space rockets less than 5 hours apart
At 3:26 p.m. EDT (1926 GMT) SpaceX launched 52 of its Starlink internet satellites to orbit from Vandenberg Space Force Base in California. These satellites are joining more than 3,700 other spacecraft in SpaceX's huge broadband constellation. The company has approval to deploy 12,000 Starlink satellites in low Earth orbit (LEO), and it has applied for permission to loft 30,000 more on top of that. The first stage of a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket landed on a drone ship shortly after landing.
At 7:38 p.m. EDT (2338 GMT), a Falcon 9 carrying the SES-18 and SES-19 telecommunications satellites lifted off from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida. Both Falcon 9 first stages came back to Earth safely as well, touching down at sea on SpaceX droneships less than nine minutes after lift-off. The satellites are heading for geostationary orbit, about 35,700 km above Earth, from where they will provide digital broadcasting coverage to North America. The rocket came back to Earth after launching the telecommunications satellites.
16 March 2023: SpaceX Dragon cargo ship arrives at space station with NASA supplies
The 27th Commercial Resupply Services cargo flight to the International Space Station that SpaceX is conduct for NASA arrived at the International Space Station (ISS), about 20 minutes ahead of schedule after a smooth and uneventful ride.
A robotic SpaceX Dragon cargo capsule carrying nearly 3 tons of supplies, containing vehicle hardware, spacewalk equipment, more than 60 different scientific experiments and some treats for the inhabitants of the orbiting lab, like apples, blueberries, grapefruit, oranges, cherry tomatoes, as well as a few different cheeses!
14 March 2023: International Space Station moves to dodge space junk
Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos reported that the Russian Progress MS-22 cargo capsule currently docked at the orbital laboratory fired its thrusters for 135 seconds to move the station to safety and adjust its average altitude to 419 km above Earth's surface. This is the second time, from the beginning of a month that the International Space Station has had to perform such a manoeuvre. On March 6, the same Progress capsule fired its thrusters for six minutes to avoid a possible collision with a commercial Earth-imaging satellite. According to a 2022 NASA report, the ISS had to perform similar manoeuvres to dodge satellites and trackable debris a total of 32 times from 1999 through the time of the report's publication. Low Earth orbit continues to become increasingly crowded with satellites and pieces of space junk, so much so that a group of NASA scientists and other experts are now calling for an international treaty to tackle the dangerous orbital debris problem. Even further, the orbital debris problem can snowball; as more space junk fills Earth's orbit, the risk of collisions between pieces of space junk increases, and such collisions would create even more pieces of debris.
8 March 2023: International Space Station fires thrusters to avoid collision with satellite
At approximately 7:42 a.m. (12:42 GMT), thrusters on the Progress 83 resupply vessel currently docked with the International Space Station (ISS) fired for a little more than six minutes, raising the station's orbit to prevent the potential collision, NASA said in a blog post. The satellite in question appears to have been an Argentinian Earth-observation satellite, Nusat-17, launched in 2020. It is one of ten commercial observation satellites operated by geospatial data company Satellogic, which is one of several whose orbits are slowly encroaching on the ISS's orbit. Avoidance manoeuvres like this aren't entirely uncommon for the space station. According to a December 2022 NASA report, the ISS has made total 32 course corrections to avoid satellites and trackable space debris since 1999. This course correction came with ample notice, with NASA receiving initial alerts for the potential collision approximately 30 hours ahead of the satellite's projected closest approach. A pre-determined avoidance manoeuvre (PDAM) was calculated, and crews aboard the ISS in tandem with NASA and Roscosmos ground teams prepared for the scheduled thruster burn. However, "about 20 minutes prior to the PDAM, a 'green update' was received on the conjunction, but thrusters were already enabled so the burn was still conducted.
7 March 2023: Despite heat shield issue NASA's Artemis 1 Orion spacecraft aced moon mission
NASA's Orion historic Artemis 1 mission that saw the spacecraft orbit the moon before returning to Earth after 25 days. It was carried to lunar orbit after launching on 16 November 2022 atop the agency's Space Launch System rocket (SLS), the most powerful rocket ever launched. The number one objective was accomplished, which was returning the crew module back to Earth safely from 24,500 miles per hour to a landing about 16 mph when it touched down, and it landed within 2.4 miles of our the target, which was 6.2 miles. However, not every aspect of the mission went perfectly, as Orion's heat shield did not perform as expected, losing more material than the agency had planned for. Some of the expected char material that was expected to come back home ablated away differently than what our computer models and what ground testing predicted. NASA teams will be investigating a wide range of data related to the performance of Orion's heat shield, including images and videos of reentry, onboard sensor readings, and even X-ray images of sample materials taken from the shield. Nevertheless, NASA leadership is confident that everything will be ready for the crewed around-the-moon flight of Artemis 2, which is planned for next year.
6 March 2023: Japan Destroys H3 Rocket In Space After Second Stage Ignition Anomaly
The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) sent a destruct command to the new H3 rocket after a successful initial lift-off, as the ignition failure meant there was no probability of the mission being completed. The second stage engine was to ignite at T+6 min. However, the range control centre failed to receive a confirmation from the rocket. JAXA said the SRB-03 booster did not ignite after an electrical anomaly was detected. A safety mechanism then halted the booster’s ignition and began a shutdown of the LE-9 first stage engine. Under normal circumstances, LE-9 is ignited at T-6.3 sec. and the booster at T-0.4 sec. JAXA said the first stage flight controller malfunctioned due to transient fluctuations in the communication and power lines that occurred during electrical separation between the rocket and the ground facilities. The rocket had been carrying an Advanced Land Observation Satellite-3 “Daichi-3”, tasked primarily with Earth observation and data collection for disaster response and map making, and an experimental infrared sensor developed by the Defence Ministry that can monitor military activity including missile launches. Debris from the rocket was expected to land in waters east of the Philippines. The H3 rocket’s failure - which came three weeks after an aborted launch due to a separate launch anomaly,
5 March 2023: First Pair Of Boeing 787s To Be Dismantled
Boeing’s flagship widebody aircraft 787-8, or Dreamliner, first flew commercially in 2011. EirTrade announced that the two 10-year-old aircraft would be disassembled simultaneously off-site during the first quarter of 2023. The aircraft serial numbers and registrations will be kept confidential until the disassembly is completed. The work will be performed in Prestwick, Scotland, and the process is expected to take around three months. The resulting inventory will be stored at EirTrade’s aircraft disassembly facility in Knock, Ireland, until the parts are sold, leased or exchanged. Any residual materials will be recycled. With the first 787s now approaching their 12-year checks, EirTrade is expecting some operators to be seeking used serviceable material (USM) to cut their maintenance costs.
4 March 2023: F-35 Engine To Undergo Fleetwide Retrofit
The F-35 Joint Program Office (JPO) has issued a directive recommending that all Pratt & Whitney F135s powering the global fleet of Lockheed Martin F-35s be retrofitted within 90 days with a fix for a vibration problem that caused an aircraft to crash on 15 December 2022. While no flight restrictions are included, the JPO Time Compliance Technical Directive (TCTD) instructs immediate compliance “for the small number of aircraft that were restricted from flight.” No details have been released about what the retrofit involves, although the JPO says it can be performed “at the operational level and can be completed in 4-8 hr.” Pratt & Whitney developed the retrofit procedure to mitigate harmonic resonance that was uncovered as the likely cause of the December mishap, which involved an F-35B during a predelivery check flight at the company’s Fort Worth production site. Described by the engine-maker as an extremely rare phenomenon, the vibration problem is potentially common to the F135 variant powering the F-35B short-takeoff-and-vertical-landing model as well as the versions powering the conventional-takeoff-and-landing F-35A and F-35C models. Vice president for F135 programs, says there were no differences in the build standard of the engine involved in the accident or in that of the other small population of aircraft affected. We can all say with certainty that it was not a manufacturing or quality issue,” she adds.
3 March 2023: Vega C launch failure, tracked to a Ukraine-made part, could further delay a handful of missions
A European rocket’s launch failure on 20th December 2022 when 144 seconds into the flight, pressure in the hoses that feed the nozzle started to drop. The investigation panel traced the problem to a component made of a carbon–carbon composite, which was manufactured by Ukrainian company Yuzhnoye, based in Dnipro, before the war began. The component, which feeds fuel into the nozzle, has to withstand high mechanical stresses and thermal gradients, but its density was not sufficiently homogeneous, which led to its rupture. The investigation did not find any weakness in the design of the Zefiro motor. The Vega C, which had its debut flight only last July, will now be grounded at least until the end of the year, which could exacerbate a backlog of missions waiting to launch. Vega C’s smaller and less powerful sibling Vega has also experienced two launch failures in the past four years. Production of the heavy-lifting rocket Ariane 5 has been discontinued, and its successor Ariane 6 has been delayed and won’t have its first flight until later this year at the earliest.
doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-023-00672-3
3 March 2023: SpaceX's Crew-6 astronauts arrive at space station after sensor’s failure
Crew-6's Dragon capsule, named Endeavour, docked with the ISS's Harmony module at 1:40 a.m. EST while the two spacecraft were flying off the coast of Somalia at an altitude of 420 km. Crew-6 was positioned to dock about an hour earlier than that, but Endeavour stood down while SpaceX troubleshot a faulty sensor with one of the 12 hooks that helps the capsule connect to the ISS. Eventually, ground teams beamed up a software override that fixed the sensor problem, and Endeavour pulled off a successful rendezvous. That same faulty hook sensor also caused a minor problem shortly after the Crew-6 launch, a day nefore. The problem briefly stalled Endeavour's attempt to open its nose cone in Earth orbit, but this milestone was achieved after the capsule switched over to a backup system. The docking drama came as a bit of a surprise: At a news conference about two hours after launch a senior director of SpaceX's human spaceflight program, said that he didn't anticipate the hook sensor causing any more trouble going forward.
2 March 2023: SpaceX Launch Crew-6 astronaut for NASA
A Falcon 9 rocket lifted off from Kennedy Space Center in Florida at 12:34 a.m. EST taking SpaceX's four-person Crew-6 flight for NASA. Originally the launch was scheduled for 27th February, but the attempt was scrubbed late in the countdown after teams noticed a ground-system issue. They couldn't confirm that the Falcon 9 had access to a full load of triethylaluminum triethylboron (TEA-TEB), a highly combustible fluid that helps the rocket's nine first-stage Merlin engines ignite at the right time. Analyses soon revealed that the TEA-TEB issue was caused by a clogged filter, which was replaced by launch team, and solved the problem. Although launch was successful, it was not flawless. Crew-6's Dragon capsule, a vehicle named Endeavour, experienced a minor issue shortly after separating from the Falcon 9's upper stage. A sensor associated with one of the six hooks that open Endeavour's protective nose cone after it reaches space returned an anomalous reading, causing the capsule to switch over to a backup system. The backup worked as designed, and the nose cone opened on schedule. Those six nose-cone hooks are also part of a 12-hook system that Endeavour will use to dock with the ISS, which the capsule is expected to do at 1:17 a.m. EST (0617 GMT) on 3 March. Further analysis indicates that the potentially anomalous sensor won't be a problem going forward in six months, when it comes time to close that nose cone again.
1 March 2023: Asteroid lost 1 million kilograms after collision with DART spacecraft
On 26th September 2022 NASA’s Double Asteroid Redirection Test (DART) spacecraft smashed into an asteroid, deliberately altering the rock’s trajectory through space in a first test of planetary defence. Now scientists have deconstructed the collision and its aftermath, and learnt just how successful humanity’s punch at the cosmos really was. DART, which was the size of a golf cart, collided with a Great Pyramid-sized asteroid called Dimorphos. The impact caused the asteroid’s orbit around another space rock to shrink, which now completes an orbit 33 minutes faster than before the impact. Thus, if a dangerous asteroid were ever detected heading for Earth, a mission to smash into it would probably be able to divert it away from the planet. As DART hurtled towards Dimorphos at more than 6 km/s, the first part that hit was one of its solar panels, which smashed into a 6.5 m wide boulder. Microseconds later, the main body of the spacecraft collided with the rocky surface next to the boulder, and the US$330-million DART shattered to bits. A later colour change to blue was spotted by NASA’s Infrared Telescope Facility in Hawaii. Scientists will get a close-up view of the impact’s aftermath in late 2026, when a European Space Agency craft named Hera will arrive at Dimorphos. Researchers are keen to see what sort of impact crater the DART smash left behind. In the meantime, detailed scientific observations will continue for several weeks, until the movement of Didymos and Dimorphos away from Earth makes them too faint for many telescopes to see, and then takes them behind the Sun. The impact ejected at least one million kilograms of rock from Dimorphos’s 4.3-billion-kilogram mass. The debris formed a tail that stretched for tens of thousands of kilometres behind the asteroid. Various telescopes watched over weeks as the tail shifted and evolved under the pressure of the Sun’s rays; the Hubble Space Telescope even detected a second tail, which had disappeared by 18 days after the impact. Dimorphos is 151 metres wide and orbits the larger asteroid Didymos. NASA’s goal was to alter Dimorphos’s orbit enough for astronomers to spot the changes by monitoring the brightness of the pair over time using ground-based telescopes. Neither asteroid is, or will ever be, a threat to Earth.
27 February 2023: Powerful solar storm delays SpaceX rocket launch
When huge amounts of charged solar particles reach our planet, the interactions of these particles with Earth's upper atmosphere cause the atmosphere to swell. When that happens, the density of gases at higher altitude increases and spacecraft experience more drag. Since SpaceX launches Starlink craft into very low altitudes and then uses the satellite's onboard propulsion to raise their orbit, this additional drag proved too much for the ill-fated spacecraft. Since February 2022, when SpaceX lost a batch of 40 satellites after launching them right into a relatively mild geomagnetic storm, the company has been co-operating with the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). SpaceX has not only been paying greater attention to space weather forecasts but has also been providing data from Starlink's onboard sensors to help NOAA improve its space weather forecasting models. Thus, as a powerful solar storm that swept across the Earth, SpaceX was forced to delay a Starlink launch from Florida. Eventually, those satellites were launched, the first batch of 21 second-generation Starlink internet spacecraft, at 6:13 p.m. ET, on 28th February after the geomagnetic storm, classified by as a strong G3 storm subsided. Lift-off occurred about 4.5 hours after the originally scheduled launch time. Earlier this year, the European Space Agency reported that some of its low-orbiting satellites were losing altitude due to the swelled-up atmosphere. The current solar cycle, the 25th since record-keeping began, is also shaping up to be much stronger than what NOAA and NASA originally predicted. In very powerful storms, G4 and G5, spacecraft operators might completely lose track of their satellites as the swelled-up atmosphere would affect satellite's trajectories. Experts worry that the environment near Earth, with fast-growing numbers of operational satellites as well as fragments of space debris, could become extremely vulnerable in a G5 storm. The loss of control over functioning satellites and the lack of awareness about the whereabouts of pieces of space debris could lead to collisions and trigger further growth of the amount of debris that clutters near-Earth space.
27 February 2023: Powerful solar storm stalls oil-rigs in Canada
A powerful solar storm that swept across Earth temporarily disrupted operations of several Canadian oil-rigs as GPS signals were too inaccurate. Canadian exploration geologist Chris Mason reported on Facebook that a drilling rig in Saskatchewan, where he is currently deployed, had to temporarily shut down operations due to the solar storm. "I’ve been a well-site geologist for close to 30 years, and last night/this morning was the first time that we briefly suspended drilling operations due to a solar storm. The electronics in the tool that tells us which direction and inclination the drill bit is going was receiving so much interference from the storm that its readings were unreliable." Mason added that multiple rigs in the area were affected. U.S. solar physicist and space weather expert Tamitha Skov explained that the rigs were affected by the disruption of GPS signals, which they use for precise navigation. "The ongoing strong solarstorm is impacting GPS and even has caused the temporary suspension of drilling platforms due to the unreliability of even precision GPS signals and due to the GICs (geomagnetically induced currents in the ground). Events like these will come more often as we rise towards solar maximum." The current storm belonged to the third-strongest category, according to NOAA's five-grade classification system. G3 storms can occur up to 200 times per solar cycle and can cause minor problems to power grids and spacecraft in orbit, as well as satellite signal and radio signal disruption. It was a result of a combination of factors. In recent days, streams of fast solar wind have been flowing toward Earth from a so-called coronal hole, which is essentially an opening in the sun's magnetic field. On top of that, two coronal mass ejections (CMEs), enormous bursts of solar plasma emerged from an active region, or a sunspot, over the weekend and reached our planet in quick succession on 26th and 27th February.
23 February 2023: Engine Failure Returns Turkish Airlines A321neo To Istanbul
A Turkish Airlines Airbus A321neo flying from Istanbul to Munich was forced to return after an engine failed shortly after takeoff. At around 4,500 feet, one of the Pratt & Whitney PW1133G engines failed, with passengers reporting visible smoke and the smell of aircraft fuel onboard. The crew quickly leaped into action, leveling the plane off at 4,900 feet and completing the necessary checklist for this incident.
The aircraft was in a holding pattern for 30 minutes as the pilots went through all the safety checks before planning their return to the airport. The A321neo landed safely at IST at 09:12, 34 minutes after taking off on the same runway it departed from. Passengers made their way back to the terminal, where an A321-200 was scheduled to fly them to Munich. A320neo spent the next two days after the incident on the ground, likely undergoing repairs or an engine replacement. On Saturday, 25th February, the jet was cleared to fly once again and flew a quick rotation to and from Ankara. Turkish Airlines is likely investigating the cause of the engine failure as well, given how rare it is in a power plant so new. Despite a shortage of engines worldwide, the carrier seems to have had the parts or spares in its sprawling maintenance facility to get its jet back in the skies as quickly as safely possible.
20 February 2023: Lightning Damages Fuselage of American Airlines B787-9
During American Airways B787-9, N839AA, flight from Tokyo Narita Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport it was struck by lightning. It landed safely and is currently at a maintenance hangar at DFW airport undergoing repairs. On average, every commercial plane is struck by lightning at least once a year. According to View from the Wing, it has been over 40 years since a crash has been attributed to a lightning strike as the strong fuselage of the plane conducts electricity and generally transmits the strike out the tail. When the plane is hit, the strike can be seen and heard in the cockpit, prompting pilots to ensure that all devices, such as radios, are not damaged and work normally. Pilots then report the lightning strike to technical staff, and then a thorough inspection is performed on the aircraft, according to Air Live. The highest probability for lightning attachment to an airplane is the outer extremities, such as the wing tip, nose, or rudder. Lightning strikes mainly occur during the climb and descent phases of flight between an altitude of 5,000 to 15,000. The probability of a lightning strike is decreased significantly above 20,000 feet. The external parts of most commercial aircraft are made of metal and are thick enough to withstand a lightning strike. The fuselage is the primary defence, as the surface is sufficient to shield the plane's interior from lightning strikes. The metal skin also prevents electromagnetic energy from entering the airplane's electrical system and wiring. It does not prevent all electromagnetic radiation from entering the electrical wire but keeps it manageable. According to View from the Wing, it has been over 40 years since a crash has been attributed to a lightning strike as the strong fuselage of the plane conducts electricity and generally transmits the strike out the tail.
16 February 2023: Japan’s new H3 rocket aborts 1st-ever launch attempt
The H3 rocket, of Japan’s Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), aborted its first-ever launch attempt, a test flight from Japan's Tanegashima Space Centre. It was supposed to send an Earth-observing satellite to orbit. It made all the way through the countdown to T-0, which occurred as planned at 8:37 p.m. EST (0137 GMT and 10:37 a.m. Japan Standard Time. The two LE-9 engines that power the vehicle's core stage ignited, but its two solid rocket boosters did not. There was not immediately clear cause for the boosters failing to fire up. This aborted launch will add to the delays in the H3's journey to orbit. JAXA and its commercial partner, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, have been developing the rocket for a decade to be flexible and cost-effective. The new vehicle will soon replace Japan's workhorse H-IIA rocket, if all goes according to plan. The satellite that was supposed to fly today is called the Advanced Land Observing Satellite-3 (ALOS-3), also known as DAICHI-3. Its observations will have many applications, including disaster monitoring and response. This launch was originally targeted for 14 February, but bad weather caused a two-day delay. Japan has launched one orbital mission so far this year: An H-IIA successfully delivered Japan's IGS Radar 7 surveillance satellite to orbit on 25th January.
16 February 2023: Power Outage Impacts International Operations At JFK Airport
One of the busiest airports in the USA was hit by a major power outage on Thursday, February 16th. Flights arriving and departing from Terminal 1 at New York John F. Kennedy Airport (JFK) were disrupted throughout the evening, and the terminal is expected to remain closed on Friday. The disruption led to delays, cancellations, and mid-air U-turns for airlines across the world. Among the affected international flights were a SWISS Airbus A330-300 from Zurich (ZRH) that diverted to Newark, and an Egyptair Boeing 777-300ER flying from Cairo (CAI) that landed at Washington Dulles. According to data from FlightAware.com, there was also a total of 16 cancellations as a result of the power outage. One of those was an ITA Airways Airbus A330-200 from Milan Malpensa (MXP), which after several hours in the air, made a mid-Atlantic U-turn and returned to Italy. Korean Air flight KE85 also returned to Seoul (ICN) after almost five hours in the air. Meanwhile, the unlucky passengers on Air New Zealand flight NZ2 from Auckland (AKL) to JFK experienced a 16-hour ride to nowhere. The Boeing 787-9 was midway over the Pacific Ocean when news of the power outage at JFK broke, and rather than divert to an alternative airport, the carrier made the decision to turn back to New Zealand. A spokesperson for the airline explained the reasons for this, saying, that diverting to another US port would have meant the aircraft would remain on the ground for several days, impacting a number of other scheduled services and customers. The flight is now returning to Auckland, where customers will be rebooked on the next available service. On Twitter, the airport confirmed that "the power outage was caused by an electrical panel failure, which also caused a small isolated fire overnight that was immediately extinguished."
14 February 2023: Hackers Target SAS Network And Compromise App
Hackers targeted the website of SAS Scandinavian Airlines and reportedly leaked customer information from its app. Consequently, the airline warned its customers not to use the app until it was fixed, as there was a risk of getting false information from it. Regretfully, the SAS incident isn't an isolated one and highlights the perpetual threat to the cyber security of airlines and airports around the world. The most recent cases affected: India's Go First airline, TAP Air Portugal, some major US airports and
And one of the biggest cyber attacks in recent times targeted Cathay Pacific in 2018, in which personal data, including passport details, email, and credit card details, of up to 9.4 million passengers was accessed. The airline was fined £500,000 for failing to protect the information of its customers.
11 February 2023: Russian Progress cargo craft at space station springs a leak at ISS
For the second time in two months, a Russian spacecraft docked with the International Space Station (ISS) has sprung a leak. Mission controllers in Moscow have noticed "a depressurisation" in the robotic Progress 82 cargo craft, Russia's federal space agency Roscosmos announced. The reason for the loss of coolant in the Progress 82 spacecraft is being investigated. The hatches between the Progress 82 and the station are open, and temperatures and pressures aboard the station are all normal. The crew, which was informed of the cooling loop leak, is in no danger and continuing with normal space station operations. Progress 82 arrived at the ISS on Oct. 28, 2022 and was scheduled to depart on 17 February. It's unclear if the freighter will still leave on that date or if mission controllers will keep it around longer than originally planned to continue the leak investigation. Progress vehicles are designed to burn up in Earth's atmosphere when their missions are over, so engineers won't be able to examine the vehicle on the ground. Coincidentally, the depressurisation was noticed on the same day that another Russian freighter, Progress 83, arrived at the orbiting lab. Progress 83 docked successfully early Saturday morning, unaffected by the travails of its sibling ship. Progress 82's leak follows on the heels of a similar incident involving Russia's MS-22 Soyuz spacecraft, which carried three astronauts to the International Space Station in September and was supposed to haul them home again in March. But Soyuz MS-22 leaked away all of its coolant on Dec. 14, a dramatic event that Russian mission controllers eventually traced to an apparent micrometeoroid strike. The vehicle is now unfit to carry astronauts except in case of an emergency aboard the ISS, so Roscosmos plans to launch another Soyuz later this month to take its place. That replacement Soyuz, known as MS-23, will launch uncrewed. It will bring the MS-22 crew back to Earth, likely in late September. It is not clear at the moment if Roscosmos and the other space station partners will adjust it, perhaps to allow more time to conduct a Progress leak investigation and consider the implications of its results.
11 February 2023: Temporary radio blackout over South America due to erupted a major X-class solar flare
X-class flares solar flare are the most dangerous events and are capable of triggering radio blackouts across the whole world and long-lasting radiation storms, which can affect satellites, communication systems and even some ground-based technologies, if directed toward Earth. A major solar flare erupted from the sun spawning a radio blackout over South America and setting the stage for more flares to come. The huge solar flare, which registered as a powerful X1.1-class event on the scale used for such sun storms, peaked at 10:48 a.m. EST (1548 GMT), according to the U.S. Space Weather Prediction Center (SWPC) operated by NOAA. It originated from an area of the sun called Active Region 3217. The strongest X-class flare ever recorded occurred in 2003 and registered as an X28 flare before it overwhelmed the space weather sensors measuring it. Intense solar flares can also eject out huge amounts of solar material in what scientists call a coronal mass ejection (CME), which can fling out vast clouds of solar plasma away from the sun at speeds of up to 1 million mph. When aimed directly at Earth, the strongest solar flares and CMEs can interfere with communications systems, power stations and even endanger astronauts and satellites in space.
10 February 2023: Engine Fire causes diversion of Delta Air Lines B767-300ER
A 25-year-old wide-body Delta Air Lines, B767-300ER, registered as N197DN, was performing a scheduled flight DL 209, between Edinburgh Airport and New York John F. Kennedy International Airport. About 10 minutes after the regular departure, passengers noticed that the aircraft's right engine was experiencing a fire alongside a leaking streak of an unknown substance. Footage taken by the passengers shows a bright orange flame gushing out from the right wing, with frantic crying and panicked speaking in the background. Not captured in the footage was one of the flight crew walking up and down between the aircraft cockpit and cabin, presumably to analyse the situation's seriousness. After that, passengers recounted the flight crew announcing from the flight deck that they were being re-routed to Glasgow Prestwick Airport. While the initial climb after departure was filled with loud noises from the aircraft and the passengers, the descent to Glasgow was quite the opposite. Passengers noticed that nearly all noise was gone, and there was an eerie silence in the aircraft cabin, presumably because the flight crew would have turned the right engine off and also because all the in-flight entertainment was cut. The nightmare ordeal was finally over for the scared passengers landed safely at Glasgow Prestwick Airport. Thus, a flight that generally lasts over seven hours, the incidental flight was in the air for less than half an hour. The aircraft will not be leaving Glasgow Prestwick Airport anytime soon, especially since significant repair and possibly even replacement works on the engine are expected. And although there were no reported injuries and everyone was safe thanks to the flight crew's professionalism, some passengers found themselves in a frantic mess that saw them stranded at Glasgow.
31 January 2023: The last B747 delivered to atlas Air
The 747 is an icon of commercial aviation. Nicknamed the Queen of the Skies, the 747-100 made its first test flight on February 9, 1969. It was the first airplane with two aisles and marked the first commercial use of the high bypass turbofan engine. It allowed more people to fly farther, faster and more affordably than ever before. The distinctive hump on the 747 makes it readily recognisable, a symbol of great engineering, and often noted as an outstanding work of architecture. Boeing had appointed Joe Sutter, a brilliant young designer, to the project and he was to father the classic of the jet age. The first 747 was the result of the work of more than 50,000 Boeing employees. Called “the Incredibles,” these pioneers were construction workers, mechanics, engineers, secretaries, and administrators. They made aviation history by building the 747, the largest commercial airplane in the world, in less than 28 months during the late 1960s. It is just over 50 years since the 747 entered service with Pan American on a flight from New York to London. The first passenger service got off to a rocky start with engine problems and was delayed by six hours and a substitute 747 was used. The 747 was a mass travel dream of Pan American World Airways founder Juan Trippe and Boeing chief Bill Allen. The last 747, a -8F is the 1574th built of a production run that has spanned 55 years, for 100+ customers. The 747 fleet has logged more than 118 million flight hours and nearly 23 million flight cycles. From the early days of the program, the 747 was designed with freight in mind. A key reason the 747 design located the flight deck on a second level was to facilitate cargo loading in later freighter derivatives.
29 January 2023: A320 LOST LEFT HAND ELEVATOR UPON DEPARTURE IN CONGO
Flight BU415, by a Compagnie Africaine Aviation (FlyCAA) Airbus A320 , performed by departed from Mbuji Mayi’s runway 34, N’Djili in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. However, shortly after take-off, the aircraft lost most of the left-hand elevator. After the crew members analysed the situation, they decided to continue to fly to Kinshasa requesting only right-hand turns. Footage shared on the internet shows the aircraft’s left remaining elevator as seen in Kinshasa. The aircraft climbed to FL300 and continued on to Kinshasa. They performed a low pass at Kinshasa to have the aircraft assessed from the ground, as reported by the Aviation Herald. After the ground personnel assessed the aircraft, the crew positioned the aircraft for another approach, again using right-hand turns only. Then, the aircraft landed safely on Kinshasa’s runway 24 about 90 minutes after departure from Mbuji Mayi. The separated part of the left-hand elevator was reportedly recovered from the departing aerodrome. According to local reports, the aircraft neither faced a collision nor any abnormal contact, it just looks like a structural failure as a result of fatigue.
27 January 2023: Heavy Flooding Closes Auckland Airport
A state of emergency was declared in Auckland after the torrential rain caused widespread flooding and evacuations, closing the city’s airports. The airport was closed both domestic and international operations for two days. Airport officials closed the airport after the widespread flooding and all passengers were evacuated from the terminals as floodwater built up throughout the terminal. Footage shared on social media showed the check-in area in the International Terminal knee-deep in floodwater. More than 200 passengers due to fly to Sydney were unable to disembark the aircraft and were onboard the aircraft overnight, as they had already boarded when the flight was cancelled. International flights in and out of Auckland are more complex than domestic, with many parts of the aviation ecosystem needing to be ready as well. This includes airport security, systems to ticket and process customers, and biosecurity and baggage operations. More than 2000 people stayed overnight on Friday at Auckland Airport terminals due to flooding. People are asked not to come to the International Terminal at this time for travel. Air New Zealand is working overtime to re-accommodate over 9,000 displaced passengers after heavy rain disrupted its operations from its Auckland hub. Auckland International Airport (AKL) was forced to close and restrict operations over the weekend as heavy rain battered New Zealand's largest city.
18 January 2023: “Unwanted” fire may have caused ABL Space Systems’ launch failure
ABL Space Systems’ two-stage RS1 rocket crashed to Earth shortly after launching from Alaska's Pacific Spaceport Complex, on 10th January, bringing a premature and fiery end to its debut orbital mission. Quick failure investigation in conduction with the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration already made considerable progress, even homing in on a possible cause, a fire in the RS1's avionics system. The RS1's first stage "suffered a complete loss of power" 10.87 seconds after lift-off. The rocket continued to ascend for another 2.63 seconds, reaching a maximum altitude of 232 meters but then fell back to Earth, impacting about 18 m east of its launch pad. "Approximately 95% of the vehicle total propellant mass was still onboard, creating an energetic explosion and over-pressure wave that caused damage to nearby equipment and facilities," the company wrote in the update. The damaged gear included communications equipment at the pad, as well as fuel and water storage tanks. The crash scattered debris over an area with a radius of 0.40 kilometres and sparked a fire that destroyed an ABL fabric hangar and much of the "integration equipment" it harboured, according to ABL. Nobody was injured, as the affected area had been cleared before lift-off in accordance with safety procedures. Seven days into the failure investigation, the team has identified several interesting "fact patterns," the update notes. For example, abnormal pressure and temperature spikes occurred in the first stage's aft cavity a few seconds after lift-off. "Additionally, there is some visual evidence of fire or smoke near the vehicle QD and the engine bay after lift-off," the update states. (QD presumably stands for "quick disconnect," an interface joining the rocket with a propellant or other service line.)
"Shortly before power loss, a handful of sensors began dropping out sequentially," the update continues. "This evidence suggests that an unwanted fire spread to our avionics system, causing a system-wide failure." ABL was founded in 2017 and is based in Southern California. The company intends to secure a significant portion of the small-satellite launch market with the 27 m RS1, which is powered by nine of ABL's E2 engines in its first stage and one in its upper stage. The rocket is capable launching up to 1,350 kilograms of payload to low Earth orbit, according to ABL's users' guide. The company currently charges $12 million per RS1 mission and already has dozens of launches on its docket. For example, in 2021, ABL inked a deal with Lockheed Martin to fly up to 58 missions through 2029.
18 January 2023: Will China’s Mars rover wake up from its worrying hibernation?
Zhurong is part of Tianwen 1, China's first interplanetary mission, which also includes a Mars orbiter. The rover touched down on the Red Planet's Utopia Planitia back in May 2021 and conducted a range of science and exploration activities before entering a dormant state in May 2022 to wait out the cold, harsh winter in the northern hemisphere of Mars. It was expected that the rover would wake up autonomously when two conditions are met, a temperature of greater -15 degrees Celsius and energy generation of greater than 140 watts. It has been expected that those conditions would have been met around the time of the Mars spring equinox (December 2023). However, there has been silence from both the rover and its operators in China. Yet hope remains that Zhurong is simply experiencing colder than expected conditions and may still wake itself up and resume activities. Weather data from NASA's Perseverance rover, which is nuclear-powered and has not needed to hibernate, reveals that temperatures in Mars' Jezero Crater have only briefly risen higher than this lowest heat requirement. USA’s Perseverance rover is some seven degrees latitude south of Zhurong and thus closer to the Martian equator, meaning it may also be experiencing slightly more favourable conditions than China's rover. The other factor affecting Zhurong is that dust storms may have deposited Martian sand onto Zhurong's solar arrays, hindering its ability to generate power and wake itself up. The rover's butterfly-shaped solar panels use anti-dust material, and Zhurong is equipped with a vibrating function to shake off accumulated dust. However, the rover will need to be active to employ this latter measure.
11 January 2023: First launch by ABL Space Systems fails shortly after lift-off
Founded in 2017, ABL is headquartered in El Segundo, California, and is backed by venture capital funds and money from Lockheed Martin. ABL reported a valuation of $2.4 billion in 2021 during its most recent fundraising round, with a backlog of more than 75 missions, primarily from a bulk order of up to 58 launches from Lockheed Martin. ABL also has a contract to launch a NASA small satellite tech demo mission, and is one of 13 companies in NASA’s roster of providers for venture-class launch services. The ABL’s first lift-off of the 27m tall RS1 rocket took place from Launch Pad 3C at the Pacific Spaceport Complex on Kodiak Island, Alaska. The rocket was supposed to head south over the Pacific Ocean on an attempt to place two small satellites into polar orbit about 300 km above Earth. However, all nine of RS1’s E2 engines shut down simultaneously, impacted the pad and destroying itself and the cargo. Inevitably the launch facility was damaged, but all personnel were safe, and fires have subsided. ABL is investigating the launch failure, in coordination with the Federal Aviation Administration and Alaska Aerospace Corporation, which owns the spaceport on Kodiak Island. ABL scrubbed several launch attempts since November due to technical issues and bad weather, including aborts during the engine start-up sequence just before lift-off. The launch campaign followed a static test-firing of the RS1 rocket’s first stage and a series of fuel loading demonstrations at Kodiak. The two-stage RS1 rocket is capable of placing a payload of nearly 1,350 kg into a low-altitude equatorial orbit, or around 970 kg into a high 500-km polar orbit. The company says its launch operations rely on a “containerised launch solution,” allowing it to deploy ground support equipment and rockets to different spaceports with minimal pre-existing ground infrastructure. The two OmniTeq satellites on the RS1 rocket’s first orbital launch attempt were designed to test the operation of OmniTeq’s VariSat high-frequency communications payload, according to ABL. The mission was also expected demonstrate OmniTeq’s Equalizer deployer, a mechanism designed to eject CubeSats into orbit on small satellite rideshare launches on multiple types of rockets
9 January 2023: Rocket "Anomaly" caused Failure of Virgin Orbit's First UK Satellite Launch
The first orbital satellite launch to depart from Western Europe failed to reach its target orbit after a successful takeoff late. The Virgin Orbit rocket LauncherOne suffered what has been described only as an "anomaly" in the second launch phase after reaching space successfully. The mission, that was carrying nine satellites, lifted off shortly after 22:00 on a converted jumbo jet called Cosmic Girl from the newly inaugurated Spaceport Cornwall, the first base of its kind in the United Kingdom. The customised Boeing 747 carried the LauncherOne rocket system to the designated drop zone. It maintained a looping "racetrack" pattern as it awaited the final clear to launch called from mission command. At 35,000ft above the Atlantic, off Ireland's southern coast, just before 23.15. the rocket was successfully released and then ignited its engines, quickly going hypersonic and successfully reaching space while Cosmic Girl successfully returned the crew to Spaceport Cornwall. The rocket was scheduled to pass Antarctica and Australia before enacting a final burn to take it into Low Earth Orbit and release its payload. The flight then continued through successful stage separation and ignition of the second stage. At some point during the firing of the rocket's second-stage engine, the system experienced what officials have described only as an "anomaly," and the rocket, now travelling at a speed of more than 11,000 miles per hour, failed to reach the target orbit. The Boeing 747-400 (registration: N744VG) has flown on all the previous Virgin Orbit Missions. The entire main deck interior, including all seats and overhead bins where removed to reduce the weight. The upper deck was transformed into a small mission control room for Launch Engineers to oversee missions during flight. The Cosmic Girl, arrived in Cornwall on October 11th, followed by the ground support equipment (GSE) and the LauncherOne rocket, which left California on a C-17 military aircraft later in the week. The payload consisted of satellites from the UK's Ministry of Defence, the sultanate of Oman, the US National Reconnaissance Office, and British start-ups such as Space Forge. Only ten countries worldwide have achieved the feat to date: the US, Russia, India, Iran, North Korea, South Korea, Japan, China, and French Guiana, which serves as the spaceport for The European Space Agency.
4 January 2022: Tail Strike Damaged British Airways A350 at Heathrow
4 January 2022: Fire Onboard Diverts Ryanair B737
5 January 2022: Drone-Based Aircraft Inspections at Korean Air
9 January 2022: FAA details 50 airports that will have 5G buffer zones
18 January 2022: Most B777 Flights to US Cancels due to 5G Roll-out
19 January 2022: Ash from Tonga volcano eruption reaches record altitude
27 January 2022: Door Ripped of British Airways B777 in Cape Town
28 January 2022: China Airlines Cargo B747F damaged after colliding with baggage cart at Chicago O’Hare
2 February 2022 Service Return Mandates for Pratt & Whitney powered B777s
4 February 2022 Landing gear of Sun Country B737 collapse on landing
7 February 2022 Geomagnetic storm destroys SpaceX Starlink satellites
8 February 2022 Curiosity rover’s wheels severally damaged by rugged Mars
10 February 2022: Astra rocket suffers catastrophic failure in 1st Florida launch
18 February 2022 Fuel System Part Linked to UPS 747-8F Incident
22 March 2022 Boeing 777 Fuel Systems Modifications Requested by FAA
23 March 2022 Spacewalking astronauts completed maintenance tasks on ISS
23 March 2022 Material Defect Prompts PW1100G-JM Inspection Mandate
29 March 2022 A320 Lands with nose gear rotated by 90 degrees
6 April 2022 Malaysia Airlines 737 drops 7000 feet in seconds
7 April 2022 Crash landing of DHL B757 in San Jose
14 April 2022 Corrosion From Inactivity Flagged On Pratt-powered 777 Engine Parts
21 April 2022 Thrust reverser deploys during go-around on TAP A320
3 May 2022 Mumbai Airport Will Close For 6 Hours To Allow Monsoon Preparation
7 May 2022 Software Bug Prompts EASA Emergency Directive for Airbus A350
12 May 2022: TIBET airlines A319 caught fire during take off in China
13 May 2022: Third failure in a row for iSpace's hyperbola 1 rocket
23 May 2022 Dozens Of Flights Diverted Due to Bad Weather at Delhi Airport
25 May 2022 Ransomware Attack Impacting SpiceJet Operations
6 June 2022 Faulty Simulator Training, 90 SpiceJet Pilots Banned From Flying Boeing 737 MAX
8 June 2022 NASA Project Gathers Data On Climate Influencing Thunderstorms
10 June 2022 Micrometeoroid hits James Webb Space Telescope just months into flight
12 June 2022 McDonnell Douglas MD82 Catches Fire After Landing At Miami Airport
13 June 2022: Astra rocket suffers second failure
16 June 2022 ISS dodges orbital debris from Russian anti-satellite test
17 June 2022 ITA Airways Airbus A330 Hits Air France Boeing 777 And Takes Off
19 June 2022 SpiceJet Boeing 737 Engine Catches Fire After Bird Strike
24 June 2022 Wild solar weather is causing satellites to plummet from orbit
26 June 2022 US Congress Eyes Another Boeing Audit After Multiple 737 MAX Incidents
28 June 2022 Nose Gear Trouble Landing In Hamburg for SAS ATR-72
1 July 2022 Large Hole In Fairing on Emirates Airbus A380 when Landing in Brisbane
5 July 2022 NASA's tiny CAPSTONE probe goes silent on its way to the moon
7 July 2022 Minotaur rocket explodes 11 sec after launching on test mission for US military
7 July 2022 Trash bag jettisoned from ISS in waste-management first
10 July 2022 Landing Gear Catches Fire in Atlanta with Passengers On Board of Spirit Airlines
11 July 2022 Repair Issue Prompts 787 Fire Shutoff Switch Swap Order by FAA
17 July 2022 International Carriers Made 3 Emergency Landings on Indian Airports by Within 48 Hours
17 July 2022 Micrometeoroid strikes damaged James Webb Space Telescope
18 July 2022 Storm damage grounded Flying telescope SOFIA
18 July 2022 Satellite dodges space debris as it scrambles against space weather
21 July 2022 SpaceX aborts launch of Falcon 9 rocket 46 seconds before lift-off with 46 Starlink satellites
26 July 2022 Engine Fire Causes Aborted Take off on A321
29 July 2022 FAA Approves Boeing 787 Inspection, Delivery Restart Plan
29 July 2022 F-35s Join Grounded as Martin Baker Ejection Seat Could be Faulty
31 July 2022: Pressurisation Problem causes Airbus A330 Returns To Heathrow
2 August 2022 B737 Lands In Amsterdam with Open Cargo Door
2 August 2022 Belly Landing of F16y Shows Landing Gear Issues Persisting
6 August 2022 Failed Sensor prevents India to put satellites in right orbit in debut launch
6 August 2022 Lightning Strikes 2 IndiGo Engineers During ATR Check
15 August 2022: Pilots Miss Landing Because They Were Asleep
22 August 2022 Smoke in Cockpit of B747-8 Declares Emergency and Diverts To Boston
23 August 2022 A Pilot Reportedly Fainted On A Jet2 Flight To Turkey
25 August 2022 Typhoon Expected To Disrupt Hong Kong Flights
29 August 2022 Technical Issue Nixes First SLS Launch Attempt
3 September 2022 Airbus A320 Hits Motorcycle On Landing in Guinea
7 September 2022 Astronauts' blood shows signs of DNA mutations due to spaceflight
7 September 2022 Leaky seal on Artemis 1 to be replaced at the launch pad
12 September 2022 Launch failure grounded Blue Origin's New Shepard rocket
21 September 2022 Falling sparks and debris forced United Airlines B777 returns
1 October 2022: Firefly declares Alpha rocket launch success but satellites fall back to earth
6 October 2022: Last minute abort of SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket double-satellite launch
8 October 2022: Scottish rocket start-up Skyrora fails on 1st space launch attempt
11 October 2022: Japan’s epsilon rocket fails during launch of tech-demonstrating satellite
23 October 2022: Korean Air A330 overshot the runway
25 October 2022: Software Upgrade on A220 Engine Mandated by FAA
28 October 2022 Engine Failure on IndiGo Airbus A320 caused Rejects Takeoff
30 October 2022 Sub-two second pit stop for McLaren F1 Team
7 November 2022 Subtropical Storm Nicole delays SpaceX launch to Saturday
7 November 2022 Cygnus cargo ship is trying to reach ISS with only 1 solar array deployed
8 November 2022 DARPA’s robot could start servicing satellites in 2025
8 November 2022 A340 Diverts to Boston twice following engine issues
9 November 2022 Inscribing serial numbers during inspections of propellers caused grounding of 116 C-130 H aircraft
10 November 2022 Tropical Storm Nicole batters Florida as NASA's Artemis 1 moon rocket rides out storm
11 November 2022: China's long March 6a launches successfully but upper stage breaks up
14 November 2022 Heavy Storm Damage A330 and A320 in Flight over Jeddah
6 December 2022 Final B747 Rolls Off The Production Line Today
8 December 2022 First C919 Delivered To China Eastern
13 December 2022: Airbus A330Neo Damaged Before Delivery
14 December 2022 Soyuz spacecraft suffers 'fairly substantial' leak at space station, cancels spacewalk by Russian cosmonauts
14 December 2022: China's launch of world's 1st methane-fuelled orbital rocket fails
15 December 2022 Technical Fault Identified After F-35B Crash
19 December 2022; IT Failure Causes Delay Chaos For British Airways Passengers
19 December 2022 Several Serious Injuries Reported On Turbulence-Struck Hawaiian Airlines A330
21 December 2022: Europe’s Vega C rocket fails during second stage
21 December 2022 Flight VV22 failure: Arianespace and ESA appoint an independent inquiry commission
21 December 2022 Martian Dust Causes NASA to Retires InSight Mars Lander