Lawrence Garrett

Reston

Web Editor at American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics

Web editor for the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics since 2007. Interests include aerospace, history, politics, and sports.

Featured in: Favicon

aiaa.org

Articles

US DOT’s New ATC Plan Aims to Modernize Thousands of Sites

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Aerotime reports, “US Department of Transport (DOT) Secretary Sean Duffy has announced a plan to modernize the old US air traffic control system, which includes replacing outdated telecommunications with new technology at more than 4,600 locations across the country.”Full Story (Aerotime)
Sierra Space Marks Third Testing Milestone on Resilient GPS (R-GPS) Technology for USSF

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Inside GNSS reports, “Sierra Space, a leading commercial space company and defense tech prime  announced today another successful demonstration of the company’s Resilient GPS (R-GPS) technology for the U.S. Space Force (USSF). In this third milestone, Sierra Space demonstrated an early integration of the R-GPS satellite technology through FlatSat flight software and hardware subsystem testing, in addition to successful communication with ground software.”Full Story (Inside GNSS)
James Webb Space Telescope Discovers Water Vapor in Distant Planet’s Atmosphere

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

SPACE reports, “NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope has found water vapor swirling in the air of a distant, boiling-hot alien planet, a new study reports. That exotic world is TOI-421 b, a boiling-hot “sub-Neptune” orbiting a star about 244 light-years from Earth whose atmosphere JWST recently probed in detail.” Full Story (SPACE)
US Air Force to Resume Accepting KC-46 Refueling Tankers Next Week

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Breaking Defense reports, “Following a suspension of deliveries in late February, the US Air Force is ready to accept new KC-46A Pegasus refueling tankers from manufacturing Boeing as soon as next week, according to the service’s top acquisition official.
SpaceX Receives FAA Approval to Increase Rate of Starship Launches from Texas

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Reuters reports, “SpaceX received key U.S. regulatory approval on Tuesday to increase the annual rate of Starship rocket launches from Texas and booster landings in various bodies of water, allowing” the space company “to significantly expand development of its giant Mars rocket … The Federal Aviation Administration, capping a years-long review, said SpaceX’s proposal to increase the number of Texas Starship launches from five to 25 would not have a major impact on the surrounding...
Whisper Aero Unveils ‘Collaborative Logistics Aircraft’ Family

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Aviation International News reports, “Whisper Aero, a U.S. start-up developing quiet electric propulsion systems, revealed a family of autonomous aircraft concepts for contested logistics missions on May 6 during the Special Operations Forces (SOF) Week event held in Tampa, Florida.
Stratolaunch Reusable Hypersonic Vehicle Exceeds Mach 5 in Two Test Flights

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Space News reports, “The U.S. is re-entering the era of reusable hypersonic flight testing for the first time in more than half a century, using an autonomous drone developed by Stratolaunch. The hypersonic vehicle named Talon A2 exceeded Mach 5—the threshold for hypersonic speed—in two Pentagon-backed test flights conducted in December 2024 and March 2025, the Defense Department confirmed May 5.”Full Story (Space News)
USMC Receives Extended Range MQ-9A RPAS from General Atomics

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Unmanned Systems Technology reports, “General Atomics Aeronautical Systems, Inc. (GA-ASI) has delivered an MQ-9A Reaper® Block 5 Extended Range (ER) Unmanned Aircraft System (UAS) to the U.S. Marine Corps (USMC). The aircraft was officially handed over on April 22, 2025, and is now assigned to Marine Operational Test and Evaluation Squadron One (VMX-1), located at Marine Corps Air Station Yuma in Arizona.” Full Story (Unmanned Systems Technology)
V-22 Official Anticipates Return of Normal Osprey Ops by End of 2026

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

Defense Daily reports, “The V-22 Joint Program Office manager expects the Ospreys to finally move back to unrestricted flight operations by the end of 2026 once several component changes to improve safety are implemented, he said during a recent conference. Notably, the metal used…” Full Story (Defense Daily – Subscription Publication)
DARPA Asking Private Industry for Lunar Orbiter Capable of Searching for Water

1 week ago | aiaa.org | Lawrence Garrett

SPACE reports, “DARPA (the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is looking for a private company to build spacecraft to orbit the moon and search for water. A program solicitation that DARPA released on April 14 outlines the plan for the LASSO (Lunar Assay via Small Satellite Orbiter) program, with the goal of developing a system of one or several affordable satellites.” Full Story (SPACE)