Unmanned Vehicles

The space probe Philae made a successful landing on a comet, the European Space Agency announced Wednesday, despite a malfunction in the probe’s anchoring system. After a seven-hour descent to the surface of Comet 67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko, signals indicating that the probe had touched down were relayed via the Rosetta orbiter craft to stations on Earth, including […]

If you follow spaceflight much-and probably even if you don’t-you’ll recall the Mars probe that burned up during orbital insertion a few years ago. Actually, it was the Mars Climate Orbiter and that was 16 years ago, believe it or not. The problem was that instead of the newton-seconds specified in the contract, software writers […]

Orbital Sciences said this week it plans to revamp its Antares rocket program and target another launch in 2016. Meanwhile, the company continues to investigate the cause of the Oct. 28 engine failure that led operators to intentionally destroy the unmanned supply rocket seconds after ignition. David Thompson, the company’s president and CEO, told investors […]

Solar Flight has released plans for the SunStar, a solar-powered airplane designed to act as an unmanned telecommunications platform, able to remain in flight for months at a time. Eric Raymond, president of Solar Flight, said, “What we are designing is known as an atmospheric satellite, which operates and performs many of the functions as […]

While the rest of the world, especially Israel and Australia, move rapidly forward with commercial deployment of unmanned aircraft systems, the FAA’s slow formulation of regulations endangers the U.S. ability to compete. That was one observation that came out of an hour-long panel discussion attended by several hundred people at NBAA in Orlando this week. […]

I’ve been doing some instrument instruction with a young pilot who’s set on working his way through the ratings to an eventual professional flying career, probably in the airlines. I’m occasionally asked what’s the best way to do this, but if I’m honest, I have to admit the real question I weigh is whether to […]

For those who thought Amazon.com was not serious about its plans to deliver packages with Unmanned Aerial Systems (UAS), its petition to the FAA for an exemption to test them outdoors near Seattle, Washington, has been pending since July 9. With the FAA’s recent approval of some petitions for exemption for UAS in the movie […]

AVweb’s weekly search of the news in the world of aviation turned up a new exhibit exploring the future of space travel, a major award for Civil Air Patrol, a partnership to support the Unmanned Aircraft System Community and approval of a new flight simulator for the Socata TBM-series aircraft. Space Center Houston’s newest exhibit, […]

As we reported Tuesday, the FAA has taken the first steps to allow commercial use of unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) in what it referred to as the National Airspace System by granting limited exemptions from the Federal Aviation Regulations to six aerial photo and video production companies to use UAS below 400 feet AGL on […]

As U.S. Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV or drone) developers, manufacturers and potential users are howling at or suing the FAA for its ongoing refusal to allow commercial UAV operations, commercial drone use in Canada has, dare we say it, taken off. Transport Canada, the Canadian equivalent of the FAA, set up a permit system for […]