Mark Strauss

Mark Strauss

 

Mark Strauss is the Departments Editor at Air & Space magazine.

The LIFT Hexa has a total of 18 propellers, which allows it to be controlled simply by varying individual motor speed.

How to Ship a Flying Car

It’s no big deal for the HC-130J.

In January 2020, National Transportation Safety Board staff work at the scene of the helicopter crash that killed former NBA star Kobe Bryant.

Lessons From a Fatal Crash

The official verdict on the helicopter accident that took the lives of Kobe Bryant and seven other people.

Flagstaff, Arizona maintains a lighting code that limits lights from polluting this majestic nighttime view. But the glare from orbiting objects threatens to undermine such regulations.

Orbital Debris Creates a New Problem: Light Pollution

Collisions aren’t the only worry.

A demonstration conducted at a Rolls-Royce facility in Dahlewitz, Germany confirmed that its Pearl 700 business jet engine can operate using 100 percent sustainable aviation fuel.

This New Rolls-Royce Jet Engine Runs on Biofuel

With carbon emissions produced by aircraft expected to triple by 2050, the aviation industry is trying to go green.

An artist’s concept of the Northrop Grumman B-21 Raider. The bomber will fly initial missions with pilots but could eventually fly without them.

The Air Force Spills Some Secrets About its New Bomber

The B-21s are coming.

Artist’s conception of the reusable Talon-A, which will be 28 feet long.

This Could Be the Future of Hypersonic Flight

Stratolaunch previews the Talon-A research vehicle

German aviation company Lilium promises its future fleet of air taxis will be inaudible from the ground when flying above 400 meters.

A Fleet of Air Taxis Is Coming to Central Florida by 2025

Orlando takes the high road.

A Centaur upper stage like this one, photographed in 1964, was recently identified by a telescope that normally looks for asteroids.

This Apollo-Era Rocket Stage, Lost For Half a Century, Turned Up in a Telescope Search

Found in a hunt for asteroids, an old pal checks in on its way around the sun.

An artist’s concept shows NASA’s two Voyager spacecraft sailing beyond our solar bubble into interstellar space.

As Voyager 2 Gets Farther From the Sun, Space Gets Less Empty

The intrepid explorer is still plumbing the mysteries of the interstellar medium.

The Bell APT 70 drone flies above the Trinity River in Texas during a September 28 test flight. The drone takes off vertically, then transitions to flying like an airplane, which increases speed and range.

Medical Supply Drones Pass a Critical Test

Aerial deliveries of blood and other life-saving cargo could be a reality within a few years.

Bill Ingalls (bottom right) in a helicopter prior to taking off for an air-to-air shoot. His first gig was an internship at NASA as a writer and producer, doing TV work.

The Man Who Photographs Rocket Launches for a Living

Bill Ingalls documents the U.S. space program, with an eye for emotion.

An Australian ARH Tiger attack helicopter was able to land on the beach and deliver supplies to three castaways on tiny Pikelot Island. Their S.O.S. message was spotted by the U.S. crew of a KC-135 Stratotanker.

Marooned on a Tiny Pacific Island, These Sailors Were Spotted by a KC-135

When a small boat vanished in the Pacific, U.S. forces took to the air and mounted a desperate search.

An Air Force B-1B Lancer flies over Qatar on October 25, 2019. Named “Bone” by its pilots, the B-1 handles, they say, more like a fighter than a bomber and is the only U.S. bomber that can fly past Mach 1.

Scorned at First, These Seven Airplanes (Finally) Proved Their Mettle

Did they defy skeptics, or just outlast them?

The Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force’s P-3C Orion 5071 became stranded for two months in Vietnam.

In Times of Pandemic, Even Refueling Becomes a Tricky Problem

A Vietnamese airport offers a safe port in the COVID-19 storm.

The 100-megawatt Perovo Solar Power Station in Ukraine is one of the largest photovoltaic facilities in the world. SETI researchers theorize that if alien civilizations were to use even larger solar facilities, scientists on Earth could pick up tell-tale signs from the reflected light.

Not Just Radio Messages: NASA Expands the Search for Extraterrestrial Cultures

A new project will search for technosignatures that might indicate the presence of advanced alien civilizations.

Locusts waged a smear campaign against this Ethiopian airliner, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Addis Ababa in January.

At Some Airports, a Plague of Locusts is a Real Thing

Bug, meet windshield.

There’s ice in them thar craters. The south pole of the moon is home to permanently shadowed regions where ice has been accumulating for billions of years. This illumination map is based on data returned from NASA's Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter at different times.

Miners on the Moon

Robotic prospectors excavating for lunar ice may change the economy of space travel.

Artist’s conception of the X-59 QueSST, featuring an elongated fuselage that is designed to reduce sonic booms.

A Kinder, Gentler Sonic Boom

NASA’s X-59 supersonic research aircraft is coming together for its maiden flight next year.

All three pieces of the K-Wedge can be installed in under one minute to protect aircraft rails. The inventor, Technical Sergeant Brett Kiser, says that the Air Force plans to modernize a locking handle mechanism on the loading aid to eliminate the need for cargo straps for installation, which will make the process faster and easier for airmen.

This Simple Wedge Could Save the Air Force a Couple of Million Dollars a Year

Small damage can lead to huge delivery delays.

NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory caught this solar flare in action in 2017. Researchers believe that coronal mass ejections after such flares are the source of bursts of radiation.

Storm Chasers in Outer Space

Scientists hope to develop an early-warning system for hailstorms of radioactive particles.

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