🛫 Turbulent week for the Boeing 737 Max

Welcome to Aerospace by Interesting Engineering, the newsletter where we brief you on the latest developments in space exploration and all things aviation. We loved all of the feedback and kind words we received after our first issue last week, and we’re raring to go.

It was a week of good and bad news for the aerospace industry. On the one hand, United Launch Alliance’s Vulcan Centaur rocket finally took to the skies for the first time. The successful debut launch sent US company Astrobotic’s Peregrine 1 lunar lander on its way to the Moon.

Unfortunately, though, Boeing’s 737 Max was the focus of unwanted attention once again, after a cabin panel blowout during a flight led the FAA to ground the aircraft. Thankfully, no one was injured and the airliner, operated by Alaska Airlines, safely performed an emergency landing.

Sadly, 2024 also won’t be the year humans finally go back to the Moon. NASA confirmed on Jan. 9 that it has postponed the launch of Artemis II to 2025 due to delays in the development of SpaceX’s modified Starship lunar lander.

We’ve been waiting since Apollo 17 in 1972 to see astronauts fly to the Moon once more. We can wait just a little longer.

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INDUSTRY UPDATES

🌊 Alaska Airlines' barred from overseas flights due to a pressurization fault

🔩 United Airlines report loose bolts on Boeing 737 Max door plugs

🌑 NASA's moon walk on hold, Artemis II and III pushed back to 2025 and 2026

🛫 China teases global buyers with Y-20 ‘Chubby Girl’ heavy-transport plane

🔇 Hyundai's 'quiet as a dishwasher' eVTOL will hit the market in 2028

🚀 Boeing dismantles old aircraft to build NASA’s newest experimental plane

🛬 After its impressive first flight, here’s what’s next for the Vulcan rocket

🥳 NASA throws a rollout watch party for the debut of its X-59 supersonic plane

AEROSPACE ENGINEERING SPOTLIGHT

It’s been a long time coming, but United Launch Alliance’s (ULA’s) Vulcan Centaur rocket finally left the launch pad as it took off for the first time early in the morning of Jan. 8 from Cape Canaveral Space Force Station in Florida.

Vulcan Centaur’s two solid rocket boosters (SRBs) and two Blue Origin-built BE-4 first-stage engines lifted the rocket into orbit. Combined, the SRBs and BE-4 engines produced roughly 2 million lbs of thrust at liftoff.

The rocket’s much-delayed debut launch was a success, though unfortunately, the primary payload it carried to orbit encountered issues shortly after deployment.

Vulcan Centaur lifted with it Astrobotic’s Peregrine 1 lunar lander, which was to be the first US lunar lander to reach the lunar surface in over 50 years. However, shortly after deployment Astrobotic noticed an issue with the lander’s propulsion system.

The private company has since announced there is “no chance” of a soft lunar landing. It was quick to clear ULA’s Vulcan Centaur rocket of any blame, though, stating that “there is no indication that the propulsion anomaly occurred as a result of the launch."

Landing on the Moon isn’t easy. The failure of Peregrine 1, and Russia’s Luna 25 last year, once again highlights the immense success of India’s recent Chandrayaan-3 lunar south pole landing. It also explains why NASA has decided to push back the launch of its crewed Artemis II Moon mission in order to ensure the safety of its astronauts.

As for Vulcan Centaur, ULA’s rocket could fly five more times this year. The majority of those missions will be for the US Space Force.

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TURBULENCE OF THE WEEK

The Boeing 737 Max is once again the center of attention for the aviation industry. Thankfully no fatalities occurred this time when an Alaska Airlines-operated Boeing 737 Max 9 carrying 171 passengers had to perform an emergency landing on Jan. 5.

Boeing and the 737 Max have been the subjects of intense scrutiny ever since a Lion Air flight and Ethiopia Airlines flight crashed in 2018 and 2019 due to malfunctions in the aircraft. On Jan. 5, a cabin panel blew out only a few minutes after an Alaska Airlines airliner had taken off from Portland, Oregon. Less than 20 minutes after take off, the aircraft was safely back on the ground. 

One passenger called it the “trip from hell”, though it could have been much worse. Luckily, the panel came off before the airliner had reached its intended altitude. Passengers were still wearing seatbelts when the panel blew out at 16,000 feet and the gust of air blowing out of the aircraft could have been catastrophically violent at around 30,000 feet.

On Jan. 6, the US Federal Aviation Authority (FAA) announced it was grounding the Max 737 once again. In a statement, the government agency said “this incident should have never happened and it cannot happen again.”

Two days later, it emerged that ​​the same Boeing airplane involved in the Jan. 5 incident was barred from conducting flights overseas following the illumination of a warning light during previous flights. This light warns of a potential pressurization issue. Alaska Airlines decided to bar it from flying overseas so it could quickly return to an airport following an emergency.

On Jan. 8 United Airlines announced it had found a loose bolt in one of its 737 Max aircraft. The investigation into the Jan. 5 incident continues, and Boeing is once again in the spotlight with accusations abounding over cut corners in the manufacturing process.

PRODUCTS OF THE WEEK