AeroVironment Inc. (Simi Valley, Calif., U.S.) an unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) company, celebrated with its colleagues at NASA/JPL on April 21 when data confirming the Ingenuity Helicopter’s successful first flight on Mars arrived at approximately 3:50 a.m. PT on April 19.

On April 22 Universal Hydrogen ((Los Angeles, Calif., U.S.) announced its $20.5 million Series A financing round led by Silicon Valley venture fund, Playground Global, with the investor syndicate comprising Fortescue Future Industries, Coatue, Global Founders Capital, Plug Power, Airbus

Hexagon Agility (Costa Mesa, Calif., U.S.) a Hexagon Composites (Alesund, Norway) company, has officially received its fifth set of orders in 2021 under a master services agreement signed with a global logistics customer in June 2020. According to this agreement, Hexagon Agilit

As the U.S. Air Force (Washington, D.C., U.S.) extends the operational service life of the B-52 Stratofortress — a long-range, subsonic, jet-powered strategic bomber aircraft — into the 2050s, it has selected Collins Aerospace (Charlotte, N.C., U.S.), a Raytheon Techno

It was announced on May 3 that Umoe Advanced Composites AS (UAC, Kristiansand, Norway), a supplier of fiberglass pressure vessels and transportation modules for hydrogen, biogas and compressed natural gas (CNG) has entered into a joint venture (JV) to build up a large-scale

Bedford Reinforced Plastics (Bedford, Pa., U.S.), a full-service supplier offering an extensive line of fiberglass-reinforced plastic (FRP) products and services announced on April 29 the launch of ReadySpan, a pre-engineered, easy-install, quick-ship, modular pedestrian bridge system,

Stellantis (Amsterdam, Netherlands), the multinational automotive manufacturer formed by the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler Automobiles and French company Groupe PSA, and composite hydrogen storage tank technology leader Faurecia (Nanterre, France) have collaborated to equip Ste

Leading Irish design, manufacturing and testing company, ÉireComposites (Inverin, Galway, Ireland), global marine renewable energy solutions company, ORPC (Portland, Maine, U.S.) and National University of Ireland Galway (NUI, Galway) have launched a new project to develop and market a

TRB Lightweight Structures (TRB, Huntingdon, U.K.) announced on April 15 that it has begun manufacturing its own prepreg material to improve performance, cost and lead times for its composite parts. The company has already produced and shipped 25,000 parts using this proprietary, rap

Specialty chemicals company Lanxess (Cologne, Germany) has expanded its Trixene Aqua range of water-based blocked isocyanate dispersions. The product family now includes new grades, specifically designed to expand  application areas and meet more demanding customer needs.

Photo Credit: Lilium Regional electric air mobility specialist Lilium GmbH (Munich, Germany) announced on March 30 that it has entered into a definitive business combination agreement with publicly listed acquisition company Qell Acquisition Corp. (San Francisco, Calif., U.S.). Upon closin

Hexcel (Cambridge, U.K.) announced on March 29 that it has joined the recently launched U.K.-based project ASCEND (Aerospace and Automotive Supply Chain Enabled Development) that will focus on developing high-rate manufacturing and processing technologies that will accelerate the d

Hexagon Digital Wave (Centennial, Colo., U.S.) was selected by the Antarctic Fire Department to perform continued service life testing on carbon fiber self-contained breathing apparatus cylinders (SCBA). The Antarctic Fire Department is a support mechanism for the U.S Antarctic Program

Jaguar Land Rover (Whitley, U.K.) is preparing for future electric vehicles (EVs) with advanced lightweight composite research that the company says will help deliver increased range, greater performance and a more dynamic drive. The Tucana project is a four year program with a

Continuous Composites (Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, U.S.) announced on April 7 the successful completion of the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory’s (AFRL) two-year Wing Structure Design for Manufacturing (WiSDM) contract through Lockheed Martin (Bethesda, M.D.

Sustainable lightweighting specialist Bcomp (Fribourg, Switzerland) reports that it supplied its ampliTex and powerRibs natural fiber composite technologies for the all nine Spark Odyssey all-electric SUVs competing in the inaugural season of the Extreme E Championship, whi

On April 6 Cobra International (Chonburi, Thailand) announced the commissioning of a new prepreg compression molding production line. Now complete, and with series production of parts underway, the new production capacity delivers prepreg carbon fiber parts with a final surface

EHang (Guangzhou, China) has recently reported that the retrofitting process of its existing autonomous aerial vehicle (AAV) production facility in Yunfu, China, is being completed, with production of its passage-grade AAVs expected to start Q2 2021. With a total planned gross

Toray Composite Materials America Inc. (CMA, Tacoma, Wash., U.S.) announced on March 10 that a new family of structural prepregs, CMA 3900, are now available with an extensive public allowable design database.  The SAE materials committee have created a new AMS spec (AMS6891

CompPair Technologies Ltd. (Lausanne, Switzerland) is a spin-off from the École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), which has invented a new composite material able to repair itself — damage from manufacturing, impact, or fatigue can reportedly be easily rep