Airbus Defence and Space and the company’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Airbus UpNext, have achieved in-flight autonomous guidance and control of a drone using an A310 MRTT.

Airbus Defence and Space has developed and delivered the qualification model of the solar array for the European Service Module (ESM) of the Orion crewed spacecraft. During a deployment test at NASA's Plum Brook Station facility in Sandusky, Ohio (USA), the model came through the test with flying colours.

Via EDRS-A and EDRS-C communication relay satellites, the SpaceDataHighway will be able to transfer information (images, video, data collected by sensors) from Earth observation satellites, UAVs and surveillance aircraft, or even from a space station such as the ISS.