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(NEW YORK) — With mostly clear to partly cloudy skies expected over much of the United States, this year’s Geminid meteor shower is forecast to offer one of the best cosmic shows in recent years, according to astronomers.
Shooting star-like debris from the 3200 Phaethon asteroid, a 3.17-mile wide space rock orbiting the Earth at a distance of more than 6.4 million miles, is expected to be at its peak on Wednesday night, according to NASA.
“The forecast looks very favorable, and that is everything,” Bart Fried, executive vice president of the Amateur Astronomers Association in New York, told ABC News.
In some parts of the county, stargazers can expect to see up to 120 meteors per hour streaking across the sky, according to Fried. But in places like New York City, with its brightly lit skyline, would-be astronomers might see 20 to 30 meteors per hour, or one every two minutes during the peak, Fried said.
He said the best time to view the meteor shower will be between 10 p.m. ET on Wednesday and 1 a.m. on Thursday.
“Do not bother with binoculars or telescopes. This is absolutely a naked-eye event,” Fried said. “Relax your eyes. Let your peripheral vision do the work.”
This year’s peak meteor shower will coincide with a new moon, enhancing the view, Fried said.
“This is a 1% moon, almost no moon,” Fried said. “In terms of light pollution, you want to go to the darkest sight you can find.”
The best view is expected to be from the Northern Hemisphere, according to NASA
For optimal sky-gazing, Fried recommended going to a park or a beach.
“Go to a sight where you have a good horizon,” Fried said. “You don’t want to be surrounded by tall trees. You don’t want to be surrounded by tall buildings.”
Fried, an amateur astronomer for 50 years, also suggested dressing in warm clothes and bringing a lawn chair “because you’re going to be sitting still for a while.”
The New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation announced that several Long Island state parks, including Jones Beach State Park and Robert Moses State Park, will remain open during the night hours on Wednesday and into Thursday for those wanting to see the meteor shower.
The National Weather Service is forecasting mostly clear skies over New York and up and down the Eastern Seaboard on Wednesday and Thursday.
Considered one of the year’s most reliable meteor showers, the Geminids occur every December when Earth passes through a vast trail of dusty debris shed by a 3200 Phaethon. The debris burns up when it runs into the Earth’s atmosphere, Fried said.
The Geminid meteors are named for the constellation Gemini, from which they appear to come, Fried said.
Poison frontman Bret Michaels is set to team with country star Chris Janson for a new episode of CMT Crossroads.
CMT Crossroads: Bret Michaels & Chris Janson will feature the pair collaborating on each other’s songs, including Poison’s “Every Rose Has Its Thorn,” “Talk Dirty To Me” and “Your Mama Don’t Dance,” and Chris’ “Fix a Drink,” “Good Vibes” and “Buy Me A Boat.”
“CMT Crossroads with my friend Chris Janson was a bucket list and nothing but a good time,” Michaels shares. “We brought nothing but hits and an absolute game-changer of fun, big energy and what may be the biggest, rowdiest & most good-time lovin’ fans.”
Janson adds, “This Crossroads is pure rock and roll. What a blast to do this with a hero and friend, Bret Michaels. Two good buddies, having nothing but a good time, literally. Tune in, and turn it up!”
CMT Crossroads: Bret Michaels & Chris Janson airs Wednesday, December 20, at 9 p.m. ET on CMT.
(WASHINGTON) — Members of Congress are scrambling to complete a packed to-do list to cap off a hectic year on Capitol Hill.
Republicans and Democrats in Congress are continuing negotiations on a massive foreign aid and security bill, reauthorizing the annual defense authorization bill and reauthorizing a national security surveillance measure. Republicans in the House are also expected to vote this week to formalize an impeachment inquiry into President Joe Biden, a divisive effort that could endanger swing-district lawmakers.
The hectic year-end agenda marks a fitting finale to a year that started with a 15-round speakership vote for Rep. Kevin McCarthy, who was ultimately ousted from his position months later, near-misses on a government shutdown and a wave of retirements, in part fueled by frustrations over the rancor plaguing both chambers of Congress.
The House of Representatives’ last work day in Washington is Thursday, Dec. 14.
Here’s what to know about Congress’ year-end goals.
Foreign security aid, plus immigration reforms
Bipartisan negotiators are at loggerheads over a sprawling plan that would send security assistance to Ukraine, Israel and the Indo-Pacific while also shoring up law enforcement at the southern border.
Republicans are largely supportive of sending aid to America’s allies in Europe, the Middle East and Asia, but they are looking to extract steep concessions from the White House and Democrats in Congress on border security before forking over the votes to hand Biden a major foreign policy win.
Senate Republicans want major revisions to parole and asylum provisions. House Republicans want even more, and Speaker Mike Johnson has advocated that the Senate work to keep the border provisions as close to those outlined in the House’s even-stricter bill.
Senate Republicans have begun calling on Biden to step in himself to help break the impasse, though immigration is notoriously fraught with political risk, especially as the presidential race ramps up.
“When you’re making law, the President has got to be involved,” Sen. James Lankford, R-Okla., who has been leading negotiations for Republicans, said last week. “I’ll let him be able to determine what that really means for him but obviously the White House has got to be engaged in this. If the White House is not engaged into the negotiations, then nothing is going to get done on it.”
Defense bill reauthorization
The National Defense Authorization Act, the $886 billion defense bill that has been passed every year for decades, is also caught up in partisan squabbles over policy.
The compromise bill language does not include a Republican effort to revoke the Pentagon’s policy of paying for servicemembers’ travel to obtain abortions if the procedure is not available in the state in which they’re stationed. The bill also does not include GOP-backed language blocking funding for transition surgeries and hormone treatments for transgender troops.
“This was a total sell-out of conservative principles and a huge win for Democrats,” Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., wrote on X.
Some Republicans also have concerns with the NDAA over how the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA) is being attached to it.
FISA reauthorization
Perhaps one of the trickiest debates is over whether to temporarily reauthorize Section 702 of FISA, which allows the government, without a warrant, to collect vast swaths of communications of non-Americans overseas who message on U.S.-based platforms.
Some members of both parties support the reauthorization as a key national security tool — but others also worry about the civil rights implications given that Americans’ communications can get caught up in the surveillance.
“This is not a nice-to-have. This is Americans lives. This is our allies’ lives. This is continuing the fight in Ukraine, continuing to push Xi [Jinping] back, continuing to put fentanyl manufacturers on their heels. This NDAA has to contain a short-term extension of 702 surveillance authorities,” Rep. Jim Himes, D-Conn., said last week. “If there is not a short-term extension of 702 in the NDAA, and if there is a three-week period in January in which 702 was shut down, Americans will die.”
“The privacy of Americans should be of the utmost importance to our government, and yet, we have seen too many examples of unchecked, warrantless surveillance of Americans,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal, D-Wash., said in a statement last month. “An overhaul is necessary to protect Americans’ Fourth Amendment rights and their sensitive, personal data.”
To satisfy all flanks of the GOP, Johnson is planning to take up competing bills from the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees on FISA. A main difference between the two is how broad to make a warrant mandate.
“My intention is to bring the bills reported by the House Judiciary and Intelligence Committees to the floor under a special rule that provides members a fair opportunity to vote in favor of their preferred measure,” Johnson wrote to members.
Biden impeachment inquiry
Republicans are also expected to hold a vote to formalize the impeachment inquiry into Biden over still-unproven claims that he improperly benefited from his family members’ business ventures overseas.
Johnson said he plans to hold a vote to help bolster Republicans’ argument in court should witnesses challenge subpoenas.
McCarthy refused to hold such a vote when he was speaker partially over worries it would put Republican lawmakers representing districts Biden won in 2020 in a bind — but now, swing-district Republicans are coming around to the idea of formalizing the investigations, which are already ongoing.
“It is the legislative branch’s responsibility to assert our responsibility,” Rep. Marc Molinaro, R-N.Y., said last week. “Without question there are issues of impropriety, and they have to be confronted.”
In a chat with Variety alongside her co-star and co-executive producer of The Morning Show, Reese Witherspoon, Jennifer Aniston opened up about the recent loss of her former Friends co-star Matthew Perry.
In fact, she revealed she had been texting with Perry the morning of October 28, the day the actor was found dead at his Los Angeles home.
Aniston said she would like Perry to be remembered “as he said he’d love to be remembered“: someone who struggled with addiction and helped others get sober.
“He was happy. He was healthy,” Aniston continued. “He had quit smoking. He was getting in shape. He was happy — that’s all I know.” She added, “[F]unny Matty … was not in pain. He wasn’t struggling. He was happy.”
Witherspoon, who said she was “lucky to have played Aniston’s little sister on Friends,” noted, “It’s important people know that.”
Aniston added, “I want people to know he was really healthy, and getting healthy. He was on a pursuit. He worked so hard. He really was dealt a tough one.”
She expressed, “I miss him dearly. We all do. Boy, he made us laugh really hard.”
Aniston also said Perry’s “dialect, his way of speaking, created a whole different world. We went with his lead, in a way. It just added something to our joy.”
She called the outpouring of love after Perry’s death “so beautiful,” adding, “I hope he can know that he was loved in a way he never thought he was.”
(NEW YORK) — Former Congressman George Santos is talking to federal prosecutors on Long Island about a plea deal, according to a newly filed court document.
“The parties are presently engaged in plea negotiations with the goal of resolving this matter without the need for a trial,” the filing said.
Santos is due in federal court in Central Islip on Tuesday for a status conference.
A trial had been set for Sept. 9, 2024.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
(WASHINGTON) — Cheyenne Hunt, at 26 years old, is running to do something only one other person in her generation has done so far: Get elected to Congress.
It’s a challenging road ahead to representing California’s 45th District: First, Hunt is running against six other candidates in the primary, scheduled for March 5. If Hunt succeeds there, she’ll likely take on incumbent Republican Michelle Steel, who won her most recent race by about 5%.
But Hunt’s campaign has the potential to make history. She’d be the youngest woman in Congress — eight years younger than Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who currently has that distinction — and would become just the second member of Generation Z on Capitol Hill.
Florida Democratic Rep. Maxwell Frost, elected last year at 25, was the first member of Generation Z to enter Congress.
“We’re missing such vital representation in our entire federal government,” Hunt said in an interview.
Regardless of the outcome of her race, her candidacy reflects her generation’s increasing political power as they reach the qualifying age to run for Congress, an expert said.
“A greater percentage of Gen Z are running for office than when the last generation was this age, meaning they are more politically active,” said Jessica Levinson, a Loyola Marymount University law professor and political commentator.
Hunt, an Orange County, California, native and former Senate aide, said she clearly remembers her first political experience, in the fourth grade, when she learned about climate change and was inspired by Al Gore’s documentary on the subject, “An Inconvenient Truth.”
Higher education, being raised by a single mother and a determination to succeed helped her discover her passion to better serve her community, she said.
She believes more young people need to be in Congress, where the median age of voting members of the House was nearly 58 years old as of January, according to the Pew Research Center.
“I’d love it if someone else jumped in, but the only Gen Z woman running for Congress in the entire country is really intimidating,” Hunt said.
“It’s becoming clear that I’m going to be the only woman unless somebody [comes in the race],” she said. “And I also think it speaks to our systems of power and the barriers to entry for young women generally.”
The district Hunt is running in includes parts of the Anaheim area, about half an hour from where she was raised by her single mother and grandmother, both of whom emigrated from Syria.
Hunt obtained a dual degree in political science and public policy from the University of Denver and then earned a law degree from the University of California at Irvine.
She went on to be a law and policy clerk for Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., including working on the first impeachment trial of then-President Donald Trump — he was acquitted — and on technology policy to, she has said, promote accountability for major tech companies.
She has also worked at Public Citizen, a nonprofit consumer advocacy organization, and she’s built a relatively notable social media audience on TikTok, where she has more than 90,000 followers.
“I use social media primarily as an educational tool. That was how it started for me … I thought about what I want to see more of online and it was, frankly, nuanced conversation about policy issues that either the media was overlooking or they didn’t have the kind of time to do a deep dive on,” Hunt said.
She credits Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., for inspiring her to pursue a career in politics.
Quoting Pressley, Hunt said, “Policy is my love language. It became the way that I wanted to be of service and really translate some of that pain into change.”
Hunt’s political platform centers on climate change, the economy and abortion rights, including supporting legislation that would codify abortion access nationwide.
“I feel like it’s my duty … the idea that we are a generation of women that has fewer rights than our mothers and grandmothers is an absolute abomination and, frankly, a global embarrassment,” Hunt said.
Steel, Hunt’s potential opponent, has said she agrees with the U.S. Supreme Court striking down Roe v. Wade’s national guarantee to abortion access.
“Abortions should be left to the states,” Steel told The Los Angeles Times last year, in part.
“Personally, I am pro-life and do not believe in abortions except in cases of rape, incest, and to protect the life of the mother,” Steel said then.
Her campaign did not respond to a request for comment for this story.
Levinson said that elections since Roe was reversed indicate abortion can be a motivating factor for voters. “And we can see that Republicans may have miscalculated the political impact of the [Supreme Court] decision,” she said.
Hunt is also campaigning on addressing homelessness and said that her district has failed in addressing the high cost of living.
“If the average American is now one unexpected medical bill away from bankruptcy, you have lost your freedom to dream,” she said.
Steel has also sought to highlight high costs and how to address the “homelessness epidemic,” including through more jobs and social services, health care and expanding affordable housing units.
“I will always fight Washington’s reckless spending problem that is making life increasingly unaffordable for working class families,” Steel said on her campaign website.
Levinson said Hunt has an “uphill battle” to win Steel’s seat, in part because of Steel’s fundraising advantage and higher profile.
“Michelle Steele is still popular in the district and … she can get her message out in a way that nobody challenges her,” Levinson said. “And that does matter.”
Hunt said her message isn’t just reflected in her candidacy.
“You don’t have to run for Congress to make a difference in the system. The power of your vote is profound,” she said. “The power of registering five other people to vote is profound.”
What do you get the woman who has everything, and who boosted your team’s viewership records through the roof and is presumably keeping one of your star players very happy? We don’t know, but Kansas City Chiefs CEO and co-owner Clark Hunt gave Taylor Swift some sort of birthday present December 10, as the Chiefs took on the Buffalo Bills at Arrowhead Stadium.
Clark’s daughter Avaposted a photo on Instagram showing her presenting a wrapped gift to Taylor, who was in the house at Arrowhead to support her boyfriend, Travis Kelce. The present has a tag reading, “To Taylor, from The Hunt Family.” Taylor celebrates her 34th birthday on December 13.
“Enchanted to meet you @taylorswift,” Ava captioned the post.
Fans are dying to know what was in the box. Perhaps it’s another vintage Chiefs sweatshirt, like the kind she wore to the game on Sunday, causing it to sell out.
And speaking of that, Page Six reports that the store where Taylor got the sweatshirt, Westside Storey, revealed on TikTok that they also presented her with a custom T-shirt. “We just wanted to include a lil something extra. We are all such big fans + rooting for you!” read a note in the package of jerseys they made up for her.
The T-shirt reads, “Who’s Travis Kelce anyway? Ew” — a reference to the T-shirt Taylor wears during her Eras Tour performance of “22.” The shirt says, “Who’s Taylor Swift anyway? Ew,” after a line in the song.
You can buy your own for $31.13 on the company’s website.
A new documentary about Gloria Gaynor is hitting theaters next year. Gloria Gaynor: I Will Survive, which premiered at the Tribeca Festival last June, will hit select theaters on February 13.
“For the last 40 years I’ve been telling you I will survive,” she says in the new trailer for the flick, referring to her 1970s disco hit, “but I never told you how.”
The film details the ups and downs of Gaynor’s five-decade career and follows the making of her 2019 Grammy-winning gospel album, Testimony.
Gaynor tells Peopleshe wants fans to learn “how and why I survive, and that these elements of life, these uplifting, encouraging, inspiring, empowering elements of life are available to them as well.”
She adds, “I found that the song ‘I Will Survive’ has been so encouraging and uplifting to so many people around the world, and it’s the story of my life. So I thought, ‘Let’s give them a little more detail.'”
(NEW YORK) — The temporary cease-fire between Hamas and Israel ended on Dec. 1, and Israel has resumed its bombardment of Gaza.
The end of the cease-fire came after Hamas freed over 100 of the more than 200 people its militants took hostage during the Oct. 7 surprise attack on Israel. In exchange, Israel released more than 200 Palestinians from Israeli prisons.
Here’s how the news is developing. All times Eastern:
Dec 11, 4:28 PM EST
Israel targeting 2 hospitals in northern Gaza: Palestinian Health Ministry
Israeli forces are targeting and operating near two hospitals in northern Gaza, the Kamal Adwan Hospital and the Al-Awda Hospital, according to the Palestinian Health Ministry.
The director of Al-Awda Hospital, Ahmed Muhanna, said Israeli tanks were surrounding the hospital.
Doctors Without Borders said one of its surgeons was injured inside Al-Awda Hospital by a shot fired from outside the facility.
“Reports coming out of Al-Awda hospital are harrowing and we are gravely worried for safety of patients and staff inside,” Doctors Without Borders said.
The Israel Defense Forces said it could not comment on troops’ locations.
-ABC News’ Nasser Atta, Jordana Miller and Cindy Smith
Dec 11, 4:15 PM EST
Israel doesn’t intend to stay permanently in Gaza: Defense minister
Israeli Defense Minister Yoav Gallant said Monday that Israel “will take any measures in order to destroy Hamas, but we have no intention to stay permanently in the Gaza Strip.”
“We only take care of our security and the security of our citizens alongside the border with Gaza and elsewhere,” Gallant said.
Gallant said “a new civil body will be established to try and look after the welfare of the residents.”
“The key condition is that this body will not act with hostility towards the state of Israel,” Gallant said. “All the rest, in my opinion, can be discussed. It certainly will not be Hamas, and also will not be Israel. We will maintain our freedom to act, to operate militarily against any threat.”
Speaking directly to Hamas, Gallant said, “To the terrorists, to their commanders and to the battalion commanders: surrender. If you surrender, you can save your lives. If not, your fate is sealed.”
Dec 11, 3:09 PM EST
‘Cruelty I hadn’t seen before’: Psychiatrist who treated hostages
Dr. Renana Eitan, a psychiatrist who treated people held by Hamas, said some of the now-released hostages experienced “cruelty that I haven’t seen before.”
“I’ve been a psychiatrist for over 20 years,” she said. “We are [a] national center for sexual trauma and for PTSD for the refugees from Africa, so I thought I saw all the worst PTSD patients.”
Some hostages were held “in inhumane sanitary conditions” and “subject to severe physical, sexual and mental abuse,” Eitan said.
“I have never seen anything like that before,” Eitan said.
“One of the patients, she was kept in total darkness for four days. This is inhumane. She became psychotic. She had hallucinations,” Eitan said. “I’ve never seen such things in my life.”
According to the Israel Defense Forces, 137 people are still being held hostage by Hamas.
Dec 11, 2:58 PM EST
Kerem Shalom crossing at Israel-Gaza-Egypt border to open Tuesday
The Kerem Shalom crossing at the Israel-Gaza-Egypt border will open on Tuesday for security checks on aid shipments from Egypt, according to COGAT, the Israeli agency for civilian coordination with the Palestinians.
The simultaneous security checks at the Kerem Shalom crossing and the Israel-Egypt Nitzana crossing will double the volume of aid delivered through the Gaza-Egypt Rafah crossing and admitted into the Gaza Strip, COGAT said.
Dec 11, 2:21 PM EST
Protesters calling for cease-fire chain themselves to White House fence
A group of 18 protesters calling for a cease-fire in Gaza chained themselves to the White House fence on Monday.
The protesters were from Jewish Voice for Peace, a group that defines itself as “Jews organizing toward Palestinian liberation.” They chanted, “Biden, Biden pick a side, cease-fire not genocide,” and, “Cease-fire cannot wait, no Hanukkah to celebrate.”
U.S. Park Police said its officers used bolt cutters to remove the chains from the fencing and cleared the group from the area after roughly 30 minutes.
The demonstration came hours before President Joe Biden holds a Hanukkah reception at the White House.
-ABC News’ Justin Ryan Gomez
Dec 11, 1:58 PM EST
134 UNRWA workers killed since beginning of the war, UN says
The U.N. Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees said 134 of its workers have been killed since the Israel-Hamas war began two months ago.
Although northern Gaza was the first region intensely targeted by Israeli forces, the UNRWA said half of its killed staffers died in middle and southern Gaza.
There are 1.9 million people now displaced in Gaza, where conditions are continuing to deteriorate, the UNRWA said.
Dec 11, 12:21 PM EST
IDF says it recovered explosives, rifles in UNRWA-labeled bags in Gaza home
The Israel Defense Forces said its soldiers found explosives, AK-47 rifles and a rocket-propelled grenade hidden inside UNRWA-labeled bags in a home in Gaza.
The IDF said it also found long-distance rockets inside a truck near a school in Gaza.
The Israeli army has “directed aerial strikes on dozens of terrorists in the Gaza Strip” over the last day, the IDF said, and “in one incident, armed terrorists spotted exiting a medical clinic during operational activity were struck by the IDF.”
Dec 11, 6:43 AM EST
104 Israeli troops killed since fighting began, IDF says
At least 104 Israeli service members have been killed since the country’s war with Hamas began on Oct. 7, Israel Defense Forces officials said Monday.
-ABC News’ Joe Simonetti
Dec 10, 5:29 PM EST
Global health organizations call for immediate cease-fire over dire conditions in Gaza
Médecins Sans Frontières (Doctors Without Borders) and the World Health Organization released updates on a deteriorating situation in Gaza, imploring for an immediate cease-fire to allow aid to enter and civilians to take shelter.
The MSF is seeing a “complete collapse” in the healthcare system in Gaza, the organization said. It has been 10 days since MSF was forced to stop providing support to Martyrs and Beni Suheila clinics due to the Israeli forces’ evacuation orders for the area, according to the statement.
In Rafah, on the southernmost area of the Gaza Strip and where people from Khan Younis and central Gaza have been pushed to, health services are extremely limited, according to MSF.
“The United Nations Security Council must demand an immediate and sustained ceasefire, to lift the siege and ensure unrestricted aid to the entire Gaza Strip,” the MSF statement read.
Meanwhile, according to the WHO, a mission it conducted with partners to deliver essential trauma and surgical supplies to Al-Ahli hospital to cover the needs of 1500 people, and to transfer 19 critical patients, was successful.
The high-risk delivery was managed despite active shelling and artillery fire in the region, according to a statement from the organization.
The hospital itself has been substantially damaged, and in acute need of oxygen and essential medical supplies, water, food and fuel as well as medical personal, the WHO said.
“We cannot wait any longer for a sustained ceasefire and a safe, scaled-up humanitarian response,” WHO officials said in a statement.
-ABC News’ Will Gretzky
Dec 10, 4:49 PM EST
IDF claims it has struck 3,500 targets in Gaza since end of cease-fire
Since the end of the cease-fire on Dec. 1, the Israeli Air Force has struck 3,500 targets in the Gaza Strip, Israel Defense Forces confirmed to ABC News on Sunday.
Many of the targets hit by the IAF were identified by IDF forces on the ground, IDF officials said in a statement.
Since beginning of the war, more than 22,000 “terror targets” have been struck in the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.
Among the targets hit by the Israeli forces are ones in Jabalya, Shejaiya, Beit Hanoun and Khan Yunis, the IDF said. Troops are also conducting raids on Hamas terrorist strongholds across the Gaza Strip, according to the IDF.
Numerous terrorists have been killed in the raids and terrorist infrastructure has been destroyed, according to the IDF.
Additionally, IDF naval troops are operating off the coast of the Gaza Strip, striking terror targets from the sea and supporting IDF ground troops, according to the IDF.
-ABC News’ Jordana Miller
Dec 09, 3:14 PM EST
Biden administration approves emergency tank ammunition sale to Israel
The Biden administration approved the possible sale of tank ammunition to Israel through an emergency order, circumventing Congress.
In a release, the State Department notified Congress about the emergency sale on Friday.
“The Secretary of State determined and provided detailed justification to Congress that an emergency exists that requires the immediate sale to the Government of Israel of the above defense articles and services in the national security interests of the United States, thereby waiving the Congressional review requirements under Section 36(b) of the Arms Export Control Act, as amended,” the release states.
The sale — of 120mm tank cartridges and related equipment — is estimated to cost $106.5 million.
(NEW YORK) — GE Aerospace is taking another step towards its commitment to sustainable flights, completing testing with sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) on its 10th aircraft engine model.
The company announced Monday its finished testing with 100% SAF on 10 aircraft engine models. Currently, GE Aerospace engines power three out of four commercial flights worldwide, the company said.
Among the tests, which have been taking place since 2016, were test flights operated with SAF. Most recently, Emirates Airlines operated a flight on an Airbus A380 powered by four engines made by a GE subsidiary – one of them fueled by SAF.
Current regulations allow commercial flights to operate with a blend of SAF and jet fuel, however airlines, regulators and manufacturers are working towards operating flights with 100% recycled fuel. GE’s tests were conducted with Hydrotreated Esters and Fatty Acids (HEFA) fuel thats made of vegetable oils, waste oils, or fats.
“Right now [SAF] is more expensive and it’s hard to find, but that’s something that’s going to change over time,” Chris Lorence, chief engineer and general manager at GE Aerospace, told ABC News. “As more capacity comes online, our hope is that it’s going to be comparable or better than jet fuel today.”
According to the most recent data from the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), the transportation sector accounts for 29% of greenhouse gas emissions – with aviation accounting for 8%. Lorence said as the aviation industry continues to grow, GE wants to make sure it’s done in an “environmentally-friendly way” with “more efficient products.”
“Plants, essentially through their lifecycle, recycle carbon in the atmosphere. They suck it out as they grow and they release it when they die. And the beautiful thing about SAF is we’re sort of intercepting that process,” Lorence said. “As the plants remove carbon from the atmosphere, we catch it before it gets returned and released to the environment, converted into fuel and then when the airplanes actually fly, then it gets released back, so that there’s no net carbon that’s created as part of the process.”
With the 10th test complete, data will be sent to ASTM International – the governing body that sets technical standards for different materials, products and systems – including SAF.
The data will also be used by GE to see how SAF impacts engines over time.
“Most of the testing we see coming up now, we’re now going to be component testing and what we call endurance testing where we run, we simulate multiple cycles of aircraft flight to see how it performs over time in expected service,” Lorence said. “So that we can see not just what happens for a single flight, but what happens over a much longer exposure and duration of testing to make sure that there’s no reliability or durability concerns.”
Major U.S. airlines like American, Delta, Southwest and United have committed to achieve net-zero carbon emissions by 2050.
