Lt. Gen. John S. Caldwell, Jr. (USA, Ret.) has been named to the board of directors. Col. George Fenton (USMC Ret.) has been appointed vice president, government and military programs.
Jae Ahn has been named chief executive officer. Brian Boxman has been appointed chief operating officer. Scott Byrnes has been named vice president of marketing. William Chatterton has been appointed chief financial officer.
ATV ACOUSTICS: EADS Space has completed acoustic testing of the ATV space tug intended to serve as a resupply vehicle for the International Space Station. The one-week campaign, performed at the European Space Agency's engineering center in Noordwijk, Netherlands, included three 30-second acoustic blasts designed to verify the vessel's ability to withstand the dynamics of an Ariane 5 launch. The 20-metric ton vehicle was the largest ever to be tested in the ESA acoustic chamber. The next stage of testing is thermal vacuum trials.
Following the July 3 completion of its acquisition of PanAmSat, Intelsat is embarking on an 18-month integration plan that includes closing 14 facilities and reducing the companies' combined work force from 1,400 employees down to roughly 1,000. The staff cuts will eliminate redundant positions and should be two-thirds complete within the first 12 months, according to Intelsat COO James Frownfelter. At the same time, the company will be adding customer service personnel, he said.
The U.S. Navy's Program Executive Office for Submarines has approved the MK 48 Mod 7 Advanced Capability Common Broadband Advanced Sonar System heavyweight torpedo for full-rate production. The torpedo is a joint product - including shared engineering, development, manufacturing and support - between the United States and Australia, and will be the primary weapon aboard both navies' submarines, officials said June 29.
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, Fla. - Mission Commander USAF Col. Steven Lindsey and co-pilot Navy Cdr. Mark Kelly piloted space shuttle Discovery through an 8 minute, 30 second zero-to-Mach 25 ascent following its at 2:38 p.m. Eastern time liftoff on July 4. They were joined on the top deck by flight engineer Navy Cdr. Lisa Nowak in the center seat and astronaut Mike Fossum in the aft right seat.
PHALANX: The U.S. Navy has awarded Raytheon roughly $190 million to provide Phalanx close-in weapons systems and associated spares, and especially for orders covering the Navy, Coast Guard and several foreign military sales. One award, which runs through April 2011, provides performance-based logistics to Australia (5 percent), Israel (5 percent), New Zealand (5 percent), Japan (1 percent), the United Kingdom (1 percent), Canada (1 percent), Taiwan (1 percent), Poland (1 percent), Bahrain (0.4 percent) and Saudi Arabia (0.21 percent).
ANOTHER BIRD: Eutelsat has begun operating a spacecraft at 7 degrees west longitude intended primarily to serve direct-to-home broadcasting markets in the Middle East and North Africa. The spacecraft, Atlantic Bird 4, was transferred from Eutelsat's Hot Bird neighborhood at 13 degrees east longitude, where it had been known as Hot Bird 4. A total of 18 channels on Atlantic Bird 4, launched in 1998, will be used by Nilesat under a long-term lease agreement. Additional capacity will soon be made available to Noorsat, a Bahrain-based video service provider.
NEW MOONS: Two tiny moons that astronomers using the Hubble telescope discovered orbiting Pluto last year will be known as Hydra and Nix. The International Astronomical Union, which names celestial bodies, drew on ancient mythology for the names. Hydra was the monster who guarded the underworld ruled over by Pluto. Nix was the Egyptian goddess of the night.
Astronauts onboard space shuttle Discovery inspected reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) panels on the starboard wing leading edge and orbiter nose cap July 5 and prepared to dock with the International Space Station on July 6 following a flawless July 4 launch.
RE-EVALUATING: Boeing is re-evaluating its investment in its Connexion by Boeing in-flight satellite broadband service, which it acknowledges "has not developed satisfactorily." Among the options under study are to seek a partner for the business, sell it or shut it down. No decision will be taken until the company has met with airline, defense, maritime and business/general aviation customers. In the meantime, further expansion of the service will be curtailed.
