NASA’s space shuttle Discovery is bound for its fleet-leading 39th and final mission, an 11-day voyage to the International Space Station to deliver an equipment storage compartment. The last scheduled run is taking place amid growing urgency for the White House, Congress and NASA to resolve uncertainties over how and when the 30-year-old program will end. Discovery’s liftoff from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center is scheduled for Nov. 1 at 4:40 p.m.
The coalition’s fight in southern Afghanistan is shifting demand for unmanned aircraft from the RQ-7 Shadow tactical UAV to the smaller Raven and Puma All Environment systems, according to Col. Gregory Gonzalez, the U.S. Army’s unmanned program manager.
ATK’s five-segment Solid Rocket Motor (SRM) is ready for flight testing, declares Charlie Precourt, vice president and general manager of ATK Space Launch Systems. ATK announced Oct. 27 that data from the second successful Development Motor test Aug. 31 showed that it performed “precisely as designed.”
Acquisition reforms sought by Pentagon leadership are hitting defense contractors on their margins, but industry might be heartened by a better-than-expected Fiscal 2012 defense budget request, according to analysts at RBC Capital Markets. After attending the Association of the U.S. Army fall conference in Washington, the analysts said there may not be much in the way of immediate “savings” from Defense Secretary Robert Gates’s five-year, $101-billion campaign.
Italy’s Avio is urging that Europe develop a derivative of the Vega light launch vehicle that could provide a cheaper alternative for exploration missions beyond low Earth orbit. The rocket, which would feature a new upper stage equipped with Hall-effect electric thrusters, instead of the present liquid propulsion design, could carry 600-700-kg. (1,320-1,540-lb.) payloads to Mars, Venus, near-Earth asteroids or comets in 1,000 days, or loft a 1,400-ton payload to the Moon in 300 days.
Two experts on U.S. export licensing are cautioning industry and observers to check their expectations about near-term improvements. For starters, bureaucratic support for Obama administration reforms—particularly in top State Department offices—could be too tepid to allow for quick reforms. And they further warn that the world’s multilateral business climate is changing faster than the recently ratified bilateral treaties with the U.K. and Australia can adequately address.
Peter A. Stanham (see photo) has been promoted to managing director of finance at American Airlines for Mexico, the Caribbean and Latin America. He will be responsible for financial management, business planning, procurement and accounting in 34 countries. He was senior manager of business planning.
If the European Union is to embark on ambitious new space undertakings commensurate with its economic weight, it may have to rely on new sources of funding, including off-budget financing. And it will have to find a way to fill short-term budget gaps to keep fledgling satellite navigation and operational Earth-observation programs on course. That was the consensus at a two-day conference at the European Parliament here last week.
As development wraps up on a range of naval missile systems, designers are turning their attention to new applications and upgrades. But scarce funding is hampering several near-term ambitions. The conundrum affects several manufacturers. MBDA’s Exocet Block 3 anti-ship missile is now operational with the French and Italian navies, while Kongsberg is readying the first shipments of the stealthy Naval Strike Missile (NSM) and the Saab/Diehl BGT Defense team isset to hand over the first RBS-15 Mk. 3 anti-ship and land-attack missiles.
European Union emissions allowance (EUA) prices made another assault on the €16.00 per metric ton mark in mid-October, but drifted lower later in the month as U.K. natural gas prices eased. EUAs for delivery in December 2010 closed at €15.36 ($21.32) per metric ton on Oct. 1, little changed from €15.38 on Sept. 1. Prices then began to gain ground, rising to an intra-month high of €15.86 on Oct. 11. But prices never managed to touch the €16.00 mark, and profit-taking saw prices fall throughout the rest of the month to trade at €15.01 by Oct. 26.
When the U.S. became the world’s largest economy in the late 19th century, it was not Great Britain that it eclipsed. It was China. By the middle of the 20th century, China dropped to 5% of global GDP. But it is now No. 2 and on a trajectory to be the world’s leading economy again—and one-third of the global economy—by the middle of this century. For aerospace OEMs, China is expected to be slightly more than 10% of the global market over the next 20 years.
Could an office worker in India have the best navigation algorithm for an unmanned aircraft, or a chemical engineer in China the solution to an aerodynamic problem on a commercial transport? Could Facebook be the key to creating future engineers?
Herbert D. Kelleher, retired chairman/president/CEO of Southwest Airlines, has been named to receive the second annual Joseph T. Nall Award from the Washington-based National Transportation Safety Board Bar Association . The award recognizes individuals who have made contributions to aviation and transportation safety. Nall was a member of the NTSB from 1986 until his death in 1989 while on NTSB business in Caracas, Venezuela.
Russia’s NIS-Glonass is forming a joint venture with Antrix Corp., the marketing arm of the Indian Space Research Organization, to help it break into the market for satellite tracking and navigation services in India.
A U.S. State Department order for two upgraded Sikorsky S-61 utility helicopters for use in Afghanistan for drug interdiction brings the total purchased to 17 aircraft. Earlier this year, the department signed an indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract with Sikorsky for up to 110 upgraded S-61s or passenger and cargo transport operations worldwide. The first four aircraft are scheduled for deployment in Afghanistan this fall.
Adla Worobec (see photo) has been promoted to chief commercial officer at AeroMobile . She came to AeroMobile from Thus plc, the company’s Scotland-based cable and wireless subsidiary. She also worked for Connexion By Boeing as director-wireless channels.
Bob Tavares (see photo) has become vice president-microwave solutions for the Electronics Group of Crane Aerospace & Electronics , Redmond, Wash. He was vice president/general manager of Tyco Electronics’ M/A Com Div. David Perret has been appointed general manager of Crane’s Lyon, France, site. He was operations and customer support manager. Honors And elections
Delta Air Lines reached an agreement with Boeing to defer the delivery of 18 Boeing 787-8 aircraft for about a decade, to 2020-22, but some analysts wonder if Delta really is willing to wait that long for widebody replacements. Delta CEO Richard Anderson says he is satisfied with the existing fleet, especially given the airline’s investment in cabin upgrades such as lie-flat business-class seats, but consultant Craig Jenks, president of Airline/Aircraft Projects, says he is expecting some combination of orders from Delta for used and new equipment well before 2020.
Leading U.S. aerospace companies are establishing a fund that could provide a private-sector solution to the aircraft equipage dilemma threatening air traffic control modernization efforts.
A new lobbying coalition including Expedia, Sabre Holdings, Kayak and Farelogix argues that Google’s proposed $700-million acquisition of ITA Software would give the search engine giant control over the software that powers most of its closest rivals in travel search and allow Google to manipulate the online air travel marketplace. “The end result could be higher travel prices, fewer travel choices for consumers and businesses and less innovation in online travel search,” says the coalition, FairSearch.org. Google, of course, argues otherwise.
Nick Price has been appointed regional director-contract services for A.J. Walter Aviation . His new position follows a 15-year career at FLS Aerospace and SR Technics.
Kevin Pizzarello (see photo) has been named fluid control sales director at Circor Aerospace . Pizzarello made the transition from Parker Aerospace’s Fluid Systems Div., where he was business development manager-pneumatic, lube oil and fuel specialty products. He expanded the organization’s offerings and led program wins for the Pratt & Whitney geared turbofan engine and Rolls-Royce Advent engine programs.
China is studying a rocket engine with thrusts of 300-500 tons (660,000-1.1 million lb.), up to four times as powerful as its current equipment, while also working on reusable space launchers, senior leaders have told a U.S. industry delegation. The pace of Chinese launches is accelerating, says Yang Baohua, president of spacecraft-builder Cast. China has launched 11 satellites this year, has two at their launch sites preparing to go and will follow them with one more, making it 14 for the year. Next year it will launch 20, he says.
Engineers are moving into the last phase of detailed design for ExoMars, a twin lander/orbiter mission planned by the European Space Agency and NASA to pave the way for a sample return from the red planet. ExoMars was conceived as an all-ESA endeavor with a single launch. However, rising costs and technology risks forced planners last year to morph the undertaking into a twin-launch scenario, with NASA as partner, and to redefine system requirements. This was completed in March. Thales Alenia Space (TAS) was retained as prime contractor.
Carbon nanotubes, which are immensely strong and highly conductive, show the potential to transform composites and are among technologies the aerospace and defense industry is counting on to bring greater affordability, as well as performance, to its products. Other technologies described in this week’s package of articles, which begins on page 70, include additive manufacturing direct from digital models, wider use of modeling and simulation enabled by cloud computing, and crowd sourcing of ideas for more innovative products. Cover image from Istock.
