The impasse over human spaceflight is not likely to be resolved this year. Backroom talks on the House and Senate authorization bills for NASA remain stalled. Neither side is willing to yield ground in advance of the midterm elections in November. NASA staffers have started on round two of the Human Exploration Framework Team (HEFT) exercise, which over the summer produced a something-for-everyone plan to use space shuttle parts for a near-term heavy-lift rocket (AW&ST Sept. 13, p. 26).
Russell J. Anarde (see photo) has been appointed the Northrop Grumman Corp. ’s lead executive for company business in Colorado Springs. He was director of business development for the Military Systems unit of Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems.
Clarence “Sy” Syvertson, an expert on hypersonic airflow who was director of NASA Ames Research Center from 1977-84, died Sept. 13. He was 84. Syvertson began his career at Ames in 1948 and led development of its 3.5 hypersonic wind tunnel branch that was used for North American’s XB-70 Valkyrie prototype for a deep-penetration bomber, the Martin M2 lifting body and other advanced designs. “His fundamental work on reentry vehicles contributed to the design of the space shuttle,” says Ames Director S. Pete Worden.
For aviation, two major questions about biofuels shadow its use: how much will they reduce greenhouse gas emissions and can they be produced in enough volume to meet the airlines’ goal of carbon-neutral growth? The answers depend not only on the feedstock-to-fuel pathways used, but on decisions ranging from where renewable feedstocks are grown to how they are processed into biofuel.
Concerns are growing in Germany that adjustments in the size and scope of the country’s armed forces could threaten its defense industrial capabilities and jeopardize a multinational agreement on the A400M military transport.
William Collins has been named vice president-base maintenance for American Airlines , effective Oct. 1. He has been vice president-electric power for GE Aviation.
The Italian air force is about to receive the latest upgrade of the Panavia Tornado, effectively assuring its extended life in Europe even as other countries are looking at retiring the fighter-bomber soon.
One would hope the aerospace and defense (A&D) industry has learned its lesson from the across-the-board layoffs of the last downturn. U.S. contractors cut about 40% of their employees between 1990-95 and stopped hiring. The result was a loss of technical skills and knowledge that was felt for years—and a dearth of new talent that would now be filling middle management posts.
Superjet has ticked another box on the list of to-be-completed tasks before regulators grant the type certificate for the SSJ100 regional jet, with the completion of static testing. It included ultimate limit load trials on the wing, exposing the structure to 150% of its design load.
Controllers at the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) are edging the first of at least three advanced navigation spacecraft into a highly elliptical orbit after its launch Sept. 11. Nicknamed Michibiki, which means “showing the way” in Japanese, the spacecraft will augment GPS signals in a quasi-zenith constellation able to provide coverage in Japan’s mountains and the “urban canyons” of Tokyo and other cities. A third apogee-engine firing went off as planned Sept. 14, and the satellite continued on its way toward a final 39,000 X 32,000-km.
USAF Gen. Claude R. Kehler has been named commander of U.S. Strategic Command, Offutt AFB, Neb. He was commander of Air Force Space Command, Peterson AFB, Colo. Maj. Gen. Gregory A. Feest has been appointed chief of safety at USAF Headquarters at the Pentagon and commander of the Air Force Safety Center, Kirtland AFB, N.M. He has been commander of the 19th Air Force of Air Education and Training Command, Randolph AFB, Texas. Feest has been succeeded by Maj. Gen. Mark S.
The sorry accident record of helicopters used in emergency medical service (EMS)—85 crashes killing 77 people between 2003-08—has drawn the attention of the FAA, Congress, the media and public, among others. In early 2009 the National Transportation Safety Board conducted a special hearing on the matter, resulting in a slew of recommendations, many of which focused on pilot training.
The U.S. Navy plans to resume flight testing of the MQ-8 Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft on Sept. 20. The trials on the Northrop Grumman aircraft will begin first in Yuma, Ariz., “since the area is sparsely populated and range is large,” says Capt. Tim Dunigan, who manages the Navy’s multi-mission UAS programs. Flight testing was halted Aug. 2 after a Fire Scout lost its communications link and traveled 40 mi. away from Washington.
XCOR Aerospace is finalizing the structure of the Lynx suborbital spacecraft following the completion of primary supersonic wind tunnel tests that confirmed design changes to increase stability.
France will make a new push to expand defense cooperation with the U.K. as both countries endeavor to sustain industrial capabilities in an area of shrinking defense budgets.
Killing tactical ballistic missiles so that explosive, biological or radioactive debris fall near a foe’s launch sites is a key problem for those mapping out defenses in an era of proliferating, short-range missiles and long-range rockets.
There appear to be no remaining obstacles to the merger of Safran’s Snecma unit with the solid rocket business of SNPE, following a French government decision to privatize the state-owned chemical and solid propulsion producer.
William Clark has been appointed senior vice president/chief marketing officer of Lockheed Martin subsidiary Savi Technology , Alexandria, Va. He was executive vice president/CMO at Deltek Inc.
Boeing is assessing whether further slips in its hard-pressed 787 delivery schedule are likely following a second Rolls-Royce Trent 1000 engine failure. But the initial view is that neither event involves issues relating to the engine’s design or certification and is unlikely to have a long-term effect on the aircraft or engine development program.
It may be tough going for many in business aviation these days, but there’s not a hint of a slowdown at FltPlan.com. In fact, the free computerized flight planning and filing service is going gangbusters. It now submits 65% of all the flight plans for business flights conducted by turbine aircraft; total filings from all sources (no airlines) brushed 200,000 in August, a record. On average, 20,000 flight plans are calculated (though not necessarily filed) on the web-based system every day.
Upcoming experiments should pave the way toward the first practical applications of drag-reducing laminar flow control on a transport aircraft under NASA’s Environmentally Responsible Aviation (ERA) program.
Senators like to tweak White House spending requests just to show the president who gets the last word, but the Senate’s Fiscal 2011 defense appropriations measure goes well beyond. Last week, appropriators pushed through language that would cut 10 aircraft, about a quarter of the next year’s request, from the JSF program, as well cut or alter the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle and other programs.
Advocacy of an air-launched, missile defense system is being proposed by two veterans of the Pentagon’s “Star Wars” era and a 1990s program to mate unmanned aerial systems (UAS) and long-range air-to-air weapons.
