The Georgia Tech Research Institute (GTRI) and staff of its School of Aerospace Engineering are developing advanced cathodes that have the potential of improving control of satellites and planetary probes. A key goal of the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency-sponsored project is to demonstrate the use of propellant-less cathodes in Hall Effect thrusters, thereby reducing the consumption of propellant in satellites.
Luis Liu has been promoted to director of quality and manufacturing engineering for Circor Aerospace Inc. ’s Southern California campuses from manufacturing engineering manager and technical site lead for the Citation campus.
Workers are getting started on the Terminal Hangar Facility at New Mexico’s Spaceport America, where Virgin Galactic plans to begin sending tourists and scientists on suborbital rides as early as 2012. Work on the 10,000-ft. runway, where Virgin’s Scaled Composites SpaceShipTwo is to glide to a landing, should be finished this summer, according to the New Mexico Spaceport Authority. The $200-million terminal, designed by Foster + Partners, is to be ready early next year. The 110,000-sq.-ft.
China Eastern Airlines is moving strongly into the territory of rival Air China by setting up a branch airline in Chengdu that it plans to equip with 30 aircraft by 2015. Routes to Southeast Asia, an express service to Shanghai and new direct flights to China’s well-developed cities feature in China Eastern’s plans for Chengdu, which will exploit the expansion of the city’s Shuangliu International Airport. The city, at the western edge of China’s heavily populated zone, is developing as the gateway for international air services to and from its region.
May 9-13—Aerospace Medical Association’s 81st Annual Scientific Meeting. Sheraton Phoenix Downtown. Call +1 (703) 739-2240, Ext. 106 or see www.asma.org May 10-13—Practical Aeronautics Short Course: “Introduction to Aeronautics—A Practical Perspective.” Ohio Aerospace Institute, Cleveland. See www.practicalaero.com May 11-12—The Shephard Group’s Electronic Warfare 2010 Conference. Estrel Convention Center, Berlin. See www.shephard.co.uk/events
The now-famous Eyjafjallajokull volcano did much more than paralyze the European airline industry and strand passengers around the world. The unprecedented event confirmed the European Union’s inability to create the long-overdue unified sky. Equally troubling, EU officials ignored the traveling public’s quest for timely and comprehensive information. The chaos triggered by the ash cloud revealed deep political fault lines as the economic impact mounted.
Australia has expanded its purchase of UHF hosted-payload capacity on the upcoming Intelsat 22 communications satellite, exercising an option under a contract signed last year to buy the remainder of a specialized payload for its military forces in Afghanistan and elsewhere in the spacecraft’s Indian Ocean footprint. The change brings the total value of the 15-year contract to A$230 million (U.S. $212 million), according to Australian press reports.
A News Break item in the April 12 issue (p. 20) misstated the name of a winner of an FAA engineering contract for the NextGen Air Transportation System. The company’s correct name is CSSI Inc.
Andy Teich, who has been president of the Commercial Vision Systems Div. of Flir Systems Inc. , Portland, Ore., is now head of a combined Commercial Vision Systems and Thermography Div. The latter had been led by Arne Almerfors, who will be retiring. Honors And Elections
Lockheed Martin is in the midst of a two-front war inside the Washington political apparatus over the future of the Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) program, which will eventually account for a large share of the company’s revenue and set the tone of forthcoming negotiations with up to 16 prospective customers worldwide.
Astrium says it has completed pre-launch testing of the TanDem-X radar satellite, clearing the spacecraft for its transfer on May 11 to the Baikonur launch center in Kazakhstan. TandDem-X, which will complement TerraSar-X, is to be launched on June 21 on a Dnepr rocket.
Taking a page from Senate Democrats’ playbook during the George W. Bush administration, House Republicans are forming an unofficial panel to lead inquiries into the Obama administration’s national security policymaking. Interestingly, House Republican Leader John Boehner (Ohio) has tapped his caucus’s leading homeland security lawmaker—Peter King (N.Y.)—to head the “National Security Solutions Group,” rather than his party’s top defense authorizer or appropriator—a move that likely would serve conservative U.S.
The next round of the scramble to land the corporate headquarters of Northrop Grumman pits suburban Arlington and Fairfax counties against each other. In a move that surprised almost no one after Northrop said it would move its headquarters from Los Angeles to the Washington area in the summer of 2011, the corporation announced last week Virginia had won over Maryland and the District of Columbia. Big U.S. companies routinely solicit “incentives” from local officials before making site selections. Virginia’s Republican Gov. Robert F.
Dassault’s Falcon 7X is the first purpose-built business aircraft with a digital flight control system, a technology intended to ease pilot workload, provide flight envelope protection and enable designers to reduce drag and improve fuel efficiency.
W.W. Boisture, Jr., who is chairman/CEO of the Hawker Beechcraft Corp., has been elected to the board of directors of the White Plains, N.Y.-based Corporate Angel Network . It arranges free transportation to treatment for cancer patients using empty seats on corporate aircraft.
International air passenger traffic for March reflects a continued upturn, with volume increasing by 10.3% and cargo 28.1%, compared to March 2009—which, during the recession, registered a low point, according to the International Air Transport Association (IATA). In February 2010, there was 9% growth and 26.3% in cargo. IATA Director General Giovanni Bisignani noted that the pace of improvement is faster than anticipated, with 2010 growth in gross domestic product now forecast at 4.3%, up from 3%.
Neil Wallace, chief engineer of the ion propulsion team at U.K.-based Qinetiq, accepted its Sir Arthur Clarke Award as team of the year for its contribution to space exploration during 2009. The year included launch of the European Space Agency’s GOCE spacecraft, which became the first to lift off with Qinetiq’s T5 ion thrusters. The year also saw Qinetiq begin work to supply advanced T6 thrusters for ESA’s BepiColombo mission to Mercury.
While US Airways appears to have been shut out of the latest round of airline consolidation, the carrier still sees improved prospects—and further merger opportunities—if two of its rivals combine. US Airways has been one of the most vocal proponents of airline consolidation, stressing that it is the best way to trim excess supply from the U.S. industry and put it on track for long-term financial health. But after coming close to a deal with United Airlines, US Airways has been replaced by Continental Airlines as United’s preferred merger partner.
A MiG-35 prototype fitted with an active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar has carried out a radar-guided missile engagement using the RVV-AE (R-77/AA-12 Adder). Completing the test is a key element in bidding the aircraft for India’s fighter requirement and was part of the final flight trials of the latest modification of the MiG-29. Two MiG-35 prototypes—the single-seat Bort (side number) 961 and the two-seat Bort 967—were evaluated in April. The Russian air force center at Ahktubinsk managed the weapon tests.
India’s 5.5-ton Light Combat Helicopter (LCH) is expected to complete its first full flight this month following unspecified modifications made after its debut in a hover and slow-speed cyclic maneuver. Developed by Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL), the two-seat version of the Advanced Light Helicopter (ALH) made a 20-min. flight March 29 that allowed pilots to carry out low-speed/low-altitude systems checks using hover and basic rotation maneuvers, and fly four loops around HAL’s home base at Bengaluru.
The German defense ministry and propulsion manufacturer Bayern-Chemie will pursue a further phase for their joint gel-propellant missile research, following the first two flight tests of its motor design.
Acquisition reform advances in Congress. The House passed a bill 417-3 last week to reform how the Defense Department organizes its bookkeeping, trains its acquisition workforce and spends on services. The last now accounts for most of the Pentagon’s annual acquisition spending. Bipartisan leaders of the House Armed Services Committee, where the bill grew out of a year-long study effort, say the Improve Acquisition Act (H.R. 5013) could potentially save $135 billion over five years and expedite equipment and support to combat personnel.
