NASA will test the launch abort system for the Orion crew exploration vehicle on May 6 at White Sands Missile Range, N.M., even though Orion and its Ares I crew launch vehicle are canceled in the agency’s Fiscal 2011 budget request. Work is continuing pending congressional approval of the request—an issue that is very much unsettled on Capitol Hill—and the system was stacked on top of a boilerplate Orion capsule on April 3. The solid-fuel system includes a primary motor that generates 500,000 lb.
The U.S. National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA) has emerged as the government-wide manager of a new service, providing commercial synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images from spacecraft. But despite all of the resources and ingenuity the U.S. government and industry have put into space, not a single American company is alone capable of providing this service.
Stockholders at SkyTerra Communications have approved the takeover of the U.S. mobile satellite service (MSS) operator by hedge fund Harbinger Capital Partners. Harbinger said last September that it would seek to gain full control of SkyTerra, in which it previously held a 48% voting interest, in order to reinforce its influence on strategy. The hedge fund also owns a 28% stake in Inmarsat and has been seeking FCC approval to combine the two entities.
Nelson Jobim, Brazil’s defense minister, told the country’s congress last week that the Dassault Rafale was the only one of the three fighter contenders that fully met the government’s technology transfer requirements. Jobim also reportedly suggested the ministry would submit its final technical report to the government on the choice of fighter within two weeks. The Boeing F/A-18E/F and Saab Gripen NG are the other contenders.
Jeppesen last week introduced its latest electronic flight bag (EFB) application, FliteDeck Pro, which is aimed at facilitating flight crew workflow. Director of Portfolio Management-Aviation Tim Huegel described several of the new product’s benefits compared with earlier EFB versions: an intuitive, simple navigation system; automatic moving map display (above, left) integrated into pilot workflow, and an open framework design that allows for software and data integration across multiple aircraft types and hardware platforms.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Bengaluru, India), Neelam Mathews (Bengaluru, India)
India is moving steadily toward sending its first astronauts to orbit on indigenous spacecraft, but it is taking a “stepwise” approach and has not yet committed funds to human missions, according to the new chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).
Air France believes it can almost immediately begin implementing on a regular basis some of the fuel-saving measures explored in a transatlantic “green” flight that tested improvements from gate-to-gate. The airline combined a variety of fuel-saving measures on a Boeing 747-400ER flight between its Paris Charles de Gaulle (CDG) hub and Miami International Airport, following the lead of Singapore Airlines, which completed a similar transpacific flight in February.
The European Space Agency has purchased a second Sentinel-2 for Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security (GMES) network. Worth €105 million ($140 million), the spacecraft will provide continuity with Sentinel-2A, ordered in 2008. The two 1.1-metric-ton units—to be launched in 2013 and 2015, respectively, to provide imagery of the Earth’s land mass—are each designed to operate for a minimum of 7.25 years, with a further five-year extension if required, ensuring a steady stream of land-monitoring data for at least 15 years.
USAF Col. (ret.) Scott Henderson has been named director of mission assurance and integration and head of Florida external relations for Space Exploration Technologies , Hawthorne, Calif. He was commander of the 45th Launch Group at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla.
British Airways and Iberia still expect to complete their merger in December, after having reached agreement on April 8. The deal largely reflects a memorandum of understanding worked out last year in discussions that now are around two years old. If regulators and shareholders agree to the deal, the latter will get to vote on the issue in November. The entity is expected to have 408 aircraft, carry more than 58 million passengers and generate €400 million ($532 million) in savings over five years.
Hawker Beechcraft Corp. will transfer equipment and operational responsibility for a series of test laboratories to the National Institute for Aviation Research (NIAR) located on the Wichita State University (WSU) campus. Under the agreement, NIAR will perform electromagnetic compatibility, mechanical and environmental testing for Hawker Beechcraft, providing a “unique classroom for students” to gain hands-on experience, says Gary Miller, WSU’s provost.
The first of a new fleet of combat rescue tankers for the U.S. Air Force’s Air Combat Command left Lockheed Martin’s main assembly building in Marietta, Ga., on April 3. Now in the painting facility, the aircraft will soon enter production flight-testing. The newly configured aircraft will be formally presented to the Air Force on April 19 and delivered later this year. The HC-130J is due to meet an initial operating capability date in mid-2012.
Pratt & Whitney is poised to conduct a key fan blade-out test for its PW1000G geared turbofan over the next few days that could decide if novel hybrid-metallic technology will be featured in the production engine. The test follows completion of a bird-strike test on a fan representative of its PW1524G fan for Bombardier’s CSeries in early March. The 2.5-lb. bird-strike evaluation was a key validation of the company’s hybrid-metallic fan blade technology—a major discriminator of the GTF, says Senior Engineering Vice President Paul Adams.
Melissa Maddox (see photo) has become vice president-operations for the business aviation sector of StandardAero ,Tucson, Ariz. She will remain vice president-global security and risk assurance. Honors and Elections
Democrats, as expected, praise the administration’s Nuclear Posture Review, and even most Republicans recognize a need to shift attention toward nonproliferation and counterterrorism (see p. 24). But conservatives worry that Obama may not be as committed to supporting the U.S. nuclear weapons complex as much as they would have it. And they question the wisdom of the U.S. declaring it will not use nuclear forces in certain situations; previous policy was deliberately ambiguous.
Synthetic aperture radar (SAR) images of the Murray River Basin in Australia—collected March 20 and 21 using the Italian Cosmos-Skymed satellite—show the progress of flooding in the area around Goodooga City, New South Wales. Black areas denote the presence of water. Blue areas indicate no changes between the two images (where there is rocky terrain or bare soil) and yellow indicates objects such as trees or vegetation.
NASA’s first science flight using a former U.S. Air Force Northrop Grumman Global Hawk UAV was completed over the Pacific on April 7. The flight was the first of five scheduled for this month’s Global Hawk Pacific mission to study atmospheric science over the Pacific and Arctic oceans. During the 14-hr. flight, the UAV flew approximately 4,500 nm. along a flight path that took it to just south of Alaska’s Kodiak Island and reached an altitude of 60,900 ft.
April 20-22—MRO Americas/MRO Military Conference & Exhibition. Phoenix. April 28-30—Phoenix Sky Harbor International Aviation Symposium. May 10-13—Special Operations Forces Exhibition and Conference. Amman, Jordan May 19-21—NextGen Conference & Exhibition. Washington. June 8-13—ILA-Berlin Air Show. July 19-25—Farnborough 2010. Sept. 27-Oct. 1—International Astronautical Congress. Prague. Sept. 28-30—MRO Europe. London.
Laurence E. Simmons has been appointed to the board of directors of Continental Airlines . He is president of SCF Partners and a former member of the board of ExpressJet Holdings Inc.
Pratt & Whitney is starting initial service-release tests of the short-takeoff/vertical-landing (Stovl) F135 version as it closes on the final phases of engine development for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter. The start of Stovl proving runs at the company’s West Palm Beach, Fla., test site comes as Pratt begins a steady ramp-up of engine production for Lockheed Martin’s Fort Worth assembly line. Three production conventional-takeoff-and-landing and carrier version (CTOL/CV) F135s have been delivered this year; the first unit was handed over in January.
Ten years ago, who would have believed that a company founded by a young Internet entrepreneur would be launching satellites into space (Elon Musk’s SpaceX)? Or that a flamboyant record company mogul would be selling tickets to eager space tourists (Virgin Galactic’s Richard Branson). Next up: Las Vegas real estate developer Robert Bigelow’s proposal to build, orbit and lease space on inflatable space stations.
Marillyn A. Hewson has been named executive vice president of Lockheed Martin Electronic Systems , Bethesda, Md. She was president of the Systems Integration unit, Owego, N.Y. She succeeds Christopher E. Kubasik, who is now corporate president/chief operating officer. John T. Lucas has become senior vice president-human resources, succeeding Kenneth J. Disken, who has retired. William L. Graham has been appointed deputy to Information Systems and Global Services executive vice president Linda Gooden.
Hard hit when Cessna closed a manufacturing plant in 2009 and moved production to Kansas, the city of Bend, Ore., is hoping a portion of its other aircraft maker—bankrupt Epic Aircraft—will restart work there soon. In an agreement worked out April 7 at the urging of a bankruptcy court judge, the company’s assets will go to a group of Epic customers, whose high-performance kit planes were under construction when the manufacturer closed its doors.
NASA will pay $55.8 million a seat for six rides to the International Space Station on Russian Soyuz vehicles in 2013-14, a surprisingly small increase given the monopoly on human space transportation Soyuz will enjoy after the space shuttle fleet retires at the end of this year. Negotiators for NASA’s space station program office and Russian space agency Roscosmos agreed on a price 9% above the $51 million NASA will pay for each Soyuz seat through 2012. Lawmakers and others have worried that the “gap” in U.S.
