Martin Sweeting, founder of U.K.-based Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. and director of the Surrey Space Center, has received the Lifetime Achievement Award at Elektra Electronics Industry Awards 2009 . He was cited for challenging conventional space engineering by using commercially available electronics and parts to build small satellites. His vision has been to change the economics of space, developing a market for small satellites, and providing cost-effective solutions for established space giants.
Members of the International Space Station partnership are all set to use their same approach to cooperation if and when humankind ever ventures beyond low Earth orbit, but for now some partners would be happy just to get off the ground. Meeting in Tokyo, Administrator Charles Bolden and the heads of the Canadian, European, Japanese and Russian space agencies agree that the U.S.
Iran is continuing to build its tactical missile capability on the basis of Chinese technology with the claimed entry into series production of the Nasr 1 anti-ship missile. The Nasr family may also include air-launched derivatives.
Pratt & Whitney reached another milestone on its F135 engine, achieving an initial service release for the conventional takeoff and landing/carrier version, which clears it for operational use in the Lockheed Martin F-35 stealth fighter. This variant of the F135 has been certified for low-rate initial production and flight operations.
Photo taken during first-flight ceremonies for the T-50 (left)—Sukhoi’s stealth fighter prototype—shows the size and design differences between the sole Su-35UB two-seat trainer version of the Flanker multi-role fighter and the T-50 with its low-observable design. The 72-ft.-long, 48-ft.-wingspan Su-35UB has a rear-facing, tailcone-mounted radar and can carry a combat load of 3,276 gal. of fuel. The T-50 is 66.9 ft. long with a 48.2-ft. wingspan. It is 17.4 ft. high.
SuperJet International has received formal approval from Aeroflot to provide line maintenance for the carrier’s aircraft. Work at SuperJet International’s Venice, Italy, facility will start on Airbus A320s as the partners wait for arrival of the Sukhoi Superjet 100 regional jet.
The U.S. Air Force has upped its buy of Focused Lethality Munitions to 250 from 150. The FLM is a variant of the Small Diameter Bomb, designed with a composite casing and dense explosive fill for low collateral damage. It is a 250-lb.-class weapon made by Boeing.
Engineers at Space Exploration Technologies Inc. (SpaceX) are reviewing data after an automatic abort of its nine-engine Falcon 9 launch vehicle on the pad at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., Mar. 9. The company says the abort went nominally after an unspecified problem with the spin start system 2 sec. before ignition. The engines did not ignite for the planned 3.5-sec. static test, although flames appeared briefly beneath the rocket on the pad at Launch Complex 40, and a cloud of black smoke drifted away from the kerosene-fueled launch vehicle.
The Winter Olympics showcased the progress Nav Canada is making in multilateration surveillance, with two projects in Vancouver demonstrating the potential of this technology.
After 53 months of cutting, polishing and testing, the first flightworthy primary mirror segment for the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) has passed a critical mission-readiness review of its cryogenic performance. The test showed that a contracting team spread across five states knows how to convert powdered beryllium into a mirror polished to a tolerance of just 20 nanometers (a piece of typing paper is 100,000 nanometers thick).
A move by EchoStar to acquire troubled Satellite Mexicanos will boost its ambition to become a major player in the fixed-satellite service sector, provided noteholders do not scuttle the deal.
Finmeccanica delivered 2009 financial results at the upper end of its already revised financial guidance, with revenue of €18.2 billion ($24.6 billion) or €3 billion more than the prior year. Net profit jumped 16% to €718 million. The backlog, at year-end, stood at €45.1 billion owing to €21 billion in new order s in 2009. The Italian aerospace and defense giant reduced its debt 9% during the year , to €3 billion .
The International Society of Transport Aircraft Trading was well on track to its mid-March launch of a complete program to coordinate air transport needs in the event of a humanitarian crisis when an event of monumental proportion intervened. The Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti dictated a ready-or-not early start to the program, with Istat volunteers handling most of the coordination needed for eight flights to Haiti, starting the first week after the disaster.
In a conference call with Wall Street analysts last week, Boeing Vice President Mike Bair said the company is targeting a 10-15% fuel burn advantage from any reengining of the 737 and expects to make a go-ahead decision by the end of the year. His comments were in line with what analysts such as Macquarie Equities Research’s Rob Stallard expected. But Bair’s words fudge the line a bit on when the company will act; other officials have indicated a decision by mid-year (AW&ST Mar. 1, p. 40).
This month, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown will receive a report, which will remain unpublished, addressing how the government can better support the aerospace and defense sector. A key area is the export arena, which is gaining in importance as the U.K.’s own medium- to long-term procurement program wanes in several traditionally strong sectors .
Additional security costs and a decline in airline customers are expected to keep pressure on European airports for several years, but looming capacity bottlenecks mean capital-intensive infrastructure projects must proceed.
France has kicked off definition of a system of systems to tie future air- and ground-based army units into a network-based close-combat capability. The €4-5-billion ($5.6-7-billion) project, known as Scorpion, will draw on experience with the air-ground cooperative combat system (BOA) demonstrator that began in 2004. Scorpion aims to equip 18 battle groups with new infantry fighting vehicles and light tanks, upgraded main battle tanks and other gear—but so far no aerial hardware—connected by a common high-bandwidth communications backbone.
Oman Air has become the first airline to operate with OnAir’s inflight Internet connectivity system. The service, which includes WiFi Internet, e-mail and short text messaging, was inaugurated on the Muscat to London route using an Airbus A330. Seven other carriers have also signed up to use OnAir Internet, which is based on Inmarsat’s 492-kbps. Swiftbroadband satellite network .
NASA has targeted February 2013 for a replacement flight opportunity for the Orbiting Carbon Observatory that was lost in February 2009 due to a Taurus XL launch vehicle failure. Orbital Sciences built the spacecraft and will construct its replacement to be as close to the original as possible. The reflight could be on an Orbital Taurus XL, but Michael Freilich, director of NASA’s Earth Science Div., says the space agency could hold a launcher competition. Other potential candidates include SpaceX’s Falcon 9 and Orbital’s Minotaur V.
A third terminal would be built at Taipei’s Taoyuan International Airport under a plan commissioned by the government. The terminal would raise capacity to 50 million passengers per year from 30 million .
The British Parliament’s Defense Committee wants to know what “lessons learned” the Defense Ministry will draw from the Airbus Military A400M debacle, at the same time as it excoriates officials over their failure to be up-front about the wider multibillion-pound gap in the overall procurement program. “At best, confused and unhelpful and, at worst, deliberately obstructive” is the acerbic conclusion of the U.K.’s Defense Committee with regard to evidence provided by the Defense Ministry concerning a multibillion-pound funding disparity.
A major evolution in air traffic control technology is underway in the vast reaches of Canada’s northern airspace. Nav Canada is pioneering the use of satellite-based surveillance on high-altitude and oceanic routes, enhancing ATC coverage for some of North America’s most important international air corridors.
Sukhoi intends to add three more T-50 development aircraft to the test program within the next 12 months, with further details of Russia’s next-generation fighter leaking out from a high-level gathering here. Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin held a cabinet meeting last week on developing the aerospace and defense industry at Sukhoi’s Moscow headquarters. Putin was also shown the T-50-0 static test rig airframe along with a cockpit simulator for Russia’s fifth-generation fighter.
Boeing engineers are checking out the third and final Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) built by their company in the GOES-N configuration, after its launch Mar. 4 on a United Launch Alliance Delta IV from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. Liftoff came at 6:57 p.m. EST, two days late because a quick-disconnect and a steering control valve on the rocket had to be replaced. The weather satellite will be designated GOES-P until checkout is complete, when it will be stored as GOES-15 as an on-orbit spare.
Initial calibrated images from Europe’s Soil Moisture and Ocean Salinity (SMOS) probe suggest the mission, intended to advance scientists’ understanding of the global water cycle, will meet specifications with margin to spare. SMOS was launched on Nov. 2, together with the Proba-2 technology satellite, and is to be commissioned at the end of April (AW&ST Nov. 9, 2009, p. 26).
