Even as nanosatellite makers pursue building products small enough to fit in a pocket, they haven’t found a way to make a business case big enough to attract commercial sponsors. The field, dominated by research laboratories and universities, remains focused on scientific missions, technology demonstrations and student projects. Startup companies are entering with specific applications and major manufacturers are launching technology demonstration missions. But, so far, the customer base consists of just a few government organizations.
The Dutch government has decided to eliminate the flight tax it began collecting last July 1 from passengers who started their journeys in the Netherlands. Low-cost carriers in particular welcomed the decision on the tax, which they said curtailed their ability to stimulate demand with low fares and compelled them to cut services. The carriers also are using the decision to again press Ireland, Italy and the U.K. to repeal similar taxes.
Thales Alenia Space has contracted to build W3C, a large Eutelsat broadcasting and telecom satellite that will serve Europe, the Middle East and North Africa. The award is for a 5.4-metric-ton 12-kw. spacecraft carrying 53 Ku-band and three Ka-band transponders, along with three deployable and two fixed antennas. W3C will be launched in the third quarter of 2011 to permit expansion and in-orbit redundancy for the Paris-based operator’s fast-growing neighborhood at 7 deg. E. Long., and ensure Ku-band continuity in the event of the loss of other Eutelsat spacecraft.
Airbus and Boeing share serious concerns about their inability to keep major programs on schedule. The oft-delayed 787 long-range twinjet and A400M airlifter, for example, have not flown yet and suffer from complex, although largely unrelated, production difficulties. Both manufacturers find themselves unable to keep all-new aircraft on track while deeply overhauling supply chains and revising links with risk-sharing partners and vendors.
The pace of research on the International Space Station will double this summer along with the size of its crew, thanks to hardware delivered by the space shuttle Discovery that essentially finished ISS assembly. Discovery was scheduled to land as early as Mar. 28, the same day that a fresh Soyuz capsule was to dock at the station with the core of its first six-person crew.
Hal Rounds points out a logical error in Jonathan Penn’s letter regarding the size of U.S. air forces (AW&ST Mar. 16, p. 10). The aircraft must be where the fight is, or the kill ratio does not matter. Though right on this trivial point, he misses Penn’s much more important statement. The U.S. National Debt is in itself a huge threat to our national security—as big or bigger than any military threat we face. If we keep spending like we have been, China will not need to attack us—they will own us.
The cloud of space junk—at least 19,000 objects of 10 cm. or more; 150,000-plus of 1 cm. or greater—may have reached the point that debris would continue to multiply even if all space launches were permanently halted today. “Some experts believe we have reached the point of no return,” says James B. Higgins of NASA headquarters. He summed up the work of agency scientists at a conference in Washington on space situational awareness Mar. 23-24.
Cost is emerging as a key determining factor in British Defense Ministry considerations over the respective merits and force mix of loitering munitions and armed tactical UAVs. The U.K. is examining both loitering munitions and armed UAVs to provide what it terms “persistent deep fires.” The considerations also expose continuing tension between the Royal Air Force and Army over “ownership” issues.
Thales Alenia Space President and CEO Reynald Selznec says the French government will release a request for information this spring for a study on how it might cede part or all of its Syracuse military satellite network to industry, including a possible sale and leaseback arrangement. Selznec indicates that capacity on two follow-on milsatcom initiatives to be developed with Italy—the Sicral 2 secure telecom spacecraft and Athena-Fidus dual-use broadband satellite—also may be sold to industry in return for resale rights.
The idea of using ground-based lasers to get rid of orbital debris appears to be gaining traction with officials of the Space Protection Program (SPP), a joint effort of U.S. Air Force Space Command and the National Reconnaissance Office. The SPP, set up a year ago to preserve national security space assets, has seen many of its suggestions implemented, including one to install improved devices on satellites to warn of impending collision with debris.
More state money is pouring into unprofitable Shanghai Airlines, China’s fifth-largest carrier. The Bank of China has given the airline an 8-billion-yuan ($1.2-billion) line of credit to finance the purchase of “aviation equipment” as well as for loans to support Shanghai’s liquidity. The loan and a recent 1 billion yuan in new equity capital have been provided by government-linked companies. The equity investor, Jinjiang International, is majority-owned by the city of Shanghai, the airline’s sponsoring government.
My experience differs from Tom Martin’s as stated in his letter “Focus on Open Rotor” (AW&ST Dec. 15, 2008, p. 8). In 1983-89 I worked on single and counter-rotation “Open Rotor” propulsion systems. The effort included the successful 578-DX/MD-80 flight demonstrator and critical component test program performed by Allison, Pratt & Whitney and Hamilton Standard with McDonnell Douglas. The information gathered exceeded all the performance, flight-test envelope, structural and noise goals established. Many AIAA/ASME/SAE/ASEE technical papers were written.
United Launch Alliance is targeting Mar. 31 for its next attempt to launch USAF’s second Wideband Global Satcom satellite on board an Atlas V rocket from Cape Canaveral. An attempt last week had to be scrubbed and the vehicle rolled back to its integration facility following the discovery of a leaky oxidizer valve on the rocket’s Centaur upper stage. The valve has since been replaced.
If the U.S. government was serious about saving money it would terminate the contract that allows the Marine Corps to use UH-1/AH-1 platforms. These 30-year-old systems have very little survivability for the crews that fly them. Keeping a legacy system alive is irresponsible in that they have little chance of success in the current threat arena. The Marines need the most modern equipment available to support the ground troops, and Black Hawks and Apaches can do the job.
Michael A Taverna (Paris), Robert Wall (Paris), Douglas Barrie (London), Andy Nativi (Genoa)
This week’s NATO summit was supposed to serve as a catalyst to drive missile defense activities forward in Europe. But with Washington still defining its policy stance, the brakes are being put on expectations.
The Bristow Group expects to slash 10% of its workforce and take other restructuring actions to deal with declining demand in the helicopter service business. The company announced last week that its European business, Bristow Helicopter Group, has begun layoff talks with labor unions. These will follow cuts already taken in the U.S., West Africa and Australia and will be augmented by reductions in other areas, as well. President/CEO William E. Chiles says, “We are reviewing capital investments and our operations.” Management salaries have been frozen, also.
Saab and Selex Galileo have signed an agreement covering the integration of an active electronically scanned array (AESA) radar for the Gripen NG, aimed initially at the bid for Brazil’s fighter program. The radar will be based on Selex Galileo’s Vixen AESA family. A Selex radar also could be part of Saab’s bid for India’s fighter procurement. Described as the “beginning of a long-term collaboration,” the agreement with Selex involves Saab Aerosystems and Saab Microwave Systems. The Vixen 500E AESA will later this year be delivered for installation on U.S.
Astrium Services says it has concluded an agreement to lease UHF capacity on its U.K. Skynet 5 milsatcom network to the U.S. Navy. Like a previous X-band capacity arrangement through the joint DSTS-G program, the UHF capacity will be supplied via Intelsat. Separately, Intelsat said it had inked a multiyear agreement to supply up to 432 MHz. of bandwidth for UAV applications in Iraq and Afghanistan, using 12 Ku-band transponders on its Galaxy 26 satellite. The contract, which will be able to support 40 UAV sorties per day, was concluded in partnership with Artel.
China’s conventional and nuclear missile arsenal grows in quality and quantity, according to the Pentagon’s latest assessment of Beijing’s military developments.
Changeling blobs photographed on a landing strut of the Phoenix Mars lander may be the first evidence of liquid water on the red planet. If true, the discovery could hold profound implications for habitability there, since liquid water is considered a prerequisite for life. Scientists believe the blobs may be brine too salty to freeze in the frigid atmosphere at the Phoenix landing site in the Martian arctic, where temperatures did not go above -5F, dipped as low as -140F and averaged about -75F during the mission.
Southwest Airlines on Mar. 26 reached a tentative four-year contract agreement with Transport Workers Union Local 66, which represents more than 9,800 flight attendants at the carrier.
Researchers will explore the physical properties of plasma under a new round of U.S. Air Force studies aimed at finding ways to communicate with hypersonic vehicles through the sheath of plasma generated at speeds above Mach 10.
Neelam Mathews (Bangalore ), Douglas Barrie (Bangalore )
In a turnaround from earlier practice, India’s military is now looking at an off-the-shelf spares exchange program from suppliers as a package with the original equipment purchase.
The Lockheed Martin pilot flying the F-22A that crashed north of Edwards AFB, Calif., apparently did not eject and died from the Mar. 25 crash, according to initial information given to senior U.S. Air Force officials that was obtained by Aviation Week & Space Technology.
Analysts are surprisingly upbeat about prospects for satellite radio but continue to voice concern about the impact of equity and credit collapses on second-generation mobile satphone service.
