A prototype lightweight synthetic aperture radar supplied by NASA has generated its first data from the bottom of a permanently dark crater at one of the Moon’s poles. The Mini-SAR rode India’s Chandrayaan-1 lunar orbiter to test its ability to search for water ice and other volatiles that might help support a human presence. The instrument produced this image of the never-before-seen floor of the south polar Haworth crater, here overlaying an image of the region collected with the Arecibo Observatory radar telescope in Puerto Rico, on Nov. 17, 2008.
Air Force Aerospatiale SA316B (32) Aerospatiale SA365 (6) Antonov An-32 (94) BAE Systems Hawk 100 (6) BAE Systems Hawk 132 (2) Boeing 737-200 (3) Boeing 737-700BBJ (1) British Aerospace HS.748-100 (64) Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000H (36) Dassault Aviation Mirage 2000TH (11) Embraer ECJ-135 Legacy (5) Gulfstream III (3) HAL Dhruv (22) HAL Do 228-201 (28) HAL HJT-16 (85) HAL HPT-32 (82)
Brisk sales of new airline and business aircraft during the past few years have created an order backlog for commercial avionics companies that should help sustain them through 2009, even though economic uncertainty is darkening the horizon.
104-240 Terence Matthews Crescent Kanata, Ontario Canada K2M 2C4 Tel. (613) 599-4400; Fax (613) 599-4455 www.cielsatellite.ca Ciel-2 Developed with Alcatel Alenia Space using the Spacebus 4000 C4 platform. Orbital location is 129° W. Launched Dec. 10, 2008. 16-year design lifetime. Echostar 5 Direct-to-home TV broadcasting. Orbital location is 129° W. Leased to Ciel Satellite. 2011 EOL.
ACeS ASIA Cellular Satellite CYBER Building 5th Floor, JI. Kuningan Barat No. 8Jakarta 12170, IndonesiaTel. (62-21) 520-9810; Fax (62-21) 520-9811www.acesinternational.comACeS 1/Garuda 1 Mobile communications. Orbital location is 123° E geosynchronous. Carries 140 spot beam transponders, C-band and L-band. Satellite is jointly owned with Jasmine International Overseas Ltd., Lockheed Martin Global Telecommunications, Philippines Long Distance Telephone Co. and PT Pasifik Satelit Nusantara.
Thank goodness Capt. Chesley B. (Sully) Sullenberger, 3rd, of US Airways Flight 1549 had things that are totally or almost missing from the new generation of pilots on which the airlines are draping the four gold bands (AW&ST Jan. 19, p. 16): •A military background. A stint in the military teaches and/or reinforces crucial values when things go badly. Discipline, calm and courage matter as much or more than anything else. Lose these and everything will get worse.
Air Force Aerospatiale AS365N (6) Agusta AB205 (5) Agusta AB212 (24) Agusta AB412EP (8) Agusta AS61A4 (2) Airtec-Aircraft Tech Ind. CN-235 (4) BAE Systems Hawk 65 (25) BAE Systems Hawk 65A (15) Bell Helicopter Textron 412SA (8) Boeing 737-700BBJ (2) Boeing 737-800 (1) Boeing 747SP (2) Boeing 757-200 (1) Boeing E-3A (7) Boeing F-15S (69) Boeing KE-3A (6) Boeing MD-11 (2)
Mitsubishi Aircraft said Taiwan’s Aerospace Industrial Development Corp. will design and manufacture slats, flaps, belly fairings, rudders and elevators for the 70-90-seat Mitsubishi Regional Jet.
Air Force Aerocomp Comp Air 7SI (6) Bell Helicopter Textron 206 (5) Bell Helicopter Textron UH-1H (16) Cessna 172 (8) Hawker Beechcraft 350ER (3) Jordan Aerospace Indus. (JAI) Sama Ch2000 (8) Lockheed C-130E (3) Mil Mi-17-1V (9) Mil Mi-171 (4) Seabird Aviation Australia SB7L-360 (2)
