Momentum appears to be building to start work on an alternative European human spaceflight capability in the event that talks on joining Russia’s Crew Space Transportation System are not successful. At the recent Berlin Air Show, European Space Agency Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain reiterated support for such an option, and top offiicials from Germany and Italy backed him, although some cautioned that funding such an endeavor might be impossible.
With the launch of a single-engine jet and a significant hike in price for its breakthrough very light jet, Eclipse Aviation is moving beyond the startup phase and making a push to become profitable. The single-turbofan Eclipse 400 is being introduced as the manufacturer sees a softening of domestic U.S. demand for its twin-engine Eclipse 500 because of economic conditions and fuel costs. At the same time, the company is raising the twinjet’s price by 35% to accelerate the break-even point as it struggles to ramp up production.
The airline industry’s latest financial nosedive is injecting new urgency into calls for broader liberalization of the global aviation market. Although prospects for regulatory breakthroughs are bleak, carriers believe that allowing cross-border mergers would spark the massive restructuring the industry needs to achieve long-term stability.
NASA has selected six finalists in its Small Explorer (SMEX) Program. The agency will pick two of the mission proposals in the spring of 2009 for full development, and the first could launch by 2012. The selected proposals are the Coronal Physics Explorer (CPEX), Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS), Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), Joint Astrophysics Nascent Universe Satellite (Janus), Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE) and Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS). Each will receive $750,000 for a six-month feasibility study.
David B. Burritt has been named to the board of directors of the Lockheed Martin Corp. , Bethesda, Md. He is vice president/chief financial officer of Caterpillar Inc.
Mark Ozenick has been named leader of the aerospace and defense practice of the Thomas Group Inc., Irving, Tex. USAF Lt. Gen. (ret.) Thad Wolfe heads the Air Force practice and Tom Zych the Army-Navy practice.
Political appointees in NASA’s public affairs shop manipulated coverage of climate-change science that the agency funded, apparently to keep it within bounds of Bush administration positions. So says the space agency’s inspector general after a year-long probe requested by a group of 14 senators.
USN Capt. (ret.) Eugene Cernan, the last man to walk on the Moon, has received the 2008 National Space Trophy from the Rotary National Award for Space Achievement (RNASA) Foundation . Also recognized was astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, director of the Hayden Planetarium in New York, who was presented with the 2008 Space Communicator Award. The foundation also presented its Stellar Awards in three age categories. Winners in the Early Career Category are: USAF First Lt. Anna E.
Rolls-Royce has completed the preliminary design review on the Advanced Versatile Engine Technology (Advent) demonstrator for the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The variable-cycle engine is designed to combine high thrust and low bypass ratio for takeoff with fuel efficiency and high bypass ratio for long range and endurance. Rolls’ LibertyWorks research unit has begun rig testing of the variable-flow fan, with core testing planned for 2011 and full engine ground testing for 2012. General Electric is also working on an Advent demonstrator.
I offer no opinion regarding the basic tenet of Daniel Dugan’s letter (AW&ST Apr. 28, p. 8). However, his casual comment regarding the “unsuccessful” XH-59A program is wrong and does a disservice to the personnel who worked on the program. The Advancing Blade Concept (ABC) was entirely successful but lacked the necessary corporate support to prosper in the politically charged environment of the early 1980s.
Greg Irmen (see photo) has been appointed vice president/general manager of Rockwell Collins Business and Regional Systems, Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He succeeds Denny Helgeson, who will be retiring this fall. Irmen has been senior director of Boeing programs.
Boeing is poised to start flights of its newly developed, 757-based Agile Integration Laboratory (AIL) for the Lockheed Martin F-22 stealth fighter. In addition to making the wing and aft fuselage for the Raptor, Boeing leads avionics integration and will utilize the modified 757 to test scheduled upgrades to the F-22’s weapon systems.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates asserts that it was all about nuclear weapons handling, but his firing of the Air Force secretary and chief of staff comes after a string of Sec Def-level grievances. Whatever the reasons, the abrupt sackings caught many off guard. “This can’t be good news for any of us,” says a Lockheed Martin official with insight into the F-22 program. In their resignation announcements, Secretary Michael Wynne and Gen. T. Michael Moseley both cited “recent events” that convinced them to move on.
Pressure for greater access to U.S. airspace for unmanned aircraft keeps growing. The weight is bearing down on the FAA, and increasingly is being applied by other government agencies wanting airspace access for training, environment monitoring, law enforcement and disaster response.
The Phoenix lander sits near the North Pole of Mars directly on top of exposed water ice that it was prepared to dig for weeks to find. The mission goal is to unravel the mysteries of what may be preserved inside the ice and surrounding soil.
Piasecki Aircraft has turned to Congress for help to push its X-49A SpeedHawk high-speed compound helicopter even faster. The company wants to take over ownership of the aircraft from the government so it can demonstrate its speed potential. Funded by the Army, the X-49 is a Navy Sikorsky SH-60 helo modified with Piasecki’s vectored-thrust ducted propeller. The Pennsylvania-based company believes the X-49 can fly faster than any conventional bird, but it is stuck at 177 kt. because Navy safety rules require it to stay within the existing SH-60 flight envelope.
Scott Winship (see photo) has been appointed vice president/program manager for the Northrop Grumman Corp. Integrated Systems Sector’s San Diego-based U.S. Navy Unmanned Combat Air System (N-UCAS). He was RQ-8A Fire Scout program manager.
The United Arab Emirates says preliminary discussions have been held with France on the potential purchase of Dassault Rafale multirole fighters to replace its fleet of 63 French-supplied Mirage 2000-9s in 2013. The talks have been confirmed by the office of French President Nicolas Sarkozy, which says deliveries could begin in 2102. Dassault has yet to secure an export customer for the Rafale, which lost out to the Lockheed Martin F-16 in Morocco’s competition last year. The Rafale is competing in Greece, India and Switzerland.
The Phoenix Mars north polar lander is to complete the baking of its first surface soil sample at up to 1,800F this week in an initial search for organic clues to Martian life. This first sample is to be processed following its planned delivery by robotic arm to the Thermal and Evolved Gas Analyzer (TEGA) instrument June 6 on the 12th day (Sol 12) of the mission.
The U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s new international registered traveler program will offer reciprocal benefits to travelers enrolled in Privium, Amsterdam Schiphol Airport’s program. CBP’s Global Entry program begins a six-month trial at New York JFK, Houston Intercontinental and Washington Dulles airports this week. Under the deal, registered travelers flying between Schiphol and the three U.S. airports can use kiosks for passport and border control functions under the International Expedited Traveler Program.
Rolls-Royce and GKN Aerospace are forming a joint venture covering the design, development and manufacture of lightweight, low-cost fan blades for next-generation commercial aircraft engines. The work will build on engine programs such as the European Union-funded Vital and the U.K.’s Environmentally Friendly Engine (EFE) and associated composite lightweight blade research. Initial funding for the joint venture is around $22 million, with Rolls-Royce holding 51% and GKN the remainder.
Exasperated by exorbitant fuel prices, most U.S. airlines are expected to scale down capacity by fall and seek capital markets’ support to prepare for expected hardships this year and next.
Boeing has successfully fired a solid-state laser at 25 kw. for several seconds by linking multiple “thin-disk” lasers into a single system. The firings, conducted at Boeing’s West Hills, Calif., site, are considered a significant step toward meeting the goal of developing a non-chemical, solid-state laser capable of 100 kw. for use in weapons systems such as the advanced tactical laser (see p. 58).
In the latest and biggest effort to organize flight crew, JetBlue Airways pilots will hold an information event June 19 at a hotel near New York JFK International Airport. The JetBlue Pilots Assn. Organizing Committee, in a letter to flight crewmembers, says JetBlue is in the same position Southwest Airlines was in 30 years ago, and the direction Southwest chose “had historical implications for them, their company and the entire industry.” The committee is collecting interest cards from JetBlue pilots, which is the first step of the process in forming a union.
