Crewmembers on the International Space Station should have 2.5 more tons of supplies to unload this week, following another Russian launch of an unpiloted Progress cargo carrier toward the orbiting facility on May 14. Progress M-64/29P was scheduled to dock with the FGB nadir port on the ISS at 5:37 p.m. EDT May 16. Its cargo includes oxygen, water and food for the three-man Expedition 17 crew.
While engineers at Bigelow Aerospace work toward the planned 2010 launch of the company’s Sundancer commercial human orbital habitat, Bigelow’s Genesis I testbed has racked up more than 10,000 orbits. Launched on July 12, 2006, Genesis I is a one-third-scale prototype of a commercial habitat designated BA 330. During its mission, the testbed’s electrical equipment has operated continuously, Bigelow says, and its cameras have collected about 14,000 images of the Earth.
NASA’s Constellation program can stay on schedule even if its funding is held to Fiscal 2006 levels for another six months. Program manager Jeff Hanley says of the prospect of continuing at current spending levels until the next president weighs in: “As long as we’re smart, [it] is probably manageable.” There’s not a lot of hope to boost funding soon. Emergency “supplemental” spending bills in both houses of Congress are considered veto bait for President Bush.
Last week, The Washington Post and ABC News issued another of their monthly public opinion polls. The questions were standard and the results predictable for the most part, but one of them stood out. When people were asked whether things in the U.S. were “generally going in the right direction” or had “gotten pretty seriously off on the wrong track,” they broke 16% and 82%, respectively.
EADs posted first-quarter earnings that surpassed analysts’ expectations in spite of A380 delays, a falling dollar and the company’s failure to push through planned production site sales. Earnings before interest and taxes reached €769 million ($1.192 billion), on a 10% growth in revenue to €9.9 billion. But the company’s guidance also signals that the best part of the year in terms of aircraft orders is behind it; full-year estimates are for 700 orders, with more than half already in-hand.
China Eastern Airlines has validated the Boeing and Jeppesen Required Navigation Performance flight management system on a 737-700 flight into Lijiang Airport in the Himalayan foothills. The flight was one in a series that Boeing/Jeppesen is operating to remote airports.
Airbus has formed a partnership with JetBlue Airways, Honeywell and International Aero Engines to work on second-generation biofuel for use in commercial aircraft. The effort follows Airbus’s initial activity in gas-to-liquid fuels, which were always seen as first-generation substances. Second-generation biofuels are supposed to deliver lower carbon dioxide emissions and affect food supplies negatively.
With geared turbofans and open rotor concepts potentially poised to take center stage in the battle for improved efficiency, European engine makers are studying complementary core concepts that could significantly cut emissions for the next generation.
Bank of China’s aircraft lessor, BOC Aviation, reports an $81.4-million net profit for 2007, up 68% over the previous year’s $48.5 million and reflecting high demand for aircraft. The company says it reduced its debt-to-equity ratio last year and still has $1 billion ready to draw from a credit line from its parent.
General Electric’s development of the -2B derivative of its GEnx engine for the 747-8 program includes a lighter front and back end to reduce fuel burn even as the engine retains 80% line replaceable units and 90% line tooling commonality with the larger -1B on the 787. The -2B has a 105-in. fan diameter and generates 67,500 lb. thrust for the new four-engine 747, while the original -1B uses a 111-in. fan and produces 75,000 lb. for the two-engine 787.
The mounting turbulence surrounding EADS deserves great attention. Despite a robust backlog and strong growth potential, the cross-border group is being hit by an element it can’t control—the “weak” U.S. dollar. In addition, company managers—perhaps seeing themselves as Gulliver beset by the Lilliputians—must handle an insider stock-trading probe and monitor the U.S. Government Accountability Office’s investigation of the A330-based KC-45A contract award to Northrop Grumman/EADS North America.
Joris Janssen Lok (Leeuwarden Air Base, Netherlands)
Close to 1,000 U.S. and European-operated Lockheed Martin F-16 fighter aircraft will receive a set of improved avionics and weapons capabilities beginning in July 2009—provided initial problems with the aircraft’s modular mission computer are overcome. The computer issues came to light during an early operational assessment of the M5 package of F-16 software and hardware updates. This was developed by Lockheed Martin as the fifth iteration of a rolling program of avionics improvements that began in the late 1990s.
The dogfight over the U.S. Air Force’s decision to buy new tanker aircraft from a Northrop Grumman/EADS team instead of Boeing might eventually produce a useful result. By the time the contrails clear, the need for forward-thinking in defense procurement will be staring us in the face.
Trevor van Rooyen has become Johannesburg, South Africa-based sales manager for sub-Saharan Africa for BBA Aviation Engine Repair and Overhaul of Dallas. He was director of technical services for Execujet Maintenance Pty. Ltd.
A U.S. supercomputer like those used at research facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratory will be used by the Chinese to operate a new generation of Fengyun weather satellites to be launched as early as this month. There are military implications, however, for China’s use of this powerful Silicon Graphics Inc. computing capability. The advanced weather satellite system will be employed heavily by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA) as well as civilian weather outlets. The Chinese have developed their own software codes to run in the SGI system.
LCAL of Dubai, established in 2005 to lease Boeing 787s, has placed an order valued at up to $350 million for General Electric GEnx engines to power up to 13 of the airplanes.
Video of astronauts undergoing underwater training for China’s first extravehicular activity (EVA)—planned for the Shenzhou VII mission this fall—show spacesuits that appear identical to Russian Orlan EVA suits. Top Shenzhou managers, however, say emphatically the Chinese EVA suits have been designed and manufactured in China, not Russia. Although seemingly a contradiction, both could be true. The Shenzhou spacecraft itself, for example, uses the basic Russian Soyuz design, but it is significantly larger and carries major system design differences.
Salvatore (Tory) T. Bruno (see photo) has been appointed vice president/general manager of the Strategic and Missile Defense Systems Div. of the Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co. , Sunnyvale, Calif. He was vice president/general manager of the Strategic Missile Programs Div.
The Joint Strike Fighter Executive Steering Board meeting has discussed the possibility of extending the JSF system development and demonstration (SDD) program by one year to late 2014, says the Dutch state secretary for defense procurement, Jack de Vries. A decision is expected this fall. Such an extension will also lead to a longer initial operational test and evaluation program (now scheduled from 2011-14).
Comair will equip its 115 regional jets with Applied Aeronautical Systems Inc.’s (AASI) Pilots Performance Advisory System, a cost index optimization system developed by AASI of Montreal. The system provides pilots with optimal speeds and altitudes during specific wind and temperature conditions. AASI says Comair has been able to reduce fuel burn by 3% using the system.
The Iraqi government is looking to the future by ordering 30 Boeing 737-800s plus 10 options, and is negotiating to buy 10 787s. Delivery dates are unspecified but are unlikely to occur before 2010 because of Boeing’s production schedules. The company has a backlog of 2,175 737s and 900 787s. The Iraqi order for 737s is worth $2.2 billion and was previously listed on Boeing’s web site as “unidentified” and did not specify an airline. Iraqi Airways’ last order for Boeing was a 747-SP in 1982, and the last delivery was a 737-200 in 1984.
Roy Goforth’s observations about the negative effects of letting aeronautical construction take flight overseas were a wakeup splash of cold water on this rather conservative face. I was comfortable in the assurance that other people in other places were perfectly capable of shaping metals, forming resin fibers and assembling nuts and bolts. What Goforth’s words drew to mind was the tribe: the basic unit of societal progress and intergenerational transference of skills.
Integrated, multi-function avionics systems are encompassing more and more of the content on commercial airline flight decks. The latest beneficiary of this is Rockwell Collins on the A350XWB. The Cedar Rapids, Iowa-based company just won the 5-in-1 radio communications system on the A350XWB program from Airbus along with two other avionics work packages.
General Electric’s GEnx-2B, the world’s newest big fan engine, is well into tests at the company’s Peebles, Ohio, facility. Destined for Boeing’s 747-8, the engine is a derivative of the GEnx-1B that is in final preparation for the 787. With more than 1,150 orders between them before an aircraft has flown, the two turbofans contribute to a major production ramp-up coming to GE. In this special report that begins on p.
