The Hubble Space Telescope generated these images of a rare double Einstein ring, produced when a massive galaxy in the foreground forms a gravity lens that bends light from two more distant galaxies around itself. For it to work, the galaxies must be perfectly aligned. In this case, the foreground galaxy is about 3 billion light-years from Earth, and the two rings are actually multiple images of galaxies 6 billion and about 11 billion light-years distant.
The Lockheed Martin C-5 reengining program is now considered not certified to continue, although Air Force officials are continuing to weigh their options for conducting the Reliability Enhancement and Reengining Program on all or some of the fleet. The “not certified” status is a technicality. The Pentagon’s official decision as to whether to certify the program, move forward the modification, or to terminate or truncate it was due to Congress Jan. 14.
In the article by Pierre Sparaco on Airbus’s 40 years (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 52), he refers to a number of successful aircraft made in Europe in the years after World War II.
Frank Morring, Jr., wrote of the gas generator of the J2-X (AW&ST Dec. 10, 2007, p. 62). I wish the J2-X had a gas generator. The J2-X uses main chamber-bled gas to drive the turbines, the most risky way possible. Wernher von Braun never flew a J2-X. The Russians, who are the best in staged combustion, never used main chamber-bled gas. Why? In the J2-X, there is nothing between 5,000F chamber gas and a turbine that will melt at 2,500F. We have lost two shuttles because hot gas reached metal that then melted.
In reference to Karl Kettler’s comments concerning runway length in his letter “Not All Pilots Are Angels” (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2007, p. 10), I agree there are situations (DC-10, crash at O’Hare, for example) where it’s better to sacrifice the aircraft to save lives. It is usually better to hit something with the aircraft slowing, and the engines at idle, than accelerating with engines at full power. There is no benefit to getting a crippled aircraft into the air just because you can.
NASA is looking for a few good lunar-lander ideas. A formal “broad area announcement” issued Jan. 11 seeks concepts from industry and the science community on the agency’s planned “Altair” lunar surface access module, which will carry as many as four astronauts to the Moon’s surface sometime after 2020.
Brian Reid (see photo) has been appointed vice president-engineering for St. Louis-based Midcoast Aviation . He was vice president-engineering, certification and interior design for the Associated Air Center.
Some of the most influential leaders of the space community are quietly working to offer the next U.S. president an alternative to President Bush’s “vision for space exploration”—one that would delete a lunar base and move instead toward manned missions to asteroids along with a renewed emphasis on Earth environmental spacecraft.
Eclipse Aviation on Jan. 17 received FAA certification for the first of three Level D simulators for its Eclipse 500 very light jet. This will allow student pilots to earn a type rating in the Opinicus-manufactured simulator without in-aircraft training, according to the company. Eclipse expects to have three certificated Level D simulators in operation by April.
A computer algorithm that can pluck a single network of communications—used by an ad hoc group of militant bombers—from the electronic soup that encompasses Baghdad is nearing operational testing. Iraq’s capital is notorious for its miasma of conflicting, interfering electronic emissions that sometimes cuts the useful range of data links by up to 90%—including those that provide critical intelligence from unmanned surveillance and attack aircraft.
NASA has completed basic flight proving tests of its Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy (Sophia). The Boeing 747SP has been modified to include an aft cavity housing a 2.5-meter (8.2-ft.) IR telescope. The initial flight tests were conducted with the telescope’s protective pressure doors closed. This spring, the telescope’s primary mirror will be removed to give it a thin working coat of reflective aluminum. Its re-installation will also include placement of the final versions of the telescope cavity door and aperture control hardware and software.
Gerard A. (Duke) Dufresne (see photo) has been appointed vice president for the Western U.S. and Charles Wands (see photo) vice president/chief financial officer for the El Segundo, Calif.-based Northrop Grumman Corp. Integrated Systems Sector. Dufresne will succeed Gary W. Ervin, who will become corporate vice president/sector president. Dufresne has been sector vice president for the Eastern U.S. and will be succeeded by Thomas E. Vice (see photo), who has been vice president for Airborne Early Warning and Battle Management Command and Control-Navy Programs.
Airbus is bracing for a steep reduction in orders in 2008 to around 500-700 aircraft, although indications are it will start the year strongly. The European aircraft maker is coming off a banner year in which it took in 1,458 gross orders with a list price value of $181.1 billion, compared with Boeing’s 1,423 gross orders. The order intake drove the Airbus backlog to 3,421 aircraft at year-end, or roughly six years of production.
Threats from rivals Boeing and Airbus about protesting the forthcoming Pentagon selection of a design for its $40-billion refueling tanker program appear to be waning—at least for now. Last year, both contractors had quietly begun exploring whether a protest would be valid in the event of a loss and how best, if necessary, to counter one (AW&ST Sept. 10, 2007, p. 48). Last fall, most officials in the Pentagon, on Capitol Hill and in industry agreed on one thing regarding KC-X: A protest was imminent.
In the News Breaks item headlined “Current Tanker Problems” (AW&ST Jan. 7, p. 16), you showed a fundamental lack of understanding of the role and work of the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington)
The European Space Agency is dropping plans for an interim orbital facility, after NASA assurances that it will not be necessary, but intends to keep pursuing a manned space transportation capability.
Saab has completed in-country flight trials using the first of the South African Air Force’s 28 Gripen combat aircraft. The end of the tests using the fully test-instrumented airframe clears the way for the handover of the aircraft, SA01, to the air force in March. Trials using the two-seat Gripen D included unguided bomb clearance and electronic warfare work. The flights were carried out from the air force base at Overberg, and used the adjacent Overberg Test Range. Aircraft SA1 was due to have been flown to the Denel facility in Johannesburg on Jan. 17 to be repainted.
Lockheed Martin has picked Alliant Techsystems to build the distinctive circular solar arrays that will power the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle it is developing for NASA’s Constellation Program.
Airline pilot hiring is “near an all-time high,” says Kit Darby, president of Air Inc., which reported 13,157 new hires in 2007, second to 2000’s high of 19,027. The airline career specialist is forecasting 10,650 new positions this year.
The National Institute for Aviation Research in Wichita, Kan., will open CAD/CAM, composites and advanced joining laboratories in the National Center for Aviation Training set for 2010 at Jabara Airport near Wichita. The composites lab will feature a lay-up and repair area, a clean room and an autoclave; the joining lab will focus on laser welding, research and training.
The Russian-U.S. Land Launch medium-lift rocket is expected to enter service this spring, following the return to flight last week of the Sea Launch Zenit-3SL heavy-lifter from which it is derived. But doubts remain. Sea Launch lifted off from its floating Pacific Ocean launch pad at 11:49 a.m. GMT Jan. 15, placing the Thuraya-3 mobile communications satellite into orbit. The mission ended a year-long shutdown following a launch explosion on Jan. 30, 2007, that destroyed an SES New Skies telecom satellite, NSS-8.
