China’s first lunar probe, Chang’e 1, will face its next challenge Feb. 21, when an eclipse will leave it without solar power for 5.5 hr. and freeze its systems at extremely low temperatures. Up to now, the spacecraft and the ground-based system that directed it into lunar orbit have performed at least as well as designed, according to official statements.
European military planners will meet again on Jan. 11 in another attempt to secure commitments for helicopters and other assets required for a European Union mission to Chad and the Central African Republic to support refugees from Darfur. If agreement is reached, the EU could give a go-ahead for the mission as early as Jan. 28. The initial requirement needed to launch the operation is four transports and eight helicopters.
Scott Kuechle has been promoted to executive vice president/chief financial officer from senior vice president of the Goodrich Corp. , Charlottte, N.C. John Grisik will be retiring as executive vice president-operational excellence and technology, effective Mar. 31. He will be succeeded by Jerry Witowski, who has been president of the Electronic Systems segment. Following Witowski will be Curtis Reusser, who has been president of Goodrich’s Aerostructures Div.
NASA has hired Zero Gravity Corp., which operates a Boeing 727-200 as a microgravity entertainment ride for paying customers, to provide the microgravity flights for NASA personnel and experiments. A one-year, $4.7-million contract started Jan. 1, and has four one-year options that could bring the total to $25.4 million. Flying out of Johnson Space Center in Houston and Glenn Research Center in Cleveland, the Las Vegas-based company’s pilots will simulate microgravity by flying parabolic profiles.
Russia’s stake in EADS has moved to state-owned Bank of Development (known also as Vnesheconombank, VEB) from privately controlled Vneshtorgbank. The latter initially bought the 5% holding and sold it for more than $1.4 billion. This year, VEB is expected to sell its stake in the United Aircraft Corp., which is becoming the umbrella company for Russian aerospace.
The U.S. Air Force’s newest fighter, the stealthy F-22, achieved its first intercept of a Russian Tu-95MS Bear H aircraft late last year. The Russian aircraft did not penetrate U.S. airspace or “come close” during the Nov. 22 mission, according to Maj. Allen Herritage at Elmendorf AFB, Alaska, where the interceptors are based.
Fuel prices and the “resulting impact on the credit climate for airliners” forced MaxJet to take the “drastic measure” of filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on Dec. 24, according to CEO William D. Stockbridge. The Dulles, Va.-based low-fare, all-business-class carrier launched operations November 2005 with Boeing 767-200 service between New York JFK and London Stansted. MaxJet is considered a “boutique” carrier—an airline that targets a specific group of passengers and markets with luxury services at a lower fare compared to a major carrier.
The Boeing-led team designing and testing a massive chemical laser for use on a 747-400F against ballistic missiles has completed inspection and refurbishment of the high-energy laser in preparation for installation on the host platform. Also achieved by the team in 2007 were the technical drawings required for the installation this year and modifications to the Airborne Laser (ABL) hangar at Edwards AFB, Calif. After numerous technical challenges in its history, Boeing expects ABL to demonstrate its ability to shoot down a boosting ballistic missile target in 2009.
Don’t look for much help on wind tunnels and other infrastructure in the new White House aeronautics plan. President Bush gave his Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) a year after he signed his original aeronautics policy in December 2006 to develop a plan identifying critical infrastructure and defining “an approach for constructing, maintaining, modifying or terminating these assets based on the needs of the broad user community.” But the plan issued Dec.
Air traffic flow control may one day use computer algorithms to review flight plans automatically and suggest alternative routings to avoid congestion and cut delays. The concept is five or more years from operational use, but its potential is alluring.
Philippe Pastor (see photo) has been appointed vice president-human resources of France-based Messier-Dowty International . He succeeds Claude Mathieu, who has moved within the Safran Group to Sagem Defense Securite.
Weapons specialists loaded a 700-lb. mockup of the 20.5-ft.-long, 30,000-lb. Massive Ordnance Penetrator (MOP)—widely perceived as the weapon of choice in a U.S. attack on Iranian nuclear facilities—into the weapon bay of a B-2 bomber mockup Dec. 18 at Whiteman AFB, Mo. The warhead, carrying 5,300 lb. of explosives, is designed to penetrate 200 ft. of earth, more than twice the depth of the 5,000-lb. GBU-28, which was designed in 1991 to penetrate deep, hardened Iraqi bunkers. It is 10 times as powerful as the standard BLU-109 penetrator for 2,000-lb.-class bombs.
Pratt & Whitney reports the F117 engine—the military version of the PW2000—for the Boeing C-17 Globemaster III transport has passed its 5 millionth operational flight hour. The PW2000 has surpassed 34 million flight hours powering 757s.
Sikorsky Aircraft Corp. is flying an H-92 medium-lift helicopter featuring a fly-by-wire (FBW) system. The company has two development programs underway that could use FBW—the X-2 technology demonstrator and the UH-60M Black Hawk. Sikorsky officials say flight tests of the H-92 will continue this year and FBW flight control systems will be incorporated into the company’s next generation of commercial and military helicopters.
It isn’t often in this age of large organizations, work packages and shared responsibility that a lone individual gets a chance to step in and save the day, relying on courage and skill to rescue a situation that is going badly awry. Scott Parazynski is just that rare kind of hero. On Nov. 3, 2007, the veteran NASA astronaut used every bit of his 6-ft. 2-in. frame and his long arms to reach a torn solar array that had stalled assembly of the International Space Station.
Certification of Aspen Avionics’ Evolution Flight Display system, the EFD1000, originally anticipated by the end of 2007, is now expected in March 2008. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based company has notified customers of the delay and expects to start installations in April 2008. Aspen, which is focused on manufacturing affordable glass products, introduced the system that is aimed at Part 23 Class 1, 2 and 3 aircraft, at Oshkosh 2007. Customers who wish to track progress of the unit may do so at aspenavionics.com/evolutiontracking
Europe is struggling to define the rules about including aviation in its emissions trading scheme (ETS), with several difficult months still ahead as stakeholders battle over the terms and conditions.
Europe’s Automated Transfer Vehicle is ready for fueling, now that launch crews have finished loading and sealing its cargo hold and mating its two halves in preparation for the freighter’s inaugural mission to the International Space Station next month. The five-day loading process, completed in mid-December at the S5 payload processing building in Kourou, French Guiana, included the installation of 1.3 metric tons of food, clothing, spare parts and other dry cargo and 268 liters of drinking water.
Boeing has submitted its final KC-767 advanced tanker proposal for the KC-135 replacement—citing the use of half the ramp space, a requirement for fewer bases, less maintenance cost and use of 24% less fuel than the larger Northrop Grumman/EADS KC-30 competing design. Northrop Grumman says its design is newer and carries more fuel and cargo.
The formal signing by British Airways of a previously announced order for eight Boeing 787-8s and 16 787-9s raised the company’s total order book for the new 250-300-seat jet family to 790. The BA deal is valued at $4.4 billion at list prices. The airline holds 18 options at pre-arranged prices and 10 purchase rights, which reserve production placement. As 2007 ended, Boeing also recorded 31 737 orders from the Dublin-based leasing company Awas, plus 19 purchase rights.
For at least the second time, NASA has scrubbed a shuttle launch because of faulty fuel sensors (AW&ST Dec. 17, 2007, p. 24). The more I hear, the more I’m glad the folks who make them don’t make pacemakers.
When China shot down its own aging FY-1C weather satellite last January, demonstrating its anti-satellite capabilities, alarms sounded around the globe (AW&ST Jan. 22, 2007, p. 24). Political and Pentagon leaders, who largely had ignored warnings voiced by national security space professionals for many years, finally were paying attention.
Shuttle America will start receiving its Embraer 175 regional jets in July, now that parent Republic Airways has confirmed 11 options it held with the aircraft maker. The jets, which will operate under the Delta Connection name, add to the 44 Embraer 170s Shuttle America already operates (16 of those in the Delta livery). The 175s will be configured with 12 first-class seats and 64 economy seats.
Sukhoi has started manufacturing the prototype of its fifth-generation fighter, known as T-50 or PAK FA, at its manufacturing facility in Komsomolsk. First flight is planned for 2009. Prototypes will be fitted with Saturn Izdelie 117 engines, a major upgrade of the existing Al-31FP for Su-27/Su-30Fs, says Yury Lastochkin, general director of Saturn. The Russian defense ministry plans to select the engine for production standard T-50s in 2009. Saturn and Moscow-based Salyut engine designer and manufacturer are the competitors.
