Aerojet will receive as much as $4.25 million to help NASA's Langley Research Center study a rocket-powered landing system for the planned Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) that is scheduled to replace the space shuttle. The contract includes options for fabrication, system development and testing, drawing on the company's solid-rocket technology for hardware that would slow the capsule's downward and side-to-side motion before touchdown.
International Space Station crews will have a little more space for the clutter that is gradually filling their living spaces, now that Russian Progress M-57--designated P22 by NASA--has arrived. The supply vehicle docked automatically at 12:25 p.m. EDT June 26, delivering about 2,600 kg. (5,720 lb.) of cargo, including U.S. and Russian food containers for crewmates Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams; batteries and other spare parts; clothing; experiments; 1,900 lb. of propellant; a little more than 100 lb. of air and oxygen; and almost 250 lb. of water.
Chel Stromgren, a chief scientist in the Research, Development, Test and Evaluation Group of the San Diego-based Science Applications International Corp., has received the Exceptional Achievement in Engineering Medal from NASA.
A recent Air Force Space Command (AFSPC) study says the existing Minuteman III intercontinental ballistic missiles, first deployed more than 30 years ago, will last beyond their predicted service life around 2020. This has officials anticipating savings in the near term by delaying development of a replacement and instead focusing on needed upgrades.
The Senate wants to authorize more money for missile defense and long-term fighter procurement in Fiscal 2007, but its version of the defense authorization bill also eases requirements for U.S.-made specialty metals in military hardware--setting up a showdown with the House of Representatives. However, any reckoning between the two legislative bodies will have to wait until Congress returns from this week's July 4 holiday break.
Thomas E. Ferguson (see photo), who is vice president of the Dallas-based Flowserve Corp. and president of Flowserve Pumps, has been elected president of the Hydraulic Institute for 2006-07.
Robert Behler has been named senior vice president in the Command and Control Center of the Mitre Corp., Bedford, Mass. He was general manager for precision engagement for the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.
Funding and availability pressures are shaping Britain's program to upgrade its Boeing E-3D Sentry airborne warning and control system aircraft fleet. The Defense Ministry will soon award two technical demonstration contracts to Boeing and Lockheed Martin, and "money is very tight," notes one industry executive. The budget for the upgrade is around $500 million.
Supplier delays have pushed back FAA certification of the Eclipse 500 very light jet "by several weeks," according to Eclipse President and CEO Vern Raburn. The Albuquerque, N.M.-based manufacturer had anticipated certification by late June, but "faced ongoing supplier delays to obtain TSOs for their systems," says Raburn. He adds that the Eclipse 500 twin-turbofan jet will be the first very light jet to be certified by the FAA.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] July 9-11--Prognostics and Health Management International Symposium, Calce Centre and Mirce Academy, Woodbury Park, England. Call +44 (139) 523-3856 or see www.mirce.com
Alexander Strekalov, director of RSC Energia's Experimental Engineering Plant, will take over as acting president of Energia, after Nicolai Sevastiyanov was tentatively ousted as president and general designer of the Russian human spaceflight concern. The Russian Federal Space Agency (Roscosmos), which controls 38% of the company's stock, and Energia's board of directors dismissed Sevastiyanov on grounds that he failed to coordinate with them on "realization of manned spaceflight programs and international projects," Roscosmos says.
Eurocopter will perform a life-extension assessment for Puma Mk. 1 helicopters operated by the U.K.'s Royal Air Force that would stretch operation of the aircraft to 2022. Upgrades would include Turbomeca Makila engines, a glass cockpit, and improve electronic warfare, communications and navigation systems. The assessment phase will continue for one year and will focus on determining feasibility and long-term ramifications of the program.
The European Union has banned all Indonesian airlines from flying to Europe. Bans also have been imposed on Angola's flag carrier Taag Angolan Airlines and Ukraine's Volare Aviation Enterprise. Restrictions on flights by Pakistan International Airlines are being modified, and several airlines from Russia, Bulgaria and Moldova will stop operating in the EU under agreement with their license-issuing states.
American Airlines is accelerating deliveries of Boeing 737-800s further in 2009 as part of its replacement process for MD-80s. The carrier said in March that it would advance delivery of 47 737s to 2009-12 from 2013-16. That plan had called for three deliveries in 2009. There now will be nine.
NASA has advanced the targeted launch date for the space shuttle Endeavour on the next International Space Station assembly mission by two days. Managers moved the opening of the launch window for the STS-118/13a.1 mission to Aug. 7 to gain flexibility. The vehicle should be ready to fly on that date, and the launch schedule for later in August at the Kennedy Space Center/Cape Canaveral complex is busy. The mission is scheduled to add a short "spacer" on the starboard end of the station truss and deliver supplies in a pressurized Spacehab module.
The U.S. Air Force and Navy are preparing different approaches to solving a gap in the nation's ability to deliver a conventional payload to strike any target on the globe within one hour of a go-ahead. The Navy is looking to its Trident II D5 submarine-launched missile, while the Air Force is considering a land-based design using decommissioned Peacekeeper and Minuteman rocket motors on a Minotaur launch vehicle tipped with a conventional munition.
U.S. scheduled airlines are on a hiring binge. April was the third consecutive month of employment increases, with full-time equivalent employee (FTE) levels up 1.3% over April 2006, says the U.S. Transportation Dept.'s Bureau of Transportation Statistics (BTS). Two part-time positions count as one FTE. Low-cost carriers (LCCs) led the way--all posted employment increases except ATA Airlines, whose FTEs fell 15%. Low-cost carriers have posted increases for seven consecutive months, after 18 consecutive months of decreases.
An experiment in using a large transport for aerial bombardment of wildfires has been called off in California, at least temporarily, after a converted DC-10 clipped treetops while battling a mountain blaze and had to make an emergency landing.
Chinese airframe manufacturer Avic I has declared its bid to buy all six of the factories that Airbus proposes to sell under its Power8 restructuring program. The Chinese company, at the center of a national project to develop a commercial aircraft industry that would rival Airbus and Boeing, says it would spare no effort in developing the businesses as Airbus suppliers.
Classic military wisdom says there is safety in numbers, and some wars are won through sheer attrition. The Pentagon's own bureaucracy is like that, sometimes. As the Air Force continues to make a grab for oversight of all the Defense Dept.'s unmanned aerial vehicle programs (except for the small, inexpensive ones), the Navy is restructuring management of its own UAV offices at NAS Patuxent River, Md. The office responsible for all Navy/ Marine Corps UAVs, headed by a single captain, is being divided into three separate management offices, each headed by its own captain.
In an effort to end Austria's Eurofighter Typhoon acquisition saga, EADS and the government have agreed to cuts in price and numbers. In the run-up to the national election, one of the eventual government coalition partners said it would axe the purchase. Instead, the air force will receive 15 rather than 18 aircraft.
Satelitos Mexicanos may be ready to issue a request for information for a new 48-transponder C-/K u-band satellite, despite a failed attempt to find a new owner for the troubled Mexico City-based operator. SatMex had said it would send out the RFI as soon as its new Satmex 6, launched last year, reached its final 113 deg. W. Long. orbital slot, which LyngSat says it has now done. Satmex 7 would take advantage of the buoyant broadcasting and telecom demand in the U.S.
Boeing will begin issuing 60-day layoff notices to 265 employees at its Oak Ridge, Tenn., facility this month and close it by the first quarter of 2008. Part of Boeing's Fabrication Div., Oak Ridge produces deck consoles, forward instrument panels, aisle stands and other machined parts for 777s and 787s. That work will be shifted to its Salt Lake City facility or outsourced.
Airbus has completed the joint venture agreement for the A319/A320 final assembly facility in Tianjin, China. Airbus holds 51% of the consortium, with the 49% belonging to the Chinese, divided among the Tianjin Free Trade Zone (60%), Avic 1 (20%) and Avic 2 (20%). The agreement also apportions more of the 150 Airbus single-aisle aircraft China said last year it would buy. Shenzhen Airlines will get 28, Sichuan Airlines 18, China Aviation Suppliers Import and Export Group Corp. 15, Hainan Airlines 13, and six each for Spring Airline and Juneyao.
