Neil Vernon has been promoted to chief pilot for G450/ G550 demonstration from international demonstration captain/safety officer for Gulfstream Aerospace, Savannah, Ga.
The parent company of SN Brussels and Virgin Express has reported a profit of 15.2 million euros ($18.8 million) for the first half, largely on the strength of merger synergies that totaled about 12 million euros during the second quarter. Meanwhile, there are larger issues ahead. Executive Chairman Rob Kuijpers has presented the board with a long-term development plan, but the board has put off decisions on the matter. Although results are for the first six months, the financial contribution of Virgin Express and Virgin Catering dates back only to Apr.
The multi billion-dollar federal cost of the Hurricane Katrina recovery may make it even tougher for Griffin to sell his fast-paced plans for retiring the shuttle and shifting to follow-on vehicles derived from shuttle components. NASA's "very preliminary" cost estimate for getting the civil space program back on track after the hurricane's deadly Aug. 29 assault on the Gulf Coast was $1.1 billion, but that figure almost certainly will drop in the upcoming tussle over supplemental funding for hurricane recovery.
After three years of being laughed out of meetings, the U.S. Marine Corps' futuristic plans to deploy through space may finally be getting some traction. Although the chuckle factor hasn't altogether disappeared, the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) are beginning a study of options for a reusable upper-stage space travel vehicle--the same kind of technology that the Marines might need for a ride halfway across the globe.
Shin Satellite's recently launched Ipstar should be operationally ready in about two weeks, says Executive Chairman Dumrong Kasemset. In-orbit checkout is showing the spacecraft will perform better than expected, delivering 15 kw. of power, versus 14 kw. Also, the company now expects a 16-year life, rather than 12 years.
Eumetsat is developing a system to provide operational data on hydrology and water management. The eighth in a series of so-called satellite application facilities that allow the fusion of data from Eumetsat's weather satellites and other space-, air- and surface-based sources, the new capability is expected to be useful in flood, drought and snowfall monitoring and forecasting (AW&ST Jan. 10, p. 36). It is due to be partially available within three years and to be fully operational by 2010.
Loral Space & Communications executives say the company is poised to exit Chapter 11 protection by the end of the month, ending a two-year struggle to save the company from bankruptcy.
Metal Storm's original "Bertha" prototype shot 9mm. rounds out of 36 barrels at a variable rate of fire of more than 1 million rounds per minute. That rate of fire is said to create a virtual storm of metal, since the bullets at those speeds are separated by less than a foot and can even strike each other in midair.
Russia's guided-weapons manufacturers now have a development road map for the medium term, following agreement with the government on a still-classified list of missile priorities. Industry is also working on stop-gap developments while longer-running research efforts are carried out.
Although Europe's Galileo satellite navigation system is moving forward at a glacial pace, program leaders can at least point to the successful startup of Galileo's predecessor--the Egnos wide-area augmentation system--even if some financing issues remain to be resolved.
Isaac Nijankin (see photos) has been appointed general manager of cargo in North America and John Balzer as U.S. reservations and ticketing manager for El Al Israel Airlines, both based in New York. Nijankin was director of cargo for North America and Asia for Varig, while Balzer has been Southeast U.S. regional manager.
Space insurance industry executives think the Intelsat-PanAmSat merger will reinforce the trend toward expanded reliance on self-insurance among FSS operators (AW&ST Apr. 25, p. 28). "With fleets of 50 satellites, some change in risk management strategy should be expected," says Stanislas Chapron of Marsh Inc. He sees more retention of risk, particularly for in-orbit coverage, and greater emphasis on protecting revenues, rather than pure book value.
U.K. defense ministry procurement chiefs are expected to approve a major reorganization of the British Army's Bowman battlefield Internet communications system next month after technological glitches delayed the 2.2-billion-pound ($3.95 billion) project by a year.
Airbus has secured a $2.2-billion, 43-aircraft Indian Airlines order. The government finally cleared the purchase, after receiving a 3.5% discount and after Airbus agreed to establish a $75-million pilot training center and a $100-million maintenance, repair and overhaul facility. Deliveries will begin in the second half of next year. Last week, Airbus also won an order for 10 more A330s from China Southern Air- lines, with deliveries in 2007 and 2008.
. . . But Sheriff--the U.S. military's concept for quickly fielding a suite of nonlethal weaponry atop an armored vehicle--seems to be foundering amid a lack of financial and moral support from the services. The "Full Spectrum Effects Platform," better known as Sheriff, is supposed to integrate an array of nonlethal (and lethal) weapons, ranging from acoustic devices and blinding lights to the Active Denial System.
The U.S. Air Force is planning to conduct separate competitions for its next-generation Global Positioning System satellites and related stations, fundamentally changing the course of how it has done business in the past.
Lessons from the Air Force's largest search-and-rescue operation ever, over the acrid New Orleans skies, are guiding officials as they plan a competition for the future rescue aircraft. More than a week after New Orleans levees burst and drowned the streets, this reporter joined a six-man crew on a USAF HH-60G Pave Hawk for an 8-hr. mission Sept. 7. Twenty survivors were carried to Louis Armstrong New Orleans International Airport for medical attention and transport out of the city during the mission.
The awarding of a contract to Sagem Defense Security by Estonia's Ministry of Finance to modernize the country's Automated Fingerprint Identification System highlights continuing investment by new European Union members in border security technology. The EU has invested more than 1.5 billion euros ($1.86 billion) in helping aspiring member states bring their border security arrangements up to the standard necessary to allow them to join the Schengen border control regime.
Northrop Grumman beat out Lockheed Martin and Raytheon to snag the Royal Australian Air Force contract to equip F/A-18s with an advanced targeting pod. Northrop Grumman, teamed with its partner Rafael, offered the Litening-AT. The A$100-million ($77-million) contract went to Northrop because it offered the lowest per-unit price, the Australian defense department suggested in announcing the decision. The first Australian F/A-18s fitted with the system should be fielded in early 2007.
Sweden is kicking off another national space mission, this time an experimental spacecraft to test advanced space technologies. Those will include "green" in-space propulsion as a replacement for toxic hydrazine; continuous-flow microthrusters-on-a-chip for small-satellite applications; and sensors that will let formation-flying satellites know where they are in their constellation.
In an illustration of combined human and robotic operations, space shuttle Discovery STS-114 astronaut Stephen Robinson is maneuvered at 220 mi. altitude on the International Space Station's robotic arm, which was developed in Canada by MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. Discovery astronaut Wendy Lawrence is piloting the arm from inside the ISS to place Robinson under the orbiter's belly for rudimentary maintenance to the shuttle's thermal protection tiles.
At 500 ft. over the Interstate 10 causeway, Coast Guard swimmer Erick Lieb shines an Aldis lamp from the open door of a Jayhawk helicopter on a car below. Bridge spans ahead of and behind the car are gone. There are no signs of life. We can only speculate on the fate of whoever was in that car. It has been eight long days since Katrina hit, and surely the occupants have long since been rescued, if they survived.
Boeing's newest Tier 1 supplier has a storied history with the company. The Seattle-based manufacturer came here in 1929 when it bought the Stearman Aircraft Co., maker of 10,000 Kaydet Trainers. Its sprawling World War II-era factory--producer of 1,644 B-29 bombers--is now home to the 737 fuselage production line.
The FAA appears to have accepted unmanned aircraft into the world of civil and commercial flying by issuing the first-ever UAV experimental certificate for flight operations to General Atomics Aeronautical Systems for the agency's Altair. This is a step on the way to obtaining an airworthiness certificate (a type certificate). The UAV's tail number is N8172V, according to the FAA's web site.
Eutelsat Chief Executive Giuliano Berretta said at the Euroconsult-sponsored industry gathering in Paris that timely action by engineers prevented the loss of the company's W1 spacecraft following the Aug. 10 failure of a solar panel. Users were reallocated to other spacecraft temporarily until full power could be restored, Berretta reported, and no customers were lost. The cause of the failure--said to be Eutelsat's first major in-orbit incident--remains unknown.
