Editor-in-Chief Anthony L. Velocci, Jr., (left) and Senior Editor Craig Covault--in clean room "bunny suits"--examine documentation inside the 17.5-ton Japanese Experiments Module for the International Space Station. The Mitsubishi/JAXA module is under checkout at the Kennedy Space Center for launch to the ISS by the space shuttle in 2007. The 37 X 14-ft. module will be the largest laboratory on the ISS (see p. 27).
Russia's largest private airline, Transaero, plans to start operating four leased Boeing 747-200s later this year. According to the carrier, it is the first time a Russian airline will operate a passenger variant of the 747-200. (In 2003, AirBridge Cargo, a division of Volga-Dnepr Airlines, leased two -200s as freighters.) Transaero plans to operate the 747s on leisure charter flights, as well as scheduled flights from Moscow to Southeast Asia, beginning in midsummer. At a later date, the airline aims to open routes to Australia and Latin America.
Christopher R. Blum, who has been Kansas City, Mo.-based FAA administrator for the Central U.S., also will be administrator for the Great Lakes region, which is based in Des Plaines, Ill. He will succeed Cecelia Hunziker, who will be retiring on Apr. 30.
NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. have scheduled a second attempt to launch the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) spacecraft for no earlier than Apr. 15. The testbed, designed to rendezvous with a target spacecraft in orbit and perform a series of proximity operations without human intervention, was originally scheduled for launch Nov. 9, 2004, but was delayed after Orbital engineers expressed doubts about analysis of the loads the spacecraft would experience during its flight on an air-launched Pegasus rocket (AW&ST Nov. 15, 2004, p. 33).
Europe's veneer of solidarity on lifting its arms embargo against China is crumbling, with member states sending out conflicting signals. The embargo was expected to be lifted by the end of Luxembourg's six-month presidency of the European Union. However, the issue may now land --uncomfortably--in Britain's lap, when it assumes the presidency in June.
A European Commission report on the use of space assets for security needs suggests that there may be broad support within the European Union for some aspects of a French-inspired milspace plan, but not for missile defense or intelligence initiatives.
Eagle Broadband and SAIC have been selected to immediately provide the U.S. Air Force with Satellite Media Access Extender non-line-of-sight communications for Scott AFB, Ill., headquarters of U.S. Transport Command. The technology is to provide enhanced, secure voice and data communications through the Iridium satellite network, to ensure more efficient troop deployments.
An Italian Civil Protection Bombardier CL-415 amphibian aircraft crashed on Mar. 18 near Vittoria Apuana in Tuscany while on a firefighting mission. Both crewmembers died when the aircraft hit a building. The CL-415 was attempting to contain a fire in a wooded area. According to the preliminary assessment made by Italian accident investigators, the aircraft had completed several runs and on an ascent, one of its pontoons hit a cable protecting a power line.
Ed Price, Boeing 757 Captain (Los Angeles, Calif.)
I'm troubled by the "Three's Not the Charm" article regarding British Airways Boeing 747-400s continuing on long-haul oceanic flights with one engine inoperative (AW&ST Mar. 14, p. 68). I'm not second-guessing these BA pilots or their decision to continue instead of divert, but I am very concerned about the suggestion that airlines or flight crews will be subtlely pressured to continue flights with critical systems unusable to avoid high costs associated with delays or cancellations.
Boeing's first aircraft with predevelopment C-130 avionics modernization program (AMP) upgrades has made its first flight. The MC-130E Combat Talon I flew from Edwards AFB, Calif., with an APN-241 radar, a prototype mission processor and new software. The flight test program will last about 18 months. First flight of a fully AMP aircraft is set for early 2006.
Head-up displays are gaining a prominent role on airline as well as business jet flight decks, as carriers exploit low-visibility guidance systems and corporate operators embrace "enhanced vision."
Stephen G. Tom has been named executive director of the Honolulu-based Pacific Telecommunications Council. He was president of the Teleport Consulting Group International and had been CEO of the Washington International Teleport.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Apr. 4-7--Space Foundation's 21st National Space Symposium. The Broadmoor, Colorado Springs. Also, May 18, Space Foundation's "Space at the Crossroads." U.S. Navy Memorial & Naval Heritage Center, Washington. Call +1 (719) 576-8000 or see www.spacesymposium.org
Douglas H. Patterson (see photo) has been appointed vice president-worldwide sales and marketing for Aitech Defense Systems Inc., Chatsworth, Calif. He was director of business development for the Government Group of SBS Technologies Inc., Albuquerque, N.M.
Robert Dale Reed, a pioneer of lifting body research at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center, died Mar. 18 in San Diego due to complications from cancer. He was 75. Reed was a leader in developing the prototype M2-F1 lifting body glider that flew in 1963 to study low-speed characteristics of a potential orbital entry design. It led to the rocket-powered M2-F2, M2-F3, HL-10, X-24A and X-24B lifting bodies, and gave guidance to space shuttle design. Reed's book Wingless Flight covered the topic.
Robert Bednarek and Alexis Livanos have been appointed to the board of directors of the Colorado Springs-based Space Foundation. Bednarek is executive vice president-corporate development for SES Global, while Livanos is corporate vice president and president of the Space Technology Sector of the Northrop Grumman Corp. Re-elected were: USAF Gen. (ret.) Howell M. Estes, 3rd, of Howell Estes & Associates Inc.; William MacDonald Evans, former president of the Canadian Space Agency; Paul Graziani, president/CEO of Analytical Graphics Inc.; and Lon C.
No date had been set late last week for a Senate Commerce Committee hearing on the confirmation of Michael D. Griffin as NASA administrator, but the urgency is growing of some early decisions he will face in office. The agency continues to defer a decision on whether to begin buying long-lead hardware for a robotic servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. But the longer it's deferred, the harder it will be to get a fix up to the Hubble before it expires.
Orbcomm has ordered an initial spacecraft to begin replenishing its 30-satellite narrowband data communications network, and is finalizing requirements for new-generation follow-on satellites to be acquired later this year. The spacecraft ordered, which also will carry an auxiliary payload to support the U.S. Coast Guard's Automatic Identification System, will be integrated and tested by OHB of Germany, using a payload from Orbital Sciences Corp. and a bus from Polyot of Russia. It will be launched by a Cosmos 3M booster from Plesetsk, Russia, in 2006.
The Air Force Space Battlelab at Peterson AFB, Colo., recently conducted a demonstration of free-floating balloons carrying commercial two-way radios--at up to 80,000 ft.--to prove they could boost the communications ability of ground troops. The proof-of-concept demo, dubbed Combat SkySat, will use PRC-148 radios for beyond-line-of-sight communications.
Planetologists have found signs that glaciers shaped parts of the surface of Mars as recently as a few million years ago, leaving behind dust-shrouded water ice and another tantalizing possibility that life could have taken root on the red planet. The High Resolution Stereo Camera (HRSC) on Europe's Mars Express orbiter found two adjacent craters in Promethei Terra, at 38 deg. S. Lat. (image), that appear to be filled with scree carried down into them by glaciers from the 4,000-meter mountains above.
The U.S. Navy's fleet of TH-57 helicopters has accumulated more than 1 million hours of Class A mishap-free flying. The milestone, 27 years in the making, was reached on Mar. 10 by Helicopter Training Sqdn. 18 based at NAS Whiting Field, Milton, Fla. The squadron trains about 300 Navy, Marine Corps and U.S. Coast Guard pilots annually using a military version of the Bell Model 206 Jet Ranger.
David Reed has been promoted to president of North American Operations from general manager of Advanced Ceramic Operations for Ceradyne Inc., Costa Mesa, Calif. Michael Kraft has become vice president-sales, marketing and business development.
New missions requirements and new communications links are forcing U.S. Navy researchers to invent a new interference cancellation system for its advanced EA-18G jamming and electronic attack aircraft.
