The U.S. is beginning an $800-million project to create an information technology infrastructure at Mars. This will be essentially a Martian internet where robotic spacecraft will conduct high-data-rate exchanges between themselves and with their Earth-based teams. The objective is to better control increasingly ambitious robotic missions and to return more imagery and data from those flights for faster distribution to the science community and public.
Stephen Berardo has become director of the Airports Consultants Council Institute of Washington. He was a senior airport planner for Vanasse Hangen Brustlin, Watertown, Mass.
The U.S. Air Force is not flying its unmanned reconnaissance aircraft over Iran, but the Central Intelligence Agency is, say military and aerospace industry officials. Doing the politically sensitive work of looking for Iranian nuclear facilities and delivery systems, such as long-range ballistic missiles, is not the role of the Air Force's U-2s or Global Hawk UAVs that fly out of Al Dhafra AB in the United Arab Emirates. "The aircraft being flown over Iran belong to the CIA, not the Defense Dept.," says a senior Air Force official.
Bombardier Aerospace reports delivering 329 aircraft in the fiscal year that ended Jan. 31, compared to 324 in fiscal 2003. Increases were recorded for the Learjet 40, Challenger 300 and Global 5000, but regional aircraft deliveries declined to 200 from 232. Deliveries of the CRJ series were down by 36 to 178, while those for the Q series rose by four aircraft to 22. Business aircraft deliveries rose to 128 units from 89.
Guy McLeod has been appointed president of sales for Washington-based Airbus North America. He succeeds Paul Mason, who has resigned. McLeod was senior vice president/head of asset management at Airbus headquarters in Toulouse, France.
The U.S. campaign to dissuade Europe from lifting its arms embargo against China is bearing fruit, at least in Britain, where defense and aerospace manufacturers are signaling a willingness to adhere to U.S. restrictions rather than taking the lead from Brussels.
NASA is set to launch the space shuttle Discovery May 15 on a mission that will combine International Space Station (ISS) logistics and repair with tests of the shuttle repair techniques devised in the wake of the Columbia accident.
Clark Gordon has become Eastern U.S. account manager for commercial sales for Ottawa-based EMS Technologies communications satellites division. He was avionics sales manager for Duncan Aviation, Battle Creek, Mich.
Neelam Mathews (New Delhi), Alexey Komarov (Moscow)
As critics in Russia and India voice doubts, officials of the Russian Aircraft Corp. MiG insist the MiG-29K naval fighter program for the Indian navy will stay on schedule for deliveries starting in 2007. Subcontractors for the engine, radar, sighting and navigation suite, aircraft control system, landing gear and gearbox have been engaged and second-tier suppliers contracted. Manufacturing of prototypes has also been started.
NASA has $160 million in its Fiscal 2006 budget request for commercial transportation to the International Space Station, with more in the pipeline, and it plans to start spending it before the end of this calendar year. William F. Readdy, associate administrator for space operations, tells the House Science Committee his agency will issue a request for proposals this summer for "commercial crew and cargo" services to the ISS, with the first contracts expected to be awarded by year-end.
World News Roundup 18 Suspected frozen sea found near Mars' equator 20 First flight for reproduction of World War II Japanese Ki-43 21 Value of BAE Systems' order book sets record World News & Analysis 24 CIA's air force now looking for WMD sites in Iran 26 U.K. cautious, pending end to Europe's arms embargo on China 26 USAF creates office to unify its information network management 28 New systems, processes enhance air- space protection over Washington
Bob Bond has been promoted to president of the Cleveland-based Parker Hannifin Corp.'s Fluid Connectors Group from president of the Automation Group. He succeeds Tom Mackie, who has retired. Succeeding Bond is Roger Sherrard, who has been president of the Instrumentation Group.
Technical revelations about Bell Helicopter Textron's new Model 429 light helo reflect the company's determination to inject advanced technologies into its product line that will improve performance and utility while reducing direct operating costs.
Tom Page, Raytheon Missiles Systems (Tucson, Ariz.)
Robert Wall's "Intelligent Action" article (AW&ST Feb. 7, p. 55) contains some slight errors and omissions. As an electronics engineer who has been in the aerospace nuclear-hardening and survivability field for almost 20 years now, I'd like to offer a few comments. For one thing, you slipped a couple of decimal points by one place--industry is now fabricating semiconductor devices with feature sizes of 0.35 and 0.15 microns. And "feature size" does not refer to wire thickness; it refers to the active regions of the semiconductor devices.
George R. Melton has been appointed president/CEO of Wyle Laboratories Inc., El Segundo, Calif. He succeeds Gus Yiakas, who continues as chairman. Melton was president/ CEO of the EG&G Div. of the URS Corp.
At the heart of the Pentagon's vision of network-centric operations is a secure, wireless network that can move targeting and intelligence data quickly around the battlefield. And, perhaps most importantly, it would keep commanders informed about the location and activities of friends and foes alike.
Paolo Revelli-Beaumont (see photo) has been named deputy general manager of France-based NH Industries. He succeeds Domenico Vaccari. Revelli-Beaumont was chief commercial officer of ATR.
Scientists using the High-Resolution Stereo Camera on Europe's Mars Express orbiter believe they have found evidence of a frozen sea near the red planet's equator, right where a separate instrument has found a potential chemical signature of life.
Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has launched a CreditWatch review with negative implications for about $13.2 billion in equipment trust certificates and enhanced ETCs--widely used ways to finance aircraft purchases --issued by American, Northwest, Continental and America West airlines.
A distinctive electrostatic field surrounds airborne helicopters and the objects flying toward them. Now researchers believe a projectile's minute signatures can be detected, separated from aircraft noise and tracked, the first step in creating a defense for helicopters such as those savaged by small-arms fire in Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq.
Security will grow tighter at the New York region's three major airports--JFK, LaGuardia and Newark-Liberty. Under a $219-million capital improvement program, the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey will allot $80 million for state-of-the-art perimeter intrusion systems, $14 million for expanded closed-circuit TV and $6 million to adopt standards being developed by U.S. authorities, including biometrics for employee identification.
Steve Isakowitz has been appointed deputy associate NASA administrator for the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate. He has been NASA's comptroller.
Boeing Co.'s plan to focus on systems integration and final assembly is hitting full stride with deals to divest two major operations. The aerospace giant is selling its Wichita, Kan.-based aircraft assembly operations, which produce 737 fuselages, to Canadian investment group Onex Corp. for $1.2 billion in cash and assumed liabilities. Boeing also has agreed to sell Rocketdyne, a leading space propulsion business, to United Technologies Corp. for $700 million (see story, p. 34).4
As airlines simplify, simplify, simplify, new e-tools and platforms are taking the headaches out of fare shopping. The alphabet soup of fare designators is rapidly disappearing. Now, no-nonsense, what-you-see-is-what-you-get fares are emerging. Air Canada, for instance, last year became the first legacy carrier to transform to a low-fare, low-cost carrier. In doing so, it whittled down dozens of fare types to five, with the ticket price corresponding to the type of travel flexibility/services desired.
