The count of planets around other suns continues to grow rapidly, as astronomers refine their techniques and instruments in their search for a second Earth. So far, that remains an elusive goal, but some of the new planets discovered recently are much smaller than the gas giants typically discovered by measuring the wobble in distant stars. Known as the radial velocity measurement, the technique has been refined to the extent that two new planets found with it have been designated members of an entirely new class of extrasolar planets.
Travis L. Tanner has become president/chief operating officer for the Americas for Irving, Tex.-based Sky Chefs. He was CEO of chief executive officer of Project Roam. As COO, Tanner will succeed Ulrich Broescher, who plans to retire.
The U.S. Navy for the first time has deployed the Raytheon Advanced Tactical FLIR targeting pod with F/A-18Cs. The Navy has cruised with Atflir before, but only on F/A-18E/Fs.
You will probably receive many bitter letters about your article on the Washington Air Defense Indentification Zone (ADIZ).Your article was pretty accurate, but let's add perspective (AW&ST Aug. 23/30, p. 60). *The much-touted Black Hawk and Citation are virtually useless to stop an aircraft intent on attacking Washington. What is a 5.56mm M-16 really going to do if fired from an aircraft? It is going to take Hollywood to actually do anything with a police officer shooting an M-16 from a helo.
Rod Eddington will spend the next few days determining whether he has been pushing the airline to become too lean, following a shambolic end to the U.K. holiday period.
Beth Taylor has been appointed vice president/corporate controller for Republic Airways Holdings Inc. of Indianapolis. She has been controller of subsidiary Chautauqua Airlines.
John Uczekaj has been named chief operating officer for the Nordam Group, Tulsa, Okla. He was executive vice president/general manager of Honeywell Aerospace Electronics Systems in Phoenix.
Two innovative high-performance helicopter concepts are competing in the Unmanned Combat Armed Rotorcraft project, even though managers have long insisted "this is not an air vehicle program."
The U.S should know by early 2006 whether a military laser countermeasure can protect passenger jets from missiles after two contractors complete flight tests with systems modified for civil use.
Boeing delivered its 800th and 801st 737-800s last week to Ryanair, which operates an all-737 fleet of 76 aircraft. Ryanair, which flies the -800 in a 189-seat configuration, has another 98 737s on order through 2008. Boeing has orders for 1,167 -800s, making it the best-selling of the 737NGs.
In a computing world where speed is measured in teraflops, NASA Ames Research Center had a problem every PC owner has experienced: Not enough speed. It's solving that problem with the installation of 20 interconnected Silicon Graphics Inc. Altix 512-processor systems, giving it a total of 10,240 Intel Itanium 2 Linux processors. The result is an estimated 10-fold increase in NASA's supercomputing capacity.
MBDA has signed an initial production contract for its Saphir-M expendable countermeasures self-protection system for the NH-90 military utility and Tiger attack helicopters.
The Pentagon's inspector general is taking issue with aspects of the U.S. Navy's EA-6B Improved Capability (ICAP-3) electronic warfare upgrade. The IG argues that inadequate information was provided for the low-rate production decision, which could lead to retrofit costs. The report also reveals the system suffered four mission failures during its operational assessment. The Navy says adequate information was provided to decision-makers and that a strategy is in place to deal with residual deficiencies.
Jim AuBuchon (see photo) has become director of Pratt & Whitney Programs for International Turbine Service of Dallas. He was director of the Regional Aircraft Product Group for AAR.
Cecilia Bethke is now managing director for international affairs for Washington-based Air Transport Assn. She succeeds Richard Carlson, who is retiring. Bethke was international and bilateral affairs director for Northwest Airlines.
Russia's military aircraft sector appears to be heading for another political bustup, with the MiG Corp. forcefully pursuing an independent path at odds with the government's consolidation plans. While senior government officials, along with Sukhoi and Irkut executives, are advocating further rationalization, MiG's general director, Vladimir Toryanin, is opposed to the creation of a unified aircraft company, or OAK, as it's sometimes called.
Lockheed Martin delivered the first space payload, which will be launched into a highly elliptical orbit, to a classified host, not Northrop Grumman (AW&ST Aug. 16, p. 11). Lockheed Martin did deliver to its subcontractor Northrop Grumman the geosynchronous orbit satellite Pointing and Control Assembly for integration of the payload sensors.
'One man's subsidy is another man's loan,' is the message Boeing boss Harry Stonecipher likely received when he visited the British Trade and Industry Dept. (DTI) recently. Stonecipher met with DTI officials here Sept. 2, including Secretary of State for Trade and Industry Patricia Hewitt, to discuss trade issues, in particular the vexing issue of what the U.S. sees as subsidization of Airbus.
Tests conducted with borrowed radars during last month's launch of the Messenger Venus probe have raised hopes NASA will be able to launch its space shuttles after dark within safety constraints imposed after the Columbia accident. A 30-ft.-dia. C-band radar dish and a smaller X-band Doppler radar on loan from the Navy tracked major events in the Delta II launch vehicle's ascent, such as booster and fairing separation.
As a stopgap, government-owned Indian Airlines is dry-leasing five Airbus A320s for three years (extendable to five years), and 11 A319s. The A319s will replace the fleet of subsidiary Alliance Air's 12 Boeing 737-200s. An IA official reports the airline's proposal to acquire 43 A319/A320/A321s as replacements for its A300 and 737-200 fleet is at "different stages of negotiation" and might require a rebid from Airbus and Boeing. Boeing's recent offer to slash Airbus' offer by $155 million prompted the rethinking.
Peter Riley has been promoted to senior vice president-six sigma, integrated supply chain and transformation from vice president-integrated supply chain at Textron Inc., Providence, R.I. William M. Ellis has been promoted to president of Textron's Fluid & Power Group from vice president-six sigma and transformation, and Richard Yates to senior vice president/corporate controller from vice president/controller. John Mayers has been appointed vice president of Textron Six Sigma, succeeding Ellis.
The Genesis spacecraft en route back to Earth from nearly a million miles out is set for a 24,700-mph. plunge through the atmosphere and midair helicopter capture this week, to return samples of the Sun tied to the primordial nebula that formed the solar system. The flight is opening a new era in planetary sample return where such missions are both underway and being planned with increased frequency as part of a growing U.S. exploration strategy.
