Denise K. Fletcher has been appointed to the board of directors of Chicago-based Orbitz Inc. She was executive vice president/chief financial officer of MasterCard and is a member of the board of directors of the Unisys Corp.
The U.S.-Russian crew on board the International Space Station is this week beginning to unload the new Russian Progress 14P unmanned resupply spacecraft that automatically docked with the ISS May 27. The Progress carrying more than 1,000 lb. of ISS propellant, 900 lb. of water, 110 lb. of oxygen and 2,700 lb. of dry cargo was launched on a Soyuz booster from the Baikonur Cosmodrome May 25. The water will especially help the limited station supply situation caused by the grounding of the space shuttle into 2005.
The F/A-18E/F will become the third aircraft type to be equipped with the new long-range, high-resolution active electronically scanned aperture (AESA) radar, following the modified F-15C and F/A-22 (see p. 46). The capability will allow the F/A-18E/F to detect and attack cruise missiles. The aircraft's APG-79 also will be the first AESA radar with an air-to-ground attack capability. On the cover, the top two images (one low-resolution and high-resolution) are the first released by the U.S. Navy showing the radar's ground mapping capability.
Intelsat Ltd., the global communications satellite provider, may have pried open a can of worms with last week's withdrawal of its planned initial public offering. The step was taken after President Bush signed an amendment to the industry privatization guide, which is better known as the Orbit Act, that extended the date for the mandated IPO from June 30, 2004, to Dec. 31, 2005.
Researchers are using NASA's Terra Earth-observing satellite to track the spread of air pollution around the world, narrowing in on types of pollution by season to learn how better to control it. The Measurements of Pollution in the Troposphere (Mopitt) instrument maps carbon monoxide, shown for the winter average in 2000-04 (high values in red). The spacecraft's Moderate-resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (Modis) instrument records aerosol data. Russian wildfires in 2002 and 2003 raised pollution levels across the Northern Hemisphere.
Vicki Escarra has been appointed executive vice president/chief customer service officer, Joe Kolshak senior vice president/chief of operations, Lee Macenczak senior vice president/chief human resources officer, Paul Matsen, senior vice president/chief marketing officer, Greg Riggs senior vice president/general counsel/chief corporate affairs officer, Dan Lewis head of corporate communications and Jim Whitehurst senior vice president/chief network and planning officer, all at Delta Air Lines.
The space-based nuclear reactors that NASA managers see as a key enabling technology for landing humans on Mars are starting to generate requirements for lots of chemical rocket lift capability to get them off Earth's surface.
Engineers at Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. are completing final details on advanced cockpit displays for the multirole F-35 that will provide pilots with only essential information needed to fly the mission.
The European Space Agency is preparing to sit down again with International Space Station partners in an attempt to agree on the final configuration and logistics setup for the facility. Resolution of these issues would permit the agency to sign final contracts for the ISS utilization phase. The utilization awards are critical for provision of Automated Transfer Vehicles, which are to resupply the ISS and periodically reboost it to higher orbit. The role of the ATV is expected to increase with the planned phaseout of the shuttle starting in 2010.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] June 10-11--Technology Training Corp.'s Ninth Annual Unmanned Aerial Vehicles Conference. Holiday Inn On The Bay, San Diego. Also, June 14-15--Surveillance & Reconnaissance Conference. Holiday Inn Hotel & Suites, Washington. Call +1 (310) 563-1223, fax +1 (310) 563-1220 or see www.ttcus.com
Northrop Grumman has begun range testing of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter's fire control radar at its Baltimore rooftop integration facility. The APG-81 active electronically scanned array radar can find targets more quickly than previous designs. It also is to be able to jam enemy emitters by focusing its beam and it is to have a resolution so great that it can find stealthy targets including small cruise missiles. The first radar is to be integrated with the software that gives the system its many modes. The initial work is expected to take 6-8 mo.
The European Space Agency is looking to reinforce cooperation with Russia and the 12 new Eastern European members of the European Union and NATO. The agency's manned flight director, Joerg Feustel-Buechl, says one area of discussion with Russia involves an increase in the number of opportunities to send astronauts to the International Space Station. ESA would like at least two additional missions, a 10-day taxi flight in April 2005 and a long-duration mission in October 2005--one funded directly by ESA, the other by a member state.
European freight operator Cargolux has selected Rolls-Royce RB211-524H-T engines to power its latest Boeing 747-400 aircraft, under a $48-million order.
David G. Lawrie (see photo), Tien M. Nguyen (see photo) and James D. Rochier have been promoted to principal engineers at The Aerospace Corp., El Segundo, Calif. Lawrie will work in the Electronic Systems Div. of Electro-Optics Sensor Systems. He was director of the Sensing and Exploitation Dept. Nguyen will be in Radio Frequency Communication Systems and had been senior project lead for transformation and military satellite communications as well as interim director for missile defense programs. Rochier will work in Strategic Command Operations in Omaha, Neb.
Air National Guard fighter squadrons are scrambling to hook up with active-duty units as Pentagon briefings on the Air Force's new Force Structure Analyses begin. In order to reduce the number of bases the service has to support, a proposal is afoot to retire 500 fighter aircraft--"a few F-15s and lots of F-16s, primarily from the Air National Guard," according to one senior Air Force official.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 20 First flight for Astor surveil- lance aircraft 22 Boeing maps out wind-tunnel testing for 7E7 23 Chinese developing new anti- ship cruise missile 23 Crandall company orders 70 Adam Aircraft A700s WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 26 Fuel cost growth presents United with double whammy 27 IATA predicts airlines will post losses up to $10 billion 28 USAF searching for a cheap, fast global attack capability 29 JSF pilot-vehicle interface nearly complete
As a public relations exercise, the British-led Beagle 2 Mars lander mission was a raging success--that is, until it plunged into the Martian atmosphere never to be heard from again. Notwithstanding that Mars is a very harsh mistress--missions fail with rueful frequency --it is now clear the cards were more heavily stacked than usual against the diminutive Beagle 2, and long before it was launched toward the red planet (see p. 32).
The Raytheon Co. has received two contract awards totaling $63.7 million from the U.S. Air Force Electronic Warfare Product Group for the ALE-50 towed decoy system. The first award, for $56 million, covers the eighth production lot of ALE-50 equipment being provided to the Air Force and Navy. The second, $7.7-million award is for continued system development.
Finally admitting what top Air Force officials have been saying for months, the U.S. Defense secretary has decided to officially defer a decision to buy 100 new tankers until after the national elections.
THE NEW ONBOARD INFORMATION TERMINALS that Airbus A380 pilots will use for their electronic flight bags will be developed by Barco of Kortrijk, Belgium, under contract to the French company Sagem. Barco plans to use a 12-in. sunlight-readable active matrix liquid crystal display (LCD), with a Pentium-class processor. Each aircraft will have two terminals, one on each side of the cockpit, with an ergonomic operator desk including a custom-made keyboard, track ball and mouse.
SAMSUNG ELECTRONICS HAS DEVELOPED a high-density, three-dimensional static random access memory (SRAM) that opens the door for competitive ultrahigh-density products for both low-power and high-speed applications. Vertical stacking of single-crystal silicon cells and thin-film transistors gives the smallest SRAM cell size yet, according to the company. More semiconductor developments will be presented at the 2004 very large-scale integration (VLSI) technology and circuits symposium in Honolulu on June 15-19.
What a luxury it must be to wax philosophically about the looming aerospace workforce crisis, in your editorial "Aerospace Needs Multi-Pronged Effort To Maintain Workforce for Future Growth"(AW&ST May 3, p. 74). The editorial even went so far as to contain a list of legislation and investments "Washington can do to help over the long term."
EDO Corp. has won a $6.3-million contract for 34 production-phase BRU-57 bomb-release units for F-16 aircraft. Deliveries are expected to be completed by 2006.
Carol Hallett has become of counsel to the Washington-based U.S. Chamber of Commerce for travel and tourism, counterfeiting and corporate governance. She has been head of the homeland security practice at the Carmen Group in Washington and was president/CEO of the Air Transport Assn.
