Storm Control Systems will provide its ARTS Interface Module II (AIM II) Air Force Satellite Control Network interface units to Honeywell Technology Solutions in La Plata, Md, for the Naval Research Laboratory's Blossom Point Tracking Facility. The units are in production and currently being delivered. This is the first shipment of the AIM II, which is used to control constellations comprising different types and models of spacecraft.
Researchers using the orbiting Chandra X-ray Observatory think they may have found a whole new class of black holes, which appear to be pumping out X-rays with power comparable to that of much hotter X-ray sources. The "quasisoft" X-ray sources--found to comprise 15-20% of X-ray sources in four different galaxies studied with Chandra--have temperatures of 1-4 million deg. C., much cooler than the 10-100-million deg. C. temperatures produced by "hard" sources like neutron stars and stellar-mass black holes.
6 Correspondence 8, 10 Who's Where 12-13 Market Focus 15 Industry Outlook 17 Airline Outlook 19 In Orbit 20-21 World News Roundup 23 Washington Outlook 66 Classified 67 Contact Us 69 Aerospace Calendar
USAF Maj. Regan Patrick (66th Rescue Sqdn., Nellis AFB, Nev.)
Many thanks for your article on the EH-101 helicopter (AW&ST Jan. 26, p. 40). I, along with many others in the rescue helicopter community, appreciate your efforts to highlight the capabilities and performance of this significant new aircraft.
WORLD NEWS ROUNDUP 20 AugustaWestland A119K assembly heads to Philadelphia 21 JAXA buoyed by H-IIA solid rocket motor burn test results 21 Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer prepares for first flight WORLD NEWS & ANALYSIS 24 Europe, U.S. bury the hatchet over Galileo 25 India rethinking joining Galileo satellite nav system 26 NASA 'water' find will shape exploration plans for decades 27 NASA to use Pentagon paradigm for its missions
The NASA organization set up to realize President Bush's plan for the exploration of the Moon, Mars and beyond will draw heavily on Pentagon management techniques dating back to the late-Cold War Packard Commission as it develops the robotic spacecraft and human vehicles to do the job.
Primagraphics has supplied its commercial-off-the-shelf digital video record and replay systems to Thales Training and Simulation for Tornado aircrew debriefing. The COTS system forms part of the RAF's Tornado GR4 Synthetic Training Service operated by Thales. Engineers at a Thales site in Crawley, England, integrated the equipment into simulators now installed at RAF training centers in Norfolk and in Morayshire, Scotland.
The Pentagon is preparing to take the next step in developing directed infrared countermeasures systems for its aircraft, but many of those initiatives won't be available in time to deal with the increasingly sophisticated tactics U.S. forces face in Iraq.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology have developed a detection system that uses high-frequency seismic waves to slightly shift soil by less than one ten-thousandth of an inch--enough to reveal objects in the dirt such as landmines and other explosives. A non-contacting radar measures the results and creates a visual representation of what is hidden in the ground.
Eurofighter partner nations are struggling to trade off weapon and system integration, cost and schedules as they try to agree on the most important phase of the program so far.
Australia is about to choose a supplier for new Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) refueling aircraft, a deal that could alter the nature of the head-to-head tanker competitions between EADS and Boeing. Australia is only the most near-term candidate, though, with several other prizes on the horizon. NATO may issue a tender request in May for a tanker fleet, which could range from five to 15 aircraft. Moreover, programs are emerging in France, Asia and the Middle East, according to industry professionals.
Pilot unions are still hoping they can change the Transportation Security Administration policy to allow graduates of the Federal Flight Deck Officer program to travel armed in the passenger cabin when they are deadheading. The TSA currently requires pilots to keep these guns in lock boxes whenever they are out of the cockpit and to store them in checked baggage when traveling as passengers. But a lock box with a gun inside went missing in Las Vegas recently. This highlights the biggest shortcoming in the FFDO program, according to the Air Line Pilots Assn.
A hearing this week of the Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA could turn into a showdown over the agency's decision to stop servicing the Hubble Space Telescope (see p. 56). Maryland Sen. Barbara Mikulski is the top Democrat on the panel, and she's pushed Administrator Sean O'Keefe into seeking a second opinion on the safety of the servicing mission, which is managed at Goddard Space Flight Center in her state. Mikulski is sure to press O'Keefe some more, whether Columbia accident board Chairman Harold Gehman has weighed in with his view or not.
Pulse detonation technology being pursued by General Electric, Pratt & Whitney and Rolls-Royce offers engine-makers the potential for improving gas turbine specific fuel consumption by double digits while reducing powerplant complexity and cost.
Boeing has turned to Smiths Aerospace to provide the 7E7 with software that will be the backbone for the aircraft's computers, networks and interfacing electronics. Details of the contract are still being negotiated, but over the life of the program the deal is expected to generate more than $1 billion in revenue for Smiths.
Erin McGinnis (see photo), an industrial engineer for the Northrop Grumman Corp., El Segundo, Calif., has been named one of the 2004 New Faces of Engineering as sponsored by National Engineers Week. She has worked to support the manufacturing design and has been cited for contributions to composite fabrication development and planning of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, for which Northrop Grumman is a principal subcontractor to the Lockheed Martin Corp.
SN Brussels Airlines and the Virgin Group, Brussels-based Virgin Express' parent company, are exploring the feasibility of a merger agreement, Virgin Express Holdings Chairman David Hoare confirmed late last week. "These talks are not about a takeover of either company," he pointed out.
Frank Morring, Jr. (Washington), Michael A. Dornheim (Pasadena, Calif.)
NASA's approach to Mars exploration will be shaped for decades by the discovery of chemical evidence that a rock outcropping just a few feet from where the Opportunity Rover came to rest was "once soaked in liquid water."
The U.S. and Japan are scheduled to develop coproduction plans for the Patriot PAC-3 ballistic missile interceptor by the end of this year. Japan, however, will not be the launch customer. The Netherlands is in the final stages of negotiating to buy 32 missiles in two lots of 16 each, according to Lockheed Martin officials. Delivery of the weapons is tentatively scheduled for 2005. Japan's order would be for about 200 missiles, with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries as chief partner in the program.
Aerospace companies, educational organizations and space interest groups are forming a new "Coalition for Space Exploration" to be headquartered under the umbrella of the U.S. Space Foundation.
A piece on the largest network carriers in the U.S.--American, United, Delta, Northwest, Continental and US Airways--incorrectly stated that the longest tenured CEO, Continental's Gordon Bethune, was the lone Big Six chief to have assumed his post before Sept. 11, 2001 (AW&ST Mar. 1, p. 42). Richard Anderson became Northwest's CEO in February 2001.
Paul W. (Whit) Cobb, Jr., has been appointed vice president/deputy general counsel for BAE Systems North America, Rockville, Md. He was deputy general counsel for the Defense Dept. Candace C. Vessella has become Washington-based vice president-government affairs. She was Southeast U.S. legislative director.
Gille Morin has been named chairman of Zodiac subsidiary Sicma Aero Seat, Issy-les-Moulineaux, France. He succeeds Christian Novella, who has become senior vice president-technology for the Zodiac Group. Morin was CEO of Precilec, a company within the Aircraft Systems Segment of Zodiac.
Ed Wegel has become senior vice president-corporate planning for the Mesa Air Group Inc. He has been an airline industry consultant and was CEO of Chautauqua Airlines.
