Hearty congratulations are in order for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover team, and the whole Mars crew at the agency, for the stunning proof they have provided that liquid water once flowed on the Red Planet. They have used the rovers like the robotic field geologists they were intended to be, probing the most interesting features they see to find out more. Like all good science, the first results raised more questions--mainly whether the water flowed on the surface, or as groundwater--but as long as the rovers keep working more answers are sure to come.
Edward S. Civera and Ronald R. Spoehel have been appointed to the board of directors of the ManTech International Corp., Fairfax, Va. Civera is managing general partner of the Civera Investment Partnership and was CEO/chief operating officer of United Payors & United Providers. Spoehel is executive vice president/chief financial officer of ManTech and was chairman of Alpine Partners.
To submit Aerospace Calendar Listings, Call +1 (212) 904-2421 Fax +1 (212) 904-6068 e-mail: [email protected] Mar. 15-16--SMI Conferences' Signature Management: The Pursuit of Stealth Conference. The Hatton, London. Call +44 (207) 827-6000 or see www.smi-online.co.uk Mar. 15-17--SpeedNews' 18th Annual Aviation Industry Suppliers Conference. St. Regis, Los Angeles. Call +1 (310) 203-9603, fax +1 (310) 203-9352 or see www.speednews.com
Mark O. Hatfield, Jr., has been named director of the Office of Communications and Public Information at the Transportation Security Administration. He was manager of TSA's regional public affairs office in New York.
Hellenic Aerospace Industry will cooperate with Dassault Aviation on an unmanned combat air vehicle technology demonstrator. Dassault is prime contactor for the French-led program, which Greece agreed to join in January, with Sweden.
You can now register ONLINE for Aviation Week Events. Go to www.AviationNow.com/conferences or call Ryan Leeds at +1 (212) 904-3892/+1 (800) 240-7645 (U.S. and Canada Only) Mar. 25-26--Defense Budget Conference. Hyatt Regency Crystal City Hotel, Arlington, Va. Apr. 19--FAA/JAA Regulations: Collision or Harmonization, Atlanta, www.aviationlearning.com/mro And, Apr. 21-22--Blended Training Solution Experience, Atlanta, www.aviationlearning.com/mro Apr. 20-22--MRO USA/MRO Latin America/MRO Military. Cobb Galleria Centre, Atlanta.
Sen. John Kerry (Mass.), who wrapped up the Democratic presidential nomination in the Mar. 2 Super Tuesday primaries, quickly won the endorsement of the National Air Traffic Controllers Assn. NATCA's support is no surprise; the union's contract with the FAA, considered highly favorable to its members, dates from the Clinton administration, and it has been at loggerheads with the Bush administration almost from the start.
Mxi Technologies software will form the Commercial Maintenance Management System core of the F-35 JSF Autonomic Logistics Information System (ALIS). As part of the program, Lockheed Martin will provide ongoing post-production support and maintenance of F-35 aircraft using ALIS (including Maintenix software) to help meet affordability and support commitments, according to the company. To support the flight-test aircraft, initial ALIS capabilities are set to be deployed and tested by August 2005. Mxi Technologies, 1430 Blair Place, Suite 800, Ottawa, Ontario K1J 9N2.
The Pentagon this week expects to resume deliveries of Sikorsky Black Hawk and derivative helicopters after a brief suspension due to production quality problems. Sikorsky identified the rash of quality problems to the government, none of which posed flight safety concerns, U.S. Navy officials say. Separately, the U.S. Navy wants to trim its MH-60R buy this year from six to four helicopters due to software delays incurred over the past months.
When Lockheed Martin Corp. Chairman and CEO Vance Coffman retires in April 2005, the transfer of control to President and Chief Operating Officer Robert J. Stevens will come about as close to being a non-event as a leadership change can be.
Richard Slenker has been appointed executive vice president-technology and engineering operations and Peter Giacalone executive vice president-customer satisfaction for DirecTV, El Segundo, Calif. Slenker was executive vice president- engineering and operations for Fox Television Stations Inc. Giacalone was vice president-finance for The News Corp. Ltd.
NessCap Co. has added 3-100F models to its 2.7-volt ultracapacitor product line. The models are available in seven capacitance ratings to meet a variety of primary or backup energy needs for compact electronics. With a capacitance tolerance of -10% to +20% and a surge voltage capability of 2.85 volts, the 2.7-volt ultracapacitors offer high capacitance and energy densities, along with low-equivalent series resistance.
William D. Angeloni has been appointed CEO and Kevin Lowdermilk as chief financial officer of Exostar, Herndon, Va. Angeloni was co-head of Tenzing Consulting, while Lowdermilk was an executive at Rolls-Royce.
Satellite services will remain a buyer's market for the next few years, despite continued hopes that new broadband applications will spark a resurgence for the industry. Speakers at the Satellite 2004 conference here also noted that, while the military is consuming gobs of satellite bandwidth right now, the defense market isn't a long-term savior for satellite manufacturers, operators and launch service providers--too many uncertainties in predicting geopolitics.
Col. Michael Cantor's letter "Comanche Performing Well" (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 7) quotes Lt. Gen. Richard Cody as saying "it is the best aircraft we've ever built." Cantor, himself, states: "The program is performing well." Considering that my copy of AW&ST arrived a scant 48 hr. after Cody announced the cancellation of the RAH-66 program, you might understand why, as an engineer working on that program, I felt stung. My colleagues were greatly encouraged by our Army customer's comments on our work, our progress and the state of the design.
Austin Barham, Peng Lim, John Samiotis and Patrick Slomski have become equity partners in the London-based aviation law firm of Beaumont and Son. Sarah Catchpole, Alex Ferrari and Sohair Mustafa have been named salaried partners.
With their latest interplanetary mission on its way and the Bush Mars/Moon plan on the table, European space leaders are preparing a full rethink of their approach to solar system exploration. Visibly elated by the error-free launch of the Rosetta cometary probe last week, European Space Agency director general Jean-Jacques Dordain said planners would take a fresh look at the agency's nascent Aurora exploration program, still in the definition stage, to see how it could mesh with the Bush plan and ESA's overall science objectives.
Despite U.S. Air Force leaders' commitment to invigorating long-range strike, lawmakers continue to express dismay about what they view as shortchanging the current bomber force. In addition to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper's pronouncement that the service will examine a mini-bomber derivative of the F/A-22, called the FB-22, USAF has created several organizations to support its long-range strike planning.
JAXA, the Japanese space agency, has completed a 2-min. burn test of a full-scale improved solid rocket booster motor for the H-IIA that has given it confidence the launch program can resume.
CIA Director George Tenet told the Senate Select Intelligence Committee that the CIA continues to uncover "plots that are chilling" against civil aviation targets. "On aircraft plots alone, we have uncovered new plans to recruit pilots and to evade new security measures in Southeast Asia, the Middle East and Europe," he said. "Attacks on the scale of Sept. 11, 2001, remain in Al Qaeda's reach, and although these plots are being hatched abroad, they target the U.S. and its allies." Pilot unions called the statement a "heads up" to airlines and pilots. Capt.
The first Airbus A380 mega-transport is scheduled to roll out this December and take its maiden flight in January 2005. The program, Europe's biggest aviation undertaking, is gaining momentum and production is underway (see p. 40). The No. 1 A380's nose section and center fuselage were joined recently at Airbus' St. Nazaire, Britanny, facilities and will be conveyed later this year to the final assembly line in Toulouse (Airbus photo).
Delta Connection has converted 32 options to firm orders for Bombardier CRJ200 aircraft in a deal valued at about $780 million. Deliveries are scheduled to start in the first quarter of 2005, with 25 going to Atlantic Southeast Airlines and seven to affiliate SkyWest Airlines. In a separate order, Chautauqua Airlines will receive an additional 13 Embraer ERJ regional aircraft for 2004-05. Comair, the largest Delta carrier, was excluded.
Army aviation supporters are growing concerned that they won't be able to hold onto the $14.6 billion freed up by terminating the RAH-66 Comanche helicopter. There are already signs the money is being viewed as a "cash cow," says Rep. Curt Weldon (R-Pa.), who chairs the House Armed Services tactical air and land forces panel. But keeping the money is essential to the Army's new aviation plan, emphasizes Maj. Gen. James D. Thurman, the director of the task force that drafted the strategy.
