PAYING CUSTOMER Italy's Carlo Gavazzi Space is negotiating with the Indian Space Research Organization to launch a 500-kg. Agile satellite into equatorial orbit. Managing Director Lanfranco Zucconi witnessed the Oct. 17 liftoff of India's Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C5) that placed the 1,360-kg. Resourcesat-1 in Sun-synchronous orbit. For ISRO, the Agile would be its heaviest third-party payload yet. The Italian company is believed to have a $9-million budget for the launch.
George Stark has been named vice president-cargo sales and operations for the Aircraft Service International Group, Orlando, Fla. He was president of San Francisco-based Aeroground Services.
The first GoldenEye-50, a 28 X 53-in. vertical takeoff and landing unmanned aerial vehicle built by Aurora Flight Sciences, will be assembled by year-end and have its first flight in January, say company officials. Flight envelope expansion will continue into May. Four of the 16-lb., ducted-fan aircraft (2-lb. payload, 5-hp. engine) will be built for the test program. The GoldenEye-50 is specifically designed to carry surveillance and chemical agent detection sensors to monitor restricted, hard-to-reach and dangerous locations.
Six days after the nuclear-armed neighbors began a ceasefire in Kashmir, India and Pakistan announced in a joint statement in New Delhi that they would restore overflights and landing rights by Jan. 1. Restrictions on the type of aircraft have been removed, which allows for Boeing 747-type transports to be operated by designated carriers of the two countries.
The loss of the second set of satellites for its first reconnaissance system will delay full development of Japan's plans for monitoring North Korea's ballistic missile and nuclear development programs. The spacecraft, Radar-2 and Optical-2, were lost Nov. 29 when ground controllers at Tanegashima Space Center were forced to destroy an H-IIA launcher after one of its Ishikawajima-Harima Heavy Industries solid rocket booster motors failed to separate from the launcher's first stage.
David Hughes (Washington), Michael A. Dornheim (Los Angeles)
In a situation reminiscent of the United Airlines DC-10 landing without hydraulics in Iowa in 1989, the crew of a DHL A300 hit by a missile relied solely on engine power without flight controls to land at Baghdad.
Mars Exploration Rover engineers and scientists have been conducting a series of multi-day mission simulations to develop and check procedures for operating the two robots on the planet's surface starting in January.
The Pentagon's transformation drive is spawning a family of small satellites to more rapidly satisfy commanders' wishes, with the first of those spacecraft slated to be launched early next year.
HONEYWELL HAS RECEIVED FAA APPROVAL for a Technical Standard Order (TSO) for its KMD 250 multifunction display for small, piston-powered aircraft. The unit, which provides pilots with data link weather capability and air traffic information in aircraft not equipped with weather radar, uses a liquid crystal display and is available as part of Honeywell's Integrated Hazard Avoidance System 2000.
IN MID-2005, NASA AND THE NATIONAL CONSORTIUM for Aviation Mobility will demonstrate aircraft equipped with technologies developed by the Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) at the Danville (Va.) Regional Airport. Scientists at Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., and SATS facilities across the U.S. are developing integrated cockpit displays, avionics, airborne systems and operating procedures for general aviation aircraft carrying 4-10 passengers. The demonstration is aimed at showing how emerging technologies can be integrated into airport environments.
David Baxter, Aerospace Engineering Dept. (University of Southampton, England)
While there was much merit in the analysis within your editorial on the ending of Concorde services by British Airways and Air France, there was a significant omission from the reasons for the late entry into service (AW&ST Oct. 20, p. 86).
James Gelly has become senior vice president/chief financial officer, effective Jan. 5, of Milwaukee-based Rockwell Automation. He will succeed Michael A. Bless, who has resigned. Gelly was vice president/treasurer of Honeywell International, Morris Township, N.J.
French defense planners are studying schemes to boost military space and research spending and to increase reliance on private financing initiatives to reduce pressure on near-term procurement requirements.
European Union Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy says the EU will reconsider the embargo on arms sales to China, backing up a call to that effect last week in Beijing by German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder. China, which recently joined the EU's Galileo satellite navigation program, formally requested in October that the EU drop the embargo.
Katie Beddingfield has become senior manager of public relations of the Alexandria, Va.-based National Business Travel Assn. She was director of business development at Omega World Travel.
The Pentagon is reviewing its two-year-old Nuclear Posture Review (NPR) to provide "mid-course guidance" on implementing the plan, says Adm. James O. Ellis, Jr., commander of U.S. Strategic Command. The NPR defined a new triad of nuclear and non-nuclear strike, missile defense and robust infrastructure. The ongoing Strategic Capabilities Assessment, which could lead to changes in how the NPR is implemented, should be completed in February.
DO-IT-YOURSELF-DEFENSE Pilots at Federal Express have organized a cockpit self-defense course, with the approval of airline management, that has been kept under wraps during the past year; 120 pilots have been trained to date. As word of the course has spread, pilots and flight attendants from other airlines have attended as observers. The course includes 2 hr. of academics on the psychology and fear management aspects of responding to a violent ambush-style attack, followed by hands-on practice.
UNITED STATES Editor-In-Chief: David M. North [email protected] Managing Editor: James R. Asker [email protected] Assistant Managing Editors: Stanley W. Kandebo--Technology [email protected] Michael Stearns--Production [email protected] Senior Editors: Craig Covault [email protected], David Hughes [email protected] NEW YORK 2 Penn Plaza, Fifth Floor, New York, N.Y. 10121 Phone: +1 (212) 904-2000, Fax: +1 (212) 904-6068
At least one thing is settled in the hotly contested race to supply the next-generation presidential helicopter: General Electric engines will power the VXX regardless of whether it is Sikorsky's S-92 or the US101 offered by a Lockheed Martin-led team.
FLASHBACK It may not be Vietnam, but the mission for U.S. special operations forces operating in Iraq is beginning to look awfully familiar. During the conflict, the special ops teams conducted so-called direct-action missions, such as raids on targets. Now the emphasis has shifted to unconventional warfare operations, says Vice Adm. Eric T. Olson, U.S. Special Operations Command's deputy commander. In that new role, special ops personnel work with Iraqis to try to combat the sustained insurgency efforts leading to almost daily attacks on U.S. and allied forces.
CAVE CRUNCHER Late last month, U.S. Air Force researchers conducted another live test of the 21,700-lb. Massive Ordnance Air Blast (MOAB) weapon, the biggest conventional bomb in the country's inventory (AW&ST Nov. 17, p. 68). The 30-ft.-long weapon, designed for use against such underground targets as caves and tunnels, was dropped from an MC-130 Combat Talon I flying at 20,000 ft. above the Nevada test range. It glided to the target and detonated, creating a 2-mi.-high plume. The weapon had been modified for faster detonation and increased reliability.
MIDDLE EAST EXTENSION Maryland-based Arinc opened a customer service office in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, last week to support its aviation and airport clients in the Middle East and Africa. The offices are located in the newly developed West Wing of the Dubai Airport Free Zone.
SATELLITE COUNT Amateur satellite trackers counted two new satellites in orbit after an Atlas IIAS/Centaur lifted off from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., with a classified U.S. National Reconnaissance Office payload on board. The sightings settled the question of whether the NRO was launching a full package of ocean surveillance platforms, or rounding out a cell of three satellites after a rumored payload failure in 2001. The earlier launch also deployed two satellites, suggesting any failure then did not involve a third spacecraft.
