Michael A. Taverna (Paris), Alexey Komarov (Moscow), Frank Morring Jr. (Washington)
International Space Station managers are finalizing plans for a replacement crew to ensure continued manning of the orbital facility while NASA's space shuttle fleet is grounded. They also are considering near- and medium-term options from Europe and Russia to meet logistics requirements.
Sheila Widnall, when she was Air Force secretary, used to joke that the Earth is covered two-thirds by water--and one-third by launch studies. That was true nearly a decade ago, and is still true today. Americans have studied the national policy options and prescriptions for new launchers until the studies themselves have become a virtual cottage industry. And every time we've looked at the technology costs associated with building a new reusable launcher, we've blanched at the price tag and complexity.
Arianespace has been selected to launch the WildBlue 1 dedicated Ka-band satellite, getting the beleaguered launch firm off to a good commercial start in 2003 and marking another key milestone in the newly resuscitated WildBlue project. The win also served as a fitting counterpoint to the final Ariane 4 mission in mid-month as Arianespace completed its transition to the heavier Ariane 5, which will launch the new satellite.
Entry into service of the Nimrod MRA4 has been delayed at least until 2009, with the British Defense Ministry now unwilling to commit to production until it is satisfied development aircraft meet its requirement.
David Paddock has been promoted to vice president from a director within the asset management practice and Christopher Dailey to consultant from researcher/analyst within that group, for New York-based SH&E.
The Russian Federation and European Space Agency have signed a new cooperation and partnership agreement that is expected to sharply expand their collaboration in space. Replacing a previous pact signed in 1990, the agreement expands cooperation to areas such as launchers and manned and unmanned planetary exploration. The accord could lead to Russian participation in ESA's Aurora planetary exploration and future launcher technologies programs and installation of a Soyuz launchpad at its Kourou, French Guiana, spaceport
Embedded avionics systems can be overloaded by the desire for rapid transmission of video, audio and data. InfiniBand is a high-speed interconnect architecture being pushed as a solution to the problem. Besides having a 10-gigabit/sec. data rate, it is fault tolerant, low delay, secure and compliant with DO-178B avionics standards. "A switched, serial I/O technology such as InfiniBand provides the performance required for networking tomorrow's avionics platforms together today," said Kent English, a Boeing Phantom Works research and development engineer.
Robert D. Baker has been promoted to vice president-sales and marketing at Whittaker Controls Inc., North Hollywood, Calif., from marketing director for its ground fueling business.
South Korea demonstrated supersonic flight with its T-50 Golden Eagle last week, but the indigenously designed advanced jet trainer also is showing great stability at slow speeds with a low angle of attack, its design team reports.
ENSTROM HELICOPTER CORP. ended 2002 with nine deliveries including six in the second half of the year. These included 480B turbine-powered aircraft and 280FX piston-powered models. The Menominee, Mich.-based manufacturer has established a global network of 25 dealers and has undergone changes in management. Steve Daniels, who became president of the company in June, expects to deliver up to 18 aircraft this year.
Columbia Reentry Flight Director Leroy Cain said the moment one of his flight controllers reported abnormal sensor data from the orbiter's left wing during reentry Feb. 1, he thought of the launch impact debris analysis performed on the left wing in the days prior to reentry. "Did it flash into my mind . . . yes, absolutely. I and my other [controllers] knew we were in a very dire situation. But our training kicked in and we did what we needed to do."
Missile maker MBDA and SNPE Energetic Materials have merged their tactical missile propulsion activities into a new company, marking the first step in creation of a pan-European solid propulsion entity to compete with TDK of the U.S. (AW&ST Jan. 20, p. 24). The French-based Roxel will bring together SNPE-EADS joint venture Celerg, which supplies programs such as Europe's Aster antimissile weapon, and the Rocket Motors Div. of BAE Systems Royal Ordnance unit, which provides rocket motors for the Asraam air-to-air missile and other systems.
High-altitude airspace over the 48 contiguous states will get a capacity-enhancing makeover, beginning in May, as part of the FAA's rolling five-year plan for National Airspace System (NAS) redesign.
Custom Reprints: Custom Reprints (minimum order 1,000). Phone: 212-512-4170; Fax: 212-512-6243; Email: [email protected] Black and White Photocopies: Contact: Copyright Clearance Center; Phone: 978-750-8400; Fax: 978-750-4470; Web address: www.copyright.com Please note that the maximum number of copies granted for commercial use is 500. Schools may obtain permission to make up to 1,000 copies for classroom use. Fee per copy is $2.85 per copy.
SMA HAS APPOINTED AeroDiesel Engines in Monterrey, Mexico, as a distributor of SMA diesel engines. The company will promote, sell, retrofit and maintain engines installed in Cessna 182, 206 and 210-series and Piper PA-25 and PA-34 airplanes. This month AeroDiesel is scheduled to take delivery of a Cessna 182 fitted with the new powerplant, which burns jet fuel instead of aviation gasoline. The airplane will be on display at the AeroExpo2003 show on Mar. 6-9. SMA, owned by EADS, Renault and Snecma, plans to have approval for the Cessna 182 and TB20 this quarter.
The Italian army has taken delivery of its first upgraded A129 Mangusta CBT combat helicopters while it considers possible future enhancements to the aircraft. These initial units will be used for training purposes.
Attempting to placate both domestic political opinion and meet its NATO commitments, Germany will allow its E-3A AWACS personnel to be operationally deployed to Turkey, but with a caveat: that they be restricted to taking part only in defensive operations. Germany was one of three nations which had blocked such a deployment. However, NATO member states last week finally agreed to send forces to Turkey for "defensive measures" as preparations for a potential war with Iraq continue.
Battling to maintain its position in terms of providing strike weaponry, Raytheon is looking to launch its next-generation Paveway precision-guided bomb--Paveway IV--on the back of a British Defense Ministry contract for which the company is now bidding.
Mar. 10-11--European Transport Leaders Conference. Landmark Hotel, London. Mar. 12-13--Toulouse Symposium. Toulouse (France) Congress Center. Mar. 27-28--Defense Budget Conference. Holiday Inn, Rosslyn, Va. Apr. 15-17--MRO 2003 & MRO Latin America. Broward County Convention Center, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. May 6-8--Aerospace Defense & Finance Conference. Grand Hyatt Hotel, New York. May 14-16--Homeland Security Summit & Exposition. Hyatt Regency Crystal City, Arlington, Va.
Pratt & Whitney has completed FAA FAR 25 flight testing at Boeing Co. on its 94-in.-fan PW4000 engine. The testing centered on a new high compressor case design that was FAA FAR 35-certified in November 2002. The design, which is aimed at eliminating compressor surge at high-power take off, is being incorporated into new production engines and will be made available to airlines for installation at overhaul beginning in March.
Raytheon Co. received a $43.2-million firm fixed-price contract modification for an additional 142 Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missiles, the third additional order in the Lot 16 contract, bringing the total order to 916. The award by the U.S. Air Force Air Armament Center Counterair Joint Systems Program Office at Eglin AFB, Fla., provides five additional years of options with a potential value of nearly $2 billion and a total of up to 5,000 missiles. They will be produced for the U.S.
Angela Phillips Diaz has become deputy associate NASA administrator for education. She was assistant associate administrator for policy and plans in the Office of Space Flight at NASA headquarters.
Cathay Pacific has completed the bulk of the transition to a new aircraft maintenance and inventory management system, replacing its home-grown Empacs system that was 25 years old. Besides shifting to the new architecture, about 1 million records had to be transferred from Empacs to the new Ultramain system, made by Software Solutions Unlimited of New Mexico.
