There must be some compelling reason for the European Space Agency (ESA) to be planning to spend $3.28 billion on the Galileo satellite navigation system, which appears to be totally redundant to GPS. Any reason beyond the purely political escapes me. At the same time, $650 million for a second Soyuz crew rescue vehicle for the International Space Station is said to be "too expensive." A second Soyuz would allow a doubling of the ISS crew and offer a much better use of scarce space funds than Galileo. I hope ESA will reexamine its funding priorities.
Newly adopted measures will enable the European Commission (EC) to quickly create an all-new legal framework to handle bilateral relations between the European Union's (EU) 15 member states and the rest of the world. According to EC Vice President Loyola de Palacio, the initiative clears the way for the opening of negotiations between EU members and the U.S., "an uppermost priority." Measures include a negotiating mandate covering air traffic agreements with third countries.
Charter carrier Britannia Airways signed a $1.6-million contract with IBM to equip 430 pilots with IBM Thinkpad X24 laptop computers to be used to access manuals for the Boeing 757 and 767 during flight. The agreement follows a trial that included certification of the units to standards pertaining to altitude, decompression, overpressure, electromagnetic current and other requirements set forth by the U.K.'s Civil Aviation Authority.
Southwest Airlines, tightening its grip in the Eastern region, next month is to begin a $65-million construction of a new wing at New York's Long Island MacArthur Airport terminal, a move that will enable the carrier to increase services in the region--not to mention stir up the low-fare competition.
While "space" has become an essential, integral part of the U.S. economy, the military use of space has a long way to go, according to Air Force generals who participated in the recent Schriever II space war game. The employment of space for military purposes today has evolved to about the same maturity level as the use of aircraft during World War I, a one-star suggested. Spacecraft now perform "force enhancement" duties such as reconnaissance, surveillance, navigation, missile warning and communications.
Senior Editor David Hughes (right) and aviation photographer Jim Haseltine flew on a C-17 mission from the U.S. to Germany that was delayed due to a major snowstorm on the East Coast. Interviews over two days at USAFE's Rhein-Main Air Base provided a snapshot of the third largest airlift in history (see p. 56). In 1996, Hughes wrote about a C-17 mission from Rhein-Main to Tuzla, Bosnia. He flew the C-5 and C-141 in the USAF Reserve before retiring.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) began to examine NASA's overall chain of command for assessing shuttle program risk, at the board's first public hearing here Mar. 6. The initial hearing set the stage for a more formal examination of shuttle safety management issues, such as how the flight readiness review (FRR) process allowed the launch of the STS-113 mission last November followed by Columbia in January--after a serious Lockheed Martin external tank debris incident on the STS-112 flight last October.
Herb Archer (see photo), a program manager for BAE Systems Information and Electronic Warfare Systems, Nashua, N.H., has won the division's Albert B. Wight Award. Archer was cited for leadership in developing a rapid prototype digital receiver for the F/A-22 Raptor and F-35 programs.
Tracy Rogge has been promoted to vice president-finance from controller for Delaware North Parks Services of Spaceport Inc., which operates the Kennedy Space Center Visitor Complex for NASA. Rick Hensler has been named marketing director, Jeannette Petrolia director of education/general manager of the Astronaut Hall of Fame and Steve Geis director of operations and guest services.
Researchers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) have found a massive cloud of gas around Jupiter using a new imaging technique and one of the instruments on NASA's Cassini Saturn probe. Ringing the planet at the orbit of its moon Europa, the neutral gas torus was created by the action of radiation on the moon's water-ice surface. "Where Io's volcanoes are constantly spewing . . .
Space shuttle wing leading edge tiles experience sizable aerodynamic forces, which is why they are bolted on instead of glued. The forces on the bolts and their mounts on the leading edge frame apparently include significant shear and compression.
Boeing will close its Pueblo, Colo., plant this summer as part of a move to consolidate all Delta launch vehicle manufacturing and assembly operations at the company's Decatur, Ala., facility. The 250-person Pueblo plant has been responsible for Delta II work, and Decatur handled Delta IV assembly. About 160 jobs will transfer from Pueblo to Decatur, leaving approximately 90 people at the Colorado facility to support storage of Delta II vehicles through 2007 under an Air Force contract.
The Bush administration is reviewing national defense policy on "space control." But it's looking like there may not be big changes. That's because the Clinton administration stealthily crafted a much more aggressive stance than previously thought on protecting the nation's space capabilities and denying an adversary the use of space. Publicly, the Clinton administration acted as if the Pentagon's space force options were fairly limited. But the national policy established in secret some time during 1996 actually gives Strategic Command fairly wide latitude.
Jetsgo, the Montreal-based discount carrier founded in June 2002, is taking delivery of its eighth MD-80 jet aircraft, which will enable expansion to Calgary and Edmonton and new long-range services. Airline President Michel Leblanc said Jetsgo, a private company, was profitable in its first six months, with an average load factor of 74.7%. Its strategy is based on taking a small market share on popular short-haul routes in eastern Canada that can connect with long-haul flights. Services to New York and Fort Lauderdale, Fla., have "been going well," Leblanc said.
Analysis that finds the "case for any new bomber options has been undercut by events and technology" (AW&ST Jan. 13, p. 28) needs to be questioned. Such analysis seems to be ignoring the implications of technical developments that permit the stand-off, all-weather precision engagement of fixed and moving targets using seekerless munitions such as the Joint Direct Attack Munition and Joint Stand-Off Weapon (AW&ST Dec. 2, 2002, pp. 66-70).
Honda Motor Co. and Teledyne Continental Motors Inc. have agreed to conduct a joint feasibility study for a next-generation piston engine for general aviation aircraft, now under development by Honda. It will examine potential business opportunities for both parties, including marketing, manufacturing and servicing, as well as identifying launch customers for the engines, according to Teledyne Continental. A prototype engine designed by Honda has been undergoing testing for the past two years at Teledyne's facilities in Mobile, Ala.
The Franco-American political dispute regarding Iraq has not yet dampened the drive to forge more defense-related transatlantic partnerships, French aerospace industry executives say. However, relationships were seriously shaken in the last few months by the perceived shutout of some of Europe from the Joint Strike Fighter program. Moreover, France's vocal opposition to the Bush administration's policy on Iraq continues to be a factor.
Midwest Airlines decided to officially change its name and symbol on Mar. 1 to coincide with the recent delivery of its first of 25 new Boeing 717-200 twinjets--and the start of strategic planning for the future. According to Midwest Chairman and CEO Timothy E. Hoeksema, the company opted to eliminate the word "express" because customers associated it with regional operations--not the carrier's nonstop service to major destinations. He said the booking confusion resulted in the loss of millions of dollars each year.
James L. Peck Jr., Frank C. Weaver and Miller Adams, all from Boeing, and Angele D. Harrison and William Harrison, 3rd, both from the Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. (LMAC), are among 2003 recipients of Black Engineer of the Year awards. Peck, a space shuttle engineer with Boeing's NASA Systems division in Huntington Beach, Calif., received the Outstanding Technical Contribution Award. He designs optical communication systems for payloads and has evaluated optical systems that can be applied to next-generation light and space vehicles.
Swiss International Air Lines may have reduced fleet size, manpower and European destinations (AW&ST Mar. 3, p. 15), but it plans to maintain frequency and capacity on Moscow routes, where there is steady growth in passenger volume. Markus Albrecht, airline's general manager for Russia and Ukraine, says the 116,300 passengers were carried at this route last year, 10% more than its predecessor Swissair in 2001. From Moscow, Swiss operates operates two daily flights to Zurich and one to Geneva.
Want to stimulate interest in space exploration? How about offering a $50-billion reward (1/10th NASA's estimated cost) for the first organization to transport and safely return a person to Mars. Award money was used to inspire many significant accomplishments in global exploration. It is time to use prize money to explore outer space and fulfill currently unattainable feats with reasonable expense. Money could come by making painful cuts to our existing "status quo"-oriented space program.
Funding for expansion at Kansai International Airport serving the Osaka area, and development of a new international gateway at Nagoya, dominate the fiscal 2003 budget plan that begins Apr. 1 for Japan's Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport. The total budget is $3.9 billion, 0.3% less than fiscal 2002, and continues the ministry's policy of spending more on expansion and improvement at large city airports such as Tokyo, Osaka and Nagoya than at small city airports.
The U.S. State Dept. is flying highly modified, armored agricultural aircraft in Colombia, spraying illicit coca crops with herbicide. Eight of the two-place Air Tractor AT-802 single-engine turboprops have been built in Olney, Tex., and at least three are being flown in Colombia by contractor pilots under a U.S.-Colombian drug interdiction program. The eradi- cation effort is focused on industrial fields of coca, which often are defended by workers who fire at spray aircraft.
There are many warfare challenges that would benefit by doing things at the speed of light (AW&ST Jan. 27, p. 50). There are many challenges, period, that would benefit by this capability. There is a semantics difficulty with terminology here, a cheap sales trick, if you will; we need to develop total optical systems, from sensor to actuator. A system that uses light in part, but electronics or something else in series is not a system that does things at the speed of light; all it amounts to is a lie by a digital sales weenie.
Lockheed Martin is planning a demonstration of advanced capabilities for the F/A-22 Raptor stealth fighter and F-35 Joint Strike Fighter beginning in November on a test range near Edwards AFB, Calif. These experiments are designed to show that a single F/A-22 can control four unmanned aircraft, that a limited jamming capability can be shared among stealth aircraft to create an offensive weapon and that F/A-22s will team with F-117s for 24-hr. stealth operations.
