Cosmonaut Yuri Onufriyenko and Astronaut Carl Walz installed a second Russian transfer crane and a ham radio antenna on the International Space Station during a 6-hr. extravehicular activity on Jan. 14, the first for the Expedition 4 crew and the seventh from ISS without a space shuttle present. Another EVA is set for Jan. 25, when Onufriyenko and Astronaut Dan Bursch are scheduled to install three more ham antennas and thruster deflector shields on the Zvezda module. Astronauts and cosmonauts often communicate with ham radio operators.
After numerous postponements that delayed the project more than two years, Europe's multibillion-dollar Envisat Earth-monitoring satellite is finally set to be deployed.
The U.S. military services, along with the National Reconnaissance Office, NASA and industry, are embarking on a major transformation of the U.S. military communications satellite network. The objective is to make the system--with its numerous programs, dozens of spacecraft and thousands of terminals--far more responsive to the highly mobile combined-force coalition warfare--undertaken in Afghanistan and planned for other locations--in response to the Sept. 11 attacks. Military lessons from Kosovo are another key impetus.
ARINC PLANS TO DEMONSTRATE A NEW INFLIGHT BROADBAND communication capability this year that will bring television, e-mail and two-way Internet access--using Ku-band satellite services--to passengers in equipped aircraft. The aircraft will be able to receive at 10 megabits (Mbps.) per sec., but what distinguishes the company's system is the broadband return link that will allow the aircraft to transmit 2 Mbps. via Ku-band transponders on the AMC-6 geostationary satellite.
Switzerland's new national carrier Crossair needs more time to reach agreement on joining a global alliance. CEO Andre Dose had planned to announce his decision in January, but now said it would take at least until March. Executives of the three alliances are known to have voiced concerns about the planned size of Crossair's hub in Zurich, which would compete with their own networks. The airline has made a decision in principle on its new name, but has so far not made it public.
L-3 Communications Corp., which has lost out time and again to deep-pocketed rivals in its bid to acquire a premier defense electronics business, finally has prevailed and is now poised to become a major player in the secretive world of intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR). The New York-based company--created four years ago from a collection of disparate operations spun off after the merger of Lockheed and Martin Marietta--plans to purchase most of Raytheon Co.'s Aircraft Integration Systems (AIS).
European banking, credit card, software and infotech leaders are joining together to issue smart-chip cards for business travelers so they can take advantage of secure Internet systems to make flight and hotel arrangements. The partners are SITA, the global airline/travel infotech provider; Groupement des Cartes Bancaires, which operates the CB interbank system in France; SSB (Societa per i Servizi Bancari), an Italian interbank company, with expertise in electronic payment services; Gemplus, a smart-card hardware and software specialist, and Sagem, a mobile phone maker.
In an effort to further slash production costs and temporarily halt growth because of weakening demand, Airbus plans to eliminate nearly 6,000 jobs by the end of the year. However, that goal is expected to be achieved relatively smoothly, with no outright firings of employees.
W. Nicholas Howley has been named president/CEO of TransDigm Inc., Richmond Heights, Ohio. He succeeds Douglas W. Peacock, who is now semiretired but will remain as chairman. Howley was president/chief operating officer.
ROCKWELL COLLINS' POLHEMUS INC. HAS DEVELOPED an advanced head-mounted eye-tracking system with applications for human factors research, evaluation of flying/driving performance, and psycho-visual experiments. The integrated turnkey system for eye and target tracking, called VisionTrak, auto-tracks the center of the pupil and records the subject's eye image and raw eye movements. Combined with the company's well known Fastrak electromagnetic head-tracking system, the setup can provide a complete eye and head tracking solution.
The U.S. Transportation Dept. invited airlines to apply for 14 additional weekly frequencies for third-country code-share service between the U.S. and Turkey. They will be available Apr. 1 in the third and final year of transition to unrestricted operations under the 2000 U.S.-Turkey open-skies aviation agreement. For the first two years, 35 such frequencies have been divided among United (14, with Lufthansa), Northwest (14, with KLM) and Delta (seven, with Air France). Continental already seeks all 14 new ones for code-share service with KLM to Istanbul via Amsterdam.
Weighed down by a technical failure that sidelined its Ariane 5 heavy-lift booster for the second half of the year, Arianespace reported a sharp decline in sales and a continuing, though reduced, loss for 2001.
The Pentagon's U.S. Transportation Command at Scott AFB, Ill., is holding a competition for a new Global Transportation Network (GTN) management system. Called GTN 21, the Web-based command and control system will include decision support and crisis response for defense transport. The 16-year GTN contract is expected to be worth $337 million, and the competition is being managed by the Air Force's Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom AFB, Mass. The current GTN has already become Web-based with encrypted servers, and averages 2,500 queries daily from its 6,000 users.
This series of vertical lift modules is designed for storage and retrieval of materials having unknown or varying dimensions. The Flexible Modula Series F500 incorporates a ``dynamic allocation'' feature that senses by photocell the height of the product in the trays and automatically locates the appropriate space needed for the trays within the unit. Fixed storage shelves in the unit allow for many usable tray locations.
M-Test 4.0 software is a motor testing program for Windows-based data acquisition that helps determine the performance and characteristics of a motor under test. The data generated by the program can be stored, displayed or printed in tabular or graphic formats, and imported into a spreadsheet. The software is designed for simulating loads, cycling the unit under test, and motor ramping. Tests can be programmed to run on their own and saved for future use, saving time in production testing and incoming/outgoing inspection.
This line of solid wall swaged inserts for aerospace and military applications offers designers weight saving, space saving and strength benefits. The minimum boss required for installation helps enhance thread life and performance. The inserts also feature a locking knurl design that facilitates installation and provides high torque-out performance in soft and hard parent materials. The swaged inserts are available in #4 through 1/2-in., and 5-10-mm. dia., and UNJF, UNJC and metric threads.
U.S. Air Force science and technology programs are heading for some cosmetic surgery, prompted by a congressionally-mandated review and the Pentagon's desire to increase spending in this area. Congress ordered the Air Force to reassess its S&T spending plans out of frustration that they weren't well defined. The service has come under fire for under-funding its long-term research activities.
The SmartMotor is a line of integrated servo motors (closed-loop servo motor, amplifier and controller) designed for machine control and automated tasks. The units have capabilities for multi-axis coordinated motion and G-Code software, and can be used to control an entire machine through on board input/output links. Frame sizes range from standard NEMA 17 to NEMA 56, with speeds up to 18,000 rpm.
Somalia will be attacked by U.S. forces, probably within a month, if that country's leaders don't move to expel Al Qaeda, say Air Force officials. Heavy B-1 and B-52 bombers and long-range F-15 attack aircraft will be used to pound headquarters, troop concentrations, command and control cells, communications centers and weapons storage sites ``of which there are a lot,'' a senior service official said. The expanding scope of operations may be influenced by a growing belief within intelligence circles that Osama bin Laden is dead.
Rear Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, Jr., 86., son of U.S. Navy Fleet Adm. Chester W. Nimitz, died with his wife, Joan, 89, on Jan. 2 in Needham, Mass. Their daughter said ill health prompted the couple to take their own lives. The younger Nimitz, who graduated from The Naval Academy at Annapolis in 1936, commanded a submarine that sank a Japanese destroyer in World War 2. He left the military in 1957 as a captain, joined Texas Instruments and PerkinElmer Corp. and retired from the civilian sector in 1980.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) is scheduled to begin operating a specially-modified Gulfstream V business jet in 2005. The airplane's chief mission will be to investigate effects of the earth's changing climate--including clouds, greenhouse gas concentrations, aerosol plumes, and other environmental factors--at altitudes above 50,000 ft. Designated the High-Performance, Instruments, Airborne Platform for Environmental Research (HIAPER), the twin-engine airplane will be built at Gulfstream's facilities in Savannah, Ga.
This is a 350-deg. gas-heated tunnel oven used for drying water from aluminum parts hung on a monorail pass-through conveyor. The workload passes through a 24-in.-long insulated, unheated entrance vestibule, a 144-in.-long insulated heat zone with recirculated air flow, and a 24-in.-long insulated, unheated exit vestibule. The unit has a bottom-mounted heat chamber, and a side door for access to the chamber and workspace. The oven is suspended from the ceiling of the manufacturing facility, and is operated by a remote control panel.
This company will adapt a patented NASA technology for use on the U.S. Coast Guard's fleet of HH-65 Dolphin helicopters. The tailboom strake modification is based on technology created at NASA's Langley Research Center, and is known to improve helicopter control characteristics. The Coast Guard expects the device to help expand yaw control safety margins and reduce pilot workload. If the strake device proves effective it may become part of a Coast Guard helicopter refurbishment program.
Comair, the Delta Connection carrier that took a costly 89-day pilots' strike last spring, is rebounding at a fast rate, but the regional jet pioneer still has a long way to go before it catches up to the ambitious growth goals it had set prior to the strike and Sept. 11. ``An airline is so much like a weight lifter,'' said Fred Buttrell, the new president and CEO of Delta Connection Inc. ``It takes years to get in shape and only a couple of weeks to get out of shape. Those 89 days set us back almost two years in projected growth levels.''
THE AMERICAN SOCIETY FOR TESTING and Materials (ASTM) has reintroduced the 91/98 octane fuel specification for general aviation aircraft. According to the EAA, which is a key player in the search for a non-leaded fuel to replace 100LL (low lead) aviation gasoline, in 1968 ASTM shelved the 91/98 specification, but it has resurfaced as a leading candidate to replace 100LL. ``This fuel can safely and efficiently serve the majority of small-aircraft powerplants,'' said Earl Lawrence, secretary of ASTM's Key Aviation Gasoline Committee.
