NASA hopes to ask for proposals early next year to privatize the space shuttle (see p. 42), but Bush Administration insiders still see some big stumbling blocks to turning over the fleet. The idea is for the government to retain ownership of shuttle assets while industry operates them. Ultimately, that would lead to what NASA now terms commercialization, in which industry would own the fleet and NASA would be only one of many customers. Privatizing the shuttle by 2004 is considered ambitious, though.
Held hostage to national pride, Belgium intends to form a new carrier to succeed Sabena even though such an objective is at odds with the widely recognized need to consolidate Europe's fragmented airline industry. The government of Prime Minister Guy Verhofstadt is supporting efforts to establish Delta Air Transport (DAT), Sabena's regional arm, as a viable airline flying the Belgian flag. However, the government has no plan to acquire a stake in the revamped carrier.
NASA managers and pork barrel politicians like to stress that money for space projects isn't spent in space, but on the ground. In addition to their manufacturing and systems work, Boeing and Lockheed Martin compete for the money to be earned on the ground in supporting space operations and selling services generated in space.
Although its commercial satellite business is struggling in a depressed market, Lockheed Martin remains a powerhouse in the space science arena. Its recent win of the 2005 Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter contract reaffirmed the company's long-held dominance in planetary exploration, and it is a strong contender for the Next Generation Space Telescope. TRW leads a competing team to build NGST (AW&ST Oct. 15, p. 80).
NASA picked a team headed by Southwest Research Institute to enter preliminary design studies for a mission to Pluto and the Kuiper Belt set for launch in 2006 (see illustration). The ``New Horizons'' mission would fly by Pluto well before 2020, when the planet's atmosphere will begin to precipitate out from the cold as it moves away from the Sun in its eccentric 248-year orbit. The Bush Administration has scrubbed a Pluto mission in its budget requests, but Congress added money for one in the Fiscal 2002 NASA appropriation (AW&ST Nov. 12, p. 30).
The Russian Glonass navigation spacecraft system continues to limp along, but the launch of three new spacecraft will bring the network to just over one-third capability. Only six Glonass satellites have been functional in recent months. The latest additions will increase the constellation to nine out of an ideal 24-spacecraft system. The new Glonass satellites were launched Dec. 1 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on a Khrunichev Proton K booster. They were to maneuver into 19,000-km. (11,800-mi.) orbits inclined 64.8 deg.
The four military branches' fixation on their own unique, service-specific needs and their short shrift of Defense Dept.-wide requirements are hobbling efforts to successfully attack time-critical targets, say congressional analysts. ``Each military service plans and acquires systems to meet requirements under its own concept of operations,'' they report in a new General Accounting Office study.
The Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser (WCMD), used in combat for the first time in the Afghanistan conflict, is designed to dispense submunitions such as antipersonnel bomblets, antitank slugs and land mines. The bomb's guidance system is designed to make corrections for wide wind variations as the weapon descends from 40,000 ft. or more.
The Machinists union, seeking a new contract for 15,000 mechanics and related employees at United Airlines, scheduled a membership vote Dec. 13 on authorizing a strike. The union is free to strike Dec. 21, but President Bush is expected to appoint a Presidential Emergency Board to investigate and recommend a settlement. Creating a board would extend the strike deadline by 60 days.
The company says the model L864 is the first LED-based flashing red beacon for marking radio and television towers and other obstacles that pose hazards to aircraft navigation. The light meets FAA, Transport Canada and ICAO requirements. Designed primarily as a replacement unit for 300-mm. incandescent red flashing beacons in existing installations, the L864 mounts to standard bolt patterns and requires no additional wiring, controllers or monitors.
Eurockot Launch Services of Bremen, Germany, has set a fourth-quarter 2002 launch window for the Canadian Space Agency's MOST space telescope and the Czech Astronomical Institute's Mimosa upper atmosphere research satellite. The Rockot launch vehicle, based on the Soviet-era SS-19 ICBM, is scheduled to place the 60-kg. Canadian spacecraft in a Sun-synchronous orbit, while the 66-kg. Czech platform will go into an elliptical orbit that will allow it to measure the density of the upper atmosphere.
Mary Ellen Bowers has been named general manager of aerospace and industrial products for Alcoa Wheel and Forged Products of Cleveland. She was director of global enterprise business solutions.
Scott J. Seymour has been named vice president of the Northrop Grumman Corp. of Los Angeles and president of its Integrated Systems Sector. He succeeds Ralph D. Crosby, Jr., who has resigned. Seymour was vice president of the sector's Air Combat Systems business area, El Segundo, Calif.
Peter Edwards has been appointed president of Montreal-based Bombardier Aerospace Business Aircraft. He was executive vice president-sales. Edwards succeeds Pierre Beaudoin, who is now president/chief operating officer of Bombardier Aerospace.
Boeing won big when it beat out incumbent Lockheed Martin to build the next generation of recce satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, but there is so much work and technical risk involved that there may still be roles for Lockheed Martin and other companies to play in the near term.
Software company Borland says its Kylix product is the first RAD (rapid-development environment) for the Linux operating system. Enhancing that is development by United Electronic Industries of a ``unit'' file that allows Kylix programs to make function calls directly into the PowerDAQ library, giving Kylix programmers access to the capabilities of PowerDAQ data acquisition and control boards. United Electronic Industries, 10 Dexter Ave., Watertown, Mass. 02472.
FLS Aerospace will provide maintenance support for U.K.-based EasyJet's fleet of Boeing 737-300/700s, under a 10- year $400 million contract. The contract includes component management, repair and technical services.
Malaysia has allotted 14 billion ringgit ($3.73 billion) for defense spending in its 2001-05 modernization plan. Defense Minister Najib Tun Razak said the first priority for spending to begin next year will be a heavy-lift helicopter for the Malaysian air force. The list includes a multirole combat aircraft, air defense systems, unmanned aerial vehicles, attack helicopters for the army and helicopters for the navy. Malaysia has down-selected the Sukhoi Su-30 MKM for the combat aircraft role.
Former astronaut Neil A. Armstrong has been named to receive the Wright Brothers Memorial Trophy from the National Aeronautic Assn. on Dec. 14 in Washington. The annual trophy is awarded for ``public service of enduring value, as a civilian, to aviation in the U.S.'' Armstrong was selected for his career achievements, which also includes service as a U.S. Navy pilot during the Korean War, a civilian test pilot for the National Advisory Committee for aeronautics and an engineering professor at the University of Cincinnati.
Air France Industries has been awarded a contract by South Korea's Asiana to maintain thrust reversers installed on 80 CF6-80 and 44 CFM56 engines, which power the airline's Boeing 747s, 767s and 737s.
Bell Helicopter Textron has delayed first flight of the BA609 civil tiltrotor until at least mid-2002. The first aircraft was to have flown this month from Bell's research and development facility in Arlington, Tex. A company official said the tiltrotor program has funding ``to keep it moving along'' and that engines have been installed in the two preproduction prototypes at Arlington. Bell still has orders for 80 aircraft. According to the official, the six-month delay is not related to the troubled Bell Boeing V-22 program.
RAF Air Chief Marshal (ret.) Sir John Willis (see photo) has been appointed chairman of London-based Rosetta Global Communications, a consortium that includes BAE Systems and the Lockheed Martin Corp.
Meanwhile, an Ariane 4 orbited a television broadcasting satellite for DirecTV--the 65th success in a row for the medium-lift booster, which is to be phased out in favor of the Ariane 5 in a year's time. The Ariane 5, currently idle while engineers test a new ignition sequence for its Aestus upper stage engine, is expected to return to service in February, for the Envisat Earth observing satellite mission.
The FAA turned down a request from FedEx to extend an exemption from Part 121 rules that would enable it to continue carrying journalists or photographers on board its flights. The exemption, last renewed in 1993, traces its lineage back to permission issued in 1978 to Flying Tiger Lines. Given the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11 and the absence of background, screening or security checks for journalists on all-cargo aircraft, ``it is presently not in the public interest to permit such access,'' the FAA said.
Lockheed Martin faces the challenge of carrying the momentum gained through its Russian RD-180 powered Atlas III to the new, more cost-effective Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle. The Atlas V EELV is set for its first flight in May with a European Eutelsat Hot Bird payload. Lockheed Martin and International Launch Services (ILS) must also take care to sustain an already strong global launch market position, while dealing with the higher risks inherent in a new booster.
