The Galileo spacecraft made the first polar magnetic measurements of Io on Aug. 6, which will help determine whether the Jovian moon has its own magnetic field. Prior Io approaches went by the equator, and the 200-km. flyby of the north pole should help separate an intrinsic field from one induced by Jupiter's varying magnetosphere. The spacecraft is in generally good health, but at least nine of the 16 camera observations were ruined by a recurring electronics problem (AW&ST June 4, p. 38). The next Io flyby is set for Oct. 16, over the south pole.
Hoping to overcome environmental objections, San Francisco International Airport (SFO) officials have scaled back the amount of fill that their most intrusive runway proposal on San Francisco Bay would require. But the Sierra Club and other opponents still regard any airport expansion plan that enters the Bay as unacceptable.
The CompactPCI Pl-2005 pattern generator features a 225-MHz. clock rate and near-infinite looping capability. The Pl-2005 can generate a wide range of digital patterns for any test application requiring a serial or parallel digital data stream. It is expandable to 64 output channels in 16-channel increments and features 64K memory depth per channel, and start/stop trigger inputs. A phase locked loop clock provides high-resolution timing for precision control of timing signals.
The Pentagon is taking another stab at trying to intercept ballistic missiles from space with kinetic kill interceptors, reviving a concept President Clinton killed in his first year in office.
Rexlon 2000 is a self-lubricated material for high-performance aerospace bearings. Rexlon 2000 is a polymeric composite offering lower cost and full machinability not available with conventional fabric-backed liners. The material can be sprayed or molded to most metallic surfaces to provide a bearing surface with vibration dampening, minimal friction and wear, for an operating temperature range of -65F to +325F. Rexlon 2000 is now qualified to Mil-B-81934 and soon to Mil-B-81820. Request Bulletin No. 1506. PSI Bearings/Rexnord, 2175 Union Place, Simi Valley, Calif.
British Airways Concorde flight crews began refresher training operations at Shannon, Ireland, last week. Alpha Foxtrot, the first of BA's supersonic transports to undergo safety modifications, took off from London Heathrow airport for Shannon on Aug. 7. The crew completed a supersonic flight cycle to the west of Ireland to replicate a London-New York service before landing at Shannon. Training at Shannon will include up to 35 takeoffs/landings. BA hopes to resume normal services with the supersonic transport in September.
USN Vice Adm. (ret.) Edward Moore, Jr., has become vice president-systems integration for the Anteon Corp.'s Applied Technology Group of San Diego. He was commander of the Pacific Fleet Naval Surface Force.
The Civil Aviation Administration of China has worked for years to improve a national airline industry dogged by overcapacity, reckless price wars, heavy debt and poor services. But the industry's financial performance for the first half of the year shows the CAAC hasn't found the formula yet, especially in terms of yield management. The 20 carriers under its financial supervision racked up a cumulative 2.23-billion yuan ($285.9-million) loss for the period.
The FAA is proposing an airworthiness directive that would require correction of faulty circuitry on the Garmin GNS 430, an integrated navigation and communication system installed in some 1,985 general aviation aircraft stateside. Yet, two years ago, the company notified the FAA when it discovered a few instances of inaccurate course deviation indications on instrument approaches. The problem was traced to one vendor's components, which met specifications, but in some instances led to a faulty indication for the pilot.
Richard Alena of NASA's Ames Research Center and Dan Duncavage of the Johnson Space Center have developed a laptop diagnostic tool for the International Space Station. The Databus Analysis Tool (DAT) monitors status and command message traffic between on-board control computers and major subsystems, including the station's solar arrays, docking ports and gyroscopes. The diagnostic tool is integrated into an off-the-shelf Pass 1000 system from SBS Technologies, which includes analysis software and a hardware interface in a PC card format.
David Boggess (see photos) has been appointed managing director of client support and Walter Slazyk director of technical operations for SimuFlite Training International, Dallas-Fort Worth Inter- national Airport. Boggess was director of training support, while Slazyk was senior manager of technical operations.
The FAA proposed a $50,000 civil penalty against Sikorsky Support Services, charging that the company violated hazardous materials regulations by shipping three aviation fuel control units containing residual amounts of flammable liquid. FedEx received the units last Oct. 30 and carried them by air from Alabama to its air cargo facility in Albuquerque, N.M., where an FAA special security agent found on Nov. 2 that leaking fuel had saturated a corner of the shipment's outer packing, the agency said.
Janco Aviation Pte Ltd. will distribute spares and retrofit sales for Smiths Aerospace's Flight Management Systems on Boeing 737s for Pacific Rim customers.
RECON/OPTICAL WILL USE Mercury's Race ++ conduction-cooled multicomputers in its new CA-279 digital aerial reconnaissance camera. Mercury's image processing system will produce near-real-time pictures. According to Recon/Optical, it will be able to provide images in both the visible and infrared spectrum simultaneously. Mercury has repackaged its air-cooled boards to operate in a conduction-cooled environment. This cools and protects the boards from external air in both the thin air of high-altitude flight and the corrosive environment of a battlefield.
That old problem--financial uncertainty--is facing Japan's newest offshore airport project for the central industrial city of Nagoya. Yukihisa Hirano, a board member of Toyota Motors and president of the Central Japan International Airport Co., said construction of the airport on a 1,432-acre man-made island in Ise Bay is on schedule. But he warned that the project, which is nicknamed Centrair for ``central [Japan] airport,'' is under increasing funding pressure.
The XT ``Xtreme Torque'' series was designed for applications requiring the highest torque in the smallest envelope. About one-third the size of a standard power-off conventional clutch or brake, XT products provide an economical and space-saving solution for aerospace and military applications, robotics, computer chip and cleanroom handling equipment, automation machinery and material handling equipment. Electroid's Model XT-39C is a power-off or ``failsafe'' clutch that is 2.59 in. high, with a diameter of 3.4 in., yet offers a holding torque of 100 in.-lb.
More than $500 million in Air Force Eastern Range and 45th Space Wing upgrades to enable more rapid, cost-effective launch operations at Cape Canaveral and Kennedy Space Center received a baptism by fire last week by supporting major Titan and Delta launches and a space shuttle countdown--all in the span of four days. Thunderstorms near Pad 39A during the late phases of Discovery's initial countdown scrubbed a planned Aug. 9 shuttle liftoff, but additional attempts were planned late last week, depending upon the weather.
Boeing is looking at transitioning its 747 final assembly operations to a continuously moving production line in an effort to reduce flow time and unit costs. At the same time, program managers have determined that the top preferences of 747 operators for near-term improvements to the aircraft are reduced engine noise, development of cabin overhead space and installation of 777-style interiors.
The FAA--facing a Sept. 15 expiration of LaGuardia's slot allocation lottery and having no long-term solution for the airport's congestion woes in the offing--last week extended the plan to Oct. 26, 2002. The agency also is calling airlines back to the gaming tables this week to participate in another lottery to reallocate 19 unused slot exemptions at the airport.
Northrop Grumman is preparing to conduct flight tests aimed at demonstrating the capability of an aircraft with a reshaped forward fuselage to reduce the intensity of sonic booms at ground level. Charles Boccadoro, Northrop Grumman's Quiet Supersonic Platform (QSP) program manager, said the demonstrations will involve the use of a pair of baseline and modified F-5E aircraft to conduct about 18 flights at different altitudes and in various weather conditions. The tests are to begin in about one year.
Belgium's Sabena wants to slash 1,600 jobs and sell several company divisions to achieve a financial turnaround. Among the divisions up for sale are Sabena Catering, Technics, cargo and hotels. Sabena CEO Christoph Mueller said he wants to focus on 11 Airbus A330s as a long-haul fleet. The carrier will reduce its short-haul fleet from 66 to 60 aircraft. Regional jets may be added from April 2002. Because of strikes, the airline had to cancel close to 200 flights late last week.
Dy 4 Systems released SVME/DMV-570, a flash nonvolatile mass memory module designed for harsh and rugged applications where large amounts of nonvolatile, mass memory are required to store extensive databases such as theater area maps or video/satellite imagery. The SVME/DMV-570 provides solid-state nonvolatile memory without the need for shock and vibration isolators and environmental enclosures normally required for media mass storage devices.
