Who knew? There's heavy commuter traffic between Tokyo and Osaka, but most of it is on the East Japan Railway Corp.'s express train. So when Japan Airlines, All Nippon Airways and Japan Air System decided to try cracking the market with joint services, they weren't sure what to expect. They knew that individually they weren't succeeding. Operating together, they increased service frequencies, offering up to 36 round-trips a day and services on the half hour during peak travel times. Fares are slightly below those for first-class train tickets.
The early cruise phase of NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey mission was completed last week with the spacecraft's second trajectory correction maneuver (TCM) (see rendering). The thrusters on the spacecraft were fired for 23 sec. at 9:30 a.m. PDT on July 2 to fine-tune the flightpath by changing the spacecraft's velocity by 0.9 meters per sec. In addition to the latest TCM, all science payloads on the spacecraft have been checked out and are operating normally, according to project officials.
Scientists conducting early research on the International Space Station have found that the links set up to keep them in touch with their orbiting experiments work well. However, the on-board crew members aren't always available for scheduled science as they struggle with the inevitable problems of using a lab while they are building it.
Japan's government has developed eight proposals for the possible replacement of the U.S. Marine Corps' Futema AB on Okinawa that are intended to end long-standing complaints about noise and the Marines' presence. All offer a more ambitious runway proposal than was discussed previously.
Advanced Technical Products will manufacture composite airframe parts for 50 U.S. Air Force F-22 Raptor aircraft under a $22-million work order. The contract includes a follow-on potential of $135 million over the next eight years for an additional 289 aircraft.
NASA managers are quietly telling the European, Japanese and Canadian space agencies that they should push the Bush Administration, through diplomatic channels, to focus more White House attention on the impact of station cuts to the international partners.
A NEW STUDY RELEASED BY FORECAST INTERNATIONAL/DMS indicates a market for 7,300 business jets between 2001-10 with a value of about $115 billion. Sales would be distributed across five major companies--Gulfstream Aerospace Corp., Dassault Aviation, Bombardier Aerospace, Cessna Aircraft Co. and Raytheon Aircraft Co. In terms of production volume, Cessna would build 2,170 Citation-series jets and capture about 30% of the market.
Charles Sullivan has been appointed senior vice president-worldwide business services and strategic planning, Kathy Fitzpatrick vice president-worldwide service delivery and Kevin Ficco director of corporate initiatives of Atlanta-based Worldspan.
International Launch Services and Eutelsat are completing arrangements for the launch of a European Eutelsat spacecraft on the first flight of the Lockheed Martin Atlas V in May 2002. The flight of a European payload on a new U.S. Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle represents a major win for ILS over Arianespace. It also is a significant ILS/Lockheed Martin win over the Boeing Delta IV, where managers believed they had the Eutelsat contract secured.
General Electric Co.'s Jack Welch once observed, ``Managing success is a tough job. There's a very fine line between self-confidence and arrogance. Success often breeds both, along with a reluctance to change.'' GE virtually reinvented itself during the Welch era. In the process, the company developed into one of the world's most admired corporations. So it's unlikely anyone will ever accuse either Welch or the enterprise he led for nearly 20 years of being reluctant to change.
The Japanese army is expected to choose between Boeing's AH-64D and Bell's AH-1Z by mid-month as a replacement for its Bell/Fuji AH-1S antitank helicopter. An army review team was in the U.S. in May and June surveying the candidate aircraft. An initial funding request is expected to be made in time for fiscal 2002 budget considerations. The army's current plan calls for procuring the first 10 helicopters during its five-year defense plan, which runs through 2005, at a cost of about $325 million.
XM Satellite Radio's space infrastructure is complete with the handing over of the second satellite by Boeing Satellite Systems. The second Boeing 702 spacecraft, launched May 8, has completed in-orbit testing, reached its final orbital position at 85 deg. W. Long. and has begun broadcasting. The first geostationary satellite is positioned at 115 deg. W. Long. A third spacecraft, a spare, has been built and is in its final phases of testing. Start of XM Satellite Radio commercial service is scheduled for later this summer.
Dynamics Research Corp. has won a $4.2-million contract to provide helicopter vibration analysis to the U.S. Army Aviation&Missile Command at the Redstone Arsenal in Alabama.
Japan set an Aug. 25 launch date for the first flight of its new H-IIA booster, an upgrade of the all-domestic H-II that incorporates U.S. and other foreign components. The first vehicle will carry a dummy payload in its flight from the Tanegashima Space Center.
Space weather forecasters hope to improve their accuracy in predicting solar storms with the help of a new space-based X-ray imager that will return a picture a minute of the Sun's ultra-hot corona, giving them a real-time view of the phenomena that lead to communications and power disruptions on Earth and threaten astronauts with high doses of radiation.
Cutting back to reflect the commercial aviation slump, Delta Air Lines will remove 10 aircraft from scheduled service, six by Sept. 1, two more by Nov. 1 and a final two by Dec. 1. This will reduce capacity by 1.4% and cut 2001 capacity growth to 0.3%. Seven of the aircraft will be permanent retirements, among 72 727s that Delta intends to phase out by mid-2005. Delta President Frederick Reid said capacity will be reduced on routes where the slump has hit hardest and where remaining service will be enough to ``retain our traffic and recapture revenue.''
The U.S. Army's interest in lighter-than-air vehicles is growing steadily. The service has been assessing for some time the utility of using such an airship as a cargo hauler, but now wants to pursue a prototype system for long-dwell surveillance. Under the High-Altitude Airship program, the Army Space and Missile Defense Command wants to award a contract for an unmanned, geostationary airship that could carry 2,000 lb. of payload and remain at 70,000 ft. for six months. An operational version should be able to carry five or six times the payload of the prototype.
NASA/Boeing Delta II carrying the Microwave Anisotropy Probe (MAP) lifts off from Cape Canaveral June 30 on a mission to chart minute differences in the microwave cosmic background radiation created a split second after the Big Bang (AW&ST June 25, p. 84). The 1,850-lb. spacecraft, which was developed by the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, was placed into the first of three Earth-phasing orbits each with 2,000-3,000-mi. perigees and apogees between about 186,000 and 218,000 mi.
To the surprise of no one and the relief of many, it looks like United Airlines and US Airways will go their separate, uncertain ways. The carriers said last week they are discussing termination of their May 2000 merger agreement, and US Airways' top executives told employees the merger ``is no longer an option.'' This development changes the near-term future of U.S. commercial aviation by leaving its current structure alone, and it frees the Justice Dept. from having to rule on thorny antitrust issues. It was welcomed by several groups:
Conventional wisdom holds that US Airways' demise is all but inevitable, especially with the collapse of its proposed merger with UAL Corp., parent company of United Airlines (see p. 45). As currently structured, according to ABN AMRO industry analyst Raymond E. Neidl, US Airways' costs are too high to allow it to be competitive against lower-cost airlines.
The European Commission's decision to block the merger of General Electric and Honeywell International could mushroom into a contentious political issue as some U.S. government and industry officials begin questioning what they perceive as diverging U.S. and European antitrust policies. Meanwhile, Honeywell begins the difficult task of trying to re-establish some momentum in the wake of the failed merger. One of the first casualties was Michael Bonsignore, who was replaced as chairman and CEO by former AlliedSignal chief Larry Bossidy.
In an unprecedented move, the Belgian government plans to file a lawsuit for damages against the Swissair Group for not appropriately funding the ailing Sabena Belgian World Airlines.
The U.S. Navy EP-3 recovered from Hainan Island, China, has been delivered to Dobbins AFB at Marietta, Ga. Lockheed Martin and Navy officials expect to have a contract hammered out within two weeks to restore the aircraft to flying status. Once the contract is signed, defense officials have variously estimated the aircraft will be returned to flying status in 3-12 months. A second P-3 has been procured to use as a source of spare parts.
