Arianespace has rescheduled the next Ariane 5 mission--flight 506 carrying the telecommunications satellites Astra 2B and GE 7--for Sept. 14. The mission, initially set for July 25, was postponed to allow an anomaly on the Ariane 5's attitude control system to be verified (AW&ST July 24, p. 80). Flight 506 will be sandwiched between two Ariane 4 missions--flight 132 (Eutelsat W1), set for Sept. 6, and flight 133 (payload unspecified), to fly in late September.
About 3,000 unionized employees of Raytheon Co. remained on strike late last week after rejecting a new contract proposal by the defense company. No new negotiations were scheduled. A strike vote by members of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW) union Local 1505 came on Sunday, Aug. 27. All of the union members work at Raytheon's Andover, Mass., facility. It produces Aegis, Hawk and Patriot missiles, as well as ground-based radar.
The $100-million Hughes HS 601 Solidaridad 1 satellite has been declared a total loss after its backup control processor failed in orbit Aug. 27 and the spacecraft's battery power was consumed two days later. Launched in 1994, the satellite operated for less than half of its design life. It was insured for $250 million, which includes $100 million for the spacecraft, $100 million for the launcher and $50 million for insurance. The Satelites Mexicanos (Satmex) satellite had lost its primary control processor in April of last year.
Pentagon missile defense officials believe it is time to refocus on research and development activities to sow the seeds for future weapon systems. This follows several years in which the procurement of hardware such as the Patriot Advanced Capability (PAC-3) and other missile defenses have taken center stage.
Peter Swerling, who devised a series of radar target models bearing his name, died Aug. 25 in Santa Monica, Calif. He was 71. Swerling also contributed to the development of stealth technology and was a top theoretical and applied radar expert. He started college at the California Institute of Technology at age 15 and received several degrees, including a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of California at Los Angeles. After working 13 years at the Rand Corp., he founded Technical Service Corp. in 1966 and Swerling, Manasse&Smith in 1982.
NASA is in the advanced stages of preparing the first X-43 Hyper-X vehicle for a Mach 7 mission in December, and has completed landmark tests of a scramjet engine aimed at reducing risks during initial flights of the aircraft at hypersonic speeds.
Cary Ludtke, vice president-products and technology of the Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp., Boulder, Colo., and three of its engineers--Dick Deters, Bob Renken and Dan Michaels--have received the NASA Public Service Medal. The medal is awarded for contributions to the engineering design and development or management coordination of programs related to NASA missions. Ludtke was cited for work as program manager for the Quick Scatterameter mission.The three engineers were honored for work on the Chandra X-ray Observatory (see p. 80).
Gerald R. McNichols and Gerald Young have been named to the board of directors of Hadron Inc., Alexandria, Va. McNichols was the founder of Management Consulting&Research Inc. Young is a management consultant to Logicon/DPC Technologies.
Michael Lotz has become president of the Phoenix-based Mesa Air Group Inc., while remaining chief operating officer. Lotz succeeds Jonathan Ornstein, who will remain chairman/CEO.
California has purchased a statewide digital ``image map'' from Spot Image Corp. The map was created from 1999 and 2000 Spot satellite imagery with 10-meter (33-ft.) resolution. The data have been processed to a high degree of map accuracy and formatted for easy use with desktop mapping and geographic information systems. Users can quickly and easily identify and map natural and manmade changes that have occurred anywhere in the state, according to Reston, Va.-based Spot.
EADS military aircraft division's Manching, Germany, facility has handed over the first Eurofighter production center fuselage to BAE Systems for final assembly of the first aircraft, destined for the British Royal Air Force. Final assembly of the first Eurofighter for the German air force begins at Manching in December, and final assembly of the first aircraft for the Spanish air force will start next march at EADS' facility in Gerafe, Spain.
EMCORE'S OPTICAL DEVICE DIV., in Albuquerque, N.M., designed new Vertical Cavity Surface Emitting Laser (VCSEL) arrays and high-speed gallium arsenide photodetector arrays with data rates up to 3.125 GB/sec. VCSEL and photodetector arrays provide high-speed, short-range optical interconnects for telecommunications modules and computing systems, and will allow faster data transmission without increasing the size of the switch. The company has two new 850 nanometer VCSEL arrays: a 1 X 4, capable of transmitting up to 10 GB/sec., and a 1 X 12, capable of 30 GB/sec.
Walter M. Ernst has been appointed senior vice president-operations, Richard Xifo vice president-operations and Ginnell Schiller vice president-marketing of Executive Jet Management of Cincinnati.
Russell G. Walker has been appointed chairman of the North Carolina First Flight Centennial Commission. Walker is a former state senator and retired U.S. Air Force Reserves pilot. He succeeds Thad Woodard.
Virgin Blue Airlines, completing its final proving flight, got the go-ahead from Australia's Civil Aviation Safety Authority to begin Brisbane-Sydney operations on Aug. 31. Sir Richard Branson's low-fare startup Down Under begins service before its originally scheduled target date, the Sept. 15 opening of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, for which thousands of people are expected to descend upon the city.
Pervasive skepticism about the likelihood of mass biological warfare stems from its rarity in military annals, but as germ warfare takes on strategic efficacy, its use becomes more likely, experts claim.
Transportation Secretary Rodney Slater and FAA Administrator Jane Garvey conducted a few special checkrides last week. The duo paid surprise visits to several problem-ridden airports around the country to discuss areas of concern and possible solutions to the nation's air transportation problems. One stop was Newark International Airport--renowned for delays--and there they met airport executives, controllers, customer service agents as well as police officers for firsthand accounts of recent difficulties.
An Environmental Protection Agency study of air quality around O'Hare International Airport, begun in June, may help resolve a growing debate over the cancer risks posed by air toxins generated by aircraft using large hubs. Analysis of a prior survey, commissioned by four neighboring suburbs and released last week, said air pollution generated by O'Hare has raised cancer risks beyond acceptable levels in the surrounding area and as much as 100 times the federal target level of 1 in a million persons established in a related court case.
Avtec Systems has received an order to supply high-speed front-end telemetry processing systems to the University of California at Berkeley for a High-Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager spacecraft for the next mission in the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Small Explorer series of space missions.
Pechiney Aerospace, a division of the Pechiney group, expects to double its commercial transport-related revenues and significantly increase its share in the U.S. market in the next five years, according to company executives.
David Weil has been named chief financial officer, based in San Francisco, of TAG Aviation Holding. He was executive vice president/CFO of TAG Aviation USA. Mark Dennen has become vice president-finance.
Philippe Olivier Boutarud has become general manager of Galaxy Brasil for Gal- axy Latin America, Fort Lauderdale, Fla. He was managing director of consumer products for Johnson&Johnson in Brazil.
