Many of the 10 or so small companies developing new space launch vehicles are fuming about a Senate proposal designed to help the commercial space industry. John Breaux (D-La.) introduced a bill to allow federal loan guarantees for companies trying to lower launch costs. A Lockheed Martin facility near New Orleans builds tanks for the X-33 reusable launch vehicle demonstrator. The small companies fear NASA would steer all loan guarantees to LockMart. The Space Frontier Foundation is fighting the bill.
When PanAmSat Corp. executives first came calling on Wall Street in 1993 looking for several hundred million dollars to expand their privately owned satellite network, the company's prospects were considered so risky that its bonds received a ``junk'' rating.
Carlton Holmes and Waymon Whiting have received honors at the 1998 Black Engineer of the Year Awards Conference in Baltimore. Holmes is senior principal engineer in the Boeing Structures Stress and Fatigue Analysis Group, and Whiting is payload systems chief engineer for the Boeing 767-400 program.
China's aviation leaders have signaled that Boeing should not expect much of a payoff in terms of new aircraft orders when President Clinton meets with China's President Jiang Zemin late this month. Although they expect record deliveries this year and next, Boeing's representatives in China said they are uncertain how many new orders Clinton's visit might spark. Based on Chinese statements, they have previously estimated the country could buy as many as 50 transports this year.
United Airlines has expanded its Denver-based Flight Center to accommodate rapid internal growth, as well as increased business from more than 200 other carriers who train flight crews there. Ten new simulators were added as part of the upgrade. The 593,000-sq. ft., $340-million training facility now has 36 simulator bays, more than 600 instructors, and 104 class and briefing rooms. More than 1,000 United employees operate the facility 24 hr./day, seven days a week.
Loral Space and Communications chief Bernard Schwartz, in his stongest statement on the subject yet, steadfastly insists no Loral employee transferred to China any technology or data that might help the nation's ballistic missile program. Federal and grand jury probes are trying to determine conclusively whether such a transfer occurred, as the Pentagon's Defense Technology Security Administration claims.
Airports Council International will propose to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) that new aircraft noise standards be established to follow the Stage 3/Chapter 3 rules now being implemented. Jonathan Howe, ACI's director general, noted that the phase-out of Stage 2 aircraft (called Chapter 2 outside the U.S.) will be complete at the end of next year, but aircraft already being produced are much quieter than the Stage 3 standard.
Geoffrey Gross has been appointed London-based managing director and head of European operations for D'Accord Financial Services. He held similar positions for Citibank.
Responding to surging market demand, Alcatel-led SkyBridge has decided to augment the number of satellites in its proposed high-speed multimedia constellation.
Santos Contreras, director of union relations for the Seattle Professional Engineering Employees Assn., which represents Boeing engineers and technical employees, has received the President's Award at the Hispanic Engineer National Achievement Awards Conference in San Antonio, Tex.
Peter LaSalle has been appointed senior vice president-sales and marketing of Aircraft Technical Publishers, Brisbane, Calif. He was president/chief operating officer of Aircraft Parts International.
The Air Force and Lockheed Martin have refused for years to acknowledge any interest in derivatives of the F-22 Raptor air superiority fighter. But insiders say planning for a multirole or ``counter-air fighter'' version is now far enough along to predict development costs of several hundred million dollars. This Block 10 aircraft would retain all the air-to-air capabilities of the ``Block 0.'' But it also would be specially equipped for attacking airfields and antiaircraft defenses.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA approved a bill to provide $13.6 billion for the space agency in Fiscal 1999. The bill would split the International Space Station project from NASA's human space flight account in an effort to help Congress keep a better eye on the program, which has drawn money from other NASA accounts to help pay for cost overruns. It would also break the science, aeronautics and technology budget into two accounts.
Bill Strecker has been appointed executive vice president/chief operating officer of Vibra Metrics, Hamden, Conn. He was vice president-sales and marketing of Kinsbury Inc. of Philadelphia.
Federal officials are trying to determine whether one or more FAA employees attempted to stonewall investigations into the near-collision of a DC-9 and Airbus A319 over the runway intersection at LaGuardia Airport in early April. The National Transportation Safety Board and the FAA are investigating the near-collision at the New York airport. In addition, the Transportation Dept. inspector general is looking into the conduct of FAA officials during and after the incident.
The International Space Station program is beginning what will be an ongoing assessment of the lessons learned from three years of joint shuttle/Mir operations. The orbiter Discovery was scheduled to land at the Kennedy Space Center at 2 p.m. EDT June 12, concluding the last of 10 flights to Mir, nine of them docking/resupply missions.
Boeing will open a new Engineering Design Center in Moscow, further expanding the company's five-year relationship with Russian aerospace research institutes and companies on a variety of projects. The design facility will become part of the Moscow-based Boeing Technical Research Center, which employs about 17 researchers and includes a computational fluid dynamics laboratory with 10 workstations.
Lufthansa Cargo and Envirotainer Holding, manufacturer and supplier of insulated and temperature-controlled cargo containers, have entered into a joint agreement to develop products for the air transport of perishable cargo. ``Coolbox,'' their first product, will be available this month. The container is designed to maintain stable, low temperatures for sensitive goods and will fit both narrow- and wide-body aircraft.
Loral Orion Network Systems has leased transponders from Intelsat and Mabuhay Agila 2 satellites from the Philippines to break open the Asia-Pacific market for expanded Internet services while it awaits the planned launch of Orion 3 in November. The new spacecraft, a Hughes HS 601HP, will provide 33 Ku-band transponders and 10 C-band transponders for Internet, business and voice communications for customers in Southeast Asia, India and Oceana.
The Senate may decide as early as this week whether to join the House in voting to ban the export of satellites to China for launching. Last week, Aerospace Industries Assn. President Don Fuqua, a former House member, blasted his erstwhile colleagues' ``stampede mentality.'' He urged the Senate to wait until Congress completes inquiries into whether previous exports have transferred technology that China could use to improve its ICBMs. ``Let's not pre-judge what's under investigation,'' he said.
