Alvin Brantley of the Hi-Shear Corp., Torrance, Calif., is scheduled to receive the 1997 Society of Automotive Engineers' Aerofast Speller Award for his dedication to the advancement of the fastening industry.
C. Raymond Boelig has been named senior vice president-marketing and strategic business development for the Spacetec IMC Corp., Lowell, Mass. He was chairman/president/chief executive officer of Bitstream Inc.
Long March 3B booster achieved its first successful launch with a 1:50 a.m. liftoff Aug. 20 from the Xichang space center. Its payload, the Agila 2 satcom built by Space Systems/ Loral for Mabuhay Philippines Satellite Corp. (MPSC), is expected to complete its geosynchronous transfer to a parking slot at 144 deg. E. Long. early this week. In-orbit tests are scheduled to take about a month, making the satellite available for commercial operations in October.
Roy H. Norris has resigned as president of Wichita-based Raytheon Aircraft Co. and plans to establish an aviation consulting company based in Savannah, Ga. A company official said Norris' duties have been absorbed by Art Wegner, chairman and chief executive officer of Raytheon Aircraft. Norris joined the company in September, 1994, and had oversight responsibility for development of the Hawker Horizon and Premier 1 business jets.
Control officer was forced to destroy an Arrow 2 missile after it developed a malfunction and went off course shortly after launch during an intercept test last week. U.S. and Israeli officials are investigating the cause of the malfunction. Preliminary indications point to the failure of one of the accessories in the flight control system. The missile was intended to intercept an incoming target--an Arrow 1 representing a Scud missile, which was launched from a sea-based platform 41/2 min. prior to the launch of the Arrow 2 interceptor.
NASA officials are vowing to whip the Mission to Planet Earth (MTPE) program into line with Administrator Daniel S. Goldin's faster-cheaper-better approach. A new plan, born of an eight-month review of MTPE, promises to cut development times of post-2002 Earth Observing System (EOS) spacecraft to three years. AM-1, the first EOS satellite, will have been in development eight years at its scheduled launch next summer.
Illustration: Drawing illustrates cosmonauts in depressurized node preparing to close hatch to Spektr after connecting wires to electrical junction on docking cone. Soyuz orbital module was to be safe haven for cosmonauts. DANIEL JAMES GAUTHIER The Russian/U.S. crew on Mir was preparing late last week for a high-stakes repair operation to reconnect electrical power from the damaged Spektr module with the rest of the station.
Photograph: F/A-18s will likely add the U.S.-designed AIM-120 as its new beyond-visual-range missile, but competition for an AIM-9 replacement will be hot. Australia's future is complex and entails making bold choices about new technologies while confronting a changing vision of the relationship between men and aircraft. Between 2000-20, Australia will have to replace its F-111s, F/A-18s and P-3s, decide which weapons should arm both the transitional and new aircraft, and plan how to introduce new technologies like stealth and unmanned aerial vehicles.
The other day, presidential spokesman Mike McCurry was asked a question he couldn't answer. What was the Administration's position, a reporter wanted to know, on a House effort to fire 1,600 people from the Energy Dept.? Key experts working on stopping the spread of nuclear weapons would have to go, the reporter said, especially ``the younger ones who are just hired for this and then they'd be fired, and then there goes the program.''
Photograph: The cockpit of the MIG-29SMT fighter will feature all-Russian hardware. Some components, like microprocessors, will be Western-made. Russian President Boris Yeltsin has approved a plan, long urged by industry leaders, to lend increased government support to Russia's beleaguered aerospace and defense sector, without taxing scarce budget resources.
Orlando International Airport plans to add a fourth, 16-gate satellite terminal to the existing north terminal complex and to construct a new air traffic tower, north crossfield taxiway and other facilities to help the airport keep pace with increasing passenger growth. The $965-million expansion program was approved by the airport's 11 signatory airlines with long-term leases, allowing the Greater Orlando Aviation Authority to begin issuing bonds for the projects, which will be backed by landing fees, airport rents and passenger facility charges.
Illustration: Diagram: NTSB diagram depicts the final flight of ValuJet DC-9-32 N904VJ, based on information from cockpit voice and flight data recorders and radar. Pressure from a bursting tire in the burning forward cargo hold likely registered in static pressure sources for the aircraft's altimetry and airspeed systems, accounting for the first anomalies on the FDR. A second set of fluctuations likely was the result of the fire burning through the alternate static pressure source line that runs through the hold. Control of the aircraft was lost about 8 sec.
The new Beriev Be-103 multipurpose amphibian crashed here on takeoff on Aug. 18, the day before it was to begin flight demonstrations at the MAKS '97 Moscow air show. The pilot, Vladimir Ulyanov, was killed. The accident occurred in poor weather conditions, with low ceiling. The Be-103 stalled at an altitude of about 70-100 meters (230-330 ft.), rolled over and crashed. The Russian civil protection agency formed an investigation board to determine causes for the accident.
Photograph: The decline in major weapons exports, such as last year's U.S. F-16 deal with Egypt, portends an arms market dominated by upgrades and services. America and Britain led the world in conventional arms export agreements in 1996, displacing Russia from its number one ranking the year before, according to U.S. estimates. Topping its rivals by wide margins, the U.S.
Richard L. Garwin, an IBM fellow emeritus, has received the Enrico Fermi Award from U.S. Energy Secretary Federico Pena for contributions to national security and arms control and achievements in nuclear and particle physics.
The key components of the digital camera for Space Imaging Eosat's first imaging satellite, Ikonos 1. The camera's electro-optical assembly, which includes the telescope, sensor module and focal plane electronics, is designed to enable Ikonos 1 to collect 1-meter resolution images and 4-meter multispectral images. Space Imaging also plans to use a proprietary Kodak compression technology to speed the downloading of data to Earth. Ikonos 1 is scheduled for launch in December.
Peter G. Wilhelm, director of the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Naval Center for Space Technology, has won the NRL's first Roger L. Easton Award for Excellence in Engineering Achievement. Wilhelm has contributed to or led the design, development and deployment of 84 scientific and defense satellites.
Craig Molander has been appointed vice president-project development for PCI Enterprises Inc., Richmond Hill, Ontario. He was vice president/ deputy general manager of the Vision International Div. of Autometric Inc.
Photograph: The BBJ will incorporate the wing, fuselage center section, landing gear and engines from the 737-800. Borge Boeskov, president of Boeing Business Jets, predicts that his company will corner 40% of the 600 long-range corporate jets to be delivered over the next 10 years. While only the marketplace can prove Boeskov right or wrong, Boeing has started out of the opening gates in this competition with a strong orderbook--actually stronger than many others in the aviation business would have expected.
Photograph: U.S. and Australian officials are discussing flying the Global Hawk UAV from the continent late in 1999 to test long-range, airborne sensors and their integration into area intelligence networks. Defense planners here want to greatly expand the military's ability to conduct broad-area surveillance, and many believe the key to such improvement is an airborne radar designed specifically to look for ground targets.
Security at both Cape Canaveral Air Station and the Kennedy Space Center to guard against any attempts by nuclear protesters to sabotage or disrupt the planned Oct. 6 launch of the nuclear-powered NASA Cassini spacecraft to Saturn on board a Titan 4B booster. More stringent identification badge checks, car inspections, and personnel controls are being exercised. Security patrols are being increased, new razor wire is being added to fences, and additional motion detectors are being installed around the Titan launch pad complex.
By Brevard County, Fla., to locate the production line for new Delta 4 launch vehicles in the county if the company wins the U.S. Air Force contract for the Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV). Lockheed Martin, the other EELV finalist, would base its production in Colorado. Boeing, which gained control of the Delta program in its merger with McDonnell Douglas, is also considering EELV plant sites in Bay St. Louis, Miss., and Huntington Beach, Calif., which are offering their own incentive packages. The Air Force plans to pick an EELV winner next year.
James Farrell has become director of human resources for AMR Combs, Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport. He was director of personnel for the AMR Services Corp.
Photograph: Australian officials worry that the U.S.-designed Joint Strike Fighter may not have the range or bomb load to replace the F-111. Between 2015 and 2020, Australia will have to find the money to replace at least three major aircraft types, including the front-line F-111 and F/A-18 aircraft that form the centerpiece of the nation's strike force. So far, defense planners don't see anything highly attractive to replace both the F/A-18 and F-111. They see the few aircraft types available in the next several years as between generations.
Robert Parker has been named director of the NASA Management Office at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. He was director of space operations and utilization in the Office of Space Flight at NASA headquarters.
