The SnapShock-PLUS data recorder logs peak shock levels, velocity change, duration and date and time for transient acceleration events. It features a built-in single axis or tri-axial, piezoresistive accelerometer, signal conditioning, user-selectable filtering, 12-bit/1,200-Hz. digitization and onboard, nonvolatile storage for up to 5,900 readings, as well as a built-in clock. The unit weighs 7 oz. and can run for weeks on a single, 9-v. battery. Instrumented Sensor Technology, 4704 Moore St., Okemos, Mich. 48864.
NASA will delay the international space station's first launch by up to 11 months and plans to transfer $200 million from the space shuttle program as part of a stopgap plan to replace key hardware that Russia is failing to build. The launch of the first station hardware, originally set for November, will now take place ``no later than October, 1998,'' NASA officials told Congress last week.
Patrick C. Fenton has been promoted to vice president from director of research and development of NovAtel Inc., Calgary, Alberta. Rodger D. Conner, William B. Patton, Jr., and Joel A. Schleicher have been named independent directors. Conner is a lawyer. Patton is the principal in PFI Investments, and Schleicher is president/chief executive officer of ProCommunications.
CHINESE OFFICIALS ARE downplaying the prospect that a final agreement between Aviation Industries of China (AVIC) and the Airbus-led consortium of European manufacturers on development of AVIC's AE-100 Asian Express regional jet family will be ready to sign when French President Jacques Chirac visits China in May. ``It is possible to finalize the contract (in May), but it depends mainly on their (Europeans) efforts,'' Wang Yingnan, AVIC's project manager, said. The two sides are holding talks this month.
Hawkes Ocean Technologies is testing a small submersible that operates more like an aircraft than conventional research submersibles. The San Anselmo, Calif.-based company built the ``Deep Flight 1'' as a proof-of-concept for a submarine that can climb and descend 5-10 times faster than existing deep-diving research craft, so that size and operating cost can be reduced. To achieve these high rates, the design will use aircraft techniques to ``fly'' up and down, rather than use buoyancy.
THE NO. 1 MCDONNELL Douglas YC-15 transport prototype was being prepared for its first flight in 18 years late last week. It has been stored at Davis-Monthan AFB and the Pima County Air Park in Tucson, Ariz., since its last flight in 1979, following a test program that led to the C-17 design. McDonnell Douglas and USAF have signed an 8-year cooperative R&D agreement to use both YC-15s for systems tests, and they are to be based at Long Beach, Calif. The first flight was being delayed by winds.
The U.K.'s Defense Research and Evaluation Agency (DERA) is increasing its applied research on unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and broadening its work to include potential applications for a range of Royal Air Force requirements.
Adm. Richard Truly (Ret.) will become director of the National Renewable Energy Laboratory, Golden, Colo. He was vice president of the Georgia Institute of Technology and director of Georgia Tech Research Institute for five years.
Proposed changes to bolster regulations governing repair stations will nearly double an FAA-certificated maintenance shop's cost of complying with those rules, according to various analyses. Major drivers of that cost increase are projected to be: -- Quality control. The new rules would require periodic self-evaluations by the repair station and a system detailing receiving inspections and quality control of subcontractors and the repair station's data.
Researchers at the Georgia Institute of Technology are attempting to develop micro air vehicles that could fly up air ducts to reconnoiter a building in which hostages were held, or thread their way through the debris of a building damaged by an earthquake to look for survivors, with optical, infrared or acoustic sensors. To carry out those tasks, they aim to create aircraft with 6-in. wing spans, weighing only 4 ounces, and able to operate autonomously for up to 30 min.
Societe Europeenne de Propulsion is pursuing advanced rocket engine technology in an effort linked to Europe's envisioned reusable space launch vehicles. SEP, a Snecma subsidiary, is prime contractor for the Ariane 4/5 space launchers' propulsion systems. The company also produces rocket engines for the French nuclear forces' ballistic missiles. ``The development of an advanced-technology cryogenic engine will require as many as 25 years. We must begin now to consider such an initiative,'' SEP Chairman/CEO Roger Vignelles said.
Defense Secretary William Cohen is apt to try to maintain the U.S. capability to fight two major regional wars. For the last two years, Pentagon officials have been saying it is financially impossible to maintain a force big enough to do that--and modernize the military, particularly with new fighter aircraft. Now Cohen has to produce the magic that makes all that affordable.
ImSyn is an optoelectronic processor that can produce near-real-time, high-quality reconstruction of foliage penetrating synthetic aperture radar. This image was generated from a synthetic aperture, ultra-wideband radar located 1 km. downrange. This type of low-frequency SAR can penetrate camouflage, foliage and shallow soil to detect vehicles, buildings, mines and other man-made objects that elude higher-frequency SAR. The unit is smaller than a standard microwave oven, so it can be installed in an aircraft.
Spy Flights of the Cold War by Paul Lashmar includes firsthand accounts by RAF, USAF and Soviet pilots who either flew intelligence-gathering missions or tried to stop overflights of their territory. The author, an award-winning journalist who created the BBC documentary Spies in the Sky, asserts that hundreds lost their lives in this hot corner of the Cold War. He also claims there was a secret U.S. plan in the 1950s to provoke a nuclear war between the Soviet Union and China. Naval Institute Press, Annapolis, Md. 21402.
House National Security Committee Chairman Floyd Spence (R.-S.C.) has put out a report saying military readiness has suffered from the combination of declining resources, a smaller force and increasing peacekeeping and humanitarian operations.
Dominick DiGuilmi has been named manager of avionics services and Louis C. Werner regional sales manager for Garrett Aviation Services' Long Island Total Aircraft Service Center, Islip, N.Y. DiGuilmi was a senior systems engineer for Northrop Grumman and Werner a sales executive with International Aviation Services.
The SmartWasher system relies on nonpathogenic microbes to clean aerospace parts, using the same bioremedial approach in which microbes eat spilled crude oil. The microbes are stored in dormant form on a special filter pad. They are activated when they come in contact with a nontoxic cleaning solution in the machine. The SmartWasher system, in use by Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems, reduces the need for environmentally hazardous cleaners and the corresponding disposal costs. ChemFree Corp., 8 Meca Way, Norcross, Ga. 30093.
Delta Air Lines has placed a $500-million order with General Electric for CF6-80C2 engines to power 31 firm-ordered Boeing 767 aircraft. GE had been contending with Pratt&Whitney for the order; Delta already operates or has on order about 48 Pratt-powered 767s. In addition, Delta selected Pratt engines for five firm-ordered 757s. The airline also selected Rolls-Royce to supply Trent 892 engines for 10 optioned 777-200s.
NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center and TAO Systems of Hampton, Va., have flight tested a hot-film anemometer array to detect the position of shock waves, which could be used for active control of supersonic engine inlets and other applications. The anemometer array has been tested in seven flights on Dryden's flight test fixture, attached to the belly of a McDonnell Douglas F-15B fighter (see photo). Engineers are now interpreting the test results.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY (ESA) late last week approved a new Cluster mission to study plasma streams in the solar winds and their interaction with the Earth's atmosphere. The initial mission was lost when the first Ariane 5 booster failed on June 4, 1996. As recommended by ESA's Space Science Advisory Committee, Cluster 2 will comprise three satellites similar to those used for the initial program, along with Phoenix, a unit constructed from spare components and instruments originally used as the backup spacecraft.
Keith Perrin, retiring head of the Flight Dept. of the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority, who for the past 30 years has been instrumental in flight-testing and handling quality certification of all major aircraft in service in the U.K.
Dassault Aviation's Falcon 50 business jet has received approval to operate into and from London City Airport. The certification allows appropriately qualified corporate and charter operators of the French-built trijet to land close to London's downtown and financial district and to avoid crowded and slot-restricted Gatwick and Heathrow airports. The steep approach procedure is expected to be applied to the enhanced Falcon 50EX as well. Approvals for the Falcon 2000 and 900 series are pending.
