PhoneSat 2.4, one of the record 29 nanosatellites launched last month on a Minotaur rocket from Wallops Island, Va., as part of the U.S. Air Force ORS 3 mission, has radioed controllers at Ames Research Center that its systems are all “go.” The 1-kg (2.2-lb.) cubesat incorporates the innards of a Stock Nexus S smartphone with the Android operating system in NASA's second demonstration that off-the-shelf cell-phone technology can operate in orbit.
For suppliers of defense equipment, selling a platform or a subsystem is just the beginning. The importance of what would be called “after-sales service” in the commercial market has increased as the global economic climate has worsened, but in certain sectors it has never really been about just selling a product. This is particularly true of electronic warfare (EW) systems.
Since Olympic ski runs rarely occur in palm-treed towns, Russian President Vladimir Putin may soon be sweating the snow report for Sochi. But Rhonda Fullerton is fretting over her summer Olympics conditions now. As director of the Citation Special Olympics Airlift, she must find big-hearted jet operators to supply 175 Citations to carry athletes, coaches or sponsors to and from the games in the Princeton, N.J., area, June 14-21.
The big government rocket Congress has insisted be built for deep-space human exploration is on track for a 2017 first flight. So far, there are no serious technical issues in sight and it is garnering growing interest from other potential users, according to the NASA managers responsible for developing the heavy-lift vehicle known as the Space Launch System (SLS).
Outside experts are responding to NASA's call to lasso an asteroid, providing the agency's Asteroid Retrieval Mission (ARM) planners with new momentum for the two-phase strategy to resume U.S. human deep-space exploration while demonstrating capabilities to find and deflect asteroids that pose an impact threat to Earth.
This week, Aviation Week publishes two editions. On the covers of both is a U.S. Air Force unmanned aircraft capable of penetrating the most advanced air defenses (page 20). We collaborated with artist Ronnie Olsthoorn (www.aviationart.aero) to create this conceptual illustration of the RQ-180 based on government and industry information, public documents and basic design principles. Both editions include reports on the wrangling over EU emissions trading (page 39), China's claim to new airspace (page 31) and the Blue Origin commercial space effort (page 29).
Roddy Boggus (see photo), a senior vice president and aviation market leader at Parsons Brinckerhoff, has been named to the board of directors of the International Association of Airport Executives. He has been a senior executive with architectural and engineering firms active in the aviation market and was co-owner of Hodges-Boggus Architects, an aviation architectural firm serving airline operations, including American and Continental.
NASA gave the green light Dec. 4 to continued work on a plan to extend its crippled Kepler Space Telescope mission. Known as K2, the plan is intended to help resume Kepler's search for other worlds using an orbital maneuver to compensate for the loss of two of the spacecraft's four gyro-like reaction wheels. “This is not a decision to continue operating the Kepler spacecraft or to conduct a two-wheel extended mission,” Paul Hertz, head of NASA's Astrophysics Div., said Dec. 4.
Startup World View Enterprises Inc. envisions a commercial high-altitude balloon experience for luxury-minded passengers and scientific researchers that will strive to deliver many of the prolonged experiences of spaceflight without the confinement, cost, risks or health limitations associated with rocket launches.
Days after word circulated about the FAA's plans to institute sleep-apnea testing for obese pilots and controllers, House lawmakers scrambled to slow the proposal. Last week, the House Transportation and Infrastructure Committee approved a bill that would require the FAA to conduct a formal rulemaking if it mandates that pilots and controllers undergo testing for obstructive sleep apnea (OSA) and potentially seek treatment.
When Marenco Swisshelicopter unveiled the mock-up of its radical-looking, single-engined light helicopter at Heli-Expo in 2011, critics were quick to pass judgment. They questioned the business model and the ability to keep costs low while building the aircraft in a country considered to be the most expensive in Europe.
The world's strongest carbon fiber is Toray Industries' T100G, says the Japanese manufacturer. Now China, denied access even to lower grades from foreign suppliers, is working on matching it.
Christine Fox, the former director of Cost Assessment and Program Evaluation at the Defense Department, took over as acting deputy secretary Dec. 5. Fox has gained renown in a number of roles. These include her leadership on the recent scrub of the Pentagon budget called the Strategic Choices and Management Review, as well as her role as president of the Center for Naval Analysis (CNA).
London has held the responsibility for the defense of the British Isles since the Act of Union in 1707, but if Scots opt for independence on Sept. 18, 2014, that will come to an end, and Scotland will assume responsibility for its own defense.
USAF Brig. Gen. Catherine A. Chilton is one of five of her rank to be nominated for promotion to major general. She is the mobilization assistant to the military deputy in the Office of the Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Acquisition at the Pentagon. The others are: Paul S. Dwan, mobilization assistant to the surgeon general of the Air Force; Stayce D. Harris, mobilization assistant to the commander of the 18th Air Force of Air Mobility Command, Scott AFB, Ill.; William B.
European aerospace manufacturers are turning up the pressure on governments to develop a pan-European approach to the continent's medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) unmanned air vehicle requirements. But their protests appear to be falling on deaf ears as another European nation signs up to purchase the MQ-9 Reaper. The Netherlands announced plans Nov. 21 to introduce four General Atomics MQ-9 Reapers into full operational service by 2017.
BAE Systems flew the first Tranche 3 Eurofighter Typhoon on Dec. 2 at BAE Systems' facility at Warton, England. The Tranche 3s are set to be the most advanced versions of the Typhoon and have the capability to provide more electrical power in readiness for installation of the planned E-Scan radar as well as ability to potentially fit conformal fuel tanks on top of the rear fuselage. All three of the manufacturers in the Eurofighter consortium—Alenia Aermacchi, BAE and EADS Cassidian are building Tranche 3 aircraft.
Amy Butler (Washington), Bill Sweetman (Washington)
A large, classified unmanned aircraft developed by Northrop Grumman is now flying—and it demonstrates a major advance in combining stealth and aerodynamic efficiency. Defense and intelligence officials say the secret unmanned aerial system (UAS), designed for intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) missions, is scheduled to enter production for the U.S. Air Force and could be operational by 2015.
With Congress nearing a deadline this week to forge a short-term budget agreement, suggestions for what to protect and what to cut are coming from all corners. Republicans are trying to protect three high-priced NASA programs from the budget ax and free up more than a half-billion dollars for the projects at the same time. And Rep. Mo Brooks (Ala.), a frequent critic of government spending, is leading the charge, introducing legislation drawn from the stalled NASA reauthorization bill.
The Chang'e-3 spacecraft, which represents China's first attempt at a robotic lunar landing, is safely en route after a Dec. 2 launch on a Long March 3B. The rocket placed the spacecraft, with its lander/rover combo, into an initial lunar transfer orbit with an apogee of 380,000 km. (240,000 mi.), following liftoff from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center. Controllers later adjusted the orbit to set up a Dec. 14 soft landing in the Bay of Rainbows (see page 18). That will be the most difficult part of the mission, says Wu Weiren, the program's chief designer.
With the U.S. Senate expected this week to pick up its stalled version of the defense authorization bill for fiscal 2014, most headlines out of the Capitol will be about debate over sexual assault in the military, the Guantanamo Bay prison, the Iranian nuclear deal, budget cuts or the possibility that no annual law will be enacted for the first time in 52 years.
Qantas Airways has announced a new cost reduction goal of A$2 billion ($1.8 billion) over three years, including 1,000 job cuts in the next year. The move is prompted by a new warning from the carrier that it will report a pre-tax loss of up to A$300 million for the six months through Dec. 31. The airline says it is launching a review of its capital spending and may consider selling assets.
