Theodore "Ted" McFarland has been named representative director and president of Hughes Electronics Japan Co. Ltd. He also has been named senior vice president - Asia Pacific for Hughes Space and Communications International Services Co.
Hughes Electronics Corp. has cleared two HS-601 communications satellites built by Hughes Space and Communications Co. for launch after pinpointing a relay switch problem as the cause of three on-orbit failures of spacecraft control processors (SCPs) on HS-601s. The company told PanAmSat and the Societe Europeenne des Satellites that its Galaxy X and Astra 2A platforms, respectively, are safe to launch. Hughes traced the on-orbit problems to tin-plated relay switches that, under very specific conditions that have been identified, can grow a hair-
Russia and Ukraine will begin production of the An-70 military transport airplane regardless of whether West European states decide to join the program, according to Lt. Gen. Yuri Klishin, deputy commander-in-chief of the Russian Air Force. Klishin told Itar-Tass news agency that preliminary flight testing of the An-70 has been completed. This month the airplane will be passed to the Air Force State Flight Test Center to continue testing with military pilots.
Engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory have raised concerns that a mechanical issue first noted on the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM) spacecraft may affect the Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) now aerobraking into a circular orbit around the Red Planet. NASA managers may decide to delay the planned deployment of the MGS high-gain antenna if engineering tests confirm that it could damage the critical hardware. A final decision won't be made until a review scheduled for Feb. 3, 1999, NASA said yesterday.
The U.S. Marine Corps is reaching the point where it will resist further Joint Strike Fighter performance trade-offs to meet cost and commonality goals. "In our discussions in the Marine Corps we're at that point where any further reduction in capability would be difficult to accept," Brig. Gen. Bruce Byrum, Marine Corps assistant deputy chief of staff for aviation, said in an interview yesterday. "We are basically down to what we consider the minimum" in performance to still want JSF, he said.
Robert M Davis, Jr., has been named the new president and chief exectuive officer. Marc T. Constantine has been appointed president and chief executive officer of Kelly Aerospace, a wholly owned subsidiary of Kelly Space&Technology.
A recovery team of European and NASA engineers has received the first telemetry data from the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) since controller errors sent it into a flat spin at the Lagrangian L-1 point in June. NASA and the European Space Agency said yesterday the recovery team was able to build on an initial recontact earlier this month to recharge the on-board batteries for about 10 hours. Using that power, controllers commanded on the spacecraft telemetry and received seven full data sets before shutting down to save power.
John Cotumaccio has been appointed president of the Ft. Walton Beach, Fla.-based Keltec Division. Robert (Bob) Nelsen has been appointed vice president and chief financial officer.
U.S. ARMY has begun operational testing of the Sense and Destroy Armor munition with live firings in Alaska, SADARM prime contractor Aerojet said. A total of 98 SADARMs will be fired from an eight-gun M198 Howitzer battery, 24 projectiles per week, at Cold Regions Test Center of Ft. Greely in Alaska. The targets are about 19 kilometers down range. The testing marks the end of SADARM engineering and manufacturing development.
The U.S. Air Force's X-40A subscale Space Maneuvering Vehicle prototype demonstrated low-speed handling and autonomous approach and landing yesterday in a 9,000-foot drop test at Holloman AFB, N.M., prime contractor Boeing reported.
