AERIAL IMAGES, the North Carolina company that hopes to market 2-meter Russian space imagery on the Internet, reports a safe return to Earth for the Kometa satellite that has been gathering images of the Southeastern U.S. and other locations around the world since mid-February (DAILY, Feb. 18). The satellite with its cache of exposed film landed in Kazakhstan Monday. Working with Kodak, Digital Equipment Co., Microsoft and Russia's Sovinformsputnik, Aerial Images plans to begin offering images for as little as $7.95 through a web site at www.terraserver.com.
Lockheed Martin yesterday beat Boeing in the competition for continued development and eventual production of the U.S. Air Force Joint Air-to- Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). Lockheed Martin's JASSM offer was a better designed, more effective and lower cost missile than the Boeing proposal, Darleen Druyun, the AF's source selection authority for the competition, told reporters at the Pentagon yesterday. The total JASSM program is expected to be worth about $2 billion.
INTELSAT 709 will provide direct-to-home satellite services for most of Brazil, the international satellite communications consortium announced Monday in Las Vegas. Three Ku-band transponders will handle the service from the satellite's location at 310 degrees East longitude, which will cover Brazil as far north as Natal with video program distribution services. Some 500,000 homes will use the service, which is expected to produce revenues through Embratel - Intelsat's Brazilian signatory - of more than $9.7 million.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee and a strong backer of NASA's efforts to develop a next-generation reusable launch vehicle, has asked President Clinton to declassify "black" aircraft development programs from the Cold War era so any technology developed then can be applied to the new RLVs.
LORAL ORION NETWORK SYSTEMS has signed up Bonneville International Corp. as its first customer on the planned Orion 2 satellite to be located at 12 degrees West longitude after it is launched in the summer of 1999. Salt Lake City-based Bonneville leased 9 megahertz of an Orion 2 transponder to expand its broadcast programming services in Latin America. The company already has an agreement with Loral Orion to distribute its programming in Europe.
DRS Technologies Inc. signed a letter of intent to acquire NAI Technologies Inc., DRS announced. DRS is a high tech company based in Parsippany, N.J., specializing in systems and components for the processing, display and storage of data. NAI, based in Huntington, N.Y., provides rugged computers, peripheral equipment and integrated systems for military, government and commercial applications. It reported sales of $52 million in 1997.
U.S. Air Force officials are preparing a fiscal 1998 reprogramming to fund advanced missile propulsion work under the Advanced Propulsion Technology project, a portion of the wide-ranging Integrated High Performance Turbine Engine Technology (IHPTET) initiative that was zeroed in the FY '98 budget request.
The Society of Automotive Engineers has restructured its technical standards and research group, a move it said was in response to changing needs of the aerospace industry and governments worldwide. Three new technical teams have been created by SAE to focus on aerospace, road vehicles and advanced technologies. In addition, a marketing team has been established to support the technical teams.
Kerri-Ann Jones, a biochemist with science policy experience at three agencies, will serve as acting White House science advisor following the departure April 3 of John H. Gibbons, who has held the post throughout the Clinton Administration.
One of the nine operational B-2 bombers at Whiteman AFB, Mo., recently hit a bird, sustaining damage. It was the second B-2 bird strike incident, according to Brig. Gen. Thomas Goslin, commander of the 509th Bomb Wing at Whiteman. The first occurred more than two years ago. One AF official said the damage will involve significant repairs. Goslin said there was no structural damage. The same bomber was involved in a static discharge incident in the summer of 1996.
The U.S. Air Force has restructured its Air Superiority Missile Technology program after funding cuts were incurred last year. The AF last year awarded Boeing - McDonnell Douglas at the time - a contract for the five-year ASMT program. But funding hits have prompted the service to break the activity into two programs and delay flight testing of a dual-range air-to-air missile by a couple of years. ASMT was to have demonstrated missile control technology on an Advanced Medium-Range Air-to- Air Missile (AMRAAM) airframe.
AlliedSignal Engines' new 131-9[A] auxiliary power unit for the Airbus A320 jetliner family has started flight tests on an A320 in Toulouse, France, AlliedSignal reports. "All major program milestones of the 24-month development schedule have been met on time and we have achieved all our intended design and performance objectives," says Tom Johnson, VP for commercial auxiliary power at AlliedSignal Engines. The -9[A] is available as an option for A319s, A320s or A321s slated for delivery after September 1998.
GLOBALSTAR LP has ordered $353 million worth of satellite telephones for initial users of the planned 48-satellite "Big LEO" low Earth orbit communications satellite system. The Loral-led partnership signed contracts for more than 300,000 handheld and fixed Globalstar satellite telephones. Ericsson OMC, a subsidiary of Sweden's Ericsson Telecommunications, was awarded $204 million to build hand-held telephones and vehicle-mounting kits.
HUGHES SPACE AND COMMUNICATIONS has signed a contract with Japan's Space Communications Corp. for a high-power HS 601 communications satellite to serve the Japanese market beginning early in 2000. Terms of the deal, Hughes' second with SCC, were not disclosed. The satellite, to be known as Superbird-4, will carry 23 Ku-band transponders and six Ka-band transponders, and will be positioned at 162 degrees East longitude. It will be launched aboard an Ariane rocket. The deal marks Hughes' eighth satellite order this year.
Hartzell Propeller won FAA approval of its new three-bladed Top Prop system for Cessna T207 and T207A utility aircraft. It's an 80-inch, aluminum-hub constant speed system designed to maximize low-speed thrust for improved acceleration and climb. Complete retrofit kits, including supplemental type certificate documentation, list for $7,195.
FAA wants operators of eight different Textron Lycoming recips - a fleet of some 19,000 engines - to remove potentially defective Superior Air Parts piston pins, following reports of pin fractures. Investigators discovered that Superior shipped pins between Aug. 24, 1993, through April 22, 1996, that "may contain subsurface manufacturing imperfections, such as higher impurity levels, retained austenite and grind burns," FAA says.
Lockheed Martin has established a new series of its venerable Atlas launch vehicles powered by the new RD-180 Russian rocket engine, and is calling them "Atlas III." Previously dubbed the Atlas IIAR, the Atlas IIIA will be powered by an RD-180 on the first stage and a Pratt&Whitney RL-10A on the Centaur upper stage. The Atlas IIIB, previously designated Atlas IIARC, will carry a stretched Centaur stage with two RL-10As for greater lift capacity.
The U.S. Army has removed some outyear sustainment funds from the AH- 64 Apache program in anticipation of eventual savings from outsourcing the support activity. But if the Prime Vendor Support (PVS) initiative doesn't get the green light, it could leave the program about $600 million short. The Army is considering an unsolicited proposal from Boeing Co. to take over support of the attack helicopters. Boeing is teamed with Lockheed Martin and the Corpus Christi, Tex., depot to compete for the support work.
COURT OF APPEALS for the Federal Circuit has reaffirmed an earlier award to Hughes Electronics Corp. for U.S. government infringement of a Hughes patent on satellite-control technology. The action marked the latest step in the government's appeal of a 1994 ruling that awarded Hughes $114 million for the attitude control system invented by Hughes engineer Donald Williams in 1959 (DAILY, June 21, 1994). Under the new ruling, the government owes Hughes more than $145 million for the original judgment and interest on it, Hughes said yesterday.
Northrop Grumman is bidding a B-2 bomber-like design for the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency's Unmanned Combat Air Vehicle program. DARPA plans to build two demonstrator UCAVs for the missions of strike and suppression of enemy air defenses (SEAD).
Northrop Grumman said yesterday that it has delivered the first AN/APG-77 electronically scanned radar and related software to the F-22 fighter program for avionics integration. The Block 1 software passed a qualification test on March 26 clearing the way for integration with other systems. In late February, the radar itself was delivered to Boeing, which is in charge of integration of the radar, electronic warfare suite and communications, navigation and information system.
NASA's Apex High-Altitude Flight Experiment, a remotely piloted sailplane designed to collect aerodynamic data at altitudes from 70,000 to 100,000 feet, has cleared Critical Design Review and is on track to begin fabrication once thermal management and structural loads testing are complete.
Sen. Strom Thurmond (R-S.C.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, said that since the Senate won't support a defense boost, he won't push for one. Last Thursday, the closing day of the Senate's debate on the $1.73 trillion fiscal 1999 congressional budget resolution, Thurmond detailed his rationale, noting what he said was a lack of concern about national security issues.
