A new business alliance may soon lend a hand to those who are looking to buy satellite equipment but can't make it in person to satellite conferences and expositions, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. The new partnership involves the London Satellite Exchange, the first online marketplace for the satellite industry, and AstroExpo, an online exhibition hall that hosts virtual booths for satellite manufacturers.
RT LOGIC, of Colorado Springs, announced its Telemetrix 505 product has been installed at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory to serve as part of the downlink telemetry processing for the Deep Space Network. The Telemetrix 505 performs digital signal processing and data routing.
BUT HOW TO PAY FOR IT? Despite reports that Russia's air force is in shambles after years of financial neglect, reports out of Russia say the tactical and technical requirements for the country's fifth-generation fighter are to be approved this month.
The Boeing Company and its employees have contributed more than $369,000 to relief organizations in India and El Salvador, in response to the earthquakes that struck both countries in January. Boeing's home, Seattle, was recently shaken by an earthquake (DAILY, March 1). Some Boeing facilities were damaged but no employees were injured.
LUMINANT WORLDWIDE CORP. of Dallas has teamed with United Space Alliance, a company owned by the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., to provide information to potential customers regarding sending payloads into space on the Space Shuttle. The companies created a multimedia Web-enabled CD-ROM providing detailed information about the Shuttle's payload program, including its capabilities, benefits and procedures for transporting goods. It includes a look at methods used to monitor payloads, preparation and flying procedures and storage options inside the Shuttle.
NASA needs to exercise care with the Space Launch Initiative to avoid repeating the mistakes it made in the canceled X-33 and X-34 programs, according to NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG).
The Air Force should limit F-22 low-rate initial production (LRIP) to no more than 10 aircraft a year until it finishes initial operational test and evaluation, the General Accounting Office said in a report released late yesterday. The limit is needed to "minimize risks," the GAO said. Current plans calls for buying 10 LRIP F-22s in fiscal 01, 16 in FY 02 and 24 in FY 03. Full-rate production is to begin in FY 04.
The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday elected Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) chairman of the space subcommittee, giving him a leadership role in overseeing NASA. Allen, whose elevation to the space post had been expected (DAILY, March 13), replaces Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who became chairman last month but had to step down because he had more subcommittee chairmanships than Senate rules allowed (DAILY, March 5).
Today marks the 75th anniversary of Robert Goddard's first liquid-fueled rocket launch - a milestone as epic as that of the Wright brother's flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and one that paved the way for later spacecraft to soar into Earth orbit and beyond. Goddard's launch on March 16, 1926, "became the underpinning of everything that we are able to do in space today and which we take for granted," said William Townsend, deputy director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., named for the rocket pioneer.
An analyst yesterday blamed NASA for suppressing the U.S. space launch industry and recommended stripping the agency of its operational role. "The underlying belief is central planning - that government should be in a commanding role," Robert Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Public Policy Institute, told conferees at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
ICO-Teledesic Global Limited and Ellipso Inc. have announced plans to collaborate on a mobile satellite system that will bring advanced telecommunications services to previously neglected markets. "The mobile satellite industry has failed spectacularly in delivering on its promise to users," said Craig McCaw, ICO-Teledesic Global's chairman. "We continue to be compelled by the scope of the market and the importance of providing services for the under-served in the United States and around the world," McCaw said.
LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE SYSTEMS' Advanced Technology Center, working with structural design engineers from the Fleet Ballistic Missile program, successfully demonstrated use of a low-cost, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process to manufacture a complex structure integral to the Trident II D5 fleet ballistic missile, the company announced. The company said the molding process will significantly reduce the cost of components for future generations of submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
Alarming shortfalls in British service pilot totals, particularly for fast-jet operations, are behind the Ministry of Defense's recent establishment of a tri-service Aircrew Retention Review (ARR). United Kingdom problems with military pilot shortages were highlighted last September by the National Audit Office (NAO). It said the annual totals becoming available for operational service over the past few years averaged about 18% fewer than MoD requirements.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report released yesterday says it is essential the United Kingdom "remains at the forefront" of international collaboration on military equipment. In the new report, the NAO says in 1998-99 the Ministry of Defense spent 13% of the defense equipment budget (1.3 billion pounds, or $1.9 billion) on 64 cooperative equipment programs that involved 19 partner nations.
Kamov Helicopters has exhibited their Ka-137 unmanned surveillance helicopter at the High Technologies of the Defense Industry forum here, which was sponsored by the Moscow Major Office and opened this week. The 280-kilogram (612 pound) at lift-off helicopter is basically a 1.3 meter (4.3 ft.) diameter sphere equipped with four rod-shaped landing legs and a coaxial main rotor powered by a Hirth 2706 R05 two-cycle piston engine, delivered by Gobler Hirthmotoren of Germany. Composite materials are used in the aircraft's structure.
The U.S. Army will undertake a major exercise next month designed to emphasize its efforts to move from an analog Army to a digitized future with command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) enhancements put to the test in a demonstration of advanced information technology. The Division Capstone Exercise, or DCX, is intended to demonstrate and assess both the mechanized and aviation brigades' data-linked networking capabilities under a counteroffensive dynamic battle scenario.
U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James L. Jones said although a UH-60 or derivative helicopter - together with more CH-53E Super Stallions - is an alternative to the V-22 should the program be cut, the package would have shortcomings for the missions of the Marines.
Two Pentagon officials disagreed yesterday about the need to develop electronic warfare systems that would allow aircraft to operate with relative safety below 15,000 feet in the presence of enemy shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
The Senate Banking Committee yesterday postponed a vote on an export control bill to iron out unspecified differences with the Bush Administration. "By continuing discussions with the Bush Administration, I am confident that we can, in short order, reach a consensus and receive the president's full endorsement of our efforts to bring U.S. export controls in line with the realities of the 21st century," committee Chairman Phil Gramm (R-Texas) said.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) recommended yesterday that Senate budget writers provide $8.5 billion more for defense in fiscal 2002 than President George W. Bush has requested.
After tallying its first financial loss, European launch giant Arianespace faces critical challenges in 2001 in order to regain its profitability and remain ahead of growing competition in the world's commercial launch market. Last year, for the first time in its 20-year history, the French-led consortium took a loss of more than $200 million. That setback came despite a record 12 commercial launches - all of them successful - in 2000.
Although Gen. James L. Jones, the Marine Corps' senior leader, believes a decade of studies have shown the V-22 tiltrotor Osprey to be the best solution to meet Marine Corps mission requirements, he said his service is not blinded by its love of it.
Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon is expected to revive talk of a supplemental military aid package for Israel when he meets with President Bush in Washington Tuesday, according to congressional and pro-Israel sources. "It's safe to say that it's going to be an issue for discussion," though the size, scope and fate of what Sharon will propose are unclear, a pro-Israel source told The DAILY yesterday.
NASA kicked off a series of seven planned flight tests of the X-40A experimental vehicle yesterday with a successful 74-second free flight at its Dryden Flight Research Center at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. "Everything went extremely well," said Alan Brown, a public affairs officer at Dryden. The engineless X-40A was carried to 15,000 ft. above ground level by an Army CH-47D Chinook helicopter, which did a few dry runs along the track before releasing the X-40A.
NASA plans to make a decision in the next few weeks whether to repair or close down the 16-ft. Transonic Tunnel at Langley Research Center, Hampton, Va., in the wake of an incident last month that severely damaged the aging facility.
