Space

Michael Stofferahn has been appointed VP-North American sales for the Kaydon Bearings Div., Muskegon, Mich. He was VP and general manager of Rexnord Product Services.

Facing estimates of at least a 30% possibility the International Space Station will need to be abandoned prematurely, NASA isn't taking any chances that the commercial cargo and crew vehicles it is funding will worsen those odds by causing a mishap.

Greg Diognardi has been appointed Falcon 900 technical sales manager at StandardAero Business Aviation, Tempe, Ariz. He was regional sales manager for Landmark Aviation.

Philip King (see photo) has been appointed president of San Jose, Calif.-based Vision Systems International, succeeding Drew Brugal. King has held leadership positions at McDonnell Douglas and Boeing.

Hannele Malin has been appointed VP-internal auditing at Finnair, succeeding Erkki Lehtinen, who will retire. Malin was manager for government, risk and compliance services at Deloitte & Touche.

Gen. Jean-Paul Palomeros (see photo), chief of staff of the French air force, has become director of the European Air Group, based at RAF Wycombe, Buckinghamshire, England, for a two-year term. He succeeds Lt. Gen. Aarne Kreuzinger-Janik, commander of the German air force.

Bill Gerstenmaier (see photo), NASA associate administrator for the Human Exploration and Operations Mission Directorate, has received the Von Karman Lectureship in Astronautics award, given by the Washington-based American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics. He was recognized for his leadership in human spaceflight, culminating in the space shuttle and International Space Station programs.

Bernd Munzenmayer has become senior sales adviser for Pro Star Aviation, Londonderry, N.H., supporting new Sales Director Clark Gordon. Munzenmayer is a founder of Pro Star. Julie Weber has been promoted to VP from senior director of people for Southwest Airlines.

USAF Col. (ret.) Sean Frisbee has been named VP at San Luis Obispo, Calif.-based AME Unmanned Air Systems. He was F-22 program director.

Michael Sammartino has been named VP-government affairs at Metron Aviation, Dulles, Va. He was director of systems operations at FAA.

Ted Lin has been named director of marketing for Asia at New York-based Guggenheim Aviation Partners. He was VP of DVB Bank.

Samuel Hill has joined the Strategic Advisory Council for Bye Aerospace of Denver. He is senior VP-sales and marketing at Honda Aircraft Co.

Russell Ryan (see photo) has been promoted to managing director-treasury, from senior director-fleet acquisition, at Hawaiian Airlines.

Paul Chun has become managing director of KLM UK Engineering, based in Paris and Amstelveen, Netherlands. He held the same role at Epcor, where he will be succeeded by Romain Helmer, who headed KLM Engineering & Maintenance's Boeing 737 unit. Ton Dortmans was named executive VP-engineering and maintenance of KLM E&M, succeeding Peter de Swert.

Andreas Knoepfel (see photo) has joined Swiss Aviation Consulting of Huenenberg/Zug as managing director of Swiss AeroRisk Management and a board member of Swiss AeroHoldings. He was a senior aviation manager for an insurance broker.

U.S. Army Gen. (ret.) Rick Lynch and Paul McDuffee have joined the board of the Association for Unmanned Vehicle Systems International, Arlington, Va. Lynch commanded the 1st Battalion, 8th Cavalry Regiment, 1st Cavalry Div. at Fort Hood, Texas. McDuffee is Insitu's principal interface with the FAA on the commercial viability of unmanned aircraft.

Alan E. Calegari has become CEO of Alenia North America in Washington. He was president and CEO of Ansaldo STS USA.

The move is largely an administrative step after Airbus determined the entire fleet would likely suffer component cracking due to a manufacturing process flaw.

David Russell has joined Gogo, Itaska, Ill., as senior VP and general manager of Europe and the Middle East for commercial aviation. He was VP-strategic programs for SITA Group.

Proponents of civil space exploration are likely to be disappointed by the details of the NASA fiscal 2013 budget plan to be released Feb. 13, particularly when it comes to Mars. It is already known from previous plans that NASA’s overall budget will be flat and tight, with no major new initiates and a lot of backfill from previous spending shortfalls.

NASA’s Technology Demonstration Missions Program is looking for “green” alternatives to toxic hydrazine as a storable propellant for spacecraft, offering contracts worth as much as $50 million each to researchers with promising ideas.

The U.S. Transportation Department wants to develop new spectrum interference standards to protect GPS signals from transmissions in adjacent bands as the battle between broadband-wireless hopeful LightSquared and the GPS industry enters a new phase.

PARIS — U.S.-based Space Systems/Loral has been chosen to supply two high-powered, Ka-band satellites and ground equipment for Australia’s National Broadband Network (NBN), a $2 billion initiative over 15 years that aims to bridge the digital divide between urban and regional communities.

Mergers and acquisitions activity in the aerospace and defense industry reached a record $43.7 billion in 2011, edging out the previous high from 2007 as consolidation in the commercial supply chain gained steam and underperforming defense units were spun off. A PwC study scheduled for release Feb. 7 tallied 341 acquisitions, mergers or spin-offs worth $50 million or more announced during the year.

BEIJING — China is firming up figures on the performance of two members of its forthcoming modular rocket family, with suggestions that at least one of the launchers might be a little better than expected. The figures remain patchy, however. The Long March 6, a light rocket designed for prompt launches, will be able to deliver “not less than 1 metric ton” to a Sun-synchronous orbit of 700 km (435 mi.) altitude, says Yu Menglun, a member of the general-design section at CALT, China’s main rocket builder.