NASA Administrator Michael Griffin "probably" will visit China this year at the behest of President Bush to discuss lunar exploration and other topics, taking the newest spacefaring nation up on a longstanding invitation that predates his tenure as head of the U.S. space agency. President Bush offered to send Griffin to China during his summit with Chinese President Hu Jintao, according to Dennis Wilder, acting director for Asian affairs at the White House National Security Council.
SKY WAR: A senior Naval officer says it's still important to consider the next U.S. war, which could be in the skies, while the Pentagon currently focuses on the Iraq and Afghanistan wars and concentrates on finding and destroying improvised explosive devices. "We've got to continue planning for the future, which will be a different war. It could very well be one back in the skies," says Rear Adm. Timothy Heely, program executive officer for strike weapons and unmanned aviation at Naval Air Systems Command. "I do air-to-air stuff.
Chineta K. Davis has been appointed vice president of corporate business development, effective May 1. Diane Murray has been appointed sector vice president of mission assurance. Kelley Zelickson has been named sector vice president and general manager of the tactical systems division, a business unit in the mission systems sector.
Michael V. Schrock has been named to the board of directors. Schrock is president and chief operating officer of filtration and technical products at Pentair Inc.
The Japanese space agency JAXA says a HyShot-IV scramjet flight-test failed last month when a nose cone malfunctioned during the launch at Australia's Woomera test range.
A major new U.S. built European direct broadcast spacecraft is undergoing checkout in space following launch from Cape Canaveral April 20 on a Lockheed Martin/International Launch Services Atlas V. The 9,950-pound SES Astra 1KR satellite replaces the original Alcatel Astra 1K lost in November 2002 when its ILS/Russian Proton booster put that spacecraft into a useless orbit, followed by a fiery re-entry that destroyed what at the time was the largest satcom ever built.
April 24 - 26 -- ATCA/FAA/NASA Technical Symposium & Golf Outing, Atlantic City, 703-299-2430 ext. 303, Fax 703-299-2437, email [email protected]. April 24 - 27 -- Aerial Refueling Systems Advisory Group International's Annual Conference, Westin Horton Plaza, San Diego, Calif. For more information call (937) 429-7014 or go to www.arsaginc.com.
Orbital Sciences Corp. revenues grew 15 percent in the first quarter of this year over the same period last year, due largely to a 30 percent increase in the Dulles, Va.-based company's small-geostationary communications satellite product line.
Bell Helicopter Texton's sole flying demonstrator for its Eagle Eye tiltrotor unmanned aircraft crashed April 5 during a test flight due to "unexpected loss of engine power," according to John Rudy, director of unmanned programs business development. The TR918 unit suffered "substantial damage" after falling 300 to 350 feet to a "hard landing." Bell officials are awaiting results of a Bell investigation, to be finished within weeks, to decide whether to repair it or build a new one, Rudy said.
India's decision to fast-track purchase of eight multimission patrol aircraft to replacing aging Tu-142s could lead to its first commercial military purchase from the United States.
The second X-50A Dragonfly demonstrator was destroyed in a crash at Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona last week, leaving Boeing and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) pondering whether the envelope-pushing program can continue. The mishap occurred at 7:46 a.m. Mountain time April 12. There were no injuries or property damage and the cause of the crash is not yet known, Boeing told The DAILY. An accident investigation is under way.
Advances in computing power and algorithms are allowing scientists to make some "outrageous predictions" on black holes and gravitational waves based on the largest astrophysical calculations ever performed on a NASA supercomputer.
CROSSFIELD KILLED: Pioneer test pilot Scott A. Crossfield, 84, died April 19 when his Cessna 210A crashed during heavy thunderstorms near Ludville, Ga., in the mountains near the Chattahoochee National Forest. Flying alone, he was en route to Manassas, Va., when Atlanta Center lost radar and radio contact (DAILY, April 20). FAA wasn't able to confirm if Crossfield had declared an emergency or advised controllers of any problems. The aerospace legend and X-15 test pilot was the first man to fly twice and three times the speed of sound.
Northrop Grumman is generally supportive of the Boeing/Lockheed Martin United Launch Alliance merger and is confident that its competitive concerns about the deal are being addressed by the Defense Department, according to Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman space technology
Two Washington think tanks next week will release a report that says the U.S. Army has done a good job of maintaining and protecting its deployed force while also transforming.
MTSAT-1R: Japan's newest metsat, the multipurpose MTSAT-1R (also called Himawari 6) launched in February 2005, lost its ability to send cloud-cover observational data for 19 hours on April 17. The cause was attributed to a malfunction of its altitude control computer. As a result, the nation's meteorological agency had to turn to NOAA17/18 satellites for fill-in data. The malfunction is under investigation. The problem arose at about 1 a.m. Japan time.
HELO REBUILDING: McDonnell Douglas Helicopter Co. has been awarded a $44.3 million contract modification to rebuild six Apache AH-64D helicopters for the U.S. Army, the Defense Department said April 20. The work will be done in Mesa, Ariz., and is expected to be finished by May 2007. The contract was awarded by the Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala.
General Dynamics' first-quarter revenue in 2006 jumped 16 percent to $5.6 billion compared to the same period last year, the company reported April 19. The company recorded net earnings for the quarter of $374 million, or $0.92 cents per share on a fully diluted basis, compared to first-quarter 2005 net earnings of $336 million. Per-share earnings increased 10.8 percent.
