One of China’s original astronauts will join two Europeans and three Russians in a long-term Martian mission simulation planned to begin in Moscow in early June. The 520-day activity, known as Mars 500, will take place in a sealed environment that includes mockups of an interplanetary spaceship, a lander and an ersatz view of the Martian landscape. The various modules, located at the Institute for Biomedical Problems in Moscow, will provide 550 cubic meters of living space for the simulation, intended to replicate a real Martian mission.
Mergers and acquisition activity in the aerospace and defense industry is bouncing back to pre-recession levels as lower prices and a better economic outlook lure buyers. PricewaterhouseCoopers counted 68 A&D transactions in the first quarter of 2010 worth $5.1 billion. That was more than four times the value of transactions in the first quarter of 2009, and returned M&A activity to its level in the third quarter of 2008.
Concerns about the long-term effects of weightlessness on astronauts’ health have taken many forms. A common one is their need to exercise while in orbit to counteract losses of bone density and muscle mass. Now a science team headed by Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) and NASA Ames Research Center is posing a different question, but one untidy housekeepers will understand: What about scum? That is, what affect might microbes in a biofilm—or, more prosaically, scum—play over time?
The FAA is proposing an airworthiness directive (AD) that would require operators of Sikorsky S-70A/-70C helicopters to conduct an ultrasonic test inspection for cracks in the tail gearbox output bevel gear. If a crack is detected, the directive calls for replacement of the gear before further flight. The FAA says three gear-cracking incidents—one of which resulted in separation of the tail rotor from the helicopter—prompted the proposed AD, which is aimed at preventing tail rotor separation and loss of control of the aircraft.
Jetstar Airways, the low-cost arm of Australia’s Qantas Airways, will operate long-haul flights out of Singapore’s Changi Airport by year-end and is looking to serve cities in North Asia, Australia and Southern Europe. While the destinations have not yet been determined, the plan is to inaugurate the first route in December, to coincide with the delivery of the first of two Airbus A330-200s to be based in Singapore. A second route will follow when the second aircraft arrives in early 2011.
Laurie Leshin has become deputy associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. She was deputy director for science and technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md.
India’s efforts to revamp its military rotorcraft inventory continue with further requests for information now hitting the streets, while the rerun of its light reconnaissance helicopter program may be entering the final stage. The navy is in the market for 50 light utility helicopters, and the coast guard is looking for 30 platforms—a mix of medium and light models. Requests for information on the programs were issued this month—although in the coast guard’s case, this is its second effort to jump-start the procurement.
Troubled Satelites Mexicanos has a new lease on life, following an agreement by bondholders to provide funding for a new spacecraft. The 64-transponder C-/Ku-band satellite, christened Satmex 8, was ordered on May 10 from Space Systems/Loral. SS/L also indicated, in first-quarter results released last week, that it had been authorized to proceed on another high-power spacecraft from an unidentified long-standing customer not yet revealed.
BAE Systems is searching for innovative ways to move some of the 100+ used BAE146/Avro RJs in its portfolio, and its Explorer One is certainly among the most evocative concepts. Conceived by Design Q, a British company specializing in yachts, sports cars and VIP aircraft, the design features a plush executive interior, but is distinctive for the patio deck that slides out from the aircraft’s floor and is accessed by passengers through a wide freight door that swings open overhead.
Israel is growing increasingly concerned about the deployment of Syrian-made M-600 missiles in Lebanon that are capable of accurately striking any point in Israel.
Reader Dale L. Jensen overlooks the fact that the same engineers designed and developed the space shuttle main engine (SSME) and the RS-68, and in both cases optimized them for the application. The SSME is a reusable engine that fires from sea level to orbit (basically like a single stage to orbit). The Delta IV that uses the RS-68 is a single-use multi-stage vehicle in which the RS-68 fires only at low altitude while the upper-stage engines are used only at high altitude.
Further underscoring Europe’s growing importance as a business aviation user, Bombardier has officially opened a business aircraft service center at Amsterdam’s Schiphol International Airport. The 45,639-sq.-ft. hangar can accommodate eight Learjets, four Challengers and two Global business jets. At the moment, it is authorized to service the Learjet 40, 45 and 60 and Challenger 604 and 605 but expects further certification for work on the Challenger 300 and Global family by Sept. 1.
Janis Pamiljans (see photo) has become vice president of the U.S. Navy Unmanned Combat Air System program at the Northrop Grumman Corp. in San Diego. He was vice president/program manager of its aerial refueling tanker program.
Arianespace has contracted to launch Hughes Network Systems’ Jupiter, a high-power bent-pipe high-speed Internet access satellite intended to make the corporate-broadband specialist more competitive in the consumer and small business markets. The 6-metric-ton spacecraft is to be orbited in the first half of 2012. Meanwhile, Intelsat selected International Launch Services to orbit Intelsat 22, a 6.4-metric-ton spacecraft under construction at Boeing that will carry a pioneering milsat payload for the Australian defense forces (AW&ST May 3, p. 20).
Toray Industries inked a long-term contract with EADS to directly supply carbon-fiber preimpregnated (prepreg) materials, mainly for Airbus aircraft, for a 15-year period. In the past, EADS received prepregs through third-party suppliers, which built the lightweight sheets and/or strips from material supplied by Japan-based Toray. Carbon-fiber demand, stagnant since 2008, has been showing signs of recovery.
A radical reorganization featuring new owners and fresh financing is likely to hasten Sea Launch’s exit from Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and return to the market.
The U.S. government recently denied a request from visiting Brazilian officials to revoke the certificates of the two ExcelAire pilots whose Legacy 600 business jet and a Gol Airlines Boeing 737 collided on Sept. 29, 2006, over the Amazon jungle; all 154 people onboard the Gol flight were killed. Although damaged, the Legacy landed safely. The Brazilian group made its appeal during April meetings in Washington with the FAA, the State Department and the NTSB. But the FAA responded that there was insufficient evidence to revoke the licenses.
Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency’s Venus Climate Orbiter, or Akatsuki, is due for launch at 6:44 a.m. (local time) on May 18 onboard a Mitsubishi H-IIA from the Tanegashima Space Center. Previously called Planet-C, the 500-kg. (1,100-lb.) spacecraft will study Venus’s atmosphere, with an emphasis on its unusual winds, sulfuric acid clouds and lightning storms. The mission also carries Ikaros, the thin-film Small Solar Power Sail Demonstrator project, which has a diagonal spread of 20 meters (65 ft.) and is to be powered on an interplanetary trip by photon propulsion.
The Jordanian government has announced plans to acquire an undisclosed number of Boeing AH-6i light attack and reconnaissance helicopters; the “i” version is the export derivative of the U.S. Army special operations AH-6 Little Bird. The helos are to replace about 30 AH-1 Cobras in Jordanian air force inventory.
Amy Butler (Washington and Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio)
As Defense Secretary Robert Gates steps up his drive for fiscal discipline at the Pentagon, Air Force officials are already searching for savings by scrutinizing their multibillion-dollar procurement and sustainment accounts.
A government-backed plan to merge electronics units at Paris-based Thales and Safran SA has fizzled, throwing a new wrinkle into Europe’s aerospace consolidation picture. The two companies had been in talks off-and-on for some time about combining operations that lack the size to be globally competitive. Discussions initially focused on creating a joint €1-billion ($1.26-billion) business in optronics (a field that includes laser range finders and infrared search-and-track systems).
Eastern European carrier Air Moldova plans to operate its first Embraer 190, delivered earlier this month, to European and Middle Eastern cities from its base at Chisinau (Moldova) International Airport. CEO Iulian Scorpan says the aircraft type is “the cornerstone of our development strategy, the right-sized aircraft to open new routes” and also complements the carrier’s narrow-body fleet. The 190 joins three Airbus A320s and one Embraer EMB‑120 now in service and, according to Airbus, is the first 190 to be configured in 114-seat single-class layout.
By March 2012, Malaysian low-cost carrier AirAsia plans to transfer its Kuala Lumpur operations and headquarters to a new low-cost-carrier terminal that will be built near the main terminal of the city’s international airport. The new facility will be able to handle up to 30 million passengers a year, double the capacity of the existing site. AirAsia has secured 76 aircraft parking bays at the future terminal, about twice as many as it has now.
Debra Wilcox has become senior vice president of Bye Energy Inc. of Denver and Bruce Gillit vice president of Bye Engineering. He was director of engineering services for AAI Acquisition Inc. (formerly Adam Aircraft Industries). John C. Knudsen, a partner in the aviation law firm of Byrne Knudsen and White in Denver and a former U.S. Navy the aviator, has joined the Bye Aerospace strategic advisory council. He was co-founder/president for government operations/general counsel of Adam Aircraft Industries.
