The European Space Agency has downselected three candidates for the next stage of competition for a seventh Earth Explorer mission. The candidates, picked from a slate of six proposals, are: Biomass, a mission to study the distribution and evolution of forest biomass; CoReH20, which is intended to measure fresh water stored in snow on land surfaces, glaciers and ice sheets; and Premier, which would analyze the composition of the mid- to upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Each will enter a two-year feasibility study phase.
John M. Doyle (Washington), Amy Butler (Washington)
While Washington and Moscow spar over the motives behind a proposed missile defense system in Eastern Europe, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency is going ahead with plans for the first flight test of the interceptor it wants to deploy in Poland.
NASA’s upcoming robotic mission to the Moon will set some basic signposts for human exploration there far into the future, while giving Earthbound scientists a much better view of the distant past. Developed by the U.S. space agency’s Exploration Systems Mission Directorate as a source of detailed maps for the Moon base already in development, the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO) will join orbiters from China, India and Japan in producing the best look ever at Earth’s natural satellite.
The collapse of its financial system has put Iceland at the center of the global economic crisis, but the country’s main airline, Icelandair, nevertheless says it can close the year with “satisfactory operating results.” While many Nordic carriers are struggling given the steep drop in demand in recent months, Icelandair believes it may be in a somewhat better position than others. Management is hopeful that earnings margins will actually be up this year.
Russia is developing the anti-satellite weapon capability that the old Soviet Union allowed to degrade as the Cold War drew to a close, building on “basic, key elements” already in its arsenal that can be used in an ASAT system, according to the country’s deputy defense minister. Responding to a reporter’s question about Chinese and U.S. satellite shootdowns, Gen. Valentin Popovkin, a former commander of Russia’s military space forces, tells reporters in Moscow “we can’t sit back and quietly watch others doing that.
Air China has finally joined the other big Chinese airlines in seeking more capital from its government owner. Chairman Kong Dong says it has asked for at least 3 billion yuan ($440 million), the amount granted to its larger rival, China Southern. The company says it may not make a profit in 2009, even though its revenue for the first two months of the year was at least 10% higher than during the year-ago period. China Eastern, Hainan and Shanghai airlines also have sought government money to help them through the economic downturn.
Just two months after it forewarned of an “uncertainty” for commercial and defense sales, the Federal Reserve has revised its outlook for the commercial and business aircraft industries. In its latest “Beige Book” report, the Fed notes, “reductions in airline capacity have weakened the outlook for new orders going forward, and orders for small corporate jets have dropped significantly of late.” The Fed’s San Francisco bank adds that despite this downturn, “[a]erospace manufacturers continued to produce commercial aircraft at a brisk clip.”
Your obituary of Konrad Dannenberg (AW&ST Feb. 23, p. 20) hit many high points, but missed the driving thrust of his life. He, my dad, was a space guy through and through. His life encompassed two exceptional careers—the first 40 years were spent developing rocket propulsion systems to take us to the Moon; the second, a 30+-year mission, was dedicated to passing on his passion for space to future generations.
Daher has finalized an €80-million ($101-million) capital increase that will permit it to undertake a five-year €585-million capital expenditure plan. The plan includes a new plant in Nantes, France, dedicated to advanced composite aerostructures. Daher also recently acquired a 70% share in business aircraft maker Socata. The capital injection came through the purchase of 20% of Daher stock by two recently created French government investment funds.
Budget-stressed state governments are scrambling for new revenues—and business aviation is a ready target. New York, Rhode Island, Illinois, California, Idaho and Florida, among others, are considering various moves, ranging from ending sales-tax exemptions on maintenance, to imposing an additional 5% “luxury” tax on aircraft valued above $500,000, to taxing fees of aircraft management firms. Connecticut is even considering selling or leasing its six state-owned airports. Henry Ogrodzinski, president of the National Assn.
The Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) has turned to a European with strong security and policy credentials to serve as Secretary General for a three-year term. Raymond Benjamin, the former executive secretary of the European Civil Aviation Conference (ECAC), had been proposed for the post by the French delegation to ICAO. He was elected by a secret ballot to replace Taieb Cherif of Algeria, who is completing his second term in August. There is a two-term limit for the secretary general’s position.
Nav Canada, which operates Canada’s civil air navigation service, says the use of automatic dependent surveillance-broadcast (ADS-B) technology has helped to close a 382,187-sq.-mi. gap in Canadian radar coverage in the Hudson Bay region. According to the Flight Safety Foundation, Nav Canada reports that implementation of ADS-B has resulted in more efficient use of airspace for about 35,000 flights annually by reducing time, costs and emissions.
The Northrop Grumman Fire Scout unmanned rotorcraft system was unable to complete a series of shipboard tests last month due to weather in the Chesapeake Bay area, says Rear Adm. Bill Shannon, Navy program executive officer for unmanned aircraft and air-launched weapons. The weather issues prevented the rotorcraft a landing on the USS McInerney, a trial that is now slated for April. Handoff from shore-based command and control was successfully transferred to a ship-based system, Shannon says.
Al Zito has been appointed vice president-safety, certification and compliance, Sharon Grey vice president-quality assurance and engineering, and Dustin Wilcox director of safety programs, all for JDA Aviation Technology Solutions of Washington .
The FAA has certified an anechoic test chamber constructed by Applied Composites Engineering (ACE) that is capable of accommodating up to 9-ft.-dia. radomes. ACE is targeting tests of commercial X-band radomes as a stand-alone service to complement its capability to repair and overhaul radomes for commercial and business jets. The company, located adjacent to Indianapolis International Airport, employs state-of-the-art robotics, data acquisition and reporting technologies to achieve its goal of speeding up turnaround times. How fast?
The first four-star general to be chief of the National Guard Bureau says decisions must be made soon about fighter aircraft recapitalization. Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley says domestic air sovereignty defense can be provided by legacy USAF aircraft if they are modernized with equipment like active electronically scanned array radars. But he also notes the Air Force’s priority for buying fifth-generation fighters. “In my opinion, everything has to still stay on the table,” McKinley says. Yet time is running out.
Chris Cayia has become operations manager and Hillary Davis production coordinator for Flight Display Systems , Alpharetta, Ga. Cayia was superintendent for the JHC Corp. in Peachtree City, Ga., while Davis was a sales and service assistant for Miura Boiler Inc.
NASA plans to reboot the computer on the Mars Odyssey spacecraft this week, for the first time since 2003, to stave off the potentially negative effects of accumulated memory corruption after many years of being bombarded with space radiation while in orbit around the red planet. The cold reboot is “not a risk-free event,” according to NASA, but should give controllers a clue as to the condition of the spacecraft’s redundant “B side” electronics systems, a component of which failed in 2007.
Frank Robinson says the record production run his eponymous helicopter company has enjoyed in recent years has come to an end. “This won’t be a record year,” he says. “This is a recession year. [The high production rates] stopped last December.” Nevertheless, he says certification work on the R-66—Robinson Helicopter Co.’s first turbine-powered model—continues, albeit at a slower pace than anticipated because of new FAA requirements for increased testing and analysis.
Grahame Jones has been appointed operations director, Rod Dean director of flying, Richard Mann sponsorship and business development manager and Mark Emmerson catering contracts manager, all for Farnborough (England) International Ltd. Jones was group operations director for the Haymarket Media Group, while Dean was on the staff of the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority. Mann was an executive with Reed Exhibitions, while Emmerson was with the Compass Group.
Air Force Gen. Kevin Chilton, who heads Strategic Command, was understandably perturbed to learn he’s flying blind in his new role overseeing Pentagon computer network operations. Chilton ordered a standard review of the assets under his command, including the number of computers on classified and open networks operated by the Pentagon. The response took 45 days, he told an audience at the Air Force Assn.’s annual conference last month.
A test of the Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense system later this month is expected to pit two interceptors flown in a salvo against a single target, according to the U.S. Missile Defense Agency. The test will take place at the range off Hawaii and will be a second attempt at a trial slated for last year. In September, officials aborted a salvo shot due to a glitch with the target missile.
Airbus and Qantas are trying to assess why fuel contamination issues caused two of the airline’s Airbus A380s to miss flights. The issue triggered alerts with fuel sensors. An Airbus official says the sensors were not faulty. The A380s were returned to service quickly.
Snecma officials confirm that the United Arab Emirates has asked France to study reengining the Rafale fighter, as part of a proposed acquisition of the advanced combat aircraft. The upgrade, which would offer a 20% improvement over the basic M88 engine, would enhance the Rafale’s hot-and-high capability and extend its payload and range. The French defense ministry previously studied a higher-power derivative, known as the M88-3, but decided it was not warranted.
The National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) is giving NASA poor marks for its implementation of the most recent NRC decadal survey on solar and space physics, which endorsed a number of missions desired by the scientific community that have since been delayed or scaled back. “Mission cost growth, reordering of survey mission priorities, and unrealized budget assumptions have delayed or deferred nearly all of the NASA spacecraft missions recommended in the survey,” the NRC says. Mission cost growth was a major factor in the agency’s difficulties.
