HOUSE SCIENCE COMMITTEE Chairman Robert S. Walker (R.-Pa.) is blasting President Bill Clinton for failing to mention science in his Jan. 23 State of the Union Address. ``I find such an oversight to be inconceivable,'' Walker said in a statement. No word yet on what he thought of Senate Majority Leader Robert Dole's (R.-Kan.) response to Clinton for the Republican Party. Dole didn't mention science in his address either.
A TEST ARTICLE for a new lightweight external tank designed to increase space shuttle payload capacity has arrived at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Alabama for continued verification tests. The 27.5-ft.-dia. Aluminum Lithium Test Article, built by Lockheed Martin Manned Space Systems, will be tested to verify the design of the Space Shuttle Super Lightweight Tank. The new tank is scheduled to debut on the first shuttle assembly flight to the international space station in December, 1997. It is designed to weigh 7,500 lb.
Asian Pacific Mobile Telecommunications Satellite (APMT) of Singapore and Beijing has named Hughes Space and Communications to build two HS-601 variant spacecraft and to arrange launch services on the China Great Wall Industries Corp. Long March 3B in early 1998 for a borderless satellite network to serve mobile and cellular telephone users. The $640-million contract covers construction of two satellites (prime and spare), launch vehicles, launch insurance, satellite control facilities, communication gateways and user terminals.
EGYPT HAS SELECTED Europe's Arianespace consortium to launch its first satellite, Nilesat. The 3,740-lb. (1,700-kg.) spacecraft is being built for the Egyptian Radio and Television Union by Matra Marconi Space of Toulouse, France. It is designed to provide direct digital transmission of up to 56 television channels. Launch is scheduled for late 1997.
THE BIG U.S. LAUNCH VEHICLE AND ENGINE companies are licking their wounds after NASA's Daniel S. Goldin unleashed a torrent of criticism at a Space Transportation Assn. breakfast. The Administrator told industry lobbyists that they haven't done much for rocketry in the last 25 years and aren't very committed to next-generation concepts, like the X-33 reusable launch vehicle demonstrator. ``American rockets are inferior to other rockets,'' he said.
Few technologies involve so many complex, competing national and international issues and require such a fine balance between defense, commercial and foreign policy objectives as those revolving around the Global Positioning System. But calling for a comprehensive U.S. policy on GPS, a new Rand Corp. study comes down firmly on the side of maintaining military control of the satellite-based geo-location technology.
American Airlines flight operations and pilots' union representatives are touring the airline's flight crew bases to brief pilots on initial findings from the December crash of an American 757 and on the FAA investigation of the airline triggered by that crash.
BRITISH AIRWAYS PLANS TO HIRE another 1,000 personnel, including 70 pilots, as it expands operations at Gatwick airport and shifts services from overcrowded Heathrow. Four Boeing 747s, five 767s and three 737s will be added to the Gatwick fleet, with 24 aircraft deployed on long-haul services this summer, nearly twice as many as last year. By summer, BA expects to fly to as many short-haul destinations from Gatwick as from Heathrow. BA posted pre-tax profits of 104 million pounds ($158 million) for the last quarter of 1995, up 30% from the previous year.
SPAIN IS SET TO BUY 15 Cougar transport helicopters from Eurocopter after an intense competition between the Franco-German consortium and Sikorsky of the U.S., which offered its Black Hawk. The Spanish Defense Ministry's decision was still awaiting government approval late last week. The order, valued at $206 million, had been the subject of high-level political lobbying by the U.S and France in recent months. As part of the deal, France would buy seven CASA CN-235 transports, while the Spanish manufacturer would also receive offset work on the Cougars.
U.S. government certification of new airlines is too costly and should be offset by increased fees and swift elimination of unqualified applicants, according to a report by the U.S. General Accounting Office.
A cabinet-level advisory group has said it is time for a broader segment of Japanese officialdom to get involved in developing new satellites. The Space Activities Commission has lifted a bar that reserved satellite development programs for the National Space Development Agency (NASDA), the country's main space agency, and the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), its main space sciences agency.
The Near spacecraft couples a simple bus with redundancy and robust design margins. Designers believe that the approach gives high assurance that Near can fly three years and more than a billion miles and then perform precisely at an asteroid--while keeping total mission costs to about $210 million.
THE CIVIL AVIATION DEPT. OF HONG KONG plans to conduct FANS-1 automatic dependent surveillance system tests at the Hong Kong International Airport starting in August. CAE Electronics Ltd. of Montreal will supply the trial system under a contract from Hong Kong Telecom International Ltd. The Future Air Navigation System (FANS-1), as defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization, uses satellites for navigation and data link communication for air traffic control.
By mid-April, the U.S. and its allies should have more than 60 manned and unmanned aircraft able to monitor the Balkans. They are to watch closely to ensure no one derails the peace process, hides war crimes or endangers coalition forces. If someone does, the surveillance force wants to spot, track and properly identify the culprits.
NASA managers effectively have grounded their $1-billion-plus, upgraded space shuttle main engines after discovering high-cycle fatigue cracks in one of the engines' follow-on fuel pumps. The managers decided that engines with the Block 1 upgrade should not be flown until engineers fix the cause of cracks in the turbine second-stage vane assembly and other problems discovered in a high-pressure fuel turbopump that failed during a Jan. 25 test.
CAROLYN HUNTOON, WHO WAS replaced by George W. S. Abbey after a rocky tenure as director of the Johnson Space Center, may assume a post at the White House. Huntoon interviewed for a job under Ernie Moniz, the associate director for science at the Office of Science and Technology Policy. Since last August, Huntoon has been a special assistant to Goldin.
THE FAA HAS GIVEN GENERAL ELECTRIC and Boeing the green light to conduct a 1,000-cycle ETOPS flight test for the GE90-powered version of the 777 transport. The approximately four-month-long test is expected to begin in late February or early March after the teardown and inspection of a 3,000-cycle ground test engine is reviewed. Several administrative reviews also are to be conducted. These will reexamine engine configuration changes and the resolution of a December incident involving a GE90 fan blade rub.
BOEING'S CONSTRUCTION of hardware for the international space station has hit full stride. The company recently finished the last weld on the U.S. habitation module, signaling the completion of the exterior structures for the U.S. crew quarters, laboratory module and two connecting nodes. To date, Boeing has built more than 50,000 lb. of station flight hardware. ``We are busier now in our space station manufacturing area than we have ever been or ever will be,'' says John Winch, Boeing's lab/hab manager.
SR-71 REGENERATION CONTINUES with a third two-man aircrew expected to complete training by mid-month, according to Maj. Gen. Kenneth Israel. The chief of the Defense Airborne Reconnaissance Office says a fourth crew will be selected for training in March. Moreover, the SR-71s will soon receive a data link, and enough KC-135 capability has been established to make longer flights a reality. However, while the SR-71 ``is ready to exercise,'' Israel maintains the funds could be better used elsewhere.
Lockheed Martin's proposed acquisition of Loral, Northrop Grumman's planned purchase of Westinghouse's aerospace operations and Raytheon's recent acquisition of E-Systems raise the question of whether giant size will be a prerequisite for future success in the airborne electronic warfare business.
EFFECTIVE JULY 1, AMERICAN AND SINGAPORE Airlines are scheduled to start a reciprocal code-sharing service for passengers traveling the full route between Chicago and Singapore. American's ``AA'' designator will be placed on selected Singapore Airlines flights between Singapore and Los Angeles/San Francisco. Singapore Airlines' ``SQ'' will appear on selected connecting American flights between Chicago and Los Angeles/San Francisco.
THE TENSIONS ARE SHOWING AT AIRBUS INDUSTRIE after Boeing's big wins in the A330/340 versus 777 race. Airbus Senior Vice President-Commercial John Leahy said last week at Asian Aerospace '96 in Singapore that the European consortium is ready to take legal action against Boeing. He said Boeing ``misrepresents'' the A340's airspeed during its 777 sales pitches. Boeing has been saying the A340's cruise speed is Mach 0.78--when a users' survey shows it is Mach 0.82-.83, Leahy said.
Officials of Battelle Corp. and the Flight Safety Foundation expect to produce a proposal within 30 days leading to the development of a safety information network among airlines, manufacturers, labor unions and the FAA.
ALL THEATER MISSILE DEFENSE PROGRAMS will likely get a one-year reprieve. Pentagon acquisition chief Paul Kaminski is recommending that the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's $2.8-billion budget this year be increased by about $500 million. Then, he suggests, no theater missile defense program be killed but that incremental cuts should start in Fiscal 1997. Kaminski recommends that the Administration accede to Congress' desire to boost National Missile Defense spending this year, perhaps as much as $375 million.
The McDonnell Douglas-led JAST design team has settled on a ``reduced tail'' design which incorporates main engine nozzle thrust vectoring to boost aircraft performance, particularly in the traditional post departure flight regime. The McDonnell/Northrop Grumman/
