Astronauts aboard the International Space Station are unloading the “Orb-1” Cygnus resupply capsule following its Jan. 12 rendezvous and berthing. Launched on an Orbital Sciences Corp. Antares rocket from Wallops Island, Va., on Jan. 9. The resupply craft is the first in an eight-flight, $1.9 billion Commercial Resupply Services deal with NASA. The unpiloted commercial freighter carries 2,780 lb. of day-to-day provisions, science and experiment hardware, computer equipment and spacewalk tools.
International Launch Services (ILS) plans to launch Eutelsat 9B for the Paris-based satcom operator in 2015 on a Khrunichev-built Proton rocket under a agreement announced Jan. 15. Space Systems (formerly Astrium) of Airbus Defense and Space will build the 5,300-kg (11,700-lb.) Ku-band satellite, which will be positioned at 9 deg. E. Long. to deliver service via 66 transponders. The spacecraft, which is based on the Eurostar E3000 bus, also will host the first payload for the European Data Relay Satellite System.
With fewer Rafale combat jets on order and no firm export contracts in hand, France is facing difficult choices. The French defense ministry announced contracts on Jan. 10 for €1 billion ($1.4 billion) in planned upgrades to the Dassault Aviation combat jet. Yet budget pressures have forced drastic reductions in the total number of Rafale aircraft and next-generation weapon systems the ministry plans to buy over the next six years, prompting new spending for renovation of Mirage 2000D fighters and further extending the service life of aging Mirage 2000-5s.
NASA expects almost $800 million over post-sequestration 2013 funding levels under the 2014 omnibus, allowing the agency to maintain its ongoing space and aeronautics activities without an apparent need for major changes. One question remains: whether $696 million for the Commercial Crew Program is enough for flights to the International Space Station (ISS) beginning in 2017 as planned. NASA managers have said they need the full 2014 request, $821 million, to stay on schedule.
The In Orbit column of Jan. 13 (p. 16) incorrectly described the service module for the first flight test of NASA's Orion multipurpose crew vehicle as “European-built.” It will be manufactured by Orion prime contractor Lockheed Martin.
An unprecedented competition announced by the Indian government to energize local private industry in aerospace manufacturing stands on a razor's edge, with the country's defense ministry contemplating opening participation to India's monopolistic state-owned defense companies as well.
Rebecca R. Rhoads (see photo) has been appointed president of the Raytheon Co.'s Global Business Services. She will remain the Waltham, Mass.-based company's chief information officer.
John Croft's “Safety Shut-Up” (AW&ST Dec. 16, 2013, p. 18), about the element of surprise being added to simulator training, does not stress strongly enough that stalling in mid-air exhibits wildly different manifestations than a simulator experience. As an engineer in the service and in civilian life, I have flown countless hours both on test and on routine operations and have experienced “deep stalling” during a test/training flight on the recently retired Vickers VC10.
Jim Coon (see photo) has been named senior vice president-government affairs and advocacy for the Aircraft Owners and Pilots Association, Frederick, Md. He was executive vice president of the National Air Transportation Association and has been staff director for the U.S. House Committee on Transportation and Infrastructure and majority staff director for the House aviation subcommittee.
USAF Maj. Gen. (ret.) Charles W. Lyon (see photo) has been named lead executive for Northrop Grumman Corp. business in Hampton, Va. He succeeds Timothy A. Peppe, who is retiring. Lyon's final USAF assignment was director of operations at Air Combat Command Headquarters in Hampton.
Daniel Setz has become senior vice president-cargo operations at Zurich-based Swissport. He was country managing director/senior vice president for Brazil for the Panalpina Group.
If Embraer really wants to outsell the C-130 Hercules with its new KC-390 cargo aircraft, as discussed in “Cargo Shift” (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, 2014, p. 62), it should have chosen two of the turboprop engines that power Airbus's new A400M instead of opting for turbofans. Those turboprops with their inherent 30% better fuel efficiency would have more than enough thrust with 11,000 shp each, and supply more than double the power of any other Western turboprop.
In a recent Up Front column (AW&ST Dec. 30, 2013/Jan. 6, 2014, p. 15) Richard Aboulafia, by using the examples of the production lines for the F-15, F-16 and F-18, presents a superficially compelling argument for the preservation of national defense assets. But he neglects to mention that the original variants of all these aircraft first flew in the early 1970s. Preserving these production lines is the technological equivalent of preserving battleship-building shipyards after the end of World War II.
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In 2013 scientists announced that, for the first time, a man-made object had left the Solar System. Voyager I actually entered interstellar space in August 2012, but its operators had to wait until a solar storm generated enough data at the spacecraft to confirm the historic moment. Voyager I has been traveling away from the Sun since 1977, and is more than 11.7 billion mi. from Earth now. In 1996 it pointed its camera back on the Solar System it was leaving and collected this narrow-angle image of Earth at a distance of more than 4 billion mi. (below left).
Michael Ryschkewitsch has been selected to lead the Space Sector at the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, Md. He has been chief engineer at NASA and had been deputy director for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and director of its Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate.
BAE Systems has begun flight trials of three-dimensional printed metallic components on the Panavia Tornado combat aircraft, as the company explores the potential benefits of the method. A one-off component—a bracket made from printed stainless steel and designed to carry a fixed thermal-imaging camera—has been fitted to a U.K. Royal Air Force Tornado GR4 the company uses for flight testing. The bracket was produced in a fraction of the time and cost that similar items would have previously taken.
