William J. Lynn , 3rd, has become chairman and CEO of DRS Technologies, Parsippany, N.J., succeeding Mark S. Newman. Lynn was U.S. deputy secretary of defense in 2009-11.
Warren Persavich has been appointed president and CEO of Wichita-based NASAM, succeeding Aki Sato. Persavich was senior VP-parts distribution of Greenwich AeroGroup.
USAF Lt. Gen. Ellen Pawlikowski, commander of the Space and Missile Systems Center of Air Force Space Command, has been selected by the Society of Satellite Professionals International of New York, to receive its Stellar Award for Government Service. Pawlikowski is being honored for introducing new satellite communications technologies and exploring ways to acquire space systems.
Ellen Tauscher has been named vice chair-designate of the Brent Scowcroft Center on International Security, which will be inaugurated later this year, by the Atlantic Council of Washington. She was U.S. undersecretary of state for arms control and international security. HONORS AND ELECTIONS
Mike Fetcko has joined Elliott Aviation, Moline, Ill., as avionics manager for the Quad Cities team. He was a systems design engineer with Great Lakes Aviation and a private contractor. Randy Davis has been promoted to accessory shop sales manager from sales data administrator.
Robert G. Semelsberger (see photo) has joined Rincon Research Corp., Tucson, Ariz., as director of the Procession and Development Div. He was a senior officer at the CIA.
Maj. Gen. (ret.) Ajit Hari Gadre has become CEO of the Helicopter Academy to Train by Simulation of Flying, Bengaluru, India. He was director-general of army aviation of India.
Managers of Europe's new Vega rocket plan to ask European Space Agency (ESA) ministers to approve modifications to the launcher that would anchor it more solidly in Europe by replacing its Ukrainian-built upper stage with European hardware, preferably from Germany. The Feb. 13 debut flight (see photo) qualifies the Vega system—including the four-stage launch vehicle, ground infrastructure and operations—to operate alongside the Ariane 5 and Europeanized Soyuz rockets from the recently expanded spaceport in French Guiana.
Larry Lawson has been named executive VP for the aeronautics business at the Lockheed Martin Corp., Bethesda, Md., succeeding Ralph D. Heath, who plans to retire April 1. Lawson is VP and general manager for the F-35 program and will be succeeded by Orlando Carvalho. Lorraine Martin will follow Carvalho as VP and deputy for the program.
Gene L. Stygles and Renee D. Palyo have been appointed chief and deputy chief, respectively, of the Facilities Div. at the NASAGlenn Research Center in Cleveland. Stygles worked on the advanced solid rocket motor program, and Palyo was head of the division's Program Management Office.
Launch of the replacement Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO-2) will be delayed at least into mid-2014 while NASA finds a new launch vehicle and fixes a problem in the spacecraft reaction wheel assemblies. After two launch failures with Orbital Sciences Corp.'s Taurus XL solid-fuel rocket, NASA has decided to try to launch its replacement on another vehicle. Possibilities include the Pegasus XL, Falcon 9, Delta II and Atlas V, according to Jim Norman, director of launch services at NASA headquarters.
The National Air Traffic Controllers Association of Atlanta has presented the Archie League Medal of Safety to controllers Kristina Kurtz, Anchorage Tracon; Todd Mariani, Kansas City Center; Matt Reed, Potomac Tracon; Guy Lieser and Steve McGreevy, Chicago Center; Chris Henchey and Ryan Workman, Boston Center; Charlie Rohrer, Denver Center; Ken Greenwood, Josh Haviland and Ryan Herrick, Seattle Tracon; Alvin Kent, Atlanta Center; Frank Fisher and Greg Fleetwood, Corpus Christi Tower/Tracon; and Kevin McLaughlin, Southern California Tracon.
Jeff Chalupa (see photo) has been named general manager-domestic operations for Tulsa, Okla.-based Nordam's transparency division. He was senior director-global engineering and quality for the repair division.
Richard DeFatta has joined Kratos Defense & Security Solutions in San Diego, as VP-engineering support services for the Madison Research Business Unit of the Weapon Systems Solution Div. He was VP of Teledyne Solutions.
Michelle A. Scarpella and Stephen D. Hogan (see photos) have been appointed Falls Church, Va.-based VPs for the F-35 and F/A-18 programs, respectively, for the Northrop Grumman Corp. Scarpella has worked on the B-2, Joint Stars and E-2C Hawkeye programs, and Hogan was EA-18G and EA-6B program director.
R. Scott Rettig has been named chairman and CEO of OTO Melara North America in Washington, succeeding U.S. Navy Adm. (ret.) James Amerault, who will retire. Rettig was chairman and CEO of AgustaWestland North America.
HOUSTON – The International Space Station is in line for an artificial gravity inducing centrifuge for future research projects involving small biological and materials samples later this year, following a Feb. 14 hardware exchange between Astrium Space Transportation, the developer, and NanoRacks LLC, the equipment integrator.
A European research collaboration has developed the prototype for an augmented reality device that could move distant astronauts through a range of medical procedures for which they are not thoroughly trained, from diagnosing internal ailments with ultrasound to performing surgeries.
PARIS — Two of Europe’s biggest International Space Station contributors have rejected a NASA proposal that would see the European Space Agency (ESA) pay its share of ISS operating costs by building a propulsion module for NASA’s Orion crew transport capsule, saying the proposal is technologically lackluster and unlikely to generate public enthusiasm.
HOUSTON — President Obama’s proposed 2013 NASA budget of $17.771 billion, just $59 million below this year’s spending plan, has many at the agency’s Johnson Space Center in Houston relieved they were spared deep cuts. Yet there is a simmering concern of an imbalance between investments in commercial crew systems intended to ferry astronauts to low Earth orbit and the agency’s own Orion/Space Launch System for future deep-space destinations.
The FCC is indefinitely suspending LightSquared’s conditional waiver to operate its proposed 4G voice and data network in bands adjacent to those used by GPS, citing concerns that potential interference with GPS units could pose aviation safety risks. “The commission clearly stated from the outset that harmful interference to GPS would not be permitted,” the FCC says. “Consequently, the commission will not lift the prohibition on LightSquared.”
Risk reduction for the advanced strap-on boosters that will be needed to give NASA’s planned Space Launch System (SLS) the 130-metric-ton lift capability to low Earth orbit ordered by Congress will cost as much as $200 million over a 30-month period. The U.S. space agency on Feb. 14 released its expected NASA Research Announcement (NRA) for the advanced-booster risk mitigation, saying that it will make “multiple awards” for analysis and hardware demonstrations “and anticipates $200 million total funding.”
