John S. Edwards/Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com
The FAA lists 23 active and emerging commercial reusable launch vehicle programs in the U.S. Some of them are well developed and being pursued by companies that have been in the space business for decades; others are being developed by companies that are creating space hardware for the first time. But the one unifying factor is that only a small fraction will make it out of the paper chase and onto the launch pad.
Rep. Gabrielle Giffords (D-Ariz.) will be chair of the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics in the new Congress, succeeding Mark Udall (D-Col.), who has moved to the Senate. Giffords will be a key player in overseeing NASA and the U.S. civil space program. Beginning her second term representing the Tucson area on Capitol Hill, Giffords is a “blue-dog Democrat” who has promoted fiscal conservatism. She is married to shuttle astronaut Mark Kelly, commander of the STS-124 space station assembly mission last year.
Italian authorities are considering shutting down Ciampino, the airport closest to Rome, in favor of bolstering the larger Fiumicino airport. Low-fare carriers now operating at Ciampino would likely be moved to Viterbo, which is yet another military-commercial airport. But Viterbo is located about 100 km. (62 mi.) from the Italian capital. Authorities promise to improve public transportation to the facility. No schedule has been established for the changes.
NASA veteran Christopher Scolese will serve as acting administrator until Obama appoints a replacement for Michael Griffin, who departed when the new administration took office Jan. 20. A decision could come soon, if word of a possible break in the logjam that has stalled Obama’s reported favorite for the job is true. Former Air Force Maj. Gen. J. Scott Gration’s lack of space experience has run afoul of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.), who chaired the panel that confirms NASA administrators in the 110th Congress and probably will in the new one as well.
Raymond Jaworowski (Forecast International/www.forecastinternational.com)
The recent airline business environment has been characterized by erratic swings in profits, fuel prices and traffic statistics. But even in such tough financial conditions, aircraft manufacturers can find opportunities to lay the foundation for growth in profits and market share. The world airline industry posted a net profit in 2007, for the first year since 2000. Net profitability was achieved largely because U.S. major carriers finally joined the recovery. Previously, their financial results had been lagging behind the rest of the industry.
Team/Network Group 206 Jungja-dong, Bundang-gu Sungnam City, Kyunggi Province 463-711, South Korea Tel. (82-31) 727-4260; Fax (82-31) 727-4279 www.kt.co.kr Koreasat 2 (Mugungwha 2) Business services, multimedia, VSAT networks. Orbital location is 113° E geosynchronous. Carries 15 Ku-band transponders. Launched 1996.
Radical reorganization of the Chinese aerospace industry has created an array of specialist companies that policy makers hope will have the focus needed to succeed in the international market. The former twin conglomerates Avic 1 and Avic 2 have been merged back together as Avic. But the key to the reform is the subsequent parceling of their many factories and research institutes into five specialist aerospace companies plus the so-called Defense Div., itself a nascent integrated military contractor.
7 Menachem Begin St. Ramat Gan 52521, Israel Tel. (972-3) 755-1000; Fax (972-3) 755-1001 www.amos-spacecom.com Amos 1 Broadband, broadcasting, corporate and government services, Internet access. Orbital location is 4° W geosynchronous. Carries seven Ku-band transponders. 2008 EOL. Amos 2 Broadband, broadcasting, corporate and government services, Internet access. Orbital location is 4° W geosynchronous. Carries 11 Ku-band transponders. 2015 EOL.
Boeing is assembling the fuselage of the first 747-8 Freighter, which at 250 ft. 2 in. will be the longest version of the 747 ever built. The upper crown and cockpit of the Spirit AeroSystems-built Section 41 were loaded into the jigs at Boeing’s Everett, Wash., assembly site on Jan 17. First flight is expected around the end of the third quarter, with deliveries to launch customer Cargolux Airlines beginning around September 2010. When assembly begins next year, the identically sized -8I Intercontinental will be the longest passenger aircraft ever made—3 ft.
The steep decline in global freight traffic is driving Emirates to improve efficiency within its cargo operations and is contributing to Air France-KLM’s warning about losses.
While I do not necessarily agree with many of the plaudits offered Robert M. Gates as your Person of the Year (AW&ST Jan. 5, p. 44), I do not disagree with the facts presented but some of the opinions had no place in AW&ST. “Conservative activist” Grover Norquist says “. . . however you want to cut it, the so-called surge succeeded on his watch.” Oh, really? Norquist and Gates should look back to the testimony of then U.S. Army Gen.
15 Kalinina St., KGUPS PO Box 99 Koroliov, Moscow region Russia 141070 Tel. (7-495) 504-2906; Fax (7-495) 504-2911 www.gascom.ru Yamal 100 Broadcast, telecommunications. Orbital location is 90° E. Carries 10 C-band transponders. 2009 EOL. Yamal 200 KA-1 Broadcast, telecommunications. Orbital location is 90° E. Carries nine C-band and six Ku-band transponders. 2015 EOL. Yamal 200 KA-2 Broadcast, telecommunications. Orbital location is 49° E. Carries 18 C-band transponders. 2015 EOL.
China Southern has selected Thales’s TopSeries inflight entertainment system for 10 Airbus A330-300 aircraft owned by China Southern, to be delivered starting in March 2010. Each aircraft will be equipped with audio and video on-demand at every seat. China Southern and Thales are also exploring a service arrangement for repair and content management, taking advantage of a Thales service center in Beijing. The deal follows the acquisition of Panasonic’s MPES for 12 A320-family aircraft operated by Singapore Airlines’ regional carrier, SilkAir.
Air Force Aerospatiale SA330J (4) Airbus A310-300 (2) Beech A100 (1) Boeing 707 (4) Boeing EF-18A (55) Boeing EF-18B (12) Boeing F/A-18A (22) Bombardier 415 (1) Canadair CL-215 (5) Canadair CL-215T (14) CASA C-101EB (73) CASA C-212 (44) CASA C-212-200 (12) CASA C-295 (9) CASA CN-235 (4) CASA CN-235M (18) CASA Do 27A (1) CASA SF-5B (16) CASA SF-5M (4)
Losing bidder PlanetSpace has protested NASA’s award of a $3.5-billion contract to SpaceX and Orbital Sciences Corp. to deliver cargo to the International Space Station. PlanetSpace—which includes Lockheed Martin, Alliant Techsystems and Boeing—proposed using the space shuttle-derived Athena III. The protest effectively stops the program until the U.S. Government Accountability Office either dismisses or upholds it, which it must do within 90 days of the filing.
