Members of the 20-nation European Space Agency (ESA) plan to meet Dec. 2 at the ministerial level to approve billions of euros in financing for major programs over the next few years, including a new generation of rockets and participation in the International Space Station (ISS) through 2020.
The European Space Agency (ESA) and mobile satellite communications provider Inmarsat have signed a contract valued at €15 million ($19 million) to provide satellite-based air-traffic monitoring as part of the European Union’s Single European Sky ATM Research (Sesar) initiative. Dubbed Iris Precursor, the Nov. 26 agreement is intended to upgrade Inmarsat’s SwiftBroadband service to meet standards set for ground-based VHF data links that will allow flight plans to be updated continually to maintain optimal trajectories. The U.K.
The scheduled Nov. 28 launch of the SES Astra-2G satellite atop a Russian Proton rocket was postponed Nov. 26, owing to a problem with a gyro unit in the rocket’s Briz M upper stage. Russian space agency Roscosmos said prelaunch tests were halted on the pad at the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, and both the rocket and spacecraft have been returned to their assembly building.
The International Space Station (ISS) returned to full six-person staffing late Nov. 23 with the arrival of three U.S., European and Russian crewmembers. They are prepared to kick off external changes in advance of the dockings of U.S. commercial crew transports and host a pair of veteran astronauts trained for a yearlong stay. Meeting the ISS program objectives is intended to support activities beyond the current 2020 deadline for station operations and provide medical researchers with new insights into the physical and mental challenges of long-duration human deep-space exploration.
Despite threats of contractual retaliation from Moscow, French President Francois Hollande has indefinitely postponed delivery of the first of two Mistral-class helicopter assault ships to Russia, citing ongoing conflict between pro-Russian separatists and Ukrainian forces. Since suspending the 2011 contract in September, Hollande has been loath to cancel the €1.12 billion ($1.4 billion) Mistral deal. The first ship is dubbed Vladivostok and located at the Saint-Nazaire shipyard in France.
Japan has chosen the Northrop Grumman E-2D Hawkeye over the Boeing 737 AEW&C to fill a requirement for four surveillance aircraft, while also confirming it will proceed with orders for the Northrop Grumman RQ-4 Global Hawk and Bell Boeing MV-22 Osprey. Three RQ-4s will be ordered in the fiscal year beginning April 2015, says NHK television. The timing of orders for the other types is unknown. The mid-term plan also set out the requirement for three surface-surveillance drones. RQ-4 beat the propeller-driven General Atomics Guardian ER, which is based on the U.S.
The U.K.’s F-35 test team has begun captive-carry trials of non-U.S.-made munitions for the aircraft. The Raytheon Paveway IV and the MBDA Asraam, both destined for use on F-35Bs were carried on external pylons for the first time last month. The weapons are scheduled for the Block 3F package.
Russian Helicopters is flight-testing the Mi-171A2 medium helicopter, the latest iteration of the Mi-8, equipped with new engines, rotors and glass-cockpit avionics. Developed by the Mil Moscow Helicopter Plant, the Mi-171A2 is powered by two digitally controlled, 2,400-shp, Klimov VK-2500PS-03 turboshafts, replacing the Mi-8/17’s 2,200-shp TV3-117s. The Russian KBO-17 avionics suite developed by Radio-Electronic Technologies includes multifunction displays, TV and infrared sensors and increased automation to reduce the crew to two.
Bombardier has completed the ultimate-load wing-up bending test on the CSeries static test airframe at Saint-Laurent, Quebec. The test took the structure to 150% of design load. Static-testing is planned to be completed this year, the company says, while the fatigue-test article at IABG in Germany has logged more than 7,000 cycles. Four CS100 test aircraft have now returned to flight, with the fifth and final one still to fly this year. The first of two stretched CS300 test aircraft has begun ground runs.
Hanwha Group will dominate South Korea’s aircraft engine, artillery and military electronics sub-sectors with the acquisition of a major stake in the defense businesses of conglomerate Samsung Group. Hanwha says it will buy a 32.4% share in Samsung Techwin, which in turn owns Samsung Thales jointly with Thales. Samsung Techwin makes the K-9 155mm self-propelled gun and, under license, General Electric F404 and T700 engines. Samsung Thales supplies the South Korean defense forces with radar and combat systems.
Aviation Week Senior Editor Guy Norris takes us on a test flight of the automatic air collision avoidance system, auto ACAS, with the U.S. Air Force 416th Flight-Test Sqdn.
Deep space is the ultimate focus of Exploration Flight Test-1, because the Orion capsule is the vehicle that will keep crew members alive during some of the most dynamic minutes of missions to the “proving ground,” around the Moon and, ultimately Mars.
Unmanned aircraft are most often viewed as augmenting manned aircraft, perhaps eventually replacing some of them, but a more likely future lies in their becoming intimately essential to each other. Two new U.S. research notices give hints of such an outcome.
The airline is the latest among the small group of airlines transforming European air transport. While Ryanair and EasyJet prepared the way for low-cost short-haul travel and dominate that segment, Norwegian is third and takes the business model far beyond where the two pioneers stopped.
By Adrian Schofield, Jens Flottau, Bradley Perrett
The concept of airlines forming leasing units is certainly not new, but the latest evolution sees more LCCs going down this path, particularly those with hundreds of narrowbody aircraft on order.
Japan is scheduled to launch Hayabusa-2 on a six-year mission to return samples from the asteroid 1999 JU3. Four landers are designed to explore the C-type asteroid’s surface before the main spacecraft itself touches down for two or three grab-and-go sample harvests.
