SPACE IMAGING of Denver is offering one-meter resolution, stereo imagery from its IKONOS satellite to the commercial marketplace. This imagery was previously only offered to government customers, according to the company. Stereo products consist of two IKONOS satellite images of the same location on Earth, taken from two different perspectives during one orbital pass. One of the images is taken at a high elevation angle of greater than 72 degrees, which can be used to make an orthorectified image.
Homeland defense needs may boost smaller companies, but they are unlikely to become a substantial part of the business of major aerospace and defense companies, according to Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications Corp. The reason, Lanza said in a Jan. 29 interview with the DAILY, is that the potential volume of sales generated by the production of such equipment pales in comparison with the revenue generated by existing programs featuring weapons platforms and subsystems.
Homeland defense needs may boost smaller companies, but they are unlikely to become a substantial part of the business of major aerospace and defense companies, according to Frank Lanza, chairman and CEO of L-3 Communications Corp. The reason, Lanza said in a Jan. 29 interview with the DAILY, is that the potential volume of sales generated by the production of such equipment pales in comparison with the revenue generated by existing programs featuring weapons platforms and subsystems.
BALL AEROSPACE&TECHNOLOGIES CORP.'s Advanced Camera for Surveys is ready for its planned February launch aboard the Space Shuttle Columbia, according to the company. The ACS has been installed in a protective enclosure and will be removed from Columbia's cargo bay and installed on the Hubble Space Telescope during the Hubble servicing mission, scheduled for Feb. 28. ACS will replace the Faint Object Camera (FOC), which astronauts will remove from Hubble and return to Earth.
SPACE IMAGING of Denver is offering one-meter resolution, stereo imagery from its IKONOS satellite to the commercial marketplace. This imagery was previously only offered to government customers, according to the company. Stereo products consist of two IKONOS satellite images of the same location on Earth, taken from two different perspectives during one orbital pass. One of the images is taken at a high elevation angle of greater than 72 degrees, which can be used to make an orthorectified image.
If SkyTower, Inc.'s plans come to fruition, fleets of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) could one day loiter in the skies above major telecom markets around the world, bridging the "last mile" gap between communications backbones and their end users.
LONDON - Top officials of the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) have welcomed the decision by the German parliament confirming plans to acquire 73 Airbus A400M military transport aircraft for the German armed forces.
Battered by the decrease in commercial aircraft orders following the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, Goodrich Corp. announced a loss of $54 million in net earnings for the fourth quarter of fiscal 2001. The company also announced that FY 2002 earnings might fall short of expectations due to decreased aircraft orders from the Boeing Co. and Airbus Industrie.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, introduced a bill Jan. 29 to create a new unified command to coordinate the U.S. military's homeland security efforts. Bond's bill calls for an active duty four-star general to head the command. It also calls for an Army National Guard or Air National Guard officer to be the deputy commander-in-chief to ensure the Guard is fully integrated into the new command.
New NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe is continuing his tour of NASA field centers this week, with a visit to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. Jan. 30. - the first of three centers he will visit in California.
MLRS SALE: Lockheed Martin Missiles and Fire Control has received a Foreign Military Sales contract worth $30 million to deliver Multiple Launch Rocket System M270A1 launchers to the Republic of Korea, the company announced Jan. 29. This is the first foreign sale of the launchers.
LAUNCH DATE: Japan's National Space Development Agency has confirmed it plans the second launch of the H-IIA for Feb. 3. The agency had previously said that would be the earliest launch date for the vehicle. The H-IIA was supposed to launch Jan. 31, but that was delayed to allow for replacement of a pressure-regulating valve in the booster's liquid oxygen tank.
BAE Systems delivered the first of 62 upgraded Jaguar GR.3A ground-attack fighters to the United Kingdom Defence Logistics Organization on Jan. 28. The company is installing Rolls-Royce Adour Mk 106 turbofan engines in the aircraft under a 1998 contract worth 105 million pounds ($147 million at current exchange rates). After completing extensive trials, the first upgraded GR.3A was flown from BAE Systems' factory airfield at Warton on Jan. 24 to the RAF's Jaguar operating base at Coltishall, in Norfolk, for the official delivery.
Sen. Christopher "Kit" Bond (R-Mo.), a member of the Senate Appropriations defense subcommittee, introduced a bill Jan. 29 to create a new unified command to coordinate the U.S. military's homeland security efforts. Bond's bill calls for an active duty four-star general to head the command. It also calls for an Army National Guard or Air National Guard officer to be the deputy commander-in-chief to ensure the Guard is fully integrated into the new command.
NASA's 7,000-pound Extreme Ultraviolet Explorer could re-enter the Earth's atmosphere as early as 10 p.m. EST Jan. 30 or as late as 7 a.m. EST Jan. 31, the aerospace agency said Jan. 29. As of Jan. 29, the EUVE was about 124 miles above the Earth and descending at a rate of 15.5 miles per day. The debris field it will create is estimated to be between 500-625 miles long.
The war against terrorism has forced the U.S. Air Force to delay indefinitely a demonstration that would test the ability of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to track other aircraft, according to the Defense Department.
NEW DELHI - The Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) has signed the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters, which uses space-based assets to aid in disaster relief. ISRO Chairman K. Kasturirangan signed the charter, which could result in India providing remote sensing data from its satellites, earlier this month at the agency's headquarters.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) and U.S. Special Operations Command (USSOCOM) plan to host a conference in March aimed at bringing innovative new technological ideas to the table to help fight America's 21st century conflicts.
Japan's National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) has sent two rocket-powered subsonic experimental vehicles to Woomera, Australia for flight tests. The 38-foot, 11 percent scale models of a possible future 300-passenger supersonic transport were built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and delivered to NAL in November.
Rolls-Royce is offering its Trent 500 engine for Japan's C-X next-generation tactical transport program. The C-X is being developed for the Air Self-Defense Force by the Technical Research and Development Institute of Japan's Defense Agency and Kawasaki Heavy Industries. The twin-engined C-X is intended to replace Kawasaki C-1s currently in service. The institute also is developing an indigenously designed medium-thrust turbofan engine for the MPX, a four-engined replacement for the Maritime Self-Defense Force's Lockheed/Kawasaki P-3Cs.
The Boeing Co. has formed a technical team to determine which suppliers could assist the company in developing the necessary technology for its planned Sonic Cruiser. Unveiled late last March, the Sonic Cruiser would feature a "gloved" delta wing, rear-mounted engines and two vertical fins at the back of the airplane instead of the standard horizontal and vertical tail sections found on most commercial aircraft (DAILY, March 30, 2001).
The war against terrorism has forced the U.S. Air Force to delay indefinitely a demonstration that would test the ability of the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle to track other aircraft, according to the Defense Department.
TOKYO - Japan's National Aerospace Laboratory (NAL) has sent two rocket-powered subsonic experimental vehicles to Woomera, Australia for flight tests. The 38-foot, 11 percent scale models of a possible future 300-passenger supersonic transport were built by Mitsubishi Heavy Industries and delivered to NAL in November.
A San Diego company and the Army's Space and Missile Defense Battle Lab have entered into an agreement calling for development of products for space-based two-way, broadband data networking communications. Tachyon Inc., which provides such services, is working with the Space Directorate of the battle lab, based in Colorado Springs, Colo. The directorate and company, which is working with the military for the first time, will independently fund their own efforts.
The Boeing Co. has formed a technical team to determine which suppliers could assist the company in developing the necessary technology for its planned Sonic Cruiser. Unveiled late last March, the Sonic Cruiser would feature a "gloved" delta wing, rear-mounted engines and two vertical fins at the back of the airplane instead of the standard horizontal and vertical tail sections found on most commercial aircraft (DAILY, March 30, 2001).
