A Lockheed Martin Titan IVB rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 7:30 p.m. EST Jan. 15, successfully delivering a Milstar 2 communications satellite into orbit. The $800 million, bus-sized satellite, which has a wingspan equal to a 747 jumbo jet when its solar arrays are deployed, joins three other Milstar satellites already in equatorial orbits, including a previous Milstar 2 launched last February (DAILY, Feb. 22, 2001). The new satellite should be fully checked out and operational within the next four months.
A Lockheed Martin Titan IVB rocket lifted off from Cape Canaveral, Fla. at 7:30 p.m. EST Jan. 15, successfully delivering a Milstar 2 communications satellite into orbit. The $800 million, bus-sized satellite, which has a wingspan equal to a 747 jumbo jet when its solar arrays are deployed, joins three other Milstar satellites already in equatorial orbits, including a previous Milstar 2 launched last February (DAILY, Feb. 22, 2001). The new satellite should be fully checked out and operational within the next four months.
Avionics and communications manufacturer Rockwell Collins Inc. announced Jan. 16 that its net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 dropped 20 percent over earnings for the same period last year. In a conference call with investors and analysts, Rockwell Collins' Chief Financial Officer Larry Erickson said the company recorded sales of $563 million for the FY 2002 first quarter, compared with $587 million for the same period last year. The company plans to continue with previously announced job cuts, he said.
Raytheon Missile Systems is touting Black Sparrow's moderate price and reconfigurable system in marketing the air-launched ballistic missile target for U.S. missile defense programs.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to two companies for its program to develop technologies for the use of water as an on-orbit propellant for satellites. Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn., and Proton Energy Systems of Rocky Hill, Conn., will receive a total of $4.9 million for the first 12 months of the program. DARPA has said water could be a replaceable fluid for satellites because of its potential as a simple, non-hazardous, energy-efficient propellant (DAILY, Feb. 28, 2001).
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency has awarded contracts to two companies for its program to develop technologies for the use of water as an on-orbit propellant for satellites. Hamilton Sundstrand of Windsor Locks, Conn., and Proton Energy Systems of Rocky Hill, Conn., will receive a total of $4.9 million for the first 12 months of the program. DARPA has said water could be a replaceable fluid for satellites because of its potential as a simple, non-hazardous, energy-efficient propellant (DAILY, Feb. 28, 2001).
Raytheon Missile Systems is touting Black Sparrow's moderate price and reconfigurable system in marketing the air-launched ballistic missile target for U.S. missile defense programs.
EXTRA AWACS: NATO's North Atlantic Council approved the deployment of two more Airborne Warning and Control Systems aircraft to join five AWACs already operating in support of U.S. homeland security. The move was based on a request by the United States, NATO said Jan. 16.
Avionics and communications manufacturer Rockwell Collins Inc. announced Jan. 16 that its net earnings for the first quarter of fiscal 2002 dropped 20 percent over earnings for the same period last year. In a conference call with investors and analysts, Rockwell Collins' Chief Financial Officer Larry Erickson said the company recorded sales of $563 million for the FY 2002 first quarter, compared with $587 million for the same period last year. The company plans to continue with previously announced job cuts, he said.
GE Aircraft Engines has signed a four-year extension to its teaming agreement with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command and the Corpus Christi Army Depot to supply helicopter engines and technical services. The extension covers calendar years 2002 through 2005 and is worth $78 million, according to the company. Under the agreement, GEAE supplies T700 helicopter engine parts and technical expertise to support the Corpus Christi depot's overhaul programs.
Robert Meurer has been appointed director of the International Satellite Systems business. Mark L. Ludwig has been appointed chief financial officer. Alan L. Parker has been appointed to its board of directors.
EXTENSION: GE Aircraft Engines has signed a four-year extension to its teaming agreement with the U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command and the Corpus Christi Army Depot to supply helicopter engines and technical services. The extension covers calendar years 2002 through 2005 and is worth $78 million, according to the company. Under the agreement, GEAE supplies T700 helicopter engine parts and technical expertise to support the Corpus Christi depot's overhaul programs.
NASA's Revolutionary Turbine Accelerator (RTA) engine, which could power the agency's X-43B hypersonic demonstrator, will require the most advanced unclassified turbine engine ever built, according to Project Manager Paul Bartolotta. RTA is a turbine-based combination cycle (TBCC) engine that will use a turbine accelerator to get from zero to roughly Mach 4, at which point a dual-mode scramjet will take over for speeds up to Mach 7 and beyond.
AERO ASTRO, Herndon, Va. Robert Meurer has been appointed director of the International Satellite Systems business. Mark L. Ludwig has been appointed chief financial officer. Alan L. Parker has been appointed to its board of directors. ALASKA AEROSPACE, Anchorage, Alaska Pat Ladner has been named president and CEO of the organization. THE FAIRCHILD CORP., Dulles, Va. John L. Flynn has been named chief financial officer. GULFSTREAM, Savannah, Ga.
NASA's Galileo orbiter will swing past Jupiter's moon Io on Jan. 17, its last and closest flyby of any of the planet's four major moons. Io's volcanoes have interested scientists since they were first spotted by the Voyager spacecraft in 1979. It has an estimated 200 to 300 volcanoes and is the most volcanically active world in the solar system, according to NASA. Galileo will pass just 62 miles above Io's surface, to help put it on a ballistic trajectory for its final destruction in 2003.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Jan. 15 that he plans to hold hearings to "prod" the Bush Administration to reconsider its plan to retain some of the nuclear weapons it removes from deployment. Levin told the Defense Writers Group that weapons removed from operational status should be destroyed because keeping them increases the chance that they will fall into the wrong hands. He is particularly concerned that the U.S. approach could be emulated by Russia, where security is less stringent.
ATK Integrated Defense Co., a division of Alliant Techsystems, will begin low-rate initial production of sensor upgrade kits for the AN/AAR-47 Missile Warning System under a $9 million contract from Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., the company announced Jan. 15. The kits will be delivered to the U.S. Navy and Air Force for integration into multiple aircraft platforms.
The National Center for Atmospheric Research's choice of a modified Gulfstream V business jet to carry out a variety of environmental missions fits into a broader plan to carry out such research with a mix of manned and unmanned aircraft, an NCAR official said.
Spacewalking astronauts completed the first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Expedition Four crew outside the International Space Station on Jan. 14. Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz finished installing a second Russian cargo boom on the station and installed an amateur radio antenna on the Zvezda service module. The first Expedition Four spacewalk took six hours and three minutes, wrapping up at 9:02 p.m. CST. Onufrienko and Walz relocated a 15-foot-long Strela crane, Strela 2, to the Docking Compartment.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Jan. 15 that he plans to hold hearings to "prod" the Bush Administration to reconsider its plan to retain some of the nuclear weapons it removes from deployment. Levin told the Defense Writers Group that weapons removed from operational status should be destroyed because keeping them increases the chance that they will fall into the wrong hands. He is particularly concerned that the U.S. approach could be emulated by Russia, where security is less stringent.
Spacewalking astronauts completed the first extra-vehicular activity (EVA) of the Expedition Four crew outside the International Space Station on Jan. 14. Commander Yury Onufrienko and Flight Engineer Carl Walz finished installing a second Russian cargo boom on the station and installed an amateur radio antenna on the Zvezda service module. The first Expedition Four spacewalk took six hours and three minutes, wrapping up at 9:02 p.m. CST. Onufrienko and Walz relocated a 15-foot-long Strela crane, Strela 2, to the Docking Compartment.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) and its Airbus subsidiary deserve a chance to compete to build a new wide-body aerial refueling plane for the U.S. Air Force, even though Congress has gone on record in favor of the Chicago-based Boeing Co., Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) said Jan. 15.
