FLUG REVUE update: Week ending July 29, 2001

U
P
D
A
T
E

UPDATE

Week ending July 29, 2001

+++ Shuttle lands after delay +++ ILS Atlas launches GOES-M weather satellite +++ Space Station module delivered by Alenia +++ News in brief +++

Shuttle lands after delay
Raumfähre wieder in Kennedy gelandet

Atlantis and its crew of five glided to a landing at Kennedy Space Center late Tuesday, ending a 5.3-million-mile mission that saw successful installation of the International Space Station's new airlock Quest. The Atlantis crew, Commander Steve Lindsey, Pilot Charlie Hobaugh and Mission Specialists Janet Kavandi, Mike Gernhardt and Jim Reilly, spent eight days docked to the station during their almost 13-day flight. Reilly and Gernhardt completed three spacewalks to help with Quest's installation and its fitting out with four high-pressure tanks, two oxygen and two nitrogen.
Lindsey and Hobaugh fired Atlantis' orbital maneuvering system engines at 9:32 p.m. CDT to drop the shuttle out of orbit for the 10:39 p.m. landing at KSC on the 3-mile-long Shuttle Landing Facility runway. Their landing was the 55th shuttle landing and the 13th night landing at KSC. Florida weather cooperated beautifully, with none of the rain showers that caused waveoff of two landing opportunities a day earlier.
Aboard the International Space Station, the Expedition Two crew, Commander Yury Usachev and Flight Engineers Susan Helms and Jim Voss, will be awakened just before midnight to resume their full work schedule after two light days of activity. Flight controllers in Moscow successfully performed the fourth of five scheduled orbital adjustment burns using jet thrusters on the Progress supply vehicle docked at the rear of the Service Module Tuesday afternoon. The maneuvers are designed to optimize the station's orbit for the arrival of the next Progress vehicle in August and the Russian Docking Compartment in September.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite

ILS Atlas launches GOES-M weather satellite
Neuer Wettersatellit gestartet

An Atlas IIA rocket successfully carried the GOES-M weather satellite into space during an early morning launch on July 21. Liftoff was at 3:23 a.m. EDT from Launch Pad 36A at Cape Canaveral, followed by spacecraft separation into geosynchronous transfer orbit 27 minutes later. The launch was conducted by International Launch Services (ILS), using a vehicle built by Lockheed Martin. The payload was built by Space Systems/Loral for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). This was the 56th consecutive successful Atlas flight, and the fourth successful mission for ILS this year. The vehicle for this launch was designated AC-142. The Atlas rockets and their Centaur upper stages are built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems Company-Astronautics Operations at facilities in Denver, Colo.; Harlingen, Texas; and San Diego, Calif. ILS' three-stage Proton and the available Breeze M upper stage are produced by Khrunichev at its factory near Moscow. The available Block DM

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite

Space Station module delivered by Alenia
Neues Modul für die Raumstation

A new pressurised module for the International Space Station leaves Turin airport for Amsterdam, on board the huge Airbus Beluga, the transport vehicle used for exceptional loads. Like its predecessors the logistics modules Leonardo, Raffaello and Donatello, this new module has been built by the Italian company Alenia Spazio, which is part of Finmeccanica. This mechanical model of the cargo carrier of the Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV), known as the STM/Maquette Dynamique, is being developed under an ESA programme led by the French company EADS Launch Vehicles. Once the module arrives at ESA's laboratories at ESTEC in the Netherlands, it will be integrated with the rest of the ATV and prepared for the structural and thermal tests that will becarried out between the end of this year and next summer.
Alenia Spazio has direct responsibility for the cargo carrier, the forward half of the ATV which contains mechanisms for attachment to the International Space Station (ISS), further fuel supplies for attitude control, and water and air for the crew. It will also carry onboard various supplies such as spare clothes and space suits, equipment and food. The ATV - a type of space 'lorry' weighing over 20 tonnes at launch - will be injected into space by an Ariane 5 launcher in August 2004. It has been designed to fly unmanned and dock to the space station automatically. After the in-orbit docking, astronauts will enter the ATV compartment built by Alenia Spazio to unload provisions and load waste material from the ISS. This will then be eliminated in a destructive re-entry approximately six months later.

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite

NEWS IN BRIEF / KURMELDUNGEN

Agusta SpA, an AgustaWestland Company, of Italy and CAE announced the companies have finalised the formation of ROTORSIM, a consortium company that will pursue global opportunities in helicopter simulation and training. ROTORSIM, owned equally by Agusta SpA and CAE, will offer state-of-the-art training and simulation solutions for the full range of AgustaWestland helicopters. The consortium will be based in Cascina Costa, Italy. "Our customers look to AgustaWestland for the world's most advanced helicopters and they demand the same level of service and quality in their training program," said Giuseppe Orsi, AgustaWestland Director Sales and Marketing. "With ROTORSIM, our customers will receive the world's most advanced and comprehensive helicopter simulation and training solutions." Agusta SpA and CAE are already collaborating on Team Cormorant in its bid for the Maritime Helicopter Program, the Canadian project to replace the Canadian Navy's aging Sea King helicopters. Team Cormorant includes founding members Agusta SpA, Westland, and EHI, as well as CAE, Bell Helicopter, and Boeing.
+++
A year on from Concorde's crash at Paris, QinetiQ is announcing an invention which could help airports rule out runway debris. Proven in development trials to pick out small objects on an airport runway from a distance of 300 metres, QinetiQ believes that the commercial version of their product will be able to identify small debris from up to 1.5kmaway. Although this product was not developed as a consequence of last year's Paris Concorde crash, the issue of runway debris was brought to the forefront of people's minds by the tragedy. More than ever, Airports are keen to be seen to be doing all they can to safeguard against foreign objects and debris (FOD) being left unattended on their runways.
+++
Airbus has selected Goodrich Corporation to supply the evacuation systems for the A380, the world's largest airliner. Goodrich, at its Phoenix, Arizona facilities, will engineer and manufacture the slides and provide customer support once the aircraft enters commercial service in 2006. The program has the potential to generate revenues between $300 and $400 million including original equipment sales to Airbus and aftermarket spares and services to the airlines over a 20-year period. Goodrich will supply up to 18 evacuation slide systems, more in number and size than for any previous aircraft in the world. The slides are designed to be 10 percent lighter than today's slides, while still meeting all performance requirements. "The American aerospace industry is playing a major role in the development of the A380, from engines and landing gear to technically-advanced operational systems," said Allan McArtor, Chairman of Airbus North America. "Goodrich joins a growing list of top-notch international manufacturers that will help make the A380 a safe, profitable and truly global aircraft with cutting-edge technology. Goodrich's track record for quality and reliability was a key influence when we were looking for a partner for the A380 evacuation systems. We are confident they will continue to build on that outstanding reputation with this latest innovation."
+++
In the first half-year of 2001, the airlines of the Austrian Airlines Group carried a total of almost four million passengers, representing an increase of 5.2 % compared with the corresponding period for the previous year. Growth of 7.5 % was achieved on scheduled services. While there was a 1.3 % increase in available seat kilometers, revenue passenger kilometers rose by 5.1 %, so that the passenger load factor increased by 2.5 percentage points to 68.1 %. At 73.6 %, the passenger load factor for Austrian Airlines Group scheduled services in the month of June 2001 was higher still. While available seat kilometres fell slightly (-1.1 %), there was an increase in revenue passenger kilometers of 4.7 %.
+++
Lockheed Martin Aeronautics has shipped the first eight modification kits for the U.S. Air Force's Common Configuration Implementation Program (CCIP). CCIP is the most extensive retrofit of the F-16 and involves major changes to the aircraft avionics and cockpit. Approximately 650 USAF Block 40/50 F-16C/Ds are scheduled to be upgraded. Development began in June 1998, and flight testing is currently under way at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif. The first eight kits were shipped on June 29, fulfilling both the July and August contractual requirements. The kits were shipped early at the request of the Ogden Air Logistics Center, Utah. Ogden ALC is the prime depot for the F-16 and the location of the F-16 CCIP modification line.
+++
Based on the results of a survey by University Lecturer Dr. Wolfgang Schobersberger, Austrian Airlines decided at the beginning of this year to support a study into the potential risks of deep vein thrombosis in the legs (DVT), otherwise widely known as Economy Class Syndrome. This was done in advance of a similar recommendation from the Association of European Airlines (AEA). In concrete terms, Dr. Schobersberger's team was enabled to carry out tests on two regular long-range scheduled flights. The results of these were scientifically compared by means of appropriate examinations both before and after the journey. The results could then be evaluated in detail. On 15 June 2001, a group of 33 people (consisting of test subjects and doctors from Innsbruck University Clinic) flew from Innsbruck to Washington via Vienna. Two days later on 17 June, participants flew back from Washington, via Vienna, to Innsbruck. On the long-range Economy Class flight on the Austrian Airlines Airbus A330, suitable precautions were taken - under normal service conditions, naturally - for carrying out the examinations.
+++
Ground control in Fucino, Italy - the operations team and system engineers of the Altel (Alenia Spazio-Telespazio) consortium, supported by ESA specialists - reports that since last night (Tuesday 24 July) ESA's Artemis satellite has been successfully positioned in its circular parking orbit at about 31000 km. The satellite, launched from Kourou by an Ariane 5 on Thursday 12 July, had been put into the wrong orbit due to a malfunction on the launcher's upper stage. The injection orbit had a perigee of 590 km, an apogee of 17487 km and an inclination of 2.94*, compared to expected values of 858 km, 35853 km and 2* respectively. Since injection into orbit, the spacecraft's behaviour has been nominal, allowing ESA to rapidly adopt a recovery strategy that aims to take the satellite to a nominal geostationary position of approximately 36000 km, maximising the lifetime of the spacecraft originally planned to last ten years. The strategy consists of four steps, the first two of which have been successfully completed.
+++
In a history-making first for a Royal Air Force pilot, Squadron Leader Justin Paines performed a short takeoff, a supersonic dash, a hover and a vertical landing in two flights of the Lockheed Martin Joint Strike Fighter X-35B. The first sortie included an in-flight conversion from short-takeoff/vertical landing (STOVL) propulsion mode to conventional-flight mode for the supersonic run, followed by a conversion back to STOVL mode for a "slow" (80-knot) landing. For the second flight, Paines executed another short takeoff, transitioned to wingborne flight, then decelerated to a hover and landed vertically. The flights occurred on July 19."To go supersonic, hover and land vertically in two back-to-back flights was a fantastic experience and a tremendous privilege for me," said Paines, who in late June made three consecutive vertical takeoffs, hovers and vertical landings in the X-35B. "The JSF concept of a STOVL, supersonic, high-performance, stealthy strike aircraft presents a truly awesome operational capacity."
+++
25 years ago, NASA's Viking 1 lander did something no other space probe had ever done - successfully land on another planet. Viking's historic mission to Mars changed our understanding of Earth's neighbor and inspired a robust Martian exploration program that lives on today. This week, President George W. Bush honored the people who made this space odyssey possible. In a commendation letter sent to NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin, the President said "The exploration of Mars brings out the best in Americans. It challenges us to learn, to strive, and to achieve dreams that were impossible for earlier generations."
+++
Saab Ericsson Space is active in spacecraft equipment. It is jointly controlled by Ericsson, active in the telecommunications and data communications industry, and Saab, mainly active in defence, aviation and space industry. Saab is jointly controlled by BAE Systems, which also jointly controls Astrium, the leading prime contractor in the European space industry. Stork is active in textile printing and food processing, but also present in the aviation and space industry. Fokker Space is a supplier of satellite equipment such as solar arrays. The markets concerned by the operation are mainly satellite equipment and components, in particular solar arrays, where Fokker Space holds an important position with regard to European institutional programs. The Commission's review revealed that the activities of the parties overlap only in few areas, where their combined market position does not raise competition concerns. Furthermore, while there is a vertical link between Stork's activities in carbon fiber structures, a base material for solar arrays, and Fokker Space's downstream solar array activities, it appears that there are no risks of foreclosure effects arising from the notified transaction. The investigation showed that there are several other actual and potential suppliers of this product available for Fokker Space's competitors.
+++
Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems (LMCSS) announced plans to realign its business structure to reduce overall costs and improve its competitive position in the commercial satellite manufacturing marketplace. "The action we are taking will enable us to streamline our business infrastructure and internal processes, provide greater value to our customers, and win new business," said Ted Gavrilis, president of Lockheed Martin Commercial Space Systems. Under the realignment, Commercial Space Systems will relocate program management, business operations satellite engineering and design, business development and executive functions from Sunnyvale to the company's Newtown, Pa. facility. Newtown currently provides the communications payloads for the A2100 satellite series, as well as secure, protected military communications payloads for the U.S. Government. The final assembly, integration and testing of the company's A2100 spacecraft will continue to take place in Sunnyvale's state-of-the-art Commercial Satellite Center, one of the largest, most efficient facilities of its type in the industry. The manufacturing of A2100 solar arrays and assembly of certain electronic boxes will also continue in Sunnyvale. This relocation does not affect operations of three commercial satellite programs nearing the completion of their manufacturing cycle in Sunnyvale or the previously announced plan to assemble the A2100 propulsion systems in the Lockheed Martin Propulsion Center of Excellence being built in Stennis, Mississippi.
+++
Bombardier Aerospace announced the appointment of James Hoblyn as managing director of Flexjet Europe Ltd. Mr. Hoblyn will be responsible for all activities involving Bombardier's growing Flexjet fractional ownership program in Europe. The appointment is effective immediately. Mr. Hoblyn will be based at Bombardier Flexjet Europe headquarters in London, UK. He will report directly to Clifford Dickman, president, Business JetSolutions, Bombardier Aerospace. "I am delighted to announce that James Hoblyn is assuming this key position and we are confident that, under his leadership, Flexjet Europe will continue to progress," announced Mr. Dickman.
+++

Back to the top of the page / Zurück zum Anfang der Seite