All news – Page 6681
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More delays expected on ISS
Tim Furniss/LONDON NASA is expected to announce further delays to the International Space Station (ISS) assembly schedule. The STS101 Atlantis mission to the ISS, which was due in December, is likely to be delayed until next year, and the major Shuttle assembly mission 3A is expected to be pushed ...
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USAF selects contenders for satellite projects
Teams have been selected to bid for the USAir Force's next communications and surveillance satellite programmes. Hughes Space and Communications and Lockheed Martin have each won a $22 million contract to define the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (EHF) communications satellite system, follow-on to the Milstar programme. The Advanced ...
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Hughes wins contract for two more Astra satellites
Satellite television and radio service provider Société Européenne des Satellites (SES) has contracted Hughes Space and Communications to build the Astra 2C and 2D communications satellites to help meet the growing demand for digital services. The new satellites will operate from 28.2°E in geostationary orbit, primarily serving the UK ...
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NASA and Orbital revamp X-34 testing plans to reduce risk
NASA and Orbital Sciences have revised the test programme for the X-34 reusable launch vehicle technology demonstrator to reduce risk. The first airframe, vehicle A-1, will be upgraded for unpowered flight tests from Orbital's Lockheed L-1011 carrier aircraft. The vehicle has completed one captive flight on the L-1011, and ...
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Kamov is key to merger moves
Russian rotorcraft specialist Kamov is to form the basis of an integrated helicopter company, with its design bureau combined with production plants at Kumertau and Arsenyev, in accordance with a government directive. The move is likely to mean the demise of Kamov's alliance with VPK MAPO. The Kumertau factory produces ...
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Comsat shareholders give thumbs up to merger
Shareholders in US satellite communications service provider Comsat have approved its proposed merger with Lockheed Martin, removing one barrier to the complex deal. Regulatory approval and legislation are still needed before the merger can go ahead, but the move has been helped by a recent US Senate vote to deregulate ...
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Fokker cash will finally flow to ordinary creditors
The trustees of bankrupt aircraft manufacturer Fokker expect to make initial payments to ordinary creditors in September - more than nine months later than originally planned - following settlement of a legal dispute with the Dutch tax authorities. Trustees have also reached agreement with American Airlines and US Airways ...
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Tree planting role planned for C-130
Paul Lewis/WASHINGTON DC Lockheed Martin Aeronautical Systems hopes to demonstrate a new environmentally friendly application for the C-130 military transport as a potential airborne reforestation platform. The US aerospace firm, with Boston-based Aerial Forestation (AFI), is researching development of a C-130 to drop large numbers of tree seedlings. ...
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Shuttle may salvage Orion 3
Tim Furniss/LONDON Hughes Space and Communications and NASA are discussing a possible Space Shuttle mission in 2001 to capture the stranded Loral Skynet Orion 3 communications satellite. The craft was left in the wrong orbit by a failed Delta III launch in May. The mission, which will resemble that ...
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NASA introduces Nanosat for New Millennium
NASA has announced its latest New Millennium programme mission - the Nanosat Constellation Trailblazer (NCT) - to be launched as a secondary payload on an expendable launch vehicle in 2003. The $23 million mission, the fifth of the programme, is designed to validate methods of operating several spacecraft as ...
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Proton scheduled for launch in September
The first Proton launch since the failure of a new Proton M on 5 July is scheduled for 6 September, when two Russian Yamal communications satellites will be carried into space by a Proton K on a domestic launch. International Launch Services (ILS), meanwhile, has established an independent Failure ...
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Eurocontrol training goes to FANS
FANS Information Services has been contracted by Eurocontrol to develop an online training course for pilots, air traffic controllers and airline operational staff on procedures to be followed for 8.33kHz channel-spacing. Seven European countries - France, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, the Netherlands, Belgium and Luxembourg - are due to introduce ...
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Aloha Airlines sets its sights on first services to US mainland
Guy Norris/LOS ANGELES Aloha Airlines plans to start services to the US West Coast next February, marking the first time in the airline's 53-year history that it has ventured away from its Hawaii-based Pacific inter-island network. The new services will include two daily round-trip flights between Hawaii and Oakland, ...
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Win some, lose some
Israel has selected the Pratt & Whitney F100-PW-229 to power 50 Lockheed Martin F-16Is ordered earlier this year. The contract includes industrial co-operation between P&W and Israeli defence companies and is valued at about $220 million. Deliveries begin in 2002. Egypt has meanwhile selected the rival General Electric F110-229 for ...
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Boeing prepares 767-400ER for ambitious flight test effort
Guy Norris/SEATTLE Boeing is preparing for a hectic, seven-month test effort for the stretched 767-400ER, which was rolled out from the company's Everett site in Washington on 26 August. The first aircraft, due to make its maiden flight in early October, will fly most of the 850h flight ...
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Boeing jumps ahead in JSF demonstrator race
Boeing has completed structural assembly of the first X-32 Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) concept demonstrator aircraft (CDA), stealing a lead on the competing Lockheed Martin X-35. Boeing now hopes to accelerate the start of flight testing. Pratt & Whitney has been asked to bring forward delivery of the first F119-614 ...
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Future unclear as MD-90 TrunkLiner is almost ready to fly
Andrzej Jeziorski/SINGAPORE The first of only two Boeing MD-90-30Ts that will be built under licence in China is nearing completion, but doubts hang over the future of the aircraft and its factory. According to Boeing, flight testing of the first aircraft will start soon, with delivery to Shenzhen ...
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Mind games
Twenty months into one of the most controversial accident investigations of the decade, SilkAir has told the world that a pilot who apparently intended to kill himself and 103 others was "by the best standards of the industry-fit to fly". To put it charitably, this demonstrates a disturbing readiness ...
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Pentagon to draw up export rules for AEW&C technology
Graham Warwick/WASHINGTON DC The US Department of Defense (DoD) has launched a review of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) technology with the aim of establishing export guidelines. The move follows Flight International's report that the DoD is reviewing whether the information provided by Boeing to Australia as ...
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Pembroke plans to increase 717 orderbook
Andrew Doyle/MUNICH Irish lessor Pembroke Capital is negotiating a large follow-on order for Boeing 717s and hopes to conclude a deal by the end of next month. Boeing has failed to secure an order for the regional twinjet this year. Pembroke chief executive Shane Cooke says his company ...