All articles by Dan Thisdell – Page 14
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NewsSaab, Brazil finalise Gripen NG deal
Saab and industrial partners including Embraer are to start work on 36 Gripen NG fighters formally ordered today by Brazil with the signing of a SKr39.3 billion ($5.8 billion) contract for delivery from five years starting in 2019.
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NewsVnukovo runway incursion kills Total oil chief and three Falcon 50 crew
The driver of a Moscow Vnukovo airport snow clearing machine hit by a Falcon 50 jet taxiing for takeoff was drunk at the time of the accident that killed Total oil chief executive Christophe de Margerie and the aircraft’s three crew.
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NBAA: At Dassault, new Falcons are no sweat
For Dassault Aviation, much of the focus at NBAA will inevitably be on what you cannot see – yet, anyway. But what cannot be seen can at least be felt, in the form of of a mock-up of the cabin of its upcoming Falcon 5X.
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NewsVIDEO: Fusion power key to unlimited aircraft endurance – Lockheed Martin
Researchers at Lockheed Martin Skunk Works claim they may have opened a technology channel that could finally realise the Cold War dream of nuclear-powered aircraft with essentially unlimited endurance – a “compact fusion reactor” that they say could fit in a shipping container, reach prototype stage in five years and ...
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News'Stay with the Station', NASA boss urges international partners
NASA administrator Charles Bolden today called on Europe and the UK to stand behind their financial commitments to the International Space Station and work with the USA to keep it flying through 2020 and even 2024 – because the orbiting outpost is humankind’s “springboard” to Mars.
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NewsEurope readies video eye in the sky
Europe looks to be on the cusp of taking a dramatic step forward in its ability to oversee military operations from space, as Airbus Defence & Space readies satellite technology capable of streaming real-time video from geostationary orbit.
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NewsPICTURE: KLM celebrates 95th anniversary in Amsterdam style
KLM Royal Dutch Airlines on 7 October celebrated its 95th anniversary with the unveiling a special “KLM 95 years” logo on one of its MD-11 aircraft (pictured) and the laying of the first stone for a new KLM lounge at Amsterdam Schiphol.
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NewsVIDEO: Airbus 'will be ready' for 2014 Qatar A350 handover
With Airbus having achieved European certification of its 315-seat A350-900 and now making final preparations for first delivery this quarter to Qatar Airways, both major airframers will soon have a new widebody flying – giving added urgency to a market battle that has seen Boeing make the running for ...
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NewsSierra Nevada bids to keep Dream Chaser alive despite NASA non-selection
Sierra Nevada Corporation last week launched two bids to keep alive its Dream Chaser lifting-body spaceplane project, which suffered a blow in September when NASA cut it from its Commercial Crew programme in favour of seven-person capsules being developed by Boeing and SpaceX.
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Hexcel to build new composites plant for Airbus and CFM contracts
Carbonfibre materials specialist Hexcel is to cement its relationship with Airbus via a $250 million investment in production and quality control facilities at Roussillon in France.
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ATK joins race to develop next-generation USAF launcher
US propulsion specialist ATK has thrown its hat in the ring to develop the next generation of American rocket engine, to replace the Russian-supplied RD-180 motor for United Launch Alliance’s Atlas V.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: USAF push to oust Russian rockets turning into high-stakes contest
A US Air Force drive to end its reliance on Russian rocket motors is turning into a high-stakes competition between rival technologies, with propulsion specialist ATK throwing its hat into the ring just a week after United Launch Alliance and Blue Origin agreed to jointly fund development of a new, ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Virgin Galactic 'close to reaching space'
Virgin Galactic has formally backed away from its pledge to put its first fare-paying passengers into suborbital space by the close of 2014 – but has made a very public declaration that suborbital operations from its purpose-built spaceport in New Mexico will begin in early 2015.
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Airbus puts defence and security electronics, satcoms units up for sale in latest restructuring move
Airbus Group has put its defence and security electronics and satellite communications services businesses up for sale in the latest stage of its long-running bid to get its ailing defence business onto a sustainable footing.
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NewsTop 100 industry league table highlights two sides to Airbus-Boeing rivalry
Flight International’s annual Top 100 analysis of the financial performance of the world’s biggest aerospace companies has thrown up few surprises, but the Airbus-Boeing rivalry that tops the chart is, by one measure, hotter than ever.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Galileo 'on track' despite launch trouble
Europe’s bid to establish its own satellite navigation system suffered a setback with the failure of a Soyuz launcher to put into their assigned orbits the fifth and sixth spacecraft in what is to be a 30-satellite constellation. But both the European Space Agency and European Commission remain confident that ...
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Astrotech shareholders approve sale to Lockheed Martin
Shareholders in loss-making launch preparation services provider Astrotech have voted in favour of a deal announced on 29 May to sell essentially all of the company to Lockheed Martin, for $61 million. Astrotech, which provides final testing, fueling, encapsulation and day-of launch support from Cape Canaveral and Vandenburg AFB, describes ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Sustainable fuel future is in reach – but ‘only with government support’
All forecasts point to dramatic growth in aviation over the coming decades – but can more flights and more passengers be accommodated without a significant increase in CO₂ emissions? A grouping of UK industry players including manufacturers, airlines, airports and air navigation service providers believes it is, indeed, possible – ...
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AnalysisANALYSIS: Meteor shower-tracking ISS camera to focus on threats in orbit
The International Space Station is set to be fitted with a camera dedicated to tracking meteor showers, in a bid to better understand these spectacular events – and hopefully improve our data on orbiting debris, man-made and natural, so as to help position spacecraft to avoid collisions.
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AnalysisANALYSIS: ATV era opens final chapter with 'flawless' space station docking
The International Space Station marked the end of an era on Tuesday, 12 August 2014 with a “flawless” arrival by the fifth and final resupply flight in ESA’s Automated Transfer Vehicle programme