April 7, 1997

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HEADLINE NEWS

Lockheed Martin, Energomash Development of Rd-180 on Track

DENVER Overcoming initial coordination problems, Lockheed Martin and NPO Energomash have built and test-fired two RD-180 engines, and a third—the first flight quality version— was being prepared for ground testing last week in Russia.

By WILLIAM B. SCOTT5 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Launchers See Nothing But Blue Skies Ahead

COLORADO SPRINGS The space launch industry, flush with orders to orbit new telecommunications satellites, is forecasting continued growth over the next decade, creating room for new boosters that are slated to enter the market. Launch executives are waving off old predictions that orders will begin to fall off around the end of the decade after dozens of new low-Earth orbit communications satellites are put into orbit.

By JOSEPH C. ANSELMO4 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Launch Preparations Begin for Cassini/huygens Mission

PARIS With the shipment of the Huygens probe to Cape Canaveral, preparations are beginning in earnest to launch Cassini/Huygens, a U.S.-European effort to explore Saturn— and likely the last of the $2 billion-plus flagship planetary missions.

By MICHAEL A. TAVERNA4 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Standoff, Penetrating Nuclear Bombs Seen for B-2s

WASHINGTON The U.S. Air Forces wing of six B-2s has a new nuclear bomb for destroying underground targets, and a second nuclear weapon—a standoff glide bomb—is on the drawing boards. Sandia National Laboratories recently delivered a number of B61-11 weapons to the Air Force, according to Paul Robinson, director of Sandia National Laboratories.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM3 min

HEADLINE NEWS

JCS Lowers Priority for UAV Spy Payload

WASHINGTON Fielding of a key communications and signals intercept package for the long-endurance Predator unmanned aerial vehicle may have been killed by a new reprioritization of UAV payloads by the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The intercept of foreign communications is virtually never talked about by U.S. officials, but it has become a crucial element for keeping peace in the volatile Balkans.

By DAVID A. FULGHUM3 min

HEADLINE NEWS

Lmlv Readies for Return

Denver The Lockheed Martin Launch Vehicle, grounded since its failed debut in August, 1995, is a month away from its scheduled return to flight. An LMLV 1, the smaller configuration of the new booster, is slated to launch NASA’s Lewis satellite from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., in early May.

March 311997

April 141997

April 7, 1997

April 7, 1997

Russia Bets Big on Foreign Sales

By DAVID A. FULGHUM7 min

Competition Floodgates Opened in Europe

By ANTHONY L. VELOCCI6 min