Tag Archives: Aviation/Space

Hundreds stranded by French air traffic controller strike

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“Hundreds of British air passengers have been left stranded after a French air traffic control strike caused five times as many flight cancellations as predicted.  Airlines said they expected further cancellations on Wednesday and warned of potentially worse delays to all flights crossing French airspace.  The International Air Transport Association (IATA) strongly condemned the strike action, saying it targeted holidaymakers at the start of the busy summer season.  Members of the two biggest air traffic controllers’ unions in France originally voted for a six-day strike from Tuesday in protest at budget cuts. However, one of the unions decided to drop strike action.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/travelnews/10922153/UK-flights-disrupted-by-French-air-traffic-strikes-latest.html

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Travelers Forego 38 Million Trips to Avoid Hassles

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“Long lines. Packed planes. Lousy food. Intrusive security. It’s enough to make you just stay home, right?  Indeed, common sense would suggest that significant numbers of people have been discouraged altogether from traveling. But how many people? And what’s the economic impact of those trip cancellations?  The U.S. Travel Association has just released results of a study designed to answer those questions.  The survey’s main findings, extrapolated from interviews with 1,031 business and leisure travelers: 38 million trips deferred in 2013; $9.5 billion lost on airfare; $5.8 billion lost on hotels; $5.7 billion lost on recreation; $3.4 billion lost on food services; $2.8 billion lost on car rentals.”

http://www.frequentflier.com/blog/travelers-forego-38-million-trips-to-avoid-hassles/

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FBI starts U.S. campaign to deter lasers being aimed at aircraft

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“The Federal Bureau of Investigation said on Tuesday it will pay up to $10,000 for tips leading to arrests of pranksters who point handheld lasers at aircraft, part of a national campaign to crack down on a growing threat known as ‘lasing.’  Officials said what looks like a small beam of light from the lasers on the ground can travel for more than a mile and illuminate a cockpit, temporarily blinding the pilots inside.  The lasers can be no more sophisticated than the pointer lasers available for a few dollars at office supply stores.  Last year, the FBI reported 3,960 laser strikes against aircraft, an average of almost 11 per day, and officials estimate that thousands more cases go unreported each year.”

http://kdal610.com/news/articles/2014/jun/03/fbi-starts-us-campaign-to-deter-lasers-being-aimed-at-aircraft/

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Money Up a Rat Hole: The “Space Fence” Boondoggle

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portallogo3

“It isn’t a fence. It’s a $6 billion radar system that will monitor a tiny fraction of the space junk. One piece of junk, no larger than your thumb, can produce the Kessler effect. At 17,000 miles an hour, the little cannon ball has tremendous force. But the ‘Space Fence’ cannot monitor this size cannon ball.  There is no known solution to this problem. There is no program to solve it. The ‘Space Fence’ merely lets some Air Force enlisted person, who is staring at a screen, watch the chain reaction blow holes in the world’s space-based telecommunications system, impact by impact. Then why build it?  To subsidize the aerospace industry, you big silly.”

http://www.garynorth.com/public/12427.cfm

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Inside Oklahoma’s Quest To Dominate The American Drone Industry

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“Oklahoma businesspeople, academics, and politicians are collaborating through an organization named USA-OK, which aims to make the heartland state the focal point of American UAV development. A quasi-affiliated group, the Governor’s Unmanned Aerial Systems Council (PDF), was formed via an executive order from Governor Mary Fallin in 2011. Both organizations are lobbying for commercial drone test sites in Oklahoma and increased government assistance in luring more large military contractors to the state.  15 companies already operating within the state fulfill duties as diverse as assembling payloads for military drones and creating low-cost retail UAVs for the hobbyist market.”

http://www.fastcompany.com/3007504/tech-forecast/inside-oklahomas-quest-dominate-american-drone-industry

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Google Acquires Titan Aerospace, High-Altitude Drone Startup

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“The details of the purchase weren’t disclosed, but the deal comes after Facebook disclosed its own purchase of a Titan Aerospace competitor in U.K.-based Ascenta for its globe-spanning Internet plans.  Both Ascenta and Titan Aerospace are in the business of high altitude drones, which cruise nearer the edge of the earth’s atmosphere and provide tech that could be integral to blanketing the globe in cheap, omnipresent Internet connectivity to help bring remote areas online. According to the WSJ, Google will be using Titan Aerospace’s expertise and tech to contribute to Project Loon, the balloon-based remote Internet delivery project it’s currently working on along these lines.”

http://techcrunch.com/2014/04/14/google-acquires-titan-aerospace-the-drone-company-pursued-by-facebook/

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Russia halts rocket exports to US, hitting space and military programmes

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“Russia‘s deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, has announced it will halt the export of rocket engines crucial to the US military defence and space programmes. The move marks a serious deterioration in US-Russian cooperation in space, which for two decades had remained largely above Earthly politics. It could prove a serious set back for the ailing US space programme.  Although Nasa relies on the Atlas V to launch some of its deep space probes, most are used to put US spy satellites and other classified payloads into space.  The new restrictions will make it difficult for the US to import any of the engines because it will hard to prove the hardware is not destined for a military programme.”

http://www.theguardian.com/science/2014/may/15/us-space-military-programme-russia-sanctions

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Elon Musk Might Not Be Too Unhappy About Russia’s Space Station Ban

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“One person unlikely to be worried about the bans is Elon Musk, who recently said ULA – a partnership of Lockheed Martin and Boeing – has an unfair monopoly on U.S. Air Force rocket launches and could save the Air Force $1bn if the process was opened up to privateers.  Musk’s space venture SpaceX is also pursuing the possibility of private human transport to low orbit using its Dragon spacecraft.  Currently, the US pays Russia $60m per person to fly astronauts to the ISS, according to the UK Telegraph.  Rogozin claimed Russia could still use the ISS for its own purposes.  ‘The Russian segment can exist independently from the American one,’ he said.  ‘The US one cannot.'”

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/russia-banned-the-us-from-using-the-iss-and-elon-musk-might-not-be-too-unhappy-about-that-2014-5

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Elon Musk Wins Suit Against Boeing Venture, On Basis Of Russia Sanctions

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“A federal claims judge granted late Wednesday an injunction sought by SpaceX’s Elon Musk that prohibits the Air Force from granting a contract to an American group planning on purchasing Russian rockets.  In his suit, Musk contended that the government’s contract to a joint Boeing-Lockheed venture was not competitive, and that the venture’s plan to purchase Russian rockets went against the spirit of new U.S. sanctions against that country for its incursion into Ukraine.”

http://www.businessinsider.com.au/elon-musk-gets-a-win-against-russian-rocket-companies-2014-5

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Russia to ban US from using Space Station over Ukraine sanctions

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“Russia is to deny the US future use of the International Space Station beyond 2020 and will also bar its rocket engines from launching US military satellites as it hits back at American sanctions imposed over Ukraine crisis.  Russia’s deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin announced a series of punitive measures on Tuesday against the US in response to sanctions imposed after Russia annexed Crimea.  The Space Station is manned by both American and Russian crew, but the only way to reach it is by using Russia’s Soyuz spacecraft.  Mr Rogozin said US plans to deny export licences for some high-technology items were a blow to Russian industry.”

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/russia/10828964/Russia-to-ban-US-from-using-Space-Station-over-Ukraine-sanctions.html

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