Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Fri, Aug 7 1992 Date: Fri, 7 Aug 92 04:31:46 EDT Message-ID: 08-07 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Aug. 7-9, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network STEALTH GLITCHES WORKED OUT: The Air Force's radar-evading B-2 stealth bomber is "already the most survivable aircraft ever fielded," and favorable flight tests have paved the way for production to begin next year, Air Force Secretary Donald Rice said Thursday. Rice said technical problems that cropped up last year have been worked out, and involved "only edges and surfaces" of the bat-winged aircraft. NASA GETS SMALL BLACK EYE: The failure of a tethered satellite system on shuttle Atlantis points up the inherent risk in any space research venture, analysts say. Unlike other NASA black eyes - the Challenger explosion or the flawed mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope, among others - there appears to be no obvious human error. Atlantis is set to land at 7:39 a.m. ET Saturday at Florida's Kennedy Space Center. (For more, see special Mission package below.) DEC HAS TOP MAIL ORDER SALES: Digital Equipment Corp. racked up $1 billion in catalog sales last year, toppling Dell Computer as the computer industry's top mail order company. Direct Marketing Magazine says DEC jumped to 16 from 39, while Dell fell to 94 from 32. IBM became the second-largest mail-order computer seller last year. It had $900 million in mail-order revenue. TRW TO REORGANIZE, CUT JOBS: TRW Inc. said Thursday it will reorganize its space and defense unit beginning Jan. 1, a move that could eliminate 100 to 150 jobs. The reorganized unit will consist of three operating groups rather than the current four. The electronic systems and space and technology groups will be combined. The other groups will be avionics and surveillance, and systems integration. UNITED TECHNOLOGIES MAKES CUTS: United Technologies Corp.'s Hamilton Standard unit has laid off 173 hourly workers and ordered department heads to cut discretionary expenses by 5% for the rest of the year because of a slowdown in business. Hamilton is involved in the manufacture of products for the aerospace industry, including aircraft systems, engine controls and environmental control systems. FIRM TO REFOCUS PLANS: Chips and Technologies Inc. said Thursday it will focus its microprocessor development efforts on single chip systems for emerging computer and embedded control markets. They will be designed to meet the needs of emerging sub-notebook, pen-based, and other portable computers, the firm says. RESERVATION BILL IS OPPOSED: Covia President Allen Loren Thursday denounced legislation in Congress aimed at computer reservations systems. Loren said the bills would increase costs for travel agencies and travelers and reduce agencies' service to customers. The move would offer "no cure" for the airline indusry, Loren said. A vote on the legislation in the full House could come as early as this week. WIRELESS SYSTEM GETS FCC OK: Motorola Satellite Communications Inc. has been awarded an experimental license by the Federal Communications Commission to construct and launch five satellites to demonstrate the Iriduim system, a digital wireless communications network, Iriduim Inc. said Thursday. Iridium said the satellites are scheduled to be launched in 1996. U S WEST OFFERS NEW SERVICE: U S West's Advanced Communications Services business unit has announced a new service, called Transparent LAN Service, for interconnecting local area network (LANs) for its customers. It provides point-to-point or multipoint connectivity of LANs, allowing personal computer users of either Token Ring or ETHERNET LANs in more than one location the power of native LAN speeds. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON MISSION: CORD FAILED TO UNRAVEL: The Atlantis space shuttle's mission's biggest disappointment came Wednesday when an Italian-built satellite failed to unravel from its reel with more than 12 miles of cord. The $379 million satellite got only as far as 843 feet from Atlantis before the tether jammed - forcing its eventual retrieval. SETBACK SHOULDN'T DETER NASA: The setback, in what NASA called its toughest shuttle undertaking, shouldn't deter the agency, says John Logsdon, space policy studies director at George Washington University. "Anybody who has ever gone fishing has fouled a reel and that doesn't stop them from fishing," he says. "The nature of research is you're going to get failures." SPACE STATION WOULD HAVE HELPED: If anything, the mission is an endorsement for NASA's $30 billion space station Freedom, set to be assembled in space beginning in 1996. The station would have let NASA run the tethered system through a dress rehearsal in weightlessness to see if everything worked, says Jerry Grey, space policy and technology head, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics. SATELLITE IN RIGHT ORBIT: Atlantis' crew Thursday got at least one bit of good news: A malfunctioning European Space Agency science satellite deployed last week was boosted from a dangerously low 276-mile orbit into its correct orbit of 312 miles. Another thruster firing is planned for Friday to complete the orbital corrections for the $213 million satellite. Atlantis' eight-day mission is set to end Saturday. (End of package.) Technology Editor: Ed Kelleher. (1-919-855-3491) Making copies of USA TODAY Update (Copyright, 1992) for further distribution violates federal law. This article is copyright 1992 Gannett News Service. Redistribution to other sites is not permitted except by arrangement with American Cybercasting Corporation. For more information, send-email to usa@AmeriCast.COM