Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech,americast.usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Mon, Sep 14 1992 Date: Mon, 14 Sep 92 04:32:03 EDT Message-ID: 09-14 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update Sept. 14, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network FAST PLANE PUT ON BACK BURNER: Plans by the USA to build the world's fastest plane may be stalled. Aviation Week & Space Technology reports in Monday's edition that NASA may abandon seven years of research on the 17,000 mph plane. The X-30 plane is supposed to be able to fly from New York to Tokyo in two hours. After taking off from a regular airport, it would fly into orbit and land again. HYPERSONIC PLANE TO BE STUDIED: Test flights for NASA's X-30 were planned for 1993 and have since been pushed back to the year 2000, officials say. NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin hints that he wants to switch gears to study a hypersonic plane, one notch above supersonic, that would fly attached to another plane, Aviation Week & Space Technology says in Monday's edition. WEIGHTLESSNESS IS BEING STUDIED: Endeavour's research flight is the 50th shuttle mission for the United States, but it is the first for Japan, which wasted no time collecting information on how its astronaut was faring in weightlessness. Mamoru Mohri spent most of Sunday strapped in a chair with electrodes on his face and neck. His responses were radioed to NASA's Spacelab Operations Center in Huntsville, Ala. (For more, see special Shuttle package below.) WESTINGHOUSE GAINS NAVY DEAL: Westinghouse's Electronic Systems Group said Friday it has been awarded two anti-submarine warfare systems contracts for the U.S. Navy's current and future destroyer fleet. The fiscal year 1992 awards - valued at approximately $155 million - are for production of 10 AN:SQQ-89 systems and engineering design tasks related to improvements planned by the Navy. F-15 SALE WOULD HELP MCDONNELL: President Bush said Friday he will approve the $5 billion sale of F-15 fighter jets to Saudi Arabia. The move could save as many as 40,000 jobs at defense plants around the country, according to industry executives, Bloomberg Business News reports. It would be a big boost to McDonnell Douglas's F-15 program and the 7,000 jobs linked to it. PC MARKET IS BACK ON TRACK: The U.S. Microcomputer Statistics Committee said Friday that the personal computer market has rebounded from the lackluster levels seen last year. U.S. unit shipments during the first quarter of 1992 increased nearly 9% over the same period last year and initial results for the second quarter suggest a continued acceleration in shipments, the committee reported. OCTEL BUYS AMERITECH UNIT: Octel Communications Corp. said Friday it has signed an agreement to acquire Tigon Corp., a unit of Ameritech. Octel, a maker of voice-processing services and software, said it will pay cash for Dallas-based Tigon, but it declined to disclose the purchase price. Tigon will operate as a wholly-owned unit, Octel said. FILE TRANSFER TAKES LESS MEMORY: Digital Communications Associates Inc. has introduced a new version of its remote asynchronous personal computer file transfer program that requires up to 70,000 fewer bytes of memory than its previous version. Remote2 Version 3.0 costs $195. Remote2 users can upgrade for $49. NETWORK APPLICATION MAKES DEAL: Network Application Technology has announced that JWP Information Services, a systems integrator, will carry NAT's entire line of network connectivity products. That includes local and remote Ethernet bridges, a remote Internet Protocol router and the NMS:100 Network Management System. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON SHUTTLE: STUDY MAY IMPACT SPACE STATION: Japan ran experiments Sunday on space shuttle astronaut Mamori Mohri as an attempt to understand what happens to the human body in weightlessness - an issue that will become vital later this decade when international operations aboard Space Station Freedom are scheduled to begin. Endeavour lifted off from Kennedy Space Center on Saturday with a seven-member crew. FROG EMBRYO EXPERIMENT BEGINS: Sunday, astronauts turned into biologists for a frog embryo experiment. Eggs from female frogs were fertilized so scientists can study how the tadpoles will develop in space. The crew also set up a bone cell experiment that researchers hope will help explain why the human body loses calcium in weightlessness. TEST ON METALS CONTINUES: The crew continued a materials experiment that began Saturday night. They placed gold and silver rods and other metals in a Spacelab furnace for scientists interested in how the materials solidify in space. "The samples went in just as smooth as silk," mission specialist Jan Davis told scientists on the ground. LEAKING VALVE HAMPERS EFFORTS: The only significant problem facing the crew is a leaking valve on an experiment rack. If it cannot be repaired, astronauts will be unable to begin at least four of the 43 planned experiments. "If our trouble-shooting and repair is successful, it'll give us the opportunity to reschedule those experiments," flight director Gary Coen said. Endeavour is scheduled to land 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. 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