Path: bloom-picayune.mit.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!news.media.mit.edu!americast.com!usa-post Newsgroups: usa-today.tech From: usa-post@AmeriCast.Com Organization: American Cybercasting Approved: usa-post@AmeriCast.com Subject: tech Wed, Apr 29 1992 Date: Wed, 29 Apr 92 05:41:23 EDT Message-ID: 04-29 0000 DECISIONLINE: Technology USA TODAY Update April 29, 1992 Source: USA TODAY:Gannett National Information Network NUCLEAR ENGINE OPPOSED: Critics are questioning Air Force plans to build a nuclear engine test bed in Nevada or Idaho - reviving a technology that NASA started to develop, then dropped 20 years ago. The Air Force hopes to develop a nuclear-powered second stage engine for rockets to lower the cost of boosting into orbit satellites for navigation, reconnaissance and communications. (For more, see special Nuclear package below.) TEST PLANE CRASHES: The Air Force said Tuesday the only flyable test model of the planned F-22 stealth fighter was destroyed by fire in a crash-landing at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., on Saturday. The Air Force didn't say if the accident might delay the $60 billion program by Lockheed Corp., General Dynamics Corp. and Boeing Co. to develop the radar-evading jet by the year 2000. ENDEAVOUR'S LAUNCH RESCHEDULED: Space shuttle Endeavour's first launch has been rescheduled for May 7 because NASA wants to be able to take high-quality pictures if there is a catastrophic accident, the agency says. A nighttime disaster would make it tougher for tracking cameras to record the event, complicating any effort to determine what went wrong, officials said. NASA MANAGERS APPOINTED: New NASA Administrator Daniel Goldin appointed a half-dozen top managers Tuesday, marking the end of NASA's dominance by ex-astronauts. Goldin said the new appointments are part of a mission to open NASA to new ideas for solving a crisis posed by ambitious plans conflicting with a limited budget. He appointed Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Jeremiah Pearson, III to run the office of space flight. ALLIED SIGNAL TO LAY OFF 600: Allied Signal said Tuesday it expects to lay off another 600 workers this year. That would bring the total number of layoffs at the aerospace, automotive and engineering materials company to 6,200. That represents 16% of the company's workforce. RAYTHEON TO CUT WORKFORCE: Raytheon, the USA's fifth largest defense contractor, is offering early retirement to 4,000 workers in it's government defense division. Raytheon says the cutbacks are being made because of the dwindling government defense budget. Raytheon made the Patriot Missiles used in the gulf war. It is also in the electronics, aviation and appliance business. WELLFLEET SIGNS DEAL: PrimeService and Wellfleet Communications Inc. said Tuesday they have signed an agreement under which PrimeService will resell Wellfleet's line of LAN:WAN router:bridge products. PrimeService will resell the products worldwide as part of its portfolio of value-added systems integration solutions. EPSON ADDS FAX:MODEM: Epson has introduced the NB9600 FAX:Modem, which it bills as the first notebook modem to offer both data transmission and fax capability. The NB9600 sends and receives both data and faxes at 9600 bps and connects internally to any NB series notebook. It is available now through authorized resellers. It retails at $649. DATAMOVER IS APPROVED: Comptek Research, Inc. says it has received approval by the Federal Communication Commission for the domestic sale of the DataMover 2000. The device allows banks to bypass land-based telephone data lines and connect their automated teller machines through wireless radio networks. SPECIAL PACKAGE ON NUCLEAR: DANGERS SEEN BY SOME: A program to build nuclear engines for use in space is running to opposition. The Air Force plans to build a test site in Nevada or Idaho. "This is a program running on Cold War momentum and it deserves to be derailed," says space analyst Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists. "It's a nuclear catastrophe waiting to happen." PROGRAM COULD SAVE MONEY: So far, managers have spent $175 million on the Thermal Propulsion Program - the successor to the Strategic Defense Initiative's Project Timberwind. "Our primary drive is saving money," says Lt. Col. Gary Bleecker of New Mexico's Kirtland Air Force Base. "We're always going to have to put these types of satellites into space and this would reduce our cost." ENGINE WOULD USE URANIUM: Plans call for four or five tests a year for five years in yet-to-be-built underground desert test site. The hydrogen-fueled engine would use 110 pounds of Uranium-235 in each eight-minute test, but only two grams - the weight of a penny - of U-235 would be converted to fissionable material. "It's not a bomb," says Bleeker. "We're taking all precautions."' NUCLEAR USE IN SPACE OPPOSED: Critics question the need for nuclear-powered rockets for any reason, including space exploration. A scientific panel recommended development of nuclear propulsion Tuesday for NASA's manned mission to Mars. But the National Research Council, in a report last week, said it "does not consider nuclear propulsion suitable for use in Earth-to-orbit launch vehicles, even in upper stages." (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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