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The article focuses on the aerospace industry company United Launch Alliance. The company's activities in the modification of the guided missile and spacecraft launching facility at Vandenberg Air Force Base in California is discussed. The renovation was to enable the facility to be able to launch the Delta IV Heavy rocket for the launching of artificial satellites and other space vehicles.

Reports the opening of the International Terminal at the San Francisco International Airport in California. Reason for the airport expansion; Plan for a light-rail express connection; Tests on the facilities of the terminal.

Focuses on a proposal to expand the San Francisco International Airport in California. Impact of the weather phenomenon called El Nino on airline flights; Proposed runway layout plans.

Reports on the plan of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) to launch the Europa Orbiter spacecraft in 2002. Goal of the aircraft; Information on the X2000 Deep Space System Technology Program of JPL: Details on the 1998 International Astronautical Federation Conference.

This article focuses on the 747-8 Freighter development program of Boeing. In November 2005, the 747-8F program was launched with 18 orders split between Cargolux and Nippon Cargo. The firm is expecting to accumulate 1,600 hours in flight tests plus 2,100 on the ground by the time the 747-8 is certified in late 2010. Particular focus is given to Boeing's goal with its 747-8 program. There is a plan to shift flight testing to the program's permanent flight-test home in Palmdale, California as soon as Boeing's comfort level in the new airplane is fixed.

The article reports on the decision of Lockheed Martin Space Systems to implement across-the board layoffs by the end of 2009. The layoffs will affect the company's production facilities in Denver, Colorado and Sunnyvale, California. A total of 18,000 is employed by the business units. Such job cuts are separate from staff reductions at its Michoud Operations center in New Orleans, Louisiana.

The article reports that Pacific Gas & Electric (PGE), one of California's four major energy distributors, has asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) to approve a space solar power (SSP) purchase agreement with Solaren Corp. Under the agreement, Solaren would provide up to 200 megawatts of electricity beamed from a geosynchronous satellite constellation. A receptor farm owned by Solaren would transfer the electricity to PG&E, which would feed it into the state's power grid.

The article reports that the imaging quality of commercial satellites is set to improve when GeoEye-1 comes on line. A United Launch Alliance Delta II 7420 carried the 4,310-pound satellite into a 423-mile highly inclined orbit on September 6, 2008, from Vandenberg AFB in California. After acquiring a signal, a 60-90-day instrument checkout and calibration period began. Built by General Dynamics Advanced Information Systems, GeoEye-1 carries an imaging system from ITT that is to provide 16-inch resolution in black and white and 5.4 feet in color.

The article reports on the recovery of the business of Pasadena, California-based Ecliptic Enterprises Corp. The company makes the RocketCam that provides real-time videos of rockets and space shuttle liftoffs and, increasingly, of satellite operations. The company, which has just seven employees, is privately held and does not report its financial results, but engineer Rex Ridenoure says it has been profitable since 2005.

The article focuses on the deployment of fixed- and rotary-wing aircraft to suppress fires sweeping across hillsides and canyons north of Los Angeles, California to the Mexican border in October 2007. A combination of arson and downed power lines were blamed for causing the fires, which erupted early in the week of October 21. Some 90 fixed- and rotary-wing airplanes were involved, from a World War II vintage Martin Mars flying boat and a Douglas DC-10 leased by the California Division.

The article discusses that California focuses on aircraft with the size and flexibility for rapid-response firefighting strategy. A dry climate and a large population increasingly extending its lifestyle into wildlands makes California ground zero for fires racing through timber, brush and buildings. In response, the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection (CDF) has devised the most aggressive initial attack strategy of fighting fires of any state. Regardless of where fires start, CDF's firefighting approach is distinct. Standard TCAS "traffic, traffic" warnings weren't good enough because they force tanker pilots into time-consuming efforts to interpret where the threat is coming from.

Analyzes ways of reducing badweather delays at the San Francisco International Airport without building additional runways in California. Inadequacy of technology; Existence of developmental risks and bureaucratic inertia; Advancement of bay fill proposals.

Focuses on the reconstruction of a runway in the San Jose International Airport in California. Development of passenger and cargo terminals; Location of the airport; Need for the increase use of large aircrafts.

Examines a prototype satellite, Earth Observing-1, scheduled for launching from Vandenberg Air Force Base in Santa Barbara, California. Insertion of the satellite to the Sun synchronous orbit; Information on the cost effectiveness of the satellite; Features of Earth Observer-1.

Focuses on proposals to reduce air traffic at the San Francisco International Airport in California by decreasing flight frequencies of United Airlines Inc. Regulations of the airport allowing it to compel United to increase airplane sizes; Reaction of the airline's officials to the proposals.

Informs that the Jet Propulsion Laboratory is expected to award a contract for a space mission to hunt for other planets in the Milky Way. The precise measurements the flight will require; The Space Interferometry Mission as a stepping-stone in the United States National Aeronautics & Space Administration's Origins program; Planned seven-year mission; Central goal; Deep Space -3 as a prime candidate; More advanced Origins spacecraft which are expected to come.

Presents a profile of San Jose International Airport. Plans for improvement and expansion of the facility; Decision of American Airlines to drop the airport as one of its expansion hubs; Effect of the pullout on the airport; What San Jose International Airport offers; Description of the airport; Comments.

The article discusses the aerospace and commercial aircraft manufacturer Airbus, focusing on its relationships with a concentration of aircraft parts suppliers in Southern California. Topics include the construction of an Airbus factory in Mobile, Alabama by 2016 and the purchase of computer numerical-controlled milling machines by the complex machined parts specialist Aerospace Dynamics International.

The article discusses Boeing Co.'s efforts to enter lean satellite manufacturing. Since the mid-2000s, Boeing's drive to gain the efficiencies of lean manufacturing has been part of the strategy at its Space & Intelligence Systems (S&IS) factory in El Segundo, California. In El Segundo, the U.S. Air Force's GPS Block IIF program offered an opening for pulsed production as 12 identical spacecraft are to be built as part of a contract worth 1.35 billion dollars.

The article discusses a January, 2011 launch from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California of the Delta IV Heavy liftoff. The mission succeeded in placing into orbit a classified mission for the National Reconnaissance Office (NRO), which has additional launches scheduled for the spring of 2012 and for 2013.

The article discusses an agreement reached between the California Forestry and Fire Department (Calfire) and the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) that will provide for NASA imaging of the front lines of wildfires in time for the late-summer 2011 wildfire season in California. The imaging technology, called the NASA Autonomous Modular Scanner (AMS) and developed by NASA's Ames Research Center, is described.

The article deals with the efforts of scientists at NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California to find ways in which bionanotechnology could convert cellulose into sugar that can be converted into food, fuel or chemicals. Enzyme complexes called cellulosomes have an important role in the conversion of cellulose into sugars. The research team at Ames is mimicking these enzyme complexes. According to Ames researcher Chad Paavola, they have applied for a patent on their self-assembling scaffold because of its research potential.

The article reports that the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) in California has revived the conversion of its old Terminal 2 in a two-year project that will give it 14 more domestic gates. SFO, which closed the facility in 2000 when it opened a new international terminal, has intended to get started on Terminal 2's refurbishment right away. However, the 9/11 downturn has stifled the airport's original plans. SFO Director John Martin says the airport has postponed the project until absolutely necessary.

The article reports on the expansion of Pratt & Whitney's (P&W) line-maintenance service contract with San Francisco, California-based United Airlines. The airline will be using the EcoPower engine wash technology of P&W for its fleet of 460 aircraft worldwide. United has been a major Pratt customer and already performs subcontract engine overhaul work. Under the new agreement, United will work in a similar capacity for Pratt customers in line maintenance, using 30 of its station.

This article reports that controllers at National Aeronautics and Space Administration Goddard Space Flight Center are preparing the three Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft for 90 days of engineering checkout and aurora measurements to validate operating concepts for future swarms of small, cheap satellites for science. An Orbital Sciences Corp. air-launched Pegasus winged rocket staging out of Vandenberg AFB, California, deployed the three 55-pound testbed satellites like Frisbees over the Pacific March 22. The McMurdo Ground Station in Antarctica picked up the satellites as they passed overhead on their first orbit, using an untried X-band up- and down-link capability that was installed to provide for extended operations of the ST5 constellation.

Reports the awarding of research and development contracts to Rockwell Scientific Co. by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency in California. Derivation of data on increasing resistance of metals; Improvement of the materials strength and ductility; Alteration of the metallic structure.

Reports on the introduction of the Space Launch Complex-3E at the Vandenberg Air Force Base, Santa Barbara, California. Use for the Atlas IIAS at the Western Test Range signals; Need for satellites fulfilling multiple missions for the United States National Reconnaissance Office (NRO); Updating of the NRO signals intelligence satellite fleet.

Focuses on the completion of a virtual reality laboratory for aeronautic researchers at the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration's Ames Research Center in California. Comments of Ames' project manager Tom Alderete; Applications of the flight simulator; Simulations details.