Rockwell to Change Name to Rockwell Automation after Rockwell Collins spinoff
Leaders of Rockwell International Corp. in Milwaukee are changing their company's name to Rockwell Automation after spinning off their avionics subsidiary Rockwell Collins. The name change is to reflect the company's business focus, officials say. Rockwell Collins in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, is to be an independent publicly traded company and will continue to use the Rockwell Collins name. Company leaders also are establishing the Rockwell Science Center in Thousand Oaks, Calif., as an independent company, which Rockwell Collins and Rockwell Automation will own together. For more information contact Rockwell Automation by phone at 414-212-5200, by fax at 414-212-5201, by post at 777 E. Wisconsin Ave., Suite 1400, Milwaukee, Wis. 53202, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.rockwellautomation.com/. — J.K.
Ball Aerospace nets $62.5 million contract for satellite reconnaissance sensor work
Sensor experts at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo., won a $62.5 million contract for sensor work on the Russian American Observation Satellites (RAMOS) program. Ball is doing the work for the U.S. Ballistic Missile Defense Organization in Arlington, Va. Work will be in Boulder, Colo. and Moscow, Russia, and is to be finished in June 2010. For more information contact Ball Aerospace by phone at 303-939-4000, by fax at 303-939-6104, by post at 1600 Commerce St., Boulder, Colo. 80301, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.ballaerospace. com/. — J.K.
General Micro launches Pentium III-class CompactPCI computer
Leaders of General Micro Systems Inc. of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif., are unveiling a 1 GHz CompactPCI single-board computer called the Mariner II C158 that features the Pentium III-class microprocessor. The board has a peak performance of 1 GHz, provides as many as five PMC expansion slots, and offers three processor options: Celeron, Coppermine-128, and Coppermine-256. The Celeron version, equipped with 128 kilobytes of on-chip cache, operates at speeds as fast as 500 MHz. The Coppermine-128 and Coppermine-256, available with as much as 256 kilobytes of on-chip cache, operate at speeds as fast as 1 GHz. For more information contact General Micro Systems by phone at 909-980-4863, by fax at 909-987-4863, by post at P.O. Box 3689, Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. 91729, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.gms4vme.com/. — J.K.
Eagle-Picher battery powers NEAR spacecraft on its asteroid landing
The NASA Near-Earth Asteroid Rendezvous spacecraft — better known as NEAR — received its electrical power from a nickel-cadmium battery from Eagle-Picher Power Systems during its recent landing on the asteroid Eros, company officials say. Eagle-Picher engineers built and delivered the battery to the Johns Hopkins University, Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in 1995. APL then built the NEAR spacecraft, which launched in February 1996. For more information contact the Eagle-Picher Technologies LLC home office by phone at 417-623-8000, by fax at 417-781-1910, by post at P.O. Box 47, Joplin, Mo. 64802-0047, or on the World Wide Web at http//www.epi-tech.com/. — J.K.
Engineered Support begins production deliveries of Army Striker system
Engineered Support Systems Inc. in St. Louis will make the first production deliveries of the artillery command-and-control system called Striker to the U.S. Army. Engineered Support officials are delivering to the Army 33 Striker systems, 29 BFIST mission equipment packages, and spares support under terms of a $13.1 million contract. For more information contact Engineered Support by phone at 314-993-5880, by fax at 314-993-4615, by post at 201 Evans Lane, St. Louis, Mo. 63121, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.engineeredsupport.com/. — J.K.
Danish air force chooses Telephonics for ocean-surveillance radar system
Leaders of the Royal Danish Air Force needed a radar system for their Challenger CL-604 fixed wing jet aircraft. They found their solution in the APS-143B(V)3 OceanEye Sea Surveillance radar from Telephonics Corp. in Farmingdale, N.Y. The radar systems will support the Danish air force in fisheries inspection, environmental protection, iceberg mapping, and search and rescue. Telephonics is also providing an integrated forward looking infrared sensor package, spares, and logistical support. For more information contact Telephonics by phone at 516-755-7000, by fax at 516-755-7010, by post at 815 Broad Hollow Road, Farmingdale, N.Y. 11735, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.telephonics. com/. — J.K.
NASA taps Aerojet to build microwave sounder for weather forecasting
The NASA Office of Earth Sciences awarded the Aerojet space electronics group in Azuza, Calif., a $206.6 million contract to build the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), a next-generation, satellite microwave instrument for use in weather forecasting and climate change research. The new instrument measures microwave energy emitted and scattered by the atmosphere. When combined with observations from an infrared sounder, ATMS will provide daily global atmospheric temperature, moisture, and pressure profiles. For more information contact Aerojet on the World Wide Web at http://www.aerojet.com/. — J.K.
Boeing to continue work on national missile defense system
Engineers from The Boeing Co. Space & Communications Group in Anaheim, Calif., are pushing ahead with developing the National Missile Defense (NMD) system under terms of a potential $6 billion contract from the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization's (BMDO) National Missile Defense Joint Program Office in Arlington, Va. The contract covers Boeing-Anaheim and its major subcontractors in Huntsville, Ala.; Tucson, Ariz.; Sudbury and Bedford, Mass.; and Colorado Springs, Colo. Award of the contract ensures continuity of the development and test program, and eliminates the potential for interruption of planned test activities, U.S. Department of Defense officials say. — J.K.
Dolch offers new rugged computer with 1 GHz Pentium microprocessor
Engineers at Dolch Computer Systems in Fremont, Calif., are offering what they call an ultra-rugged portable PC with a 1 GHz Pentium III microprocessor and 133 MHz front-side bus speed. The new Dolch computer is part of the company's rugged FlexPAC product line. It has an optional 4-slot PCI expansion backplane, a PCI-to-PCI "bridge" to free system resources, and two USB ports. The computer can support old ISA cards using one of the five different backplanes available, company officials say. For more information contact Dolch by phone at 510-661-2220, by fax at 510-490-2360, by post at 3178 Laurelview Court, Fremont, Calif. 94538, or on the World Wide Web at http://www.dolch.com/. — J.K.
