October 30, 2017 - No. 085 In This Issue Dassault Aviation: Dassault - Reliance Aerospace Manufacturing Facility In Mihan, Nagpur Inaugurated Ball Aerospace Wins Aviation Week Program Excellence Award Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom trial EAN in-flight broadband connectivity. Safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground GE Looking At "Transformational" Blockchain Technology Shortage Of Qualified Trainers Holding Back Indonesia's MRO Industry. Global aviation industry faces Renaissance, creating openings for South Africa Presidential Memorandum Launches New Pilot Program to Test Drone Operations FAA's NextGen Flight Paths And When Data Makes Government Too Efficient SUPERB WEATHER FORECAST FOR SPACEX HALLOWEEN EVE LAUNCH AND LANDING FROM FLORIDA WITH 1ST KOREAN SATELLITE Dassault Aviation: Dassault - Reliance Aerospace Manufacturing Facility In Mihan, Nagpur Inaugurated MIHAN - Nagpur, India -Friday, October 27, 2017 : Eric Trappier, Chairman of Dassault Aviation and Anil D. Ambani, Chairman of the Reliance Group today laid the Foundation Stone for the Dassault Reliance Aerospace Limited manufacturing facility in Mihan, Nagpur located in India's western state of Maharashtra. The Foundation Stone was laid in the presence of Ms. Florence Parly, Minister of Armed Forces of the French Republic; Shri. Nitin Gadkari, Union Minister for Road Transport and Highways of India, who is also the Member of Parliament of the city of Nagpur; and Shri. Devendra Fadnavis, Chief Minister of the State of Maharashtra; and H.E. Mr. Alexandre Ziegler, Ambassador of France to India. Also present were over 200 dignitaries from the State and City administration and local industry. The Dassault-Reliance manufacturing facility Dhirubhai Ambani Technology Park is located in the Mihan SEZ adjoining Nagpur International Airport. Under this Joint Venture (51% Reliance Infrastructure and 49% Dassault Aviation) the facility will manufacture several components of the offset obligation connected to the purchase of 36 Rafale Fighters from France, signed between the two Governments in September 2016. DRAL will manufacture components for the Legacy Falcon 2000 Series of Civil Jets manufactured by Dassault Aviation and thus will become part of its Global Supply Chain. These first steps are expected to achieve in the coming yearsthe possible setting up of final assembly of Rafale and Falcon Aircraft. The Joint Venture also represents a unequalled Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) by Dassault Aviation of over 100 Million Euros, the largest such Defence FDI in one location in India. The DRAL facility will train thousands of skilled workers in aviation assembly and integration, and lead to huge employment generation in Nagpur and its surrounding areas. It will also attract and house an organic ecosystem of over 200 MSME's to secure the component and avionics manufacturing needs of Rafale and Falcon Jets. Dassault Aviation Chairman, Mr. Eric Trappier, declared that "this Foundation Stone laying demonstrates Dassault's firm commitment to implementing Prime Minister Modi's "Make in India" program. It gives the 65 year-long strong association of Dassault-Aviation in India a new momentum and the will of future manufacturing developments." Reliance Group Chairman, Anil D. Ambani, stated "this facility in Mihan, Nagpur within the Aerospace Park named after my Late Father Shri. Dhirubhai Ambani could not have happened without the strong and consistent support of Shri. Nitin Gadkari and Shri. Devendra Fadnavis. The Reliance Dassault partnership will bring high levels of Technology Transfer. It will make India a major supplier into the global aviation supply chain. It will be the endeavor of both Dassault and Reliance to fully support Prime Minister Modi's "Make in India" and "Skill India" policies and to accelerate India's pursuit of self sufficiency in the aerospace sector." About Dassault Aviation: With over 10,000 military and civil aircraft delivered in more than 90 countries over the last century, Dassault Aviation has built up expertise recognized worldwide in the design, development, sale and support of all types of aircraft, ranging from the Rafale fighter, to the high-end Falcon family of business jets and military drones. In 2016, Dassault Aviation reported revenues of €3.6 billion. The company has 12,000 employees. www.dassault-aviation.com About Reliance Group: http://www.relianceada.com/ Reliance Group, led by Chairman Sh. Anil D. Ambani, is among India's top 5 business houses, with a leadership position in telecommunications, power, infrastructure, financial services, and media and entertainment. In January 2015, the Group entered the Indian Defence manufacturing sector, acquired a state-of- the-art Naval Shipyard, and is rapidly developing its Air, Land and Sea Defence manufacturing capabilities in collaboration with leading global defence firms. The Group has over 250 million customers, serving 1 in every 5 Indians, and over 8 million shareholders, amongst the largest shareholder families in the world. The net worth of the Group is Rs 100,000 Crore (US $ 16 billion), and the total asset base is Rs 267,000 Crore (US $ 43 billion). It is an equal opportunity employer with 100,000 strong, highly competent workforce comprising different nationalities. Through a robust Corporate Social Responsibility programme, the Group touches lives of millions every day. https://twitter.com/reliancegroup https://www.facebook.com/reliancegroup/ http://markets.businessinsider.com/news/stocks/Dassault-Aviation-Dassault-Reliance-Aerospace- Manufacturing-Facility-In-Mihan-Nagpur-Inaugurated-1005833626 Back to Top Ball Aerospace Wins Aviation Week Program Excellence Award BOULDER, Colo., Oct. 27, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- Ball Aerospace has been awarded an Aviation Week Program Excellence Award for their work on NASA's James Webb Space Telescope cryogenic electronics system. The awards honor global aerospace and defense programs and projects, their leaders and their teams for going beyond meeting requirements to exemplify the best in value creation, leadership, adapting to complexity and executing with excellence. Ball is the principal subcontractor to Northrop Grumman for the optical technology and optical system design, including the cryogenic electronics system. Allison Barto, Ball's Webb Telescope program manager was honored with the award at the Aviation Week Program Management Symposium and Awards Banquet, October 23, at the Ritz Carlton, McLean, VA. Barto leads the team responsible for both delivery of the optics and electronics for the 22-foot-wide Telescope, as well the overall optical design, verification, and on-orbit optical phasing and commissioning of the Observatory. "Allison and her team confronted the challenge of designing a complex array of electronics to operate at frigid temperatures without releasing any heat that could interfere with the telescopes sensitive optics," said Jim Oschmann, vice president and general manager civil space, Ball Aerospace. "Their unique solution to significantly minimize cable count and identify commercially available parts capable of operating at these extreme temperatures to ensure optical performance is a true marvel of modern engineering." The 22 one-of-a kind cryogenic electronic flight boxes are responsible for aligning the Webb Telescope's 18 hexagonal mirror segments to function as a single, monolithic mirror. This unique engineering challenge requires each box to operate between -405.6 degrees F° (30K) and room temperature to multiplex signals from the warm control electronics to one mirror actuator at a time. "We are honored to celebrate the best of the best programs - programs that deliver results, but that also innovate new ways to bring technology to bear on some of society's toughest problems," said Greg Hamilton, president of Aviation Week Network. "This year's nominees hailed from every sector of the industry, and the winners truly set the standard for what leadership and performance are all about." The Webb Telescope is the most powerful space telescope ever built and will provide images of the first galaxies formed and study planets around distant stars. It is a joint project between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. Ball Aerospace pioneers discoveries that enable our customers to perform beyond expectation and protect what matters most. We create innovative space solutions, enable more accurate weather forecasts, drive insightful observations of our planet, deliver actionable data and intelligence, and ensure those who defend our freedom go forward bravely and return home safely. For more information, visit www.ball.com/aerospace or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. Ball Corporation supplies innovative, sustainable packaging solutions for beverage, food and household products customers, as well as aerospace and other technologies and services primarily for the U.S. government. Ball Corporation and its subsidiaries employ 18,450 people worldwide and 2016 net sales were $9.1 billion. For more information, visit www.ball.com, or connect with us on Facebook or Twitter. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/ball-aerospace-wins-aviation-week-program- excellence-award-300544641.html Back to Top Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom trial EAN in-flight broadband connectivity Inmarsat and integrated telecommunications company Deutsche Telekom have concluded the first round of flight trials of European Aviation Network (EAN), a satellite-based in-flight broadband connectivity service. During the test, a CESSNA 550 Citation II aircraft was used to fly across Germany, Belgium, France and Spain to test the integration of mobile satellite services (MSS) and EAN's complementary ground component (CGC) terminals. The aircraft provided by Dutch company NLR covered 5,000km of airspace throughout the flights. EAN's capability to meet its design performance in real environments was also validated through the recent test. The flight test data were evaluated by Inmarsat and Deutsche Telekom, along with their partners Cobham, Thales and Nokia. Inmarsat aviation president Philip Balaam said: "These flight trials, together with the recent news that Ofcom in the UK is the latest European regulator to authorise the ground-based stations as part of the EAN, moves the project a step closer to commencing commercial service with our launch customer, which we expect to take place in the first half of 2018. "This will be a game-changer for the airline market, offering passengers a new gold standard in resilient and scalable in-flight broadband, with unmatched high-capacity, low-latency performance." The EAN network combines space and ground-based components to provide ultra-lightweight, high- speed, in-flight broadband connectivity to airlines. After being launched by an Arianespace rocket, Inmarsat's EAN satellite completed its in-orbit tests last month and is currently working with a complementary network of around 300 LTE-based ground stations, operated by Deutsche Telekom. International Airlines Group (IAG) has been selected as the launch customer for EAN. http://www.aerospace-technology.com/news/newsinmarsat-deutsche-telekom-trial-ean-in-flight- broadband-connectivity-5958683 Back to Top Safety in the air begins with quality maintenance on the ground The Transportation Security Administration's (TSA) mission is to "protect the nation's transportation systems to ensure freedom and movement for people and commerce." To help with this enormous task, the TSA has established a variety of committees and programs to provide industry experts' advice to the TSA administrator. With regards to aviation, the Aviation Security Advisory Committee (ASAC) is charged with providing counsel on all aviation security matters. The membership of the committee is composed of private sector organizations with a direct impact on aviation security. Unfortunately, there is one glaring stakeholder omission: the aircraft maintenance technician. While the pilot and flight attendant voices are represented by their respective union, the craft-specific technician union is not seated - leaving out an essential safety perspective. A technician deserves a seat at the table, and U.S. House of Representatives Transportation and Protective Security Subcommittee Chairman John Katko (R-N.Y.) agrees. In a letter to the TSA acting administrator, Katko stated, the maintenance technician "is a highly skilled professional and directly contributes to the security and safety of the American flying public," and "for the ASAC to be an effective counsel to the TSA Administrator, it is imperative that the committee's composition be representative of the aviation career fields providing security and safety..." Interestingly, why isn't there a craft-specific labor voice on the advisory committee? Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association contends that industry has usurped labor's role, putting forth a business-first opinion, void of the proficient perspective and candid voice of the maintenance technician that we represent. The association strongly believes this is a mistake and one that effectively limits the ability of the advisory committee to accomplish its mission. Although corporate interests and perspectives are essential in the discussion of safety - so are those of labor. Until a craft-specific aircraft maintenance technician labor voice is seated at the table with the other advisory committee members, the imperative safety knowledge of the technician is silenced. It's time the TSA administrator to include a craft-specific labor voice on the Aviation Security Advisory Committee, which will allow them to use all available expertise to keep the flying public safe. The role of the technician is one that blends knowledge and skill. Most technicians have invested tens of thousands of dollars in education and the specialty tools necessary to succeed. Once engaged in their career, you can find technicians on the line troubleshooting discrepancies, or conducting preventative inspections and time-sensitive repairs; in the hangar performing an engine change or heavy maintenance check; and in the manufacturing facility building an aircraft from nose-to-tail. All these tasks are performed to ensure the flying public can reach their destination safely. No one should underestimate the expertise and capabilities of our technicians. Instead, we should harness and utilize their knowledge and experience at all levels of the decision-making process. Technicians' commitment to the flying public is to ensure a safe aircraft in the air by providing quality maintenance on the ground. This responsibility is taken seriously and is not limited to take- off, in-flight or landing. Technicians' charge continues to all safety aspects of the aircraft. A technician performs hundreds of inspections each year, including the search for evidence of mechanical tampering and, worse yet, the possible discovery and removal of dangerous materials. Unfortunately, we live in a dangerous time, a time where everyone must remain vigilant from those that seek to harm us. The technician is the flying public's first line of defense and an essential safety net in a collective goal towards the flying public's safety. It is time for their unique perspective to be shared. Bret Oestreich is the national director of the Aircraft Mechanics Fraternal Association (AMFA), a craft specific, independent aviation union. AMFA represents aircraft maintenance technicians and is committed to improvements in the wages, benefits and working conditions. Oestreich has been employed at Southwest Airlines, as an aircraft maintenance technician, fiberglass composite- structure mechanic since 2012. Oestreich was previously a 737 tail and engine technician, fiberglass composite technician on DC-10, MD-11, A-300, and sheet metal and tail engine technician on MD-80 aircrafts at American Airlines in Tulsa, OK. http://thehill.com/opinion/technology/357511-safety-in-the-air-begins-with-quality-maintenance- on-the-ground Back to Top GE Looking At "Transformational" Blockchain Technology GE's Kim Harrington has been working with blockchain at home on personal projects, experimented with software for writing smart contracts in blockchain and built some mining computers for blockchain. Mining is the review that approves each block in a blockchain before its inclusion. Harrington is also senior digital program manager in GE Aviation's services organization. GE has been doing proofs of concepts for using blockchain for industrial and other applications. An enthusiast, Harrington believes the IT innovation could be "transformational," in the aviation aftermarket, but that there are a lot of steps to be taken and questions to be answered before the transformation takes place. For example, firms must develop standards on how to manage engine and other data across their businesses. They must also figure out how their legacy systems can write data into blockchain and then read it out from the distributed ledgers. Security is a requirement, so an aftermarket blockchain must be a privateor permissioned ledger. But Harrington says there is a lot of infrastructure out there for the public or 'permissionless' blockchains, and she would like to be able to take advantage of that infrastructure. Regulation is a challenge, and Harrington says advocates must work carefully with regulators to gain acceptance. But she notes that blockchain is "one-time write, 100% auditable on demand," and that should in the long run offer many benefits for safety and regulatory purposes. "This is a transformational technology that will require a lot of collaboration," Harrington summarizes. "We will need to change a lot of business processes, change our mindsets on how we do things and figure out what the new world looks like. It's a paradigm shift. We may not see much change for a while, but then all the pieces could fall into place very quickly." Applying blockchain to industries like aircraft engines and other parts is still very "nascent," the GE manager says. "We need to focus on learning how to build the capability for our business and use it for our needs." Harrington expects Blockchain benefits will be real, especially in transferring aviation assets, much of whose value depends on documentation. "That can be a painful process today. Even if you have the data, it can be hard to call up." GE is evaluating blockchain now for a variety of uses, both short term and long term, in the aftermarket and elsewhere. It wants to learn about the technology and also build out its own capabilities to use the new tools. http://www.mro-network.com/technology/ge-looking-transformational-blockchain-technology Back to Top Shortage Of Qualified Trainers Holding Back Indonesia's MRO Industry Indonesia is facing challenges in training enough aircraft maintenance engineers and technicians to support rapid growth in the country's airline fleet. The director of Batam Polytechnic, Priyono Eko Sanyoto, says the biggest challenge is finding qualified MRO instructors. "We are limited by the number of qualified instructors. We have recruited only four qualified instructors, and they are retirees," says Priyono, adding that they worked in the MRO industry and then retired before he persuaded them to come back and teach. Because of the shortage of qualified instructors, Batam Polytechnic has only 48 students studying aerospace engineering and maintenance, says Priyono. He says Indonesia's MRO industry wants to expand outside of Jakarta, Bandung and Surabaya and set up MRO facilities in other parts of the country, but the problem is that the qualified workforce is concentrated in Jakarta and the other two big cities. "It is hard having training centers outside of Jakarta. Even for Batam, which is relatively developed, I still have what I call my 'flying instructors.' [Some of our teaching staff] stay in Batam maybe two days at a time and then they fly back to their homes in Jakarta, Surabaya or Bandung. We fly them in to teach, but it is expensive." Another issue is making sure the teaching staff have adequate, up-to-date skills. Batam Polytechnic will send some of the teaching staff to Europe next year to train in France or Germany, says Priyono. The school has connections with Europe's aerospace industry, he says, without elaborating. In the past, Indonesia has not had problems attracting young people to work in the MRO industry, because jobs are hard to come by, but Priyono says economic growth means it is now getting harder. "Young people are more interested in information technology rather than aircraft maintenance courses," he says. To attract more young people to the industry, "we need to make aircraft maintenance more 'sexy,'" says Leo van Rijn, Air France Industries-KLM Engineering & Maintenance, vice president for aircraft maintenance. That means adding more technology-related content to the training programs. "Show the students the simulation tools. The polytechnics need to invest in simulation tools, software applications and virtual-reality training tools. It is extremely important for us to have enough aircraft mechanics coming into this industry. Make it sexier," he says. http://www.mro-network.com/supply-chain-logistics/shortage-qualified-trainers-holding-back- indonesia-s-mro-industry Back to Top Global aviation industry faces Renaissance, creating openings for South Africa The global aviation industry continues to be a rapidly growing sector, far from reaching maturity. This was stressed at the recent International Forum for Aviation Research (IFAR) open session at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) in Pretoria by US National Aeronautics and Space Administration Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate Dr Jaiwon Shin. "Aviation is not a dying industry; it is not a mature industry. It is growing in leaps and bounds," he affirmed. "This is because countries are getting richer. In a lot of developing countries aviation demand is growing significantly." "Many countries have chosen aviation as a growth engine for their economies," he noted. "Dubai, the UAE [United Arab Emirates] is a really good example." Including the activities of national carrier Emirates, Dubai hopes to generate 40% of its gross domestic product from aviation. A striking development is that, just as in the 1930s and 1940s, a lot of very wealthy entrepreneurs are getting involved in aviation, a sector they know little about. Google and Amazongetting involved with unmanned air vehicles are good examples. "It could be a fad. ... It does not look like a fad." Technologyconvergence is happening in every sector, with revolutionary impacts. "A renaissance of aviation is upon us," he argued. For South Africa, because of its aviationinfrastructure, he suggested that "this might be a golden opportunity. ... A lot of entities and countries ... are moving into this." The new technologies (small UAVs, networking, Internet of things, and so on) opened the potential for aviation to move from a high-technology but low-volume production industry to a high- technology high-volume production sector. High-volume production would bring costs down. "A country like South Africa may be very well positioned to catch this new market," stated Shin. But penetrating this new market would require the building of an ecosystem of universities, government-funded research institutes (like the CSIR, although the CSIR is actually partly State- funded) and businesses. "To make [such] an ecosystem like a well-oiled machine is not an easy thing to do!" (IFAR, founded in 2010, exists to facilitate networking, information exchange, cooperation, communication and education within the global aviation research community. Its membership is now composed of 26 aviation research institutions, representing more than 35 000 aviationresearchers, from all around the world. It held its 2017 Conference at the CSIR in Pretoria.) http://www.engineeringnews.co.za/article/global-aviation-industry-faces-renaissance-creating- openings-for-south-africa-2017-10-27/rep_id:4136 Back to Top Presidential Memorandum Launches New Pilot Program to Test Drone Operations HIGHLIGHTS: * The White House has issued a Presidential Memorandum directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch a three-year Unmanned Aircraft Systems Integration Pilot Program. * The Memorandum directs DOT and FAA to act within existing authorities to authorize state, local and tribal government applicants to establish drone test sites within their respective jurisdictions so that test site operations can be up and running within 12 months. * A major goal of the program is to establish a regulatory framework that encourages innovation and is created with direct input from state, local and tribal governments. The White House issued a Presidential Memorandum on Oct. 25, 2017, directing the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) and Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) to launch a three- year Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS) Integration Pilot Program, which the FAA states is designed to "safely test and validate advanced operations for drones in partnership" with what the Memorandum called "a select number of State, local and tribal jurisdictions." During a White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) briefing call held on Oct. 25, OSTP indicated that President Donald Trump was directing DOT and FAA to act within existing authorities to authorize state, local and tribal government applicants to establish test sites within their respective jurisdictions so that UAS test site operations can be up and running within 12 months. OSTP indicated there will be no cap on the total number of potential test sites. OSTP also indicated that participating jurisdictions will be able to obtain waivers of existing operational restrictions (e.g., line of sight) for industry research purposes, and that research on a broad range of UAS technologies and applications will be encouraged (e.g., technologies such as UAS Tracking Management, drone detection and tracking, and applications such as package delivery, inspecting crops and infrastructure, and search and rescue operations). Key Highlights Details are not yet available regarding the process by which DOT/FAA will "solicit proposals from State, local, and tribal governments to test within their jurisdictions the integration of civil and public UAS operations into the national air space." But the Memorandum outlines an aggressive implementation schedule: * within the next 90 days, DOT/FAA is tasked with establishing the pilot program * within 180 days of the establishment of the pilot program, DOT/FAA is expected to enter into agreements with at least five state, local or tribal governments * within 90 days from entering into an agreement with DOT/FAA, those governmental entities are expected to launch their programs The Memorandum directs DOT/FAA to consider the following when choosing test sites: * overall economic, geographic, and climatic diversity of the selected jurisdictions * overall diversity of the proposed models of government involvement * overall diversity of the UAS operations to be conducted * the location of critical infrastructure * the involvement of commercial entities in the proposal and their ability to advance objectives that may serve the public interest as a result of further integration of UAS into the national airspace system * the involvement of affected communities in, and their support for, participating in the program * the commitment of the governments and UAS operators involved in the proposal to comply with requirements related to national defense, homeland security and public safety, and to address competition, privacy and civil liberties concerns * the commitment of the governments and UAS operators involved in the proposal to achieve the following policy objectives: o promoting innovation and economic development o enhancing transportation safety o enhancing workplace safety o improving emergency response and search and rescue functions o using radio spectrum efficiently and competitively Establishing a Regulatory Framework Although the FAA for the most part has previously declined to weigh in on state, tribal and local regulation of UAS operations, a major goal of the program is to establish a regulatory framework that encourages innovation and is created with direct input from state, local and tribal governments. OSTP indicated this will give these governments a voice and transform their jurisdictions into innovation zones. Information collected during the program also will be analyzed and used to inform the development of the UAS Traffic Management System under Section 2208 of the FAA Extension, Safety, and Security Act of 2016 (Public Law 114-190). https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=5b2dff8d-c6ba-4cc9-86e6-172665701a42 Back to Top FAA's NextGen Flight Paths And When Data Makes Government Too Efficient Over the last several years the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) has been hard at work modernizing air traffic control in the United States under its NextGen process, migrating historical processes that date back nearly to the dawn of air travel into modern maximally efficient GPS- based flight control. Yet, as with any data-driven modernization of society, the far more efficient and precise flight paths have raised the level of aircraft noise in nearby communities and prompted legal action in an attempt to reverse the modernization efforts and return to century-old approaches. As I havewrittencountlesstimesbefore, government has a problem with data. Most frequently that problem is that government finds itself unable to use data to modernize its decades or even centuries-old processes. Yet, the public reaction to FAA's modernization effort reminds us that even when government accomplishes that rare breakthrough where it finds itself able to bring data to bear on a major societal problem, it all-too-often finds that instead of the hero's welcome enjoyed by Silicon Valley for bringing technology to bear to solve society's ills, it faces lawsuits and attacks for changing the way things work. In the case of the FAA NextGen modernization process, housing stock and businesses have grown up around airports with an understanding of how the flight paths of those facilities have standardized over decades of operation. By modernizing those flight paths, the FAA is upending assumptions those surrounding communities made about noise levels and traffic and prompting a fierce backlash that the benefit to the entire nation is outweighed by the additional noise endured by the few. What makes the FAA process different than the everyday conflict of airport expansion, road construction and other government change is that the FAA process has been largely driven by using data and technology to improve efficiency. The new flight paths were chosen not by politicians trying to win points for their communities, but by cold calculating algorithms designed to maximize the efficiency and safety of modern air travel. Silicon Valley's mantra of maximizing efficiency finds tremendous success when it comes to making computers work better. When it comes to the ability of data to maximize the efficiency of humans, however, such data-driven optimization has endured controversy such as the way in which it has driven the expansion of the "gig economy" by granting companies micro resolution sub second visibility into their global operations. Bringing those ideals to bear on issues that have more direct societal-scale impact, such as flight paths and city planning are similarly bringing into conflict the ideals of algorithmic efficiency with human society's desire to avoid change where it affects them. Indeed, as one commentator put it, perhaps the FAA "may have to settle on a path that is less efficient" to keep the politicians and public happy. Relying on data to set policy rather than leaving decisions to the political system represents a sharp break from the horse trading that has historically dominated governmental decision making. It means that decisions will be made based on the cold hard numbers of what benefits the nation, rather than who has the most political clout in backroom deals. In particular, data-driven policy helps insulate critical decisions from political interference, ensuring that the ultimate design and implementation of critical governmental processes are conducted according to what the numbers suggest, rather than what is most politically in vogue at the moment. Or, as former Estonian President Toomas Hendrik Illves put it so eloquently "e-governance allows us to eliminate nodes of opaque discretionary and arbitrary decision-making ... more bluntly, you can't bribe a computer, no online system can say, I'll process this for a fee. In fact the best argument for use of ICT in government and the public sector more broadly is the cleansing effect it has." Indeed, "you can't bribe a computer" and as computers and data increasingly drive decision making in governments across the world, insulating them from traditional politically-based decision making, an epic battle is brewing over whether the future of our society will be decided by nonpartisan data or whether we go back to good old-fashioned human politics where the politician with the most power and the citizen with the biggest pocketbook wins. https://www.forbes.com/sites/kalevleetaru/2017/10/27/faas-nextgen-flight-paths-and-when-data- makes-government-too-efficient/#2127a5725413 Back to Top SUPERB WEATHER FORECAST FOR SPACEX HALLOWEEN EVE LAUNCH AND LANDING FROM FLORIDA WITH 1ST KOREAN SATELLITE KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FL - After seemingly endless bouts of damaging rain squalls and flooding, Florida is at last living up to its billing as the 'Sunshine State' with some superb weather forecast for Monday afternoon's scheduled liftoff of a SpaceX Falcon 9 with its first Korean customer - on the eve of Halloween. SpaceX engineers are targeting the Falcon 9 for a mid-afternoon liftoff with the private KoreaSat-5A telecomsat mission for a window that opens at 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT) Monday Oct. 30 from seaside Launch Complex 39A at NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. The two stage 229-foot-tall (70-meter-tall) Falcon 9 rocket was raised to vertical launch position later Sunday afternoon. The launch will also be accompanied by an attempt to recover the first stage booster by soft landing on an ocean going platform prepositioned off shore in the Atlantic Ocean - some 8 minutes after blastoff. If all goes well, SpaceX will conduct their 16th launch this year and the 2nd this month by the new space firms Falcon 9 rocket from Florida's Spaceport - maintaining an absolutely torrid and record setting yearly launch pace. Space enthusiasts and Halloween trick or treaters alike will surely enjoy the heavenly fireworks display. And to top that off the procedure to recover the rockets first stage has been described as riding a 'witches broom' in the middle of a hurricane since the 15 story tall stick has to flip around and fire its engines while traveling at several thousand miles per hour to place it on course for the droneship. The KoreaSat liftoff will also count as October's third from the increasingly busy Florida Space Coast capping two earlier missions carried out by both ULAand SpaceX. KoreaSat-5A was built by Thales Alenia Space and is being launched by SpaceX under a commercial contract for South Korean operator KTSAT (a KT Corporation company) using a new first stage booster. The satellite was attached to the booster encapsulated in the nose cone over the weekend after engineers successfully completed the static hot fire test of the first stage engines on Thursday, Oct 26. The nearly two ton commercial KoreaSat-5A satellite will provide Direct to Home (DTH) broadcasting, maritime, internet and other services to the Asian region centering around South Korea. You can watch the launch live on a SpaceX dedicated webcast starting about 10 minutes prior to the 3:34 p.m. EDT (1934 GMT) liftoff time. Watch the SpaceX broadcast live at: SpaceX.com/webcast The launch window for the newly built booster extends nearly two and a half hours until it closes at 5:58 p.m. EDT (2158 GMT). The weather outlook is uncommonly excellent along the Florida Space Coast with a greater than 90% chance of favorable conditions at launch time according to U.S. Air Force meteorologists with the 45th Space Wing Weather Squadron at Patrick Air Force Base. The primary concerns on Oct. 30 are only for Liftoff Winds. The odds remain high at 90% favorable for the 24 hour scrub turnaround day on Halloween Day, Tuesday Oct. 31. Tropical Storm Philippe is not an issue and has moved north of the Bahamas and will continue moving northeastward at 30 mile per hour today says the AF. Temperatures will be cool however on Monday dipping into the 50s and 60s. The SpaceX Falcon 9 will deliver Koreasat-5A to a geostationary transfer orbit (GTO). After the 156 foot tall first stage booster completes its primary mission task, SpaceX engineers seek to guide it to a second landing on the tiny OCISLY drone ship for a soft touchdown some eight and a half minutes after liftoff. OCISLY or "Of Course I Still Love You" left Port Canaveral several days ahead of the planned Oct. 30 launch and may be prepositioned in the Atlantic Ocean some 400 miles (600 km) off the US East coast, just waiting for the boosters approach and pinpoint propulsive soft landing. The path to an October launch trifecta from Florida's Spaceport was cleared following SpaceX's successful static fire test of the Falcon 9 boosters first stage engines this past Thursday afternoon, Oct. 26. Koreasat-5A was built by prime contractor, Thales Alenia Space, responsible for the design, production, testing and ground delivery. It arrived at the Florida launch base on Oct. 5 for integration with the Falcon 9 rocket. The 3,700 kg satellite is equipped with 36 Ku-band transponders and based on Thales Alenia Space's new-generation Spacebus 4000B2 platform. It will replace Koreasat 5. The solar panels provide a payload power of approximately 6.5 kW. It will be positioned at 113° East and provide coverage for Indochina, Japan, Korea, the Philippines and the Middle East including Direct to Home (DTH) services. Pad 39A has been repurposed by SpaceX from its days as a NASA shuttle launch pad. To date SpaceX has accomplished 18 successful landings of a recovered Falcon 9 first stage booster by land and by sea. The first stage from this months SES-11 launch arrived back into Port Canaveral, FL on top of the OCISLY droneship on Oct. 15. The SES-11 comsat launched on Oct. 11. Watch for Ken's continuing onsite coverage of SpaceX KoreaSat-5A & SES-11, ULA NROL-52 and NASA and space mission reports direct from the Kennedy Space Center and Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. Stay tuned here for Ken's continuing Earth and Planetary science and human spaceflight news. https://www.universetoday.com/137655/superb-weather-forecast-for-spacex-halloween-eve- launch-and-landing-from-florida-with-1st-korean-satellite-watch-live/ Curt Lewis