Space Shuttle in Palmdale for a Tuneup

The Space Shuttle Atlantis is back in Palmdale for its three-year, 60-million-mile tuneup.

When the 10-month, $70-million make-over at the Boeing Orbiter Major Modification Facility is complete, Atlantis will sport a state-of-the-art cockpit and a new navigation system that can be guided solely by Global Positioning System satellites.

More than 350 engineers and technicians will take apart and reassemble the entire shuttle, removing four cathode ray tube displays and mechanical instruments and gauges, and installing a “glass cockpit.” The new Multifunction Electronic Display Subsystem will include 11 flat-panel displays similar to those used in Boeing’s newest commercial airliner, the 777, but modified to withstand the shuttle’s more extreme vibrations and radiation exposure.

When the cockpit is installed, astronauts will be able to view Atlantis’ attitude indicator, Mach speed, hydraulic pressure indicator and other information from souped-up versions of the flat-panel displays used in laptop computers. Unlike the monotone green of the old monitors, these screens can display numbers, letters and pictures in six colors. That will make it easier for astronauts to read shuttle data, said Ray Lavey, Boeing display system program manager.

But the real reason for the upgrade is that Boeing is no longer able to find spare parts for the nearly 20-year-old system, said Steve Cavanaugh, vice president and program director for Boeing’s orbiter program. The cockpit hardware was developed by Honeywell Satellite Systems Operations in Glendale, Ariz.

The other major technological improvement is the satellite navigation system, which has been in development for four years. Atlantis has flown with a single satellite navigation system since September 1996, but it has continued to rely on traditional ground-based navigation for critical data.

The new system will improve accuracy, and make landings safer--even when visibility is poor, said Brian Schletz, Boeing’s director of avionics systems engineering. When the three other shuttles are upgraded, NASA can stop using the expensive ground-based tracking system, Schletz said.

Among the other 100 changes, Atlantis’ docking system will be modified to facilitate dockings with Mir and to aid in construction of the International Space Station.

Flight Simulator

Military intelligence is getting a boost from artificial intelligence. A group at USC’s Information Sciences Institute in Marina del Rey is using it to develop a program to simulate the behavior of a group of attack helicopters.

Simulation designers have tried using artificial intelligence in the past, but it hasn’t caught on with software engineers who prefer a more mathematically rigorous approach. But with growing demand for simulations that can model the behavior of individual agents working in small groups, military planners are interested in what artificial intelligence can do.

With a three-year grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an ISI team led by Paul Rosenbloom is building on an artificial intelligence project called Soar to make a realistic model of groups of up to 16 helicopters.

“They have to know what their roles are, what their commitments force them to do and when they can get out of them,” said Rosenbloom, deputy director of the intelligent systems division at ISI.

Camp for Grown-Ups

With several months to go until summer vacation, U.S. Space Camp California will announce next month that it is opening its doors to a new clientele--corporate executives.

After a trial run last week with a group of 80 AT&T; employees, the Mountain View-based attraction is ready to help other companies foster “team building and effective communication,” said Space Camp spokeswoman Bethanee Fitch.

While kids get an entire week of astronaut-training simulations for $695, companies will pay between $300 and $3,000 per worker. The price depends on whether they opt for a one-, two- or three-day program and whether they require specially designed workshops. Besides, “with the adults, we’re taking into consideration that they have to be housed in a hotel and have to be served upscale dinners and reception as opposed to just normal camp food,” Fitch said.

New Job for Perry

Former Secretary of Defense William Perry has joined Boeing’s board of directors.

Perry headed the Defense Department under President Clinton from February 1994 to January 1997. Since his retirement, he has joined the faculty of Stanford University’s School of Engineering and is a senior fellow at the school’s Institute for International Studies.

In addition to the Boeing appointment, effective Nov. 1, Perry also serves on the boards of fellow aerospace firm United Technologies of Hartford, Conn., Hambrecht & Quist and several emerging technology companies.

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Karen Kaplan covers aerospace, technology and telecommunications. She can be reached at karen.kaplan@latimes.com