Engineers at NASA’s Stennis Space Center tested a modified RS-25 Space Shuttle Main Engine (SSME) for 450 sec. on May 28, marking the restart of hot-fire testing for the planned heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) after a five-month hiatus for test-stand modifications.
The Office of Naval Research (ONR) is sponsoring research to better understand the motions, forces and pressures generated by waves on boats with high-speed planing hulls.
With China still smarting from recent U.S. reconnaissance flights over disputed territories in the South China Sea, America is bolstering its ties with regional partners.
ARIANESPACE launched DirecTV-15, SKY México-1 broadcast satellites May 27 aboard Ariane 5 from Kourou, French Guiana. NORTHROP GRUMMAN will unveil new airborne sensor system June 2, bringing infrared search/track (IRST) to U.S. tactical/transport aircraft. BOEING and TERMA A/S signed $15m in contracts for work on Boeing commercial/defense products, incl. 777, CH-47 Chinook. LOCKHEED MARTIN has $72m Huntington Ingalls Industries contract to provide C4ISR system for U.S. Coast Guard cutter Midgett.
Orbital Alliant Techsystems Inc., previously known as Alliant Techsystems Operations LLC of Fort Worth, has been awarded a not to exceed $26.1 million firm-fixed-price contract for support of the Lebanon Cessna 208B Caravan Program, the U.S. Air Force announced May 28. The contractor will provide one commercial-off-the-shelf Cessna 208B Caravan with a Garmin 1000 baseline glass cockpit, avionics package and Pratt & Whitney PT6A-140 turboprop engine.
As controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory here wrapped up a round of hazard-avoidance imagery with the nuclear-powered New Horizons Pluto probe, the mission’s long-standing science team assembled to begin their final setup for the July 14 flyby of the dwarf planet and its moons.
Critical flight information which could contain clues to the cause of the May 9 crash of an Airbus A400M airlifter in Spain has finally been extracted from the aircraft’s flight data recorder.
The Planetary Society’s novel LightSail-A orbital deployment demonstration mission is seeking a computer reboot with help from Mother Nature after a loss of communications was linked to a suspected software problem.
The amphibious assault ship LHA 6 USS America completed a magnetic treatment, known as “deperming,” at Naval Base Point Loma Magnetic Silencing Facility (MSF) in California earlier this month, marking another milestone and first for the aviation-centric vessel.
In the wake of recent official protests by the Chinese over U.S. reconnaissance flights over the South China Sea, the two nations are highlighting their respective positions.
Los Angeles -- Boeing has been awarded the first crew rotation mission to the International Space Station (ISS) from NASA, marking a key milestone in the agency’s five-year effort to develop an indigenous U.S. capability to launch American astronauts to low earth orbit.
NASA scheduled second flight test of Low Density Supersonic Decelerator (LDSD) for window opening June 2 at U.S. Navy Pacific Missile Range Facility (PMRF) in Kauai, HI; LDSD is aimed at nurturing tech for future human/robotic planetary landings. NORTHROP GRUMMAN completed critical design review of Flexible Strike Phase 1 B-2 weapons upgrade program Feb. 3. USAF GLOBAL STRIKE COMMAND test launched unarmed Minuteman III ICBM re-entry vehicle from Vandenberg AFB, CA, May 20.
Electric Boat Corp. of Groton, Connecticut, has been awarded a $46.4 million cost-plus-fixed-fee, delivery-incentive-fee contract to perform planning efforts needed to conduct maintenance, upgrades and modernization efforts on the USS Montpelier (SSN 765) submarine during its interim dry docking period, the U.S. Navy announced May 27. The work encompasses planning efforts necessary to maintain full unrestricted operation of the submarine, as well as upgrades and modernization efforts required to ensure the sub is operating at full technical capability.
A suite of nine state-of-the-art remote-sensing instruments that NASA has selected for its planned mission to Europa will sample the plumes of water ice believed to be erupting from the Jovian moon’s subsurface ocean to see if it is habitable, but not to look for evidence of life.
With its contract to provide intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) services to U.S. Special Operations Command (Socom) up for recompetition, Textron Systems is touting the improved reliability of its Aerosonde Mk4.7G small medium-endurance unmanned aircraft.
“It may take the FAA a couple of years to finalize their rule. Rather than wait two years to fly unmanned aircraft, our legislation will allow business to work with the test sites to get their aircraft and pilots certified to fly remotely piloted aircraft,” Sen. John Hoeven (R-N.D.) tells Aviation Week.
NASA’s Mission Control team moved ahead with external changes to the U.S. segment of the International Space Station to accommodate the anticipated dockings of Boeing- and SpaceX-launched crew transportation vehicles by 2017 with the May 27 relocation of the Permanent Multipurpose Module.
A JDAM glide bomb developed by the Australian Defense Department and Boeing will be operational starting in March 2016, equipping Royal Australian Air Force F/A-18A/B Hornet fighters.
SNC—which holds the type certificate for the two aircraft models through recently purchased Germany-based subsidiary 328 Support Services GmbH—has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Turkish Ministry of Transport, Maritime Affairs and Communications to upgrade and build the two aircraft in Turkey.
As directed, the U.S. Navy this month detailed its draft strategy to develop, build and buy its new frigate (FF) fleet – the successor to its Littoral Combat Ships.
