The human exploration of Mars by the 2030s is within reach if global space powers — supported by sustained budgets and political backing — cooperate to overcome the technical hurdles, according to Explore Mars, Inc. The four-year-old Massachusetts nonprofit advocates focused use of the International Space Station (ISS), the possible introduction of a modest, crewed cis-lunar outpost in the 2020s and carefully paced robotic missions to achieve the goal.
HOUSTON — Spacewalking cosmonauts Oleg Kotov and Sergey Ryazanskiy met with mixed results Jan. 27 during a second attempt to install a pair of Canadian commercial Earth imaging cameras outside the International Space Station (ISS). The task outside the Russian segment of the outpost proved so troublesome during a late-December attempt that the two men were forced to retrieve the just-installed imagers for internal troubleshooting during a frustrating excursion that grew to a Russian record 8 hr., 7 min.
As the U.S. Navy plans for a growing share of rotorcraft in its aviation fleet, the service is amending its curriculum to provide the only formal, undergraduate-level, rotary wing engineering program in the country. “In an effort to better support the technology development, flight test and acquisition intellectual needs required to staff the change, we made a conscious decision to provide a focused option for our undergraduate aerospace majors,” Capt. Kenneth Ham, chairman of the Naval Academy Aerospace Engineering department, tells Aviation Week.
INCREASINGLY MEXICAN: Bombardier Aerospace (BA) has a goal to boost local suppliers. According to investment advisors at National Bank Financial, about 30% of the supply of BA’s components comes from Mexican sources, with the goal over the next five years to reach 70%. That means going from eight local suppliers now to 12-15. “If BA is able to achieve this level of local content, the cost savings will become much more meaningful,” the advisors say. The Canadian-based OEM is also relying more on Mexican locals for management.
PARIS — U.S. Strategic Command has signed a new data-sharing agreement with France that will permit the exchange of space situational awareness (SSA) information. The agreement will allow the French defense ministry to request information gathered by U.S. Stratcom’s Joint Space Operations Center at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., for launch support, satellite maneuver planning, in-orbit anomalies, electromagnetic interference, spacecraft decommissioning and collision avoidance, Stratcom announced Jan. 27.
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Pentagon officials have discussed counter-improvised-explosive-device (IED) technology with Russian military leaders, and U.S. ships will be on hand in the Black Sea to help with Olympic security concerns. U.S. Navy Rear Adm. John Kirby, a Pentagon spokesman, acknowledges “an informal conversation between [Joint Chiefs of Staff] Chairman [Gen. Martin] Dempsey and his counterpart, his Russian counterpart … about counter-IED technologies” has taken place.
LONDON — Investigators conducting an inquiry into the loss of an Airbus Helicopters—formerly Eurocopter—AS332L2 Super Puma in the North Sea in August have recommended changes to emergency equipment and pre-flight briefings. Four oil workers died when the CHC Scotia-operated helicopter crashed on approach to Sumburgh Airport on the southern tip of the Shetland Islands, after a flight from the Borgsten Dolphin drilling platform on behalf of the oil company Total, on Aug. 23. Fourteen others—including the two crew—were rescued.
LONDON — AgustaWestland has been awarded a ₤454 million ($750 million) contract to transform the U.K.’s Merlin battlefield support helicopter fleet for amphibious operations.
APPLAUSE: The U.S. commercial satellite industry is cheering lawmakers and awaiting a congressionally mandated strategy this year that could help push the Pentagon toward multiyear leases and hosted payloads providing satcom services. The fiscal 2014 defense authorization act requires the Defense Department to provide Congress with an analysis of financial or other benefits of doing multiyear acquisitions.
LONDON — MD Helicopters has taken the veil off of a new variant of its MD530G light attack helicopter. The MD530GII is a highly modernized variant of the MD530G, which is used by several countries as a light gunship capable of carrying a range of guns and unguided rocket ordnance. GII details were revealed at the International Military Helicopter conference in London Jan. 23.
As the Pentagon seeks to strengthen its relationship with India as part of the U.S. military’s Asia-Pacific rebalancing, Indian military investment is growing, with anticipated acquisitions of advanced aircraft and submarines, according to an Aviation Week Intelligence Network (AWIN) data analysis. When it comes to defense acquisitions in the coming years for aviation and shipbuilding, no other U.S. partner or ally in the Asia-Pacific region comes close to India, according to an analysis of data provided by Avascent Analytics.
A United Launch Alliance Atlas V sent NASA’s newest Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) toward its geostationary orbit late Jan. 23, beefing up the constellation as demand for space network links grows with the utilization of the International Space Station (ISS) and a swarm of scientific satellites.
EX-IM BANK: The U.S. Export-Import Bank (Ex-Im) is conducting its annual “competitiveness survey,” meaning U.S. companies that export goods and other stakeholders can offer their assessment of how the American export credit agency (ECA) compared with foreign ECAs in 2013. Surveys to known stakeholders, including numerous aerospace, defense and aviation companies, should go out Feb. 7. While somewhat perfunctory, this year’s results could play a role in a looming political fight in Washington over renewing Ex-Im’s charter come September (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 26, 2013).
One of the longest-running military procurement disputes, involving the cancellation of the U.S. Navy’s A-12 Avenger, is finally over. The U.S. Court of Federal Claims dismissed the case Jan. 24. Late last year, the government reached an agreement with contractors Boeing and General Dynamics. The nearly $400 million deal brought the case to an end in exchange for in-kind payments from the companies to the Navy.
INTEL AUDIT: An unclassified version of a long-awaited report by U.S. congressional investigators on intelligence contractors could emerge soon. Citing an unidentified congressional official, Steven Aftergood of the Federation of American Scientists tells readers of his Secrecy News that the Government Accountability Office report could be issued in the “next few weeks.” A classified version was provided to lawmakers last year.
NEW DELHI — India plans the first test launch of its newly developed interceptor missile sometime in the next six months from a defense base off its eastern coast. The Prithvi Defense Vehicle (PDV) will be able to intercept rival missiles to a range of 1,553 mi. and an altitude of 93 mi., an official at India’s Defense and Development Research Organization (DRDO) tells Aviation Week.
Two of the five Earth-science missions NASA plans to launch this year will end up on the International Space Station (ISS), which is growing in importance as a relatively low-cost spot to operate downward-looking sensors. The station’s low altitude and relatively high inclination also can give scientists a new perspective for their observations, which typically are taken from sun-synchronous polar orbits.
TORONTO — Bombardier has accepted its ninth Bombardier Q300 maritime surveillance aircraft (MSA) for Japan’s coast guard at Field Aviation’s Toronto modification center after a one-year conversion program. The sensor package includes a Flir Systems electro-optical camera on a ball turret under the nose and a Telephonics search radar in a belly pod. Bombardier, the prime contractor on the program, will deliver the aircraft to Japan, departing Toronto on Feb. 1.
