COLORADO SPRINGS — Orbital Sciences Corp. has installed its Antares medium-lift launch vehicle on the pad built for it at the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, in preparation for a hot-fire test of the new rocket later this spring.
AEHF LAUNCH: The second Lockheed Martin Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite is set to be launched by an Atlas V rocket on May 3 with a backup window of May 5, only days after the scheduled April 30 launch of Space Exploration Technologies’ Falcon 9, both from Cape Canaveral. Operational testing of the spacecraft is set for next year. One of the first two AEHF satellites will eventually be placed in geosynchronous orbit over Europe for Washington to fulfill its agreement to share some of the capacity with the U.K., Canada and the Netherlands.
A repairable fault with a piece of electronics onboard the Space-Based Space Surveillance satellite is prompting Air Force Space Command to hold off on declaring initial operational capability.
In Washington, when the administration proposes, Congress disposes. That was certainly the case this week with NASA’s $830 million budget request for development of a commercial crew vehicle (CCDev) to provide rides to the International Space Station. Instead, lawmakers on both sides of the aisle cut the request by about $300 million and provided more funding for the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle and the heavy-lift Space Launch Vehicle (SLS).
GENOA — The Italian air force has achieved initial operational capability for its fleet of four Boeing KC-767A tanker/transports and is mulling its options to equip the aircraft with a self-protection suite. Work is still under way to complete qualification testing and move into full operational capability (FOC), which will probably come first in the transport configuration by mid-2012 and in the refueling role by year’s end. The only Italian aircraft so far qualified for boom refueling is the KC-767A; trials with the KC-130J and the C-27J have yet to start.
FORT WASHINGTON, Md. — As the U.S. Navy redoubles its efforts to make maintenance a major priority across the fleet, the service is taking great pains to clean up the tanks and voids in its surface vessels — with special focus on destroyers and cruisers, which have often had to defer shipboard work because of smaller crews.
Desire to allow domestic companies to be more competitive in the global marketplace, but allowing for stricter restrictions against countries including China, Iran, North Korea and Syria.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) plans to load “late cargo” into its Dragon capsule around April 20 after passing NASA’s final flight readiness review in advance of the first private space mission expected to dock with the International Space Station (ISS).
TRADE NOT TRIM: Conferees for a potential Arms Trade Treaty should know how the U.S. sees the effort championed by President Barack Obama, one diplomat says. First, it “is not a disarmament negotiation; it is an arms trade regulation negotiation,” says Thomas Countryman, assistant secretary of State for the Bureau of International Security and Nonproliferation.
PARIS — Aerospace supplier Honeywell says it has signed an exclusive agreement with Inmarsat to provide global in-flight connectivity services to business, commercial and government aviation customers. The services will be provided through London-based Inmarsat’s Global Xpress network, the first Ka-band constellation designed to provide global inflight broadband to the aeronautical, maritime and land-mobile markets.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Several next-generation satellite systems built by the U.S. Air Force could rely on smaller, simpler and cheaper designs, says Gen. William Shelton, Air Force Space Command chief. Shelton says he continues to push for “disaggregation” of U.S. military satellites, which calls for separating payloads once hosted on large satellites and placing them on more numerous, smaller systems with an eye toward distributing capability and controlling costs.
The Pentagon is nearly finished renegotiating contract for troubled airborne satcom terminals, USAF is establishing alternate program path in case the company fails to perform.
PARIS — France’s defense procurement agency DGA announced the first tranche of a multibillion-euro program to equip French armed forces with next-generation tactical radios starting in 2018. The initial €263 million ($345 million) award to Thales Communications under the Contact program would initiate development work this year in an effort to outfit the army, air force and navy with software-defined tactical communications devices that allow simultaneous transmission and highly secure voice/data for operationally deployed forces.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Engineers at Lockheed Martin are edging ahead of schedule to complete assembly of the Maven spacecraft, which is designed to investigate why most of the atmosphere of Mars has largely disappeared. The Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) vehicle is being put together at Lockheed Martin’s Space Systems Waterton site near Denver. Due to be launched in November 2013, Maven will travel through the upper reaches of the Martian atmosphere, gathering data that should help scientists reconstruct a climatic history of the planet.
NEW DELHI — India has ordered its defense forces and all other security agencies to remain prepared to tackle an entire range of challenges along its borders in the wake of the situation in the neighboring Afghanistan/Pakistan region. Taliban militants on April 15 mounted a synchronized attack at key establishments in Kabul. The assault ended after 18 hr. on April 16, by which time all but one attacker had been killed.
COLORADO SPRINGS — The main stage of NASA’s planned heavy-lift Space Launch System exploration rocket will carry four surplus RD-25D space shuttle main engines, as NASA and main-stage prime contractor Boeing move toward preliminary design review (PDR) on the big new rocket by the end of the year.
LONDON — Problems found during inspection of RTM322 engines on AgustaWestland EH101 Merlin helicopters have forced the Danish armed forces to ground part of the fleet that is used for search-and-rescue and transport missions. Because of cracks founds in different elements of 11 RTM322 engines, the Danish military says it only has enough spares available to operate 10 of 14 EH101s. The flaws were found during “routine” inspections.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Worldwide space spending grew by more than $31 billion in 2011, but the laggard global economy continues to exert downward pressure on the industry, according to the latest report of the National Space Foundation.
