KOUROU, French Guiana — A helium leak caused by a faulty valve on the Ariane 5GS rocket has forced a delay in the launch of France’s Helios IIB imaging intelligence satellite. The launcher, which was on the pad at the European spaceport here when the leak was detected, will be returned to the final assembly building to enable the valve to be changed out. This task, together with associated retesting and refilling operations, will take several days, Arianespace CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall says. No new launch date has been set.
PARIS — The latest round of ground tests have led Airbus Military to confirm Dec. 11 as the planned first flight date for the A400M military airlifter. The A400M, with six flight test personnel onboard, is expected to take off around 10 a.m. local time from EADS’s Seville, Spain, facility. The flight is expected to last around three hours.
Two important new Earth observation satellites have advanced toward their upcoming launches by clearing major milestone reviews by U.S. government customers.
The U.S. Air Force’s recently revealed, stealthy, all-jet RQ-170 remotely piloted aircraft that has flown in Afghanistan has linkages to earlier designs from Lockheed Martin’s Advanced Development Programs, including the stealthy DarkStar and Polecat UAVs. The RQ-170 is a tailless flying wing whose upper surfaces have conformal sensor and/or communications pods faired into each side outboard of the centerline fuselage (Aerospace DAILY, Dec. 7).
NASA has set a Jan. 4 deadline for responses to a wide-reaching request for information (RFI) for commercial reusable suborbital mission services, as well as research projects to accompany such flights. The space agency’s Innovative Partnerships Program has established the Commercial Reusable Suborbital Research Program (CRUSR) at Ames Research Center in California and advises that a solicitation for reusable suborbital spaceflight services could come as early as 2010. It would be a prelude to a pilot program of suborbital flight operations.
GRAY BUTTE, Calif. — General Atomics Aeronautical Systems plans to start air vehicle and systems tests of U.S. Customs and Border Protection’s (CBP) first Guardian unmanned aircraft at Point Mugu Naval Air Station, Calif., as early as next week following its formal delivery to the service Dec. 7.
PARIS — The French defense ministry has placed an order for two EC225s with Eurocopter as a gapfiller owing to delays in the NH90 delivery schedule. The two rotorcraft, for maritime security, are to be delivered next March and June. They will replace SA 321 Super Frelons. The helos are to be based at the Lanveoc naval air station. The NH90s will take over the role in late 2011.
NEW YORK — U.S. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. Norton Schwartz says that the service’s forthcoming budget request, though pinched by the cost of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, will likely include money for a new bomber and a new space surveillance system.
MOJAVE, Calif. — Preparations for the start of captive carriage flight tests of Virgin Galactic’s SpaceShipTwo (SS2) are under way following the unveiling of the vehicle in a spectacularly staged event at Mojave, Calif., on Dec. 7. Despite biting winter winds that were gusting to gale force at times, the prototype SS2 was transported to the specially constructed unveiling site at a remote corner of the airfield in darkness beneath the WhiteKnight Two (WK2) mothership, marking its first taxiing captive carry test.
The Malaysian armed forces are looking for ways to fund an upgrade of their 28 Sikorsky S61 helicopters by the company that maintains them, Airod. The maintenance firm, part of National Aerospace and Defense Industries, says it can improve reliability and performance while lowering running costs by fitting the aircraft with a glass cockpit, composite rotor blades and an improved transmission, all commercially available.
PRESIDENTIAL PARDON: Union workers in Connecticut and their Democratic lawmakers are petitioning President Barack Obama to forcibly stop Pratt & Whitney from closing a pair of aircraft-related factories in the New England state. The International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers asked the White House to “use every measure at your disposal” to block the moves, saying it is both a national security and jobs issue. A Dec. 7 letter to Obama was signed by Connecticut Sen.
U.S. Ambassador to Afghanistan Karl Eikenberry was challenged Dec. 8 during his House Armed Services Committee testimony with Gen. Stanley McChrystal about a leaked cable he sent to Washington, in which he appeared to dissent from the plus-up of more troops to the country.
NEW YORK – As the U.S. Air Force tries to solidify plans for a light-attack aircraft for allies, there still appears to be disagreement between the service and its partners on requirements. Afghanistan is likely the country that has the most immediate need, but Iraq and some South American countries are also looking at options. The Air Force is expecting to start a program as soon as 2012.
Boeing’s Apache Block III helicopter has taken another step toward fielding with the first flight of its structures test aircraft. The test, conducted Nov. 23 in Mesa, Ariz., demonstrated the flight characteristics and handling maneuvers of new technologies including the composite main rotor blade, composite horizontal stabilizer and GE-701D engines equipped with an enhanced digital electronic control unit.
As the U.S. Navy gears up to send its newest MH-60R helicopters back to sea next year, the service is awarding Lockheed Martin a $14.75 million contract for a data link upgrade for deployments in 2012 and beyond.
SEA SUPPORT: At least 18 navies are known to have plans for new maritime support vessels, according to an IQPC report. For instance, “revolutionary” designs are being developed in the United States under the Joint High Speed Vessel and the Sea Base Connector Transformable Craft programs. And besides obvious efforts through the U.S. Navy, the Army also has announced a major restructuring of its watercraft fleet, according to the report.
TESTING COMPLETE: The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor for the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) has completed all testing and is ready for delivery, according to NPOESS prime Northrop Grumman. The Raytheon-built VIIRS completed testing in late October, including 112 days of thermal vacuum and post-thermal vacuum testing. VIIRS is being stored in a shipping container until it is sent to Ball Aerospace for integration onto the spacecraft of NPOESS’ precursor mission, the NPOESS Preparatory Project.
PARIS — A slate of new medium-sized science missions being evaluated by the European Space Agency (ESA) could reignite debate on the agency’s ability to keep within cost and schedule envelopes mandated by its member states. Gross underestimates of technology risks on the BepiColombo Mercury mission have led to more rigorous evaluation of ESA science projects (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 30).
SUB TRIALS: The U.S. Navy’s newest nuclear-powered submarine, the New Mexico (SSN 779), has returned from its first sea trials. Northrop Grumman announced last week its submarine had returned to its shipyard in Newport News, Va., on Nov. 26 after being put through its paces. Sea trials offer an opportunity to test all systems, components and compartments, including submerging for the first time, high-speed runs while on the surface and submerged and a demonstration of the submarine’s other capabilities.
PARIS — Functional testing has begun on the platform engineering model of the Galileo In-Orbit Verification (IOV) satellites. The IOV spacecraft are intended to demonstrate the performance of Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system and provide a blueprint for the following Final Operating Capability (FOC) spacecraft, expected to be ordered by year’s end.
