Japanese engineers are working to recover one of two surviving ion thrusters on the Hayabusa asteroid-sample-return probe, and plotting a new course to bring it back to Earth if the engine can’t be restarted. The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) said thruster D on the spacecraft failed while thrusting on Nov. 4, apparently because of excessive voltage in its neutralizer “because of degradation.”
A federal bankruptcy judge has given Sea Launch Company LLC interim approval to obtain as much as $12.5 million in debtor-in-possession financing to continue operations while it works through a reorganization under Chapter 11 protection. An investor group operating as Space Launch Services LLC established the credit facility for the struggling launch services provider, which filed for Chapter 11 protection in June (Aerospace DAILY, June 25). Sea Launch said Nov. 11 it expects to emerge from protection in the first quarter of next year.
BOLT OF REVENUE: The U.S. Air Force has tapped Northrop Grumman to develop an anti-jam embedded Global Positioning Satellite and inertial navigation unit (EGI) for its A-10C Thunderbolt fleet under a $3.3 million, 18-month task order.
The Defense Department is not doing a good job of aligning its satellite systems with their associated ground control and user terminal efforts, leaving unused capability in orbit and forcing personnel on the ground to perform time-consuming workarounds as they wait for capabilities to become synchronized, according to auditors at the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
Israel’s ambitious rocket-protection system, the Iron Dome, may become operational later than thought, which could spell trouble for the country if Hezbollah now has missiles with a range of 300 kilometers (186 miles). Both those developments seem to have emerged from testimony by Israeli Chief of the General Staff Lt. Gen. Gabi Ashkenazi to Israel’s Foreign Affairs and Defense Committee.
PARIS — Europe’s Rosetta comet chaser is poised to swing by Earth for the last time this week before heading out on the last leg of its 10-year journey to the comet 67P Churyumov-Gerasimenko. The swingby, set for Nov. 13 at 8:45 Central European Time, will be the last of four planetary assists (including three around Earth) intended to provide the boost needed to continue into the outer solar system, where the rendezvous will take place.
GENOA, Italy — The Italian government has figured out how to pay for some of its Afghanistan deployment costs without draining the core defense budget, but unlike many other countries, Rome has decided against using the special funding stream to finance major weapon systems. However, some defense equipment is covered, including consumables such as ammunition. Otherwise, the €224 million ($336 million) allocation from the Italian parliament pays for extra training, maintenance and deployment costs for the last two months of the year.
PRICEY INTELLIGENCE: With the price of oil up to $80 a barrel, it is above or near the level that many countries like Venezuela and others need to balance their books and increase their defense budgets, according to U.S. Director of National Intelligence Dennis Blair. The global economic crisis has thrown cold water on some potential U.S. adversaries, but the effect could be short-lived. “We forecasted that declining oil revenues may put the squeeze on adventurism by some oil-rich nations — which is a good thing.
The three contestants for Switzerland’s F-5 replacement program have handed in updated bids to the Swiss government. Dassault (offering the Rafale), EADS (with the Typhoon), and Saab (with the Gripen) were given extra time to update their bids, particularly with regard to technology cooperation, once the government decided to slip the source selection process into 2010 (Aerospace DAILY, Oct. 23). In addition to updated pricing information, the contestants also were allowed to include technical advancements they have made on the aircraft.
BEIJING — China’s specialist builder of large military and civil airplanes, Avic Aircraft, will become a publicly traded company by 2011, using a subsidiary for a backdoor stock market listing. Restructuring of the company’s assets will be done by the first quarter of 2010, General Manager Hu Xiaofeng says. Assets worth 8 billion yuan ($1.2 billion) will be moved into the subsidiary, Xi’an Aircraft International Corp., a listed unit of Xi’an Aircraft.
The International Astronautical Federation (IAF) and the Mineseeker Foundation have teamed up to study stand-off land mine detection techniques with space and airborne systems, in the hope of launching a commercial service by mid-2013 that can detect individual mines. “A means to reliably discriminate between mine-contaminated zones and mine-free zones is critically needed,” says the Paris-based IAF. “Stand-off detection can be immensely useful to this purpose.”
A Nov. 10 story on Indian interest in partnering with small- and medium-sized U.S. aerospace companies contained errors. The Indian ministries of defense and civil aviation are showing a keen interest in partnering with tier two and three suppliers to major U.S. primes such as Boeing, GE, Honeywell and Lockheed. Forecasts predict the Indian aerospace industry will grow $3 billion to $4 billion annually, primarily driven by defense programs.
DUAL-USE: Although the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency is developing its new Advanced Solid Rocket (Aerospace DAILY, Nov. 10) as a civilian launcher, there may be an ancillary reason for Tokyo to fund the program: to sustain the country’s technological base in building large solid-propellant rockets so that it could rapidly develop ballistic missiles with that know-how if it suddenly needed to. “I would be amazed if the Japanese government did not have at least one eye on the potential military applications of the technology,” says Prof. Bernard Loo of the S.
A new Russian airlock/docking compartment lifted off for the International Space Station (ISS) Nov. 10, setting up an automatic rendezvous and docking on Nov. 12. A Soyuz rocket with the Poisk mini-research module onboard launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan at 9:22 a.m. EST. The eight-ton spacecraft is scheduled to dock at the Zvezda Service Module at 10:44 a.m. EST Nov. 12.
AUSTRALIA CALLING: Australian defense officials Nov. 10 released their Information and Communications Technology (ICT) Strategy, developed to address shortcomings in governance, planning and control frameworks for ICT.
NASA Presolicitations NASA Presolicitations Date of Posting Response Date Opportunity Segment Procurement Office Solicitation Code Contact E-Mail 8-Nov-09 13-Nov-09 Rapid response space works and modular space vehicles RRSW-MSV Research & Developme
SMALLER WORLD: The U.S.’s and U.K’s leading defense trade organizations have announced new “global” standards for trading partner and electronic collaboration agreements between prime contractors and suppliers. Most suppliers must manage myriad trading and collaboration agreements on policy, infrastructure and standards that are similar in content but disparate in legal construction. The U.S. Aerospace Industries Association and the U.K.’s ADS said jointly Nov. 6 that the standards should give clearer guidance and cut delays and costs for industry.
NASA Administrator Charles Bolden will visit Japan next week to continue a round of discussions with NASA’s international partners about possible future joint ventures in space.
GENOA, Italy — The Alenia Aermacchi M-346 advanced jet trainer has finally bagged a first firm order: the Italian air force has signed a 220 million euro ($330 million) contract for an initial six aircraft and ground simulators. The first two aircraft are to be delivered by the end of next year, followed by the other four before the end of 2011. The aircraft has received the official designation of T-346A.
DOD Presolicitations DOD Presolicitations Date of Posting Response Date Authority Opportunity Segment Procurement office Contact E-mail 6-Nov-09 23-Nov-09 Navy Cargo hold deck repairs on USNS Shepard & USNS Byrd Ship and marine equ
LINED UP: A $100 million-plus subcontract from Northrop Grumman to KUKA Systems North America for installation of an integrated assembly line for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter is “believed to be the first time a major aerospace manufacturer has contracted with a vendor to supply and install a complete assembly line,” KUKA executives claimed Nov. 10.
NASA and the European Space Agency (ESA) have signed a statement of intent (SOI) for the Mars Exploration Joint Initiative (MEJI), a proposed string of cooperative Martian lander and orbiter missions intended to prepare the way for a sample return. ESA Science Director David Southwood says the SOI — which follows a preliminary letter of intent inked at the end of June — marks joint acceptance of the architecture for the first two MEJI missions, planned under ESA’s ExoMars initiative.
A new study looking at the U.S. military’s dependence on fossil fuels lays out some jarring numbers concerning the amount of fuel being burned and the human cost of transporting it to combat zones. Tracking the U.S. military’s energy use in conflicts from World War II to the current fights in Iraq and Afghanistan, global consultancy Deloitte LLP found that there has been a whopping 175 percent increase in gallons of fuel consumed per soldier per day just since the Vietnam War.
