NASA’s Kepler mission to answer the question of how common Earth-like planets are in the galaxy is set for a March 6 liftoff from Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. There are two launch windows: 10:49 to 10:52 p.m. and 11:13 to 11:16 p.m. EST. The 2,320-pound spacecraft from Ball Aerospace will be lofted by a United Launch Alliance Delta II 7925-10L into an Earth-trailing orbit from which it can view some 100,000 sun-like stars in the Cygnus-Lyra region of the Milky Way.
ESA CHOOSES: The European Space Agency has downselected three candidates for the next stage of competition for a seventh Earth Explorer mission. The successful candidates, picked from a slate of six proposals, are Biomass, a mission to study the distribution and evolution of forest biomass; CoReH20, intended to measure fresh water stored in snow on land surfaces, glaciers and ice sheets; and Premier, which would analyze the composition of the mid-to-upper troposphere and lower stratosphere. Each will enter a two-year feasibility study phase.
MUSIS: The European Defense Agency (EDA) steering board has agreed to include Europe’s Multinational space-based Imaging System (MUSIS) initiative as an agency project. The move will permit EDA member nations to participate in harmonizing requirements for the system, such as ground segment architecture, and to seek synergies with civil systems such as Europe’s Global Monitoring for Environment and Security network. Work on the space segment of the system, which is backed by Belgium, France, Germany, Greece, Italy and Spain, is already under way.
SPACEX HIRES: Former Sea Launch President and General Manager Rob Peckham has been named vice president for business development at Space Exploration Technologies Corp., with primary responsibilities for expanding the company’s business base. He will report to Gwynne Shotwell, who previously headed business development for SpaceX.
DAYTON, Ohio – The GE Rolls-Royce F136 Fighter Engine Team is investigating the source of debris in the oil system that has forced tests of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine to be halted. The first production-configuration F136 has been running since Jan. 30, and was nearing the end of its initial test runs when engineers noted a drop-off in test data, even though the engine continued to operate smoothly. A GE Rolls-Royce spokesman says tests were halted as a precaution when monitors detected debris in the oil system. Lost sensors
NAS PATUXENT RIVER, Md. – After years of wavering support from the Pentagon, one senior Navy official sees signs of a “turnaround” at beleaguered Bell Helicopter. Only a few short years ago, the Navy was threatening to terminate Bell’s contract for an upgrade and new build of Huey helicopters for the Navy and Marine Corps. But the company apparently has made strides on the program. “Bell is a company that is really turning itself around,” says Rear Adm. Steven Eastburg, the program executive officer overseeing the H-1 upgrade program.
A microsatellite that Boeing launched as an early test for low-power microprocessors, small imaging systems and other micro-circuitry technology has exhibited a longevity that is encouraging the company’s pursuit of small satellite technologies.
The first four-star general to be chief of the National Guard Bureau says the United States still needs to come up with a long-term plan for cruise missile defense. “We still need to do that,” Air Force Gen. Craig McKinley told a group of defense reporters at a breakfast in Washington last week.
President Barack Obama threw his political clout behind bipartisan legislation to reform the defense acquisition process March 4, saying he rejected the “false choice” of deciding between national security and wasting billions of taxpayer dollars. As part of a larger program to cut $40 billion in wasteful spending each year, Obama said Peter Orszag, head of the White House Office of Management and Budget, will work with cabinet officials and agency heads to develop “tough new guidelines” on contracting by the end of September.
An analysis of aerospace stocks over the past decade reveals a mixed bag, with some performing well and others poorly in relation to the Dow Jones Industrial Average. The Dow recently hit its lowest level since Oct. 28, 1997, wiping out nearly a dozen years of gains in a period that included the dot-com bubble, the 9/11 terrorist attacks, war in Iraq and the global economic meltdown.
CLOSE CALL: In a tough economy, 700 members of the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace at Boeing Integrated Defense Systems in Wichita, Kan., are holding what is expected to be a close vote March 5 on whether to accept a three-year contract. The engineers also will vote on whether to authorize a strike (Aerospace DAILY, Feb. 25).
Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) has contracted with EADS Astrium’s German unit to supply a Multi-Spectral Imager (MSI) for the European Space Agency’s (ESA) EarthCARE mission.
Aviation Week held its 52nd Annual Laureate Awards dinner in Washington March 3 to recognize industry leaders in seven categories who epitomized leadership, innovation, operational skill and heroism in 2008. The Philip J. Klass Award for Lifetime Achievement went to Alan Boyd for his years of service helping to shape U.S. aviation policy. Aviation Week’s Heroism Award went to a U.S. Coast Guard team that performed a night rescue of 42 of 47 passengers in a sinking fishing trawler in the Bering Sea.
The National Academies’ National Research Council (NRC) is giving NASA poor marks so far for its implementation of the most recent NRC decadal survey on solar and space physics, which endorsed a number of missions that have since been delayed or scaled back.
Boosted by another strong year of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle procurement, wheeled vehicle contracts and modifications once again finished fourth among leading Pentagon expenses in 2008, an Aerospace DAILY analysis shows. But there’s been some Pentagon concern that the Defense Department moved too quickly with its MRAP procurement, with the Pentagon’s acting inspector general questioning the acquisition process in recent testimony on Capitol Hill.
GENOA, Italy – The Italian Air Force next month will receive its 12th and last C-27J tactical transport aircraft from Alenia Aeronautica, which delivered the 11th aircraft at the end of February. The Air Force has assigned nine aircraft to the Pisa-based 46th Aerobrigade and the brigade has so far logged more than 4,500 flight hours in 3,000 flights, including the operational deployment of two aircraft in Afghanistan. Another C-27J is assigned to the Air Force flight-test wing in Pratica di Mare, southwest of Rome, and has flown another 175 flight hours.
Following the Obama administration’s decision this week not to certify further F-22 production until April at the earliest, departing Pentagon acquisition chief John Young signed an acquisition decision memorandum March 3 for Lockheed Martin’s stealth fighter program.
2008 Pentagon Spending On Wheeled Vehicles 2008 Pentagon Spending On Wheeled Vehicles Contractor Number Of Contracts Or Modifications Total Amount In Contracts Or Modifications Average Amount Per Contract Or Modification AM General, LLC 1,603 $3,490,334,270 $2,1
LONDON – Further procurement lessons should be drawn from Britain’s abortive procurement of eight Boeing Chinook Mk3 helicopters, according to the British Parliament’s Public Accounts Committee. A committee report on the program, dated March 5, says even if the scale of the shortcomings on the Chinook Mk3 is not representative of all defense acquisitions, it does highlight some specific areas where the Defense Ministry needs to revise its decision-making processes.
The U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) is addressing defense acquisition problems in two recent documents, one a statement to congressional committees and the other testimony before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC). On March 3, GAO’s director of acquisition, Michael Sullivan, called DOD’s weapons system procurement strategy “fragmented.”
TANKING UP: Forecast International projects that the international market will produce more than 6,500 main battle tanks worth more than $26.76 billion through 2018. Modernization and retrofit of high-end main battle tanks will pale in comparison with the prospect of new tank procurement. Pakistan’s Al Khalid, China’s Type 98, and Russia’s T-90 (including India’s licensed T-90S production program) will dominate, representing 60.57 percent of all new tanks rolling out worldwide and 52.28 percent of the value of the market through the time frame.
