READY ROOM: After a two-year renovation, the High Bay Facility of the Operations & Checkout (O&C) Building at NASA’s Kennedy Space Center (KSC) is ready to begin preparations to build the new Orion crew exploration vehicle, Orion prime Lockheed Martin announced. The O&C facility was built in 1964. Major upgrades were planned in 2007, with the state of Florida, Lockheed and NASA committed to investing more than $55 million to create a facility that would support Orion.
NASA managers plan to use the space shuttle Discovery as a test bed during the STS-119/15A mission, using the unique capabilities of the shuttle flight envelope to gather data that NASA’s Constellation Program will use to design the vehicles that will succeed the shuttle fleet after the three orbiters are retired by the end of next year.
TSAT MILESTONE: Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman say their SpaceWire data bus technology for the U.S. Air Force’s Transformational Satellite Communications Systems (TSAT) is mature enough to meet a preliminary design review. They are vying with a Boeing/Raytheon team for the TSAT contract, which was to be let last December but now is not expected until the first half of 2010 because the program has been restructured for affordability reasons. First launch is set for 2019.
RED TEAM: Tired of repeated cost overruns on major defense programs, the Australian government is creating the Defense Systems Integration Technical Advisory (DSI-TA) body to try to identify potential problems early. The group would monitor programs, assess risk, and provide advice to decision makers and project leaders on how to manage system complexity. The organization is to focus particularly on system integration risks. DSI-TA is a joint venture of the Defense Materiel Organization, which manages programs, and the Defense Science and Technology Organization.
TEL AVIV – The Israeli Air Force (IAF) is embarking on an ambitious avionics enhancement program that has the potential to upgrade the air force’s entire combat fleet – fighters to helicopters – to facilitate advanced network-centric services and capabilities throughout its combat assets. The upgrade will streamline avionics levels of all IAF assets, from the expected Israeli version of the Joint Strike Fighter through the recently fielded F-16I to early model F-16 C/Ds and attack helicopters.
BREACH REDUX: The U.S. Marine Corps’ AH-1Z and UH-1Y have run afoul of Nunn-McCurdy law once again. Sources tell Aerospace DAILY that in the past few days, program manager Col. Harry Hewson has begun the notification process by briefing congressional staffers on the cost overruns. Unlike the last breach in 2002, however, this Nunn-McCurdy breach has nothing to do with program issues, according to sources. The original requirement for 100 UH-1Ys has grown to 123 and the request for 180 AH-1Zs has risen to 226 as part of the Grow the Marines plan.
HITTING SNAG: The push to install former U.S. Air Force two-star J. Scott Gration as the next administrator of NASA has run afoul of Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) due to Gration’s lack of space experience. Nelson chaired the panel that confirms NASA administrators in the past Congress and probably will in the new one as well. Now he is said to be relenting, provided a place can be found for retired Marine two-star Charlie Bolden, who was pilot on then-Rep. Nelson’s 1986 space shuttle ride. Bolden was nominated as deputy administrator in 2002.
STARSTREAK UPGRADE: The British Defense Ministry and Thales UK have finally concluded a £200 million ($271 million) deal covering the support and upgrade of the HVM Starstreak point air defense system. The agreement — known as the Air Defense Availability Project (ADAPT) — covers support of the system until its scheduled withdrawal from service date of 2020. Broad agreement had been reached between the ministry and the manufacturer in the second quarter of 2008.
TESTING, TESTING: The Russian air force is planning infrastructure improvements to its flight test ranges in preparation for state trials of the Sukhoi T-50 prototype for its next generation fighter program, known as PAK FA. The T-50 is presently anticipated to fly by the end of 2009 and — notionally at least — enter service in 2015. A meeting was held recently at the Ahktubinsk flight test center to discuss infrastructure requirements for the test program.
WGS READIED: Following its Jan. 20 arrival at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., via C-5 aircraft, the U.S. Air Force’s second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) satellite will now undergo verification testing and encapsulation into the nose cone of a launch vehicle in preparation for launch. At Atlas V is scheduled to boost the satellite March 9. Boeing is on contract to produce six WGS satellites. The first has been operational over the Pacific for more than a year.
ARIANE LAUNCH: New Skies NSS-9 and Eutelsat’s Hot Bird 10 have begun processing at Kourou, French Guiana, in preparation for a scheduled Feb. 12 launch atop an Ariane 5 ECA booster. The mission, which also will carry France’s Spirale early warning demonstrator, will be the first of the year for Arianespace.
WAIVER SAVER: A White House waiver has eased the concerns of Senate Armed Services Chairman Carl Levin (D-Mich.) about the nomination of Raytheon lobbyist William J. Lynn III to be the top deputy at the Defense Department (Aerospace DAILY, Jan. 23). Levin delayed a committee vote on Lynn until the White House clarified whether stringent new conflict of interest rules issued by President Barack Obama would bar Lynn from making key Pentagon decisions. But Levin said Jan.
PLAYING HOST: An alternative avenue for researchers who need time in space for microgravity experiments has been opened by Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX) aboard its planned DragonLab spacecraft. CEO Elon Musk says SpaceX will fly DragonLab flights in 2010 specifically to support “mainstream” microgravity researchers taking part in the Heinlein Trust Microgravity Research Competition. Traditionally, researchers vie to gain a payload slot aboard the space shuttle.
COASTAL PLANE: Bombardier has delivered the first of two 415 Maritime Patrol aircraft to the Malaysian Maritime Enforcement Agency (MMEA). Ordered last June, the 415MP is a variant of Bombardier’s amphibious water bomber most commonly used for firefighting. Malaysia’s aircraft remain equipped for that mission, but also carry two side-looking airborne radars, a forward-looking infrared radar and an airborne maritime surveillance system. Under the contract, the second 415MP must be delivered by June 2010; a company official said a more definite date had not been set yet.
HASC VACANCY: The 111th Congress is just getting started and already the House Armed Services Committee is going to have a vacancy. New York Gov. David Paterson picked Rep. Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) Jan. 23 to fill the Senate seat vacated by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.) when she became Secretary of State. Gillibrand, who represents an upstate district along the Vermont border, sits on the strategic forces and terrorism and unconventional threats subcommittees.
FIRE, BRIMSTONE: The British Royal Air Force (RAF) has deployed operationally a dual-mode variant of the MBDA Brimstone anti-armor weapon. The modified variant, known as the Dual Mode Seeker (DMS) Brimstone, was developed to meet a Defense Ministry urgent operational requirement. The missile uses the original version’s millimeter-wave radar, but adds a semi-active laser seeker. This provides the weapon with far greater utility for close air support missions. RAF Tornado GR4 aircraft being operated from Al Udeid Air Base in Qatar already are flying with the DMS Brimstone.
In the fourth and largest F-22 deployment so far, a squadron of the U.S. stealth fighters has shifted from Elmendorf Air Force Base, Alaska, to Andersen AFB, Guam. Another 12 fighters from Langley AFB, Va., flew to Kadena AFB in Okinawa, Japan, earlier this month.
TOKYO — The Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) has a new tool for analyzing global warming following the Jan. 23 launch of the Greenhouse gases Observing Satellite, or GOSAT. GOSAT and NASA’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) satellite, due for launch Feb. 23, will map the real-time distribution of greenhouse gases. JAXA says GOSAT alone can provide coverage of 56,000 real-time data points around the globe, updating every three days.
Senior NASA managers won’t decide until March whether to release one of the two space shuttle launch pads at Kennedy Space Center (KSC) for the first flight test of the follow-on Ares I crew launch vehicle.
INDRA’S OUTLOOK: Despite some expected slowdown in business activity, Spanish aerospace and defense electronics provider Indra expects to book more orders in the coming year than deliveries, expanding its backlog. The company also is promising to maintain double-digit earnings margin. The focus for the year will be on international markets. Total revenue should grow 5-7 percent, the company says, with business outside Spain stronger than that.
NEW DEAL: The scheduled Feb. 2 launch of the 3,130-pound NOAA-N Prime spacecraft will end the long heritage of NASA launching polar-orbiting weather satellites on behalf of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The new Lockheed Martin satellite also will be updated — in addition to an advanced data recording system, it will carry an search-and-rescue tracker with greater bandwidth, both provided by the French space agency CNES. Mission cost, including the spacecraft and instruments, launch, technical support and a 14-month launch delay is $564 million.
