NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced May 7 that Ed Weiler will remain in place as NASA’s associate administrator for science. Formerly the director of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., Weiler was made interim chief of the science directorate on March 26 following the departure of Alan Stern (Aerospace DAILY, March 27). Weiler has led NASA science before, serving as associate administrator from 1998 to 2004. He also served as chief scientist for the Hubble Space Telescope from 1979 until 1998.
J-2X TEST: Test engineers at Stennis Space Center will spend the next two years getting ready for a second round of hot-fire testing of NASA’s J-2X human-rated upper stage rocket engine for future missions to low Earth orbit and the moon. The last of nine tests of heritage J2 powerpack hardware ran for 400.45 sec. on May 8, finishing a series designed to establish starting-point data for the design of the uprated J-2X turbomachinery.
Sierra Nevada Corporation (SNC) has signed a contract to build 18 new satellites for Orbcomm Inc., with an option to buy up to 30 more to upgrade Orbcomm’s current constellation. Serving as prime contractor, SNC has lined up a team including Boeing Intelligence & Security Systems, ITT Space Systems and SNC subsidiary MicroSat Systems. SNC, Boeing and ITT will provide oversight, systems engineering, technical management, integration and mission assurance, while MicroSat will perform integration and testing.
The first shipborne deployment of the U.S. Navy’s MQ-8B Fire Scout vertical take-off and landing unmanned air vehicle (VTUAV) is planned for October 2009 on counter-narcotics missions in the Caribbean and eastern Pacific. This follows the decision to conduct operational evaluation (opeval) of the Northrop Grumman unmanned helicopter on a Perry-class frigate because of delays with the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS).
FUNDRAISING: The Greater Washington Aviation Open (GWAO), an aviation and aerospace charity event held in Washington, raised a record $140,000 during its annual golf and tennis tournament May 5. The total amount donated by the group since its inception in 1989 to the Corporate Angel Network is now about $1.4 million. The charity assists cancer patients with transportation to treatment facilities by using empty seats on business aircraft donated by companies. Thousands of aviation, aerospace and defense professionals have participated in past tournaments.
BEIJING – An upcoming advanced Chinese Fengyun polar orbit weather satellite will be operated with an advanced U.S. supercomputer like those used at research facilities such as Los Alamos National Laboratories. The satellite will be used heavily by the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), navy and air force, as well as civilian weather outlets. The first mission for the new Fengyun 3 second-generation design is set for launch as early as late May.
EL SEGUNDO, Calif. – Boeing Integrated Defense Systems is looking to partner with Indian companies on network-centric warfare initiatives and further expand its presence in the country. Such moves could make Boeing’s bid for India’s Medium Multi-Role Combat Aircraft (MMRCA) more attractive, by tempting the Indian defense ministry with visions of the company’s platforms performing together against adversaries. Boeing is offering the F/A-18E/F, and submitted its bid on April 28. Competing platforms include the Gripen, F-16, MiG-35, Eurofighter and Rafale.
Naval defense authorizers in the U.S. House are moving legislation to pause the DDG-1000 destroyer program at the two lead ships, restart the DDG-51 production effort, secure the 10th LPD-17 and secure funding for the remaining two planned Lewis and Clark dry-cargo ammunition (T-AKE) ships.
House Armed Services Committee (HASC) leaders are proposing Congress provide an additional $3.9 billion for 15 C-17 airlifters in fiscal 2009 budget-making, as well as $523 million above the Pentagon’s request for F-22 advance procurement for 20 aircraft in fiscal 2010. The HASC air and land forces subcommittee’s efforts, eyed for full-HASC consideration next week, also include a suggestion for an additional $246 million for the counter-rocket, artillery and mortar system.
The second test satellite for Europe’s Galileo satellite navigation system has begun transmitting signals. Unlike signals sent by the first test satellite, launched in December 2006, those transmitted by Giove B conform to the MBOC (multiplexed binary offset carrier) common format agreed to in July 2007 by the U.S. and the European Union (EU) for the Global Positioning System and Galileo system. This will make it possible to design and test receiver equipment to the actual operational signal configuration.
The fusion of long-endurance radar, electro-optical and infrared surveillance with constant monitoring of electronic emissions could redefine military intelligence gathering and make it that much harder to keep aircraft stealthy, according to an expert with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. Mark Longbrake, technical advisor to the sensors division at AFRL, outlined the fusion concept during a May 6 conference in Washington where researchers gathered to compare notes about antennas, radars and new, combination sensors.
The U.S. Coast Guard may still face issues with communications systems aboard its new National Security Cutter (NSC) if it tinkers with precertified command, control and communications systems after it accepts the ship. An Inspection and Survey (Insurv) report issued recently gave a 98 percent rating to the communications system aboard the new NSC, the Bertholf. The U.S. Navy, which runs the Insurv, determined the Lockheed Martin-built communications suite was ready for acceptance.
A key Democratic leader on the House Armed Services strategic forces subcommittee is maneuvering to cut about a third of the Bush administration’s requested spending for ground-based midcourse missile defenses (GMD) in Europe next fiscal year. But some Republican panel members expect to try to fight back in the full-committee markup of the legislation next week, with a co-chairman of the House’s missile defense caucus calling for full funding of the $712 million request.
Halfway through critical design reviews (CDRs) for the Joint Land Attack Cruise Missile Defense Elevated Netted Sensor (JLENS) program, the U.S. Army is confident prime contractor Raytheon can deliver the first system to the warfighter on schedule in fiscal year 2011.
The Republic of Singapore Air Force (RSAF) placed a direct commercial sale contract with Lockheed Martin May 7 for Sniper Advanced Targeting Pods (ATP) for the nation’s F-16 Block 52 aircraft. Currently, Sniper ATPs are flying on U.S. Air Force and multinational F-16s, F-15s, B-1s, F-18s, Harriers and A-10s, and are being integrated on the B-52. Although the value of the RSAF contract was not disclosed, a U.S. contract between Lockheed and Boeing in 2007 for 45 Sniper ATP pods on B-1B aircraft was valued at $2.8 million (Aerospace DAILY, Sept. 27, 2007).
NANO NANO: The House Science and Technology Committee approved legislation May 7 that will boost nanotechnology research and development in the U.S. The National Nanotechnology Initiative Amendments Act of 2008 amends the 21st Century Nanotechnology Research and Development Act, making several changes to the implementation process and priorities of the National Nanotechnology Initiative (NNI).
The veteran NASA flight director who led the effort to bring the Apollo 13 crew home alive after a service-module explosion says the U.S. risks losing the economic benefits it gained in the push to the moon if it doesn’t back the U.S. agency’s current plan for returning to the lunar surface and pushing on to Mars and beyond.
MUOS TESTING: Virtutech Inc. of San Jose, Calif., has been named by General Dynamics C4 Systems to provide its Simics software for testing the ground segment of the U.S. Navy’s Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) satellite program. Simics is a visualization software development tool that General Dynamics can use to simulate the MUOS satellite ground systems hardware for testing and debugging purposes.
SPECIAL MISSION: With potentially large-scale job cutbacks on the horizon, NASA employees may well want to knock on Boeing’s door. The company announced May 6 it is looking for mission operations specialists with NASA experience in Houston to support the company’s bid for NASA’s Facilities Development and Operations Contract (FDOC). Prospective employees are invited to apply online or attend an open house scheduled for May 17. The FDOC program will consolidate a portion of NASA’s Space Program Operations and Mission Support Operations contracts at Johnson Space Center.
KEEP TRUCKING: The U.S. Army awarded Navistar Defense a $1.3 billion contract May 5 for thousands of trucks to support rebuilding and security efforts in Afghanistan and Iraq. The multiyear contract will provide 7,072 Medium Tactical Vehicles and spare parts to the Afghanistan National Police, Afghan National Army and the Iraqi Ministry of Defense. The contract was a follow-on to a $430 million contract awarded in 2005 for more than 2,900 vehicles and spare parts.
NEW MEMBER: Poland has become the fourth nation from Eastern Europe to join the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Plan for European Cooperating States (PECS) program. The associate status will allow the country to participate in ESA science, human spaceflight, navigation, telecoms and technology initiatives for a five-year period. Hungary, the Czech Republic and Romania already are PECS members.
NOT A LARK: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products and Elbit Systems of America recently conducted the first U.S. demonstration of the Skylark II Small Tactical/Tier II-class unmanned aircraft for the U.S. military, according to an April 30 statement. In March, Elbit Systems won an important competition in France to supply the Skylark 1 to French special operations forces (Aerospace DAILY, March 25).
A single Delta II Heavy rocket will send the twin spacecraft of NASA’s planned Gravity Recovery and Interior Laboratory (GRAIL) mission to the moon in the third quarter of 2011 under a new contract award to United Launch Alliance.
The United States should try to dissuade China from pursuing military dominance by attempting to make cost-benefit calculations work out in America’s favor, a Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments (CSBA) analyst told a Capitol Hill audience May 6. The strategy promotes U.S. investments in stealthy, long-range air strike capabilities, as well as additional submarines and littoral surface combatants. Earth-penetrating weapons to defeat hardened and buried targets also are suggested, as well as electronic-attack capabilities and defenses against them.
Pentagon Press Secretary Geoff Morrell said May 6 that if Congress does not pass the $1.8 billion Global War on Terror (GWOT) supplemental bill, the U.S. Army will be unable to pay troops in mid-June and may be forced to make a reprogramming request that would borrow from Navy and Air Force payroll funds. Secretary of Defense Robert Gates wrote letters to members of Congress on May 5 encouraging them to pass the supplemental by Memorial Day, or money to pay Army troops will run out by June 15.
