Hardworking crew on the International Space Station (ISS) have gained so much ground lost to repairing a torn solar array that they are back on schedule to support a Dec. 6 launch of the space shuttle Atlantis with Europe's Columbus laboratory onboard. Expedition 16 Commander Peggy Whitson and Flight Engineer Dan Tani still face tricky spacewalks on Nov. 20 and 24, and problems could push the Atlantis launch back into its seven-day launch window. But mission managers are increasingly confident Columbus will reach the ISS this year.
The Defense Department looks set to have to draw from regular funding accounts, especially operations and maintenance, to fund combat operations in Iraq and elsewhere through January after Democrats, President Bush and his mostly Republican backers on Capitol Hill failed to agree to off-budget supplemental appropriations Nov. 16.
BEYOND EELV: Lt. Gen Michael Hamel says that he plans to begin next year pushing for a cohesive program to develop and demonstrate a hybrid space launch system. The Air Force, having abandoned earlier ambitions of developing a single-stage-to-orbit launch capability, is now focusing on ways to create a reusable first stage that could reach up to Mach 7 in flight. The expendable upper stage would then carry the satellite to orbit.
PAYMENT EXTENSION: Defense Department acquisition regulators are pursuing a change that would extend the time DOD would have to pay invoices for interim contractor financing under cost-reimbursement contracts for services. Industry is fighting the change, claiming it could affect contractor cash flow by $1.6 billion annually, causing an annual increase of $114 million in contractor interest expense.
SHOCKING TEST: The U.S. Navy plans to expose the third LPD 17 amphibious warship, the Mesa Verde (LPD 19), to up to four 10,000-pound underwater explosions next year under required shock trials to test the San Antonio class' near-miss survivability. Each new class or major upgrade of Navy surface ships must undergo a shock trial at sea, where at least three and maybe four explosions are set off increasingly closer to the test hull. Data are collected on the ship's fortitude as shock waves ripple through it. The trial is slated for between March 21 and Sept.
MORE HELOs: Sikorsky will deliver two S-76C++ helicopters and an S-92A to China Southern Airlines Company's Zhuhai Helicopter Branch to support offshore oil projects in the South China Sea and Bohai Bay in China, the company announced Nov. 16. Zhuhai is the oldest operator of Sikorsky helicopters in China and began flying S-76As in 1984. Since then the company has used Sikorsky helicopters to provide offshore oil support for such companies as China National Offshore Oil Corp., ExxonMobil, and Phillips, according to Sikorsky.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Nov. 25 - 27 -- China Helicopter Expo 2007. Beijing International Convention Center: Call +1 (805) 963-4095, fax +1 (877) 564 4878 or go to www.heli-china.com.cn Nov. 27 -- Aerospace Wales' Welsh Composites Consortium-ECM2, Port Talbot, Wales. For more information call +44 (179) 260-2505 or go to www.welshcomposites.co.uk.
EXPORT BACKLOG: Four members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee want the State Department to hire more staff to reduce the massive backlog of technology export license applications. The lawmakers -- Reps. Brad Sherman (D-Calif.), Don Manzullo (R-Ill.) Joe Crowley (D-N.Y.) and Roy Blunt (R-Mo.) -- have introduced legislation that would increase the number of State Department officials reviewing export and import licenses by 42 percent within two years. Their bill also would allow U.S.
HURRY UP: Democrats on the House Science Committee are urging NASA Administrator Michael Griffin to speed up the agency's release of aviation incident data taken from a controversial $11 million pilot survey. Griffin promised late last month to release a version of the confidential National Aviation Operations Monitoring Service (NAOMS) survey's data, once it had been scrubbed of identifying information - as required by law. He said that could take until January 1 (DAILY, Nov.1). But Chairman Bart Gordon (D-Tenn.) and three other panel members wrote Griffin Nov.
Sen. Bill Nelson (D-Fla.) questioned NASA's plans for supplying the International Space Station (ISS) in the gap between the planned 2010 retirement of the space shuttle and the debut of the Orion, which under current budgets will happen no earlier than March 2015, during a hearing in Washington Nov. 15.
KOUROU, French Guiana - The U.K.'s second Skynet 5 military communication satellite and Brazil's Star One C1 communications satellite were orbited Nov. 14 on an Ariane 5 ECA marking the fifth mission of this year for the European launcher.
PROTON FAILURE: Industry sources say a pyrotechnic cable rupture that led a Proton M Breeze M to fail on Sept. 6, destroying a Japanese telecom satellite, stemmed from an effort by Proton manufacturer Khrunichev to lighten the vehicle and increase payload. Sources said the mishap was caused by modifications to the bearing structure supporting the pyro cable intended to reduce weight. The company put an Enhanced Proton M version with a geostationary transfer orbit capability of 6 metric tons into service on July 7. The Proton M is to return to service Nov.
Boeing's Family of Advanced Beyond-line-of-sight Terminals (FAB-T) completed initial engineering development model (EDM) hardware and software integration of a Block 6 Phase 1 terminal for the U.S. Air Force, the company announced.
Sen. John Warner (R-Va.) reminded top U.S. Army officials during a hearing Nov. 15 that in order to face future threat challenges, the U.S. needs to "keep a balanced force structure" that supports all services, not just the Army. Army Secretary Pete Geren and Army Chief of Staff Gen. George Casey were testifying before the Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) to discuss once again the dire situation facing the Army today.
At least one of the U.S. Air Force combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) competitors - almost certainly Boeing - asked for the key performance parameter (KPP) requirement change that enabled the Boeing HH-47 Chinook variant to enter and stay in the race for the acquisition program worth up to $15 billion, according to Air Force and other sources with intimate knowledge of the program.
The latest attempt by sympathetic Senate lawmakers to add $1 billion to NASA's budget request to help the agency recover from the lingering financial effects of the Columbia accident and Hurricane Katrina has failed in conference with the House, according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Texas), one of the amendment's co-sponsors.
Secretary of Defense Robert Gates told media at the Pentagon Nov. 15 it is a "serious misconception" that the military will survive on the recent passing of the FY '08 appropriations act alone.
CHUTE TEST: NASA has again tested the main recovery parachute for the Ares I and Ares V first-stage rockets during a drop test Nov. 15 at the U.S. Army's Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona. Outfitted with a 42,000-pound weight to simulate the load, the parachute was dropped from a U.S. Air Force C-17 at 16,500 feet. All hardware worked, NASA said, landing safely on the range three minutes later. The test validated the results of an earlier test conducted in September, according to NASA.
In a Nov. 9 letter to Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, five Republican senators questioned DOD's decision to procure 183 F-22A Raptors versus the 381 the U.S. Air Force has determined is "the minimum number...required to preserve our nation's global air dominance."
General Dynamics C4 Systems announced Nov. 15 that it received a $78.3 million initial order from the U.S. Army under a potentially $1.4 billion contract for the newly outlined Increment One of the Warfighter Information Network-Tactical (WIN-T) program.
WELL FUNDED: The most significant Defense Department programs received the modernization funds necessary to move them forward in an efficient manner, according to Jefferies & Co. analysts' read of the final fiscal 2008 defense appropriations measure. "It appears that no program was left behind, with the exception of C-17s and C-130s," they told clients.
Federal civilian and defense acquisition regulators are pressing forward with new requirements sought by the Department of Justice (DOJ) for contractors to exert a code of ethics and establish internal controls to stem malfeasance.
