NASA OPPORTUNITIES: NASA science managers are pondering yearly calls for proposed "missions of opportunity" that would piggyback U.S. instruments on other spacecraft or otherwise take advantage of space hardware that the U.S. agency doesn't have to launch itself. The move comes as part of a larger effort to stretch the money NASA spends on space science to the max. The annual calls would highlight "opportunities to collaborate with international partners when there's a ride, or even with another U.S. partner, whether it's a commercial bird or another U.S.
GLOBAL COLLABORATION: Lockheed Martin will open its third Center for Innovation in Gurgaon, just outside Delhi, in a joint-venture with Bangalore-based software company Wipro. The facility, called the Network Centric Operation Center (NCOC) will offer "core competence in testing and analyzing war-fighting concepts and other command and control operations," says Richard Kirkland, Lockheed Martin's president for South Asia. The first two facilities are located in Suffolk, Va., and Farnborough Aerospace Center in Britain.
INVESTIGATION: Scaled Composites, a traditionally-secretive company at the best of times, is referring all inquiries about the July 26 test explosion that killed three employees to its website while the investigation, involving the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OHSA), gathers pace.
Pentagon officials are worried the $300 billion Joint Strike Fighter effort could fall short in its management reserve account, prompting the program's overseers to explore ways to replenish it, according to program and government officials.
Safran's Snecma unit has carried out the first re-ignition of its new Vinci upper stage cryogenic demonstrator. The firing, carried out at the Lampoldshausen, Germany test center operated by German aerospace center DLR, was the first re-ignition to be performed in Europe on a liquid oxygen/liquid hydrogen engine.
The U.S. Navy's Surveillance Towed Array Sensor System Low Frequency Active sonar has been approved for use in Valiant Shield 2007, a major U.S. naval training exercise this month, according to an Aug. 3 notice in the Federal Register. Under a consultation required by the Endangered Species Act, the National Marine Fisheries Service concluded that the proposed exercise is not likely to jeopardize the continued existence of any threatened or endangered species, nor to adversely modify or destroy any designated critical habitat.
C-130J ORDERED: The U.S. Air Force is awarding Lockheed Martin an undefinitized $322 million contract modification for an additional five C-130J aircraft provided for in 2007 war-fighting supplemental appropriations. Already $161 million has been obligated for the work, which runs through December 2010. During the second FY '07 supplemental process last spring, the Bush administration tried to rescind an initial request for $388 million for five C-130Js, but Congress funded them anyway, citing readiness strains and operations tempo (DAILY, April 27).
UAV DEMO: U.S. Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) will hold its fourth biennal Unmanned Systems Demonstration Aug. 6 at the Webster Field Annex of Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md. Approximately 30 unmanned air and ground systems will participate in what NAVAIR is touting as the largest unmanned systems demonstration in history, including AAI Corp.'s Shadow, AeroVironment's Raven, Northrop Grumman's Fire Scout and Boeing/Insitu's ScanEagle.
Boeing officials say the 1974 helicopter downwash study that calls into question whether an H-47 Chinook variant could meet Air Force combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) requirements includes wash speeds immaterial to the CSAR-X competition.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] Aug. 6 - 9 -- AUVSI's Unmmaned Systems North America 2007, Washington Convention Center, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.auvsi.org. Aug. 20 - 23 -- National defense Dept. Procurement Conference. Adelaide (Australia) Convention Center, North Terrace. Call: +61(26)266-7049 or see www.defenceandindustry.gov.au
MARTIAN LIFE: While NASA's Phoenix lander is not designed to detect living organisms, its sensors are powerful enough to resolve objects the size of living or preserved bacteria - and more than powerful enough to spark intense scientific debate on Earth. If extremely lucky, the lander's organic chemistry laboratory might detect biological processes that occurred in the past. Any data that hints at such findings will start huge arguments about whether Phoenix has actually found life on Mars.
FCS, GPS: The Bush administration claims a Democratically crafted cut of $433.8 million to the Army's $3.6 billion Future Combat Systems research, development, test and evaluation budget request for fiscal 2008 "would have a significantly adverse impact on the future development and fielding of the system." Another House Appropriations Committee cut of $80 million to the Global Positioning System III request (DAILY, July 27) could delay the planned launch of the first GPS III satellite, according to a statement of administration policy.
Service entry of SpaceShipTwo (SS2), the planned commercial space tourism vehicle being developed by the joint Scaled Composites-Virgin Group's Spaceship Company, could be further delayed following the deadly July 26 explosion that ripped apart rocket engine components during a test at Scaled's headquarters in Mojave, Calif.
The launch of the space shuttle Endeavour on the STS-118 mission to the International Space Station (ISS) has been delayed a day to Aug. 8 because of the overall vehicle processing workload, including replacement of a pressurization valve in the orbiter's crew cabin. Launch pad technicians detected a pressurization leak in the crew cabin July 28 (DAILY, Aug. 1). It was subsequently traced to one of two air pressure relief valves located in paneling in the middeck behind the toilet.
MRAP RADIOS: Harris Corp. will produce Harris Radio Frequency Secure (Type 1) tactical radio systems for Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles headed for U.S. forces in Iraq under a $26.2 million U.S. Navy contract. The systems consist of Very High Frequency Multiband Radio Systems, Ultra High Frequency Radio Systems and various antenna, system mounts and installation hardware components, the Pentagon says.
With the Transformational Satellite Communications System (TSAT) estimated at $16 billion over its lifetime and Space Radar pegged at up to $25 billion total, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) is giving the Pentagon its take on how to ensure the successful development of its two most expensive space systems.
The NASA Phoenix Mars lander, carrying the most ambitious laboratory hardware ever sent to another planet, is ready for launch early Aug. 4 on a mission to taste Martian water and search for the organic carbon building-blocks of life near the planet's north pole. With advanced technology from the U.S., Canada and Europe, Phoenix will conduct much more complex sample processing than was possible on the twin Viking landers in 1976.
BILL CHAMPIONED: The America COMPETES act is headed to President Bush for review following Congressional approval of the widely bipartisan effort to boost U.S. science, math, research and technology capabilities and domestic work force in light of growing competition from China and India. The Senate and House Aug. 2 ratified their negotiators' congressional compromise (DAILY, Aug. 3). The Senate agreed to the conference report by unanimous consent while the House endorsed it 367 to 57.
JCS LEADERS: The Senate Armed Services Committee Aug. 2 favorably endorsed Navy Adm. Michael Mullen for reappointment to the grade of admiral and to be chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, as well as Marine Corps General James Cartwright for reappointment to the grade of general and to be vice chairman. The nominations, as well as 808 other pending military nominations in the Army, Navy, and Air Force, were immediately reported to the floor following the committee's action for Senate confirmation.
EXPORT ISSUES: The prospective F-22 sale to Japan is heating up as officials in Tokyo insist they want the best fighter there is. But they have to persuade the U.S. Congress and their own industrial leaders that the F-22, which is unlikely to be co-produced in a foreign country, is necessary for a strong missile defense, and that its acquisition outweighs any negatives.
