DUST DANGER: Danger to the Mars rover Opportunity is increasing dramatically as a large regional dust storm begins to block out more than 90 percent of the sunlight at that rover's landing site. The growing fear is that sunlight could be blocked so long by the dust that the rover's battery could be depleted and stop keeping the spacecraft warm at night. Rover operations were scaled back to protect battery charge starting June 30, and until July 5 managers believed the dust storm was beginning to tail off, based on readings from Opportunity about solar obscuration levels.
AESA TWEAK: Boeing is being awarded a $90.2 million contract modification by the Naval Air Systems Command for "a newly developed, additional capability" for the AN/APG-79 Active Electronically Scanned Array radar, according to a July 5 contract announcement from the Defense Department. Almost all of the work will occur in El Segundo, Calif., although some will take place in St. Louis, Mo. The modification runs through September 2011.
Federal acquisition officials are clarifying a controversial decision over small business recertification and the move could strike a compromise of sorts after criticism that the Small Business Administration's (SBA) rule last fall did not go far enough. According to a notice July 5 in the Federal Register, the Civilian Agency Acquisition and Defense Acquisition Regulations councils made the new iteration effective June 30.
IRIDIUM NEXT: Iridium Satellite is looking for potential partners interested in participating in the design, development and deployment of the company's next-generation satellite communication network, dubbed "Iridium NEXT." The company has released a request for information (RFI) to learn more about the technologies required for the NEXT network, and the company has "formed a core internal team of industry experts, augmented by external consulting partners, to evaluate the key technical issues related to Iridium NEXT," says Joe Pizzicaroli, vice president and chief satell
An electronics glitch on NASA's Phoenix Mars lander that wasn't discovered until final preflight testing at Kennedy Space Center will prevent it from collecting a series of downward-looking images as it descends toward the Red Planet's north pole next May.
China's Long March 3B has orbited Chinasat 6B, a 38-transponder C-band spacecraft intended to expand the broadcasting capacity of operator ChinaSatCom. The 4.5-metric ton (9,900-pound), 9.5-kilowatt satellite, built by Thales Alenia Space, blasted off July 5 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in southwestern China. The launch marked the first commercial satellite mission for Long March since Apstar VI, also built by Thales Alenia, last year.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] July 8 - 10 -- ALA Miami 2007, Aeronautical Convention & Exposition, Doral Golf Resort & Spa, Miami, Fla. For more information call (817) 284-0431, www.ala.aero. July 19 -- Aeronautical Repair Station Association: Train To Gain Course, Wichita, Kan. For more information call ARSA Training Services (703) 739-9543, email: [email protected].
Problems getting the Tiger reconnaissance and attack helicopter fielded in Australia have prompted Canberra to stop payments on the project. The Australian defense department said last week it had ceased payments to Eurocopter's Australian Aerospace on June 1. The reason is that the Tiger, being bought under the Air 87 program, has not reached initial operational capability (IOC) as planned.
SAVING CSAR: Boeing's going on the offense in the battle over who gets to build the combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) replacement fleet for the U.S. Air Force. Initially during the protests by losing companies Lockheed Martin and Sikorsky, Boeing kept mum. But lately the company's been addressing concerns and making experts available, and has scheduled a media phone-in discussion for July 10. Boeing's success in nailing down the contract - worth between $10 billion and $15 billion for more than 140 aircraft - apparently was only the prelude to the real competition.
The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) is pushing to require the Defense Department establish an Acquisition Workforce Development Fund to help defense agencies build up their acquisition workforces and capabilities.
RAPID EYE: The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) will hold an industry day July 25th in Arlington, Va., for its Rapid Eye program, which seeks to demonstrate the ability to use a rocket to deliver a persistent unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) anywhere in the world within one hour. Rapid Eye "will, at a minimum, develop and demonstrate all the technologies necessary" for the system, DARPA says.
QUIKSCAT: Senate appropriators are worried about the fate of the aging QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) satellite, which provides data on ocean surface winds used by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) for hurricane prediction. "The committee is concerned with reports about the degradation in the QuikSCAT satellite," the Senate Appropriations Committee said in the report accompanying its version of NOAA's fiscal 2008 spending bill.
RAPTOR RESERVATIONS: Japan faces an array of legal and budgetary concerns about enhancing its military, raising questions about whether Tokyo could follow through on a potential F-22 sale, a June 29 Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says (DAILY, July 6). Under a self-imposed ban on exporting arms, Japan cannot in principle participate in joint development that requires it to export weapons parts and research data to other countries. This ban has been loosened to allow Japan to work on missile defense with the U.S., but the issue remains contentious.
BLACK HAWKS APPROVED: The Pentagon's chief acquisition official has approved full-rate production of the Army's UH-60M and HH-60M Black Hawk helicopters. At the same time, Ken Krieg on June 26 also approved fiscal 2008 advanced procurement for long-lead items to support the initial cut-in aircraft for the HH/UH-60M effort, according to the Defense Department's announcement July 5. The $24 billion upgrade program is a major source of business for Sikorsky Aircraft and it provides additional payload, range and survivability over existing Black Hawks.
NASA's Aeronomy of Ice in the Mesosphere (AIM) spacecraft has returned its first images of noctilucent clouds - wispy accumulations of what is believed to be ice crystals that form in summer at altitudes of about 50 miles over the polar regions. First spotted from the ground this year on June 6, in recent years the clouds have been forming more often and at lower latitudes than previously, leading some researchers to theorize there is a link in the high-altitude changes they represent and changes at lower altitudes linked to global warming.
In its report accompanying the fiscal 2008 Senate Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) appropriations bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee renewed its criticism of the Bush administration's budget requests for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).
WEARABLE PRIZE: The Pentagon's research and engineering director unveiled a competition July 5 to develop a wearable electric power system for warfighters. The competition will take place in the fall of 2008 and will award $1 million for first place, $500,000 for second place and $250,000 for third place. The prize objective is a wearable, prototype system that can power a standard warfighter's equipment that produces 20 watts average power for 96 hours but weighs less than 4 kilograms (8.8 pounds). Current batteries being carried weigh 40 pounds.
Exporting F-22 Raptors to Japan would likely underscore the growing competition between the aircraft and the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter for funds and other resources, according to a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report.
MILSATCOM CENTER: Lockheed Martin is opening a new $3 million milsatcom center of excellence in Rockville, Md. The facility, which will be dedicated in a ceremony July 10, "will enhance development efforts for Department of Defense customers," the company says. The 20,000 square foot facility will house a secure, state-of-the-art software development, integration and testing environment and will bring together Lockheed Martin employees currently in Gaithersburg and Clarksburg, Md.
Aurora Flight Sciences' deal with the U.S. Army to develop ultra-long endurance unmanned air systems (UAS) could reach $27.7 million, the company said July 5. A recent Army Space and Missile Defense Command contract modification for continued development of the company's Orion HALL (High Altitude, Long Loiter) comes as Army and Navy leaders battle with Air Force leaders inside the Pentagon over a renewed Air Force proposal to take over high-altitude UAS development and acquisition (DAILY, June 18).
NASA will attempt to launch the Jet Propulsion Laboratory's Dawn solar-electric powered asteroid orbiter on a Delta II heavy booster from Cape Canaveral no earlier than July 8 after a one-day delay due to inability to complete propellant loading on Launch Complex 17B because of lightning in the area. The launch window on Sunday, July 8, extends from 4:04 to 4:33 p.m. EDT, although afternoon thundershowers could pose a threat.
NASA is looking for a way to accelerate its long-planned Mars sample return mission, possibly by fitting upcoming landers like the 2009 Mars Science Laboratory with sample caches that could be retrieved and delivered back to Earth later.
