Boeing, Ball Aerospace and Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) ground controllers are trying to save the dual-spacecraft Orbital Express mission that had a serious computer failure May 11, leaving the two spacecraft stranded as far as two miles apart on what was supposed to have been the mission's second autonomous docking.
Astronomers using a now-defunct camera on the Hubble Space Telescope have teased out what they say is the best evidence yet of the existence of dark matter from the behavior of light around a billion-year-old cosmic collision. While mapping the distribution of dark matter in the galactic cluster CL0024+17 with the Hubble's Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), researchers led by M. James Jee of Johns Hopkins University discovered a ring of the mysterious matter some 2.6 million light-years across.
AEGIS MISSILES: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding Raytheon Missile Systems a sole source $140.7 million cost contract for long-lead material required for the manufacture and delivery of 36 Standard Missile-3 Block IA missiles for U.S. and Japanese orders under the Aegis Ballistic Missile Defense System. The contracted work, for the Missile Defense Agency, runs for a year, the Pentagon announced May 14. Fiscal 2007 research and development and Foreign Military Sales funds will be used, according to the contract announcement.
U.S. Marine Corps Systems Command is awarding Lockheed Martin more than $14.7 million in two non-competitive contract modifications for long-range radar systems used by the Marine Air-Ground Task Force (MAGTF) for anti-air warfare operations, en-route traffic control and theater ballistic missile surveillance.
Defense Secretary Robert Gates has approved 20 of 23 recommendations made by the Commission on the National Guard and Reserve in its March interim report to Congress and moved to implement a number of them, DOD announced May 16. Gates also has asked the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff for an assessment of how the National Guard might be organized differently to better meet U.S. national security requirements.
SAFED: Far Ultraviolet Spectroscopic Explorer (FUSE) spacecraft controllers at Johns Hopkins University are pondering their next move after restarting the aging spacecraft's lone surviving reaction wheel May 14. The wheel suffered a "significant anomaly" May 8, and although it restarted and ran for 10 hours, controllers opted to shut it down because its 4,200-rpm speed proved too fast for stable Sun-pointing. They sent the spacecraft into a nadir-pointing safe mode to recharge its batteries while they study the situation.
Congressional Democrats said May 16 that they reached an agreement between House and Senate budget blueprint negotiators that provides robust funding for national defense and ensures resources address the most critical threats facing the United States. The Bush administration criticized the congressional conference agreement for following Democratic initiatives that Republicans assert do not keep annual spending under control or address long-term budgetary challenges - but the White House did not comment on defense issues under the Democrats' blueprint.
FORT WORTH, Texas - A loss of primary electrical power in the first, preproduction F-35A Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) forced its pilot to cut short its 19th test flight. On May 3 test pilot Jeff Knowles was flying aircraft AA-1 at 38,000 feet and Mach 0.78. He executed a planned, full-stick, 360-degree roll and experienced a power loss in the electrical system about halfway through the maneuver.
The German defense ministry has given the go-ahead to Diehl BGT Defense to develop a short-range adjunct interceptor for the Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS). The project revolves around adapting the IRIS-T short-range air-to-air missile for surface launch. The concept has been talked about for some time, but only late last week did the German defense procurement agency (the BWB) and Diehl finalize the terms of the 123 million euro ($166 million) program.
House Science Energy and Environment subcommittee Chairman Nick Lampson (D-Texas) is pressuring the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and NASA for answers on the future of the QuickSCAT research satellite. QuikSCAT (Quick Scatterometer) provides data on ocean surface winds that NOAA finds useful for its forecasting of hurricanes and where they will make landfall. Launched by NASA in 1999, the spacecraft is now two years past its design life and NASA has no near-term plan to replace it.
The proposed schedule in the May 14 revised request for proposals (RFP) for the U.S. Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter fleet calls for face-to-face interviews with company officials this week and sets deadlines of May 18 for comments or questions, May 29 for the final revised RFP to be issued and June 19 for the amended proposals. As Air Force officials forewarned and industry players predicted, the revised RFP focuses on maintenance manpower calculations and operation and support (O&S) costs.
The U.S. Army's Pentagon-based aviation director, Brig. Gen. Stephen Mundt, last week picked up the long-simmering fight between the service and NASA over the agency's aeronautics investments. During the annual Army Aviation Association of America (AAAA) conference in Atlanta, Mundt said that less than one-half of 1 percent of NASA's aeronautics budget is dedicated to advancements in rotorcraft technology. "They are killing us," he told the audience. "Unless all of us stand together on the funding, we will ultimately lose this battle."
Bipartisan recognition of climate change issues, like growing awareness and support of synthetic fuel alternatives, is emerging this year in defense policy legislation that is working its way through Congress.
What started as a NASA research initiative has grown into a combined NASA-FAA Web-based flight-test safety database intended to provide a one-stop reference guide for members of the flight-test community who may not have had access to significant safety information in the past because it's been restricted to specific users.
DOCKED: Russia's Progress M-60 (25P) docked with the International Space Station (ISS) early May 15, safely delivering 5,125 pounds of supplies to the orbiting outpost. The unpiloted cargo-carrier used the automatic Kurs system to dock at the aft end of the Russian-side Zvezda service module, although ISS Expedition 15 Commander Fyodor Yurchikhin was ready to take control with the manual Toru system had it become necessary. Docking came at 1:10 a.m. EDT.
Japan is planning to develop high-power laser weapons next year to strengthen its anti-missile defense system in response to the growing threat from North Korea, Mainichi Shimbum, a Japanese daily, reported May 13. The report said the Defense Ministry was seeking funds to research and develop the ground-based laser weapons in its annual budget request for fiscal 2008.
GMLRS AWARD: The U.S. Army Aviation and Missile Command on May 8 awarded Lockheed Martin a $125 million contract modification for the Guided Multiple Launch Rocket System's Dual-Purpose Improved Conventional Munitions (DPICM) and unitary rockets. The award, announced by the Defense Department, runs through November 2008. This was a sole-source contract initiated on Nov. 9, 2006, DOD said May 14. Last month an Army official said the 200-pound unitary variant should enter full-rate production in fiscal 2009 (DAILY, April 25).
MBDA has bought key supplier Bayern-Chemie/Protac, which manufactures missile motors. The value of the deal is not being disclosed. Bayern-Chemie/Protac was owned equally by EADS Deutschland and Thales. The unit is being bought by MBDA's German arm, which includes the Lenkflugkorpersysteme (LFK) business. Once completed, Bayern Chemie will be a subsidiary of LFK. The motor maker's turnover is 53 million euros ($72 million) from its two facilities in Aschau am Inn in southern Germany and La Ferte Saint Aubin in France.
CASEY AT BAT: Gen. George Casey Jr., U.S. Army chief of staff, said May 11 that there is some "tweaking" to do, but Rumsfeld-era modularization is the correct path for the Army. It is no secret that the Army, as an institution, "is affected by the cumulative effects of five years at war," he told Pentagon reporters. Current Army modularization and transformation strategies were pushed by controversial former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, who was replaced after Democrats won November elections.
Four companies that provide spacecraft to NASA under a catalogue approach will spend as much as $600,000 each over the next four months to deliver data on how their products can accommodate the planned Landsat Data Continuity Mission (LDCM).
The U.S. Navy's Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program is pushing for the accelerated development of its most promising candidates. Under program guidelines, there is $15 million available for its accelerated transition (SAT) program for Phase II technologies, which have moved into more detailed demonstrations, SBIR officials said during the May 7-9 2007 Navy Opportunity Forum in Arlington, Va.
Raytheon researchers will test a new interceptor missile's seeker - fired from a fighter - against a boosting ballistic missile in late summer at White Sands Missile Range, N.M.
