WEATHER WATCH: Scientists using four-year-old data from NASA's Imager for Magnetopause-to-Aurora Global Exploration (IMAGE) satellite have discovered an indirect link between thunderstorms near Earth's surface and the weather some 250 miles out in space. A 30-day composite image shows two bands of plasma circling the Earth over the equator. Glowing in ultraviolet light, the brightest zones correspond to areas of highest density in the plasma found in the ionosphere.
The Defense Department apparently has not been periodically publishing a list of designated critical acquisition positions as required by law, and now the Pentagon plans to begin posting open critical acquisition positions by the end of the year. Congressional investigators identified the shortfall while examining the defense space acquisition community, whose turnover and instability has been blamed for space program problems (DAILY, Nov. 11, 2005).
ACQUISITION FUNDS: The Senate, led by Republicans, killed a wide-ranging Democratic legislative effort Sept. 13 that, among other things, would have called for more special forces Predator unmanned vehicles and additional acquisition funds for the Customs and Border Patrol and the Coast Guard. Senate minority leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.) offered the amendment to the Senate's port security bill, which Republican leaders lambasted as an election-year gimmick that was unrealistic and unhelpful (DAILY, Sept. 13).
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas - A pair of spacewalkers from the shuttle Atlantis freed the first of two big rotary joints that will keep the International Space Station's solar arrays pointed at the sun, capping a 7-hour, 11-minute extravehicular activity (EVA) on Sept. 13.
Polish Defense Minister Radoslaw Sikorski is downplaying recent media stories concerning negotiations with the United States to possibly deploy a U.S. missile defense site in his country. The U.S. has been exploring the possibility of a European missile defense site in Poland or the Czech Republic. But Sikorski, during a visit to Washington Sept. 13, said that recent media reports claiming that such discussions would be high on the agenda of U.S. officials and Polish Prime Minister Jaroslaw Kaczynski during his current visit are exaggerated.
Northrop Grumman on Sept. 12 unveiled the first widebody commercial aircraft going into regular scheduled service using its Guardian technology to defend against surface-to-air missile attacks. The FedEx MD-10 is the first of 11 the cargo carrier will fly with the directed infrared counter measures (DIRCM) technology over the next 18-months, testing whether the equipment - developed for the military - is feasible for protecting commercial aircraft from shoulder-fired, surface-to-air missiles.
Funding ground wars in Iraq and Afghanistan is starting to take its toll on other Pentagon weapons expenses - particularly for aircraft accounts - according to an analysis of recent Defense Department contracts by Aerospace Daily.
SAT INSURANCE: Space underwriters say the recovery in the satellite and launch insurance market appears likely to continue, provided that the launcher sector, which has witnessed several failures recently (notably in Russia), does not upset the equation. Stanislas Chapron, managing director of Marsh, says underwriter profits look to be good again this year - around $500 million - confirming a turnaround that began in 2002. The flight of insurers from the space sector has been stemmed, and new players are entering the market.
SKYNET 5: The Netherlands has signed up to use EADS Paradigm's next generation Skynet 5 satellite system, scheduled to begin deployment at year's end. On Sept. 8, the Dutch ministry of defense concluded an agreement to secure direct access to secure X-band communications bandwidth on Skynet 5 and the existing Skynet 4 fleet, starting on Jan. 1, complementing an existing interim agreement that ran through December. Capt.
MILITARY TECHNOLOGY: House Armed Services Committee Chairman Duncan Hunter (R-Calif.) told the Republican Policy Committee Sept. 12 that more military technology should be employed in border security. "There are other assets at our disposal, such as military tunnel detection technology or surveillance capability provided by the volunteers within the Civil Air Patrol, which we should pursue vigorously in our efforts to secure our borders and defend the homeland," he said.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER, Texas - Astronauts added a 45.3-foot., 34,997-pound section to the International Space Station's spine on Sept. 12, attaching cables and freeing latches that will allow controllers to unfurl two big solar arrays from the new truss segment on Sept. 14.
Unperturbed by Inmarsat's entry into the satellite phone market, Dubai-based Thuraya is ready to expand into East and Southeast Asia and to roll out a range of new products to spark new growth in subscriptions, stuck right now around the 250,000 level.
Senate appropriator and missile defense advocate Wayne Allard (R-Colo.) has repeated his call for the Missile Defense Agency to conduct more tests, building a string of successes. "While I am pleased that we have a limited missile defense capability, I believe our missile defense system needs to be challenged even further," he said Sept. 8.
In partnership with ATK, NASA's Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate is planning a hypersonic flight-test next year from the agency's Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia to study a problem that challenged aerodynamicists during the space shuttle's first return-to-flight mission last year. The problem is understanding the boundary layer transition - the point at which air flow over an aerodynamic surface traveling at hypersonic speeds (i.e., above Mach 5) changes from smooth to turbulent.
BROADBAND SERVICE: Shin Satellite Executive Chairman Dumrong Kasemset says the Ipstar broadband service in China should be operational in the fourth quarter, boosting customer uptake that had been seen as lacking. Further growth should follow early next year, when operations in India kick in. The rights to broadcast to India are still being negotiated with the Indian government. Shin Sat has installed more than 40,000 terminals since its Ipstar-1 satellite entered service six months ago, mainly in Thailand, Australia and New Zealand.
F-16 SUPPORT: BAE Systems has been awarded a $9.6 million contract by the U.S. Air Force to provide 41 Stores System Testers (SST) for F-16 Falcon fighters, the company said Sept. 11. The Air Force is expected to purchase about 250 SSTs over the next five to eight years, the company said.
Senate Democrats on Sept. 12 introduced an amendment to a port security bill which, among several other elements, would require the Air Force to buy an additional 16 Predator unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for the Special Operations Command, as well as boost Coast Guard and Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) acquisition.
Mark H. Ronald, the leader in U.K. contractor BAE Systems' drive to establish itself as a major player in the U.S. defense market, will retire at the end of the year, the company announced Sept. 12. Walter P. Havenstein, president of BAE's Nashua, N.H.-based Electronics and Integrated Solutions operating group, was named to succeed him starting in January.
House Armed Services projection forces subcommittee Chairman Roscoe Bartlett (R-Md.) is urging congressional defense authorizers to maintain the World War II-vintage battleships USS Iowa and USS Wisconsin instead of removing them from the Naval Registry in favor of funding a futuristic munitions program.
