NASA Administrator Michael Griffin predicts that the U.S. may be able to mount a manned mission to Mars by the late 2020s, following its scheduled return to the moon around 2018. "We will then be in possession of a heavy-lift launch vehicle, which is of course the key element for any approach to going to Mars," Griffin told attendees at the Mars Society's annual convention in Washington Aug. 3. The total mass-to-orbit required for a Mars mission is roughly comparable to the mass of the International Space Station, Griffin said.
The U.S. Marine Corps is considering upgrading the ice protection system for the Block A MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor in the wake of the July 10 incident in which ice in an engine prompted an Osprey to perform a precautionary landing while traveling over the Atlantic to participate in the Farnborough Air Show.
The U.S. military is going to need more spacecraft or unmanned aircraft - and a quick, accurate network to tie them with today's weapons systems - to provide the kind of timely intelligence required for those weapons, a recent Congressional Research Service (CRS) report says. The problem, though, is that the developmental programs for satellites and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) have run beyond deadline and over budget, causing greater congressional scrutiny.
President Bush is asking Congress to drop a mandate to notify six congressional committees before any transfer of defense articles or services, other than intelligence services, to another nation or an international organization for international peacekeeping, peace enforcement or humanitarian-assistance operations.
A Defense Department funds reprogramming worth $6.7 billion essentially agreed to by the Senate could fully fund the Army's $17 billion readiness needs as outlined recently by the service's chief, according to Sen. Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.). The reset requirements, resulting from continuing combat operations, include repair, depot and procurement activities. They are expected as the military services face growing reset and recapitalization bills already. Dodd sponsored the move Aug. 2 with five other Democratic senators.
The Justice Department will not seek criminal prosecution of Boeing Co. for its hiring of a retired Air Force general-level officer under the $615 million so-called global settlement, officials and executives have clarified. "The agreement between Boeing and the DOJ specifies that the government will not in the future seek criminal charges against Boeing related to the corporation's 'retention of a retired USAF general officer and his activities while retained by Boeing relating to the Tanker program or otherwise,'" Boeing said.
European scientists are applying data-coordination lessons learned during the Huygens probe's descent onto Titan to future planetary exploration missions, including the Rosetta mission to the comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko. Although a command error deprived Huygens mission scientists of the highly stable radio signal they had counted on for tracking wind profiles in the moon's cloudy atmosphere, an experimental array of 18 radio telescopes on Earth was able to fill in by following the descent module's carrier wave.
The Pentagon supports a funding allowance or funding bridge proposed by Congress to take care of some mounting war costs, Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said Aug. 2. Congress is talking about setting aside about $13 billion for extra military needs, especially for equipment replacement and repairs or resets, Rumsfeld said (See related story). "That should help with the reset cost." The two biggest reset requests come from the Army and U.S. Marine Corps. The Army requirement for reset in fiscal year 2007 is $17.1 billion.
NASA's Cassini Saturn orbiter will return to the north pole of Titan for additional radar surveys, but program scientists are convinced the spacecraft's cloud-penetrating sensor found lakes of liquid methane there during a July 22 flyby. Radar returns from the area show several well-defined dark patches - indicative of an extremely smooth surface - with features that appear to be channels carved by liquids flowing into them.
Aware that communications systems could be heavily damaged or destroyed during a natural disaster, Coast Guard officials had long-standing plans ahead of Hurricane Katrina that did not rely on communications systems and allowed personnel to act independently or with limited guidance from commanding officers, according to congressional investigators.
The Senate has agreed to prohibit award fees to defense contractors for performance that does not meet contract requirements, as well as add $13.1 billion to the off-budget "bridge fund" for early fiscal 2007 supplemental funding for military operations worldwide for Army and Marine Corps readiness.
Neither the House nor the Senate passed or even debated resolutions of disapproval by the deadline last week to block the Bush administration's proposed $5 billion sale of F-16 fighters and weapons to Pakistan, although Democrats offered plenty of criticism over arms sales to the region and the administration's handling of the deal.
The chief of the U.S. National Guard Bureau, Army Lt. Gen. Steven Blum, said Aug. 1 that he is pushing to transition the Guard's unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) training flights into operational flights for border security along the Mexican border. "Instead of just flying them around, let's use some of the training for some operational good," he told Aviation Week. "I would like to move as fast as we can in that."
The U.S. Marine Corps' MV-22B Osprey tiltrotor aircraft marked the completion of its first transatlantic round trip on July 29 when it returned to Marine Corps Air Station New River, N.C., following its participation in the Farnborough Air Show in the U.K. Three Ospreys originally departed New River on July 8 - two destined for Farnborough and one flying as a backup - accompanied by three KC-130J tanker aircraft. After making a stop in Newfoundland, the backup Osprey turned back and returned to North Carolina as planned.
The formal merger of Boeing's space shuttle and International Space Station (ISS) engineering workforces is set to go through Oct. 1, marking a major step in the company's effort to begin shifting personnel from legacy human spaceflight programs over to new efforts such as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Ares Crew Launch Vehicle (CLV).
AIRCRAFT GUN: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products has been awarded a $12.4 million contract modification for the procurement of 38 M61A2 20 mm automatic gun systems for F/A-18E/F aircraft, the Defense Department said Aug. 2. The work will be done in Burlington, Vt., and is expected to be completed in September 2007. The contract was awarded by the Naval Air Systems Command Aircraft Division, Patuxent River, Md.
Airborne laser jammers to protect airliners from shoulder-fired surface-to-air missiles still need some refinements, although "initial performance assessments" indicate they can protect test aircraft, according to a recent Department of Homeland Security (DHS) report. The laser-based technology, known as directed infrared countermeasures (DIRCM) and derived from proven military technology, still has some limitations before it can be adapted for commercial use, the report found. "However, all testing is not yet complete," the report concluded.
The head of the Boeing Co., W. James McNerney Jr., assured Senate defense authorizers Aug. 1 that the second-largest defense contractor deserves taxpayers' trust for future business despite paying a record $615 million settlement with the federal government for the Darleen Druyun scandal and other improper acquisition behavior.
RAIDER: Lockheed Martin said Aug. 1 that it has been awarded a $7.8 million contract to test, produce and design its Real-time Active Imaging in 3-D at Extended Range (RAIDER) multisensor system. RAIDER includes a TV camera, an upgraded Laser Detection and Ranging (LADAR) capability and an enhanced Forward Looking Infrared (FLIR) system. The system gives military and civilian users three-dimensional, high-resolution target imaging. The contract was awarded by the Air Force Research Laboratory.
Static electricity generated on the dry surface of Mars by the periodic dust storms that blanket the planet may have built up corrosive oxidants in the soil over time to concentrations that would kill off "life as we know it," according to one member of a research team that reached the stark conclusion. If true, the finding could reshape goals and strategies for exploring the Red Planet, and pose previously unexpected hazards for eventual human explorers.
FIRST HELO: Sikorsky Aircraft delivered the U.S. Army's first production UH-60M Black Hawk helicopter on July 31 during a ceremony in Stratford, Conn. The UH-60M has a new airframe, avionics and propulsion system.
