NASA's Centennial Challenges program will join the X-Prize Foundation in offering $2.5 million in prizes to teams that develop lunar lander analogs and demonstrate them in a competition scheduled this October in New Mexico. Contestants will demonstrate rocket-powered vehicles that can take off vertically, fly a course, hover and land to simulate a trip from the lunar surface to orbit and back again. Prizes ranging from $150,000 to $1.23 million will be offered in the Oct. 22 competition, which will involve two levels of difficulty.
NASA can't accomplish all that is on its plate with its current and projected budgets, and science at the agency is threatened as it bears the brunt, according to a new report from the National Academies' Space Studies Board (SSB). "NASA is being asked to accomplish too much with too little," the May 4 report says. "The agency does not have the necessary resources to carry out the tasks of completing the International Space Station, returning humans to the moon, maintaining vigorous [science] programs, and sustaining capabilities in aeronautical research."
Industry competition and open systems are the cornerstones of the new philosophy adopted by the Joint Tactical Radio System (JTRS) program, according to Joint Program Executive Officer Dennis Bauman. "We intend to do full and open competition on all the hardware development," Bauman said during a teleconference May 3. JTRS doesn't want to have a sole-source relationship with anyone, he said, and ideally will hold open competitions for hardware lots in each year of production.
Lynn M. Cortright will retire in June as president of the climate and industrial controls business. Thomas F. Healy has been named to replace Cortright.
Raytheon officials are hoping they have weathered the worst of a mini-scandal spawned by the revelation that many of Chairman and CEO William H. Swanson's "Unwritten Rules of Management" in a booklet the company distributed had been lifted from other sources.
John D. Micheletti has been named assistant director of the Advanced Technologies Department in the Training, Simulation and Performance Improvement Division.
SPACE RECON: The Russian Military Space force is beginning to reconstitute its dwindling space reconnaissance capability. The Cosmos 2420 reconnaissance spacecraft is undergoing initial checkout in a 200 x 100 mile orbit inclined 67 degrees following launch May 3 from the Plesetsk Cosmodrome on a Soyuz booster. The launch saved the Russians from an extended period with virtually no space reconnaissance capability.
Led by the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, the Republican-controlled House declined to call for a large increase in the U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater program funding next fiscal year.
The Senate on May 4 passed its roughly $109 billion fiscal 2006 supplemental spending bill, setting up a contentious congressional conference with the House while ignoring a veto threat from President Bush. The Senate passed the bill 78-20, including $65.7 billion for the Defense Department, but did not include amendments to allow the U.S. Navy to retire the USS John F. Kennedy aircraft carrier early nor a proposal to force a spending offset to the total $70.9 billion allocated in the bill for fighting the so-called global war on terror (DAILY, May 4).
As part of the $512.9 billion fiscal 2007 defense authorization bill it marked up late May 3, the House Armed Services Committee legislated $100 million for at least 10 manned persistent surveillance aircraft to patrol Iraqi and Afghan roads and areas where insurgents' improvised explosive devices (IEDs) are most likely to be. These surveillance platforms will be tactical assets controlled by ground commanders in combination with quick reaction forces to prevent IED emplacement and secure the roadways, according to HASC staff.
The U.S. Navy Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center has awarded General Dynamics' Robotic Systems unit an $11.3 million contract for up to four unmanned surface vehicles (USVs) for the Littoral Combat Ship antisubmarine warfare mission module program, the company said May 4. General Dynamics' teammates include Navatek Ltd., Micro-Analysis and Design, Signal Systems Corp., International Logistics Systems and Chesapeake Sciences Corp. An initial $8.5 million for two USVs already has been funded, General Dynamics said.
Angelina Galiteva has been named to the board of directors. Galiteva serves as a chairperson of the World Council for Renewable Energy and is founder and principal of New Energy Options Inc.
Boeing over the next few weeks will be naming the leadership of its new combined space shuttle/space station engineering organization - one of the first steps in the company's plan to consolidate the work force in anticipation of moving personnel onto new systems such as the Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) and Crew Launch Vehicle.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is adopting a new dual-track participation scheme for its next Grand Challenge race to provide more flexibility to participants and further speed the development of technology for operating autonomous ground vehicles in urban areas.
