NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) placed itself in a highly elliptical orbit around the red planet with a 27-minute engine burn on March 10, successfully passing the riskiest milestone in its mission. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft traveled about 500 million kilometers (310 million miles) to reach Mars following liftoff from Kennedy Space Center in Florida on Aug. 12, 2005.
PARIS - Apparently sensing a window of opportunity, Thales is earmarking more than $1 billion for acquisitions in a bid to grow its business by 25 percent over the next three years.
ST5 POSTPONED: Predicted bad weather at Vandenberg Air Force Base has prompted NASA to postpone the scheduled March 14 launch of the Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft aboard an air-launched Pegasus rocket. The forecast improves on March 15, with an 80 percent chance of favorable weather. The mission consists of three 25-kilogram (55-pound) microsatellites built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that will fly in formation in the Earth's magnetosphere.
Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) plans to once again restructure the H-1 helicopter upgrade program in light of recent developmental and manufacturing problems, according to Navy officials. The H-1 program will replace the Marine Corps' aging AH-1W and UH-1N helicopters with 180 AH-1Z and 100 UH-1Y models. Ninety of the UH-1Ys will be newly built aircraft.
Early analysis of comet samples returned by NASA's Stardust spacecraft have surprised scientists, showing that at least some of the frozen bodies contain minerals formed at very high temperatures. Stardust collected dust samples from the nucleus of comet Wild 2 in 2004, as well as samples of interstellar dust. The sample canister parachuted down into the Utah desert on Jan. 15 (DAILY, Jan. 18). The completion of the mission marked the first time comet samples have been brought back for study.
LMRS UUV: The fast-attack submarine USS Scranton demonstrated homing and docking of an unmanned undersea vehicle (UUV) system during at-sea testing in January, the Navy announced March 9. The two UUVs launched from torpedo tubes and controlled via an underwater acoustic communication system are a part of the AN/BLQ-11 Long Term Mine Reconnaissance System (LMRS), to help submarines conduct clandestine undersea surveys (DAILY, June 3, 2003). Officials also tested a torpedo-tube-mounted recovery system.
Minneapolis-based Alliant Techsystems has been awarded orders worth more than $134 million to provide the U.S. Army with additional small-caliber ammunition, the company said March 10. The orders were made by the U.S. Army Field Service Command, Rock Island, Ill. ATK runs the Army's Missouri-based Lake City small-caliber ammunition plant that produces 5.56mm, 7.62mm, 50-caliber, and other small-caliber rounds.
The Defense Department's newly infused joint improvised explosive devices (IED) defeat group, headed by a retired four-star Army general, will be responsible for making recommendations on $3.3 billion worth of spending this year, but final decisions will be made by Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld, top DOD officials said March 10.
U.S. government lawyers are holding up deliveries of aircraft engines and other military hardware by demanding that contractors certify that metals in every component were made in the U.S., all the way down to screws and wires.
Department of Defense officials expressed confidence before lawmakers in Washington on March 9 that the nation's current limited missile defense system is ready in the event of an attack on the country. The U.S. has had a limited national defense against ballistic missiles deployed since late 2004, including interceptors positioned in Ft. Greely, Alaska, and Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
In early May NATO is expected to release the final request for proposals for a missile defense system to protect NATO troops that will integrate existing anti-missile systems from NATO member countries rather than develop new hardware.
Feb. 21 - 24 -- Software Radio Conference, "Connecting Warfighters & First Responders for Maximum Interoperability," Sheraton Premier at Tysons Corner, Vienna, Va. For more information go to www.idga.org. March 7 - 10 -- AVEX 2006 - 2nd International Air Show & Aviation Expo, Sharm El Sheikh International Airport, Cairo, Egypt. For more information go to www.avex-2000.com.
INFORMATION THAW: Scientific evidence that global warming is melting ice at Earth's poles continues to stream out of NASA like fast-flowing glacial runoff, now that the agency's leadership has ordered political public affairs functionaries to lay off the spin. In the past two weeks NASA has reported dramatic melting in Antarctica, based on data from the twin Grace gravity probes it is operating with Germany. And a new Goddard Space Flight Center study synopsized in a NASA headquarters press release finds corresponding losses in Greenland.
LINGUISTS IN REAR: Technology is moving expert linguists from the collection point to rear areas in aircraft-based eavesdropping missions. A top strategic defense planner describes an Air Force experiment that points toward a change in current practice, in which RC-135 Rivet Joint and EP-3 aircraft carry linguists forward to a coastline or an adversary area so they can listen in on conversations. "How do you find the right conversation?" the planner asks. "You can't do it by moving the person to the conversation.
C4I MARKET: A Forecast International study anticipates that the global market for command, control, communications, computers and intelligence (C4I) will continue to show strong growth through 2008 and then decline from 2009 through 2015. The decline is expected as all of the spending accelerated to combat terrorism and support operations in Iraq and Afghanistan draws to an end. The outlook for the period from 2006 to 2015 says Raytheon will remain the leading company with a 13 percent share of the $11.5 billion market (over 10 years).
The Defense Department is developing a framework to provide initial damage reconnaissance during hurricanes or domestic terrorist attacks, including capabilities provided by the National Geospatial Intelligence Agency and the National Security Agency, according to Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense.
ST5 LAUNCH: NASA is in the final stages of preparation before the scheduled launch of the Space Technology 5 (ST5) spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California March 14. A combined systems test of the Pegasus launch vehicle and the spacecraft is scheduled for March 11, followed by a launch readiness review March 12. The mission consists of three 25-kilogram (55-pound) microsatellites built at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center that will fly in formation in the Earth's magnetosphere.
SPECIAL APPROPRIATIONS: Bill Hoagland, Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's director of budget and appropriations, thinks the annual defense and homeland security spending bills will be completed this fall, but possibly all other appropriations work will be wrapped into a continuing resolution that extends past Election Day in November - and even into 2007.
SORTIES: Since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, more than 42,000 fighter, aerial refueling, and airborne early warning sorties have been flown, while more than 2,000 air patrols have responded to actual incidents and suspicious flight operations, according to Paul McHale, assistant secretary of defense for homeland defense.
GROWTH INDUSTRY: "We're in a growth area," says the Defense Department's chief information officer. Seems every country is trying to have a relationship with the DOD over defense-related information technology, John Grimes said recently at the UBS Government and Defense IT Conference. Grimes, who oversees more than $31 billion in DOD-wide IT management, had just returned from two weeks touring the Pacific Rim. He said there is a lot of focus on information sharing.
