Exploration planners at NASA are interested in small nuclear reactor technology under development by Japan as a potential power source for future bases on the moon. Briefing reporters last week on NASA's fiscal 2007 budget request, Administrator Michael Griffin said his agency "will seek to leverage the work of other nations which have developed small nuclear reactors that could be applied to space," and specifically mentioned Japan.
NASA REVIEW: NASA should wrap up its review of practices and procedures in releasing scientific findings "in a few weeks," looking to fix apparent political meddling on global warming issues that triggered a flurry of unfavorable news accounts as the agency issued its contentious fiscal 2007 budget request. Administrator Michael Griffin has already weighed in on the inviolability of scientific results regardless of their political impact (Aviation Week & Space Technology, Feb. 13).
CHINA CARD: Some U.S. lawmakers warn that China is a threat to send humans back to the moon before NASA does. "NASA is hoping to schedule its first manned mission in about 2018," says Rep. Ken Calvert (R-Calif.), chairman of the House Science space and aeronautics subcommittee. "China is heading for a landing as early as 2017." Although most U.S. experts in China's human spaceflight program consider that unlikely, the agency is maintaining an arms-length relationship with the world's newest human-space power.
CORVETTE COMMISSIONED: The South African navy's first MEKO A-200 SAN corvette, the SAS Amatola, was commissioned during a Feb. 16 ceremony in Simonstown, South Africa, German shipbuilder ThyssenKrupp Marine Systems said. The SAS Amatola is the first of four corvettes built for South Africa's navy by ThyssenKrupp in Kiel and Hamburg. The SAS Amatola was sent to Simonstown in 2003, followed by the SAS Isandlwana. The SAS Spioenkop and SAS Mendi arrived in 2004.
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.
DEBRIS RE-ENTRY: The spent inertial upper stage that first sent NASA's Galileo spacecraft on its way to Jupiter in 1989 is set to re-enter Earth's atmosphere on late Feb. 19 or early Feb. 20, but the space agency doesn't yet know where the pieces may land. A significant portion of the 11-foot long cylinder's 1.5 tons is expected to survive re-entry because the stage contains an inner cylinder made of titanium. Air Force Space Command in Colorado is tracking the debris and will be giving NASA continuous reports as the stage nears Earth's atmosphere.
BETTER ARMED: After coming under heavy fire for almost two years for under-equipping troops in Iraq and Afghanistan, Army leaders think the numbers show the situation has improved. As part of their budget presentations, they lay out how in a number of areas, from body armor to unmanned aircraft, things have changed. And more is yet to come. For instance, the Army notes that in September 2003 none of its fixed-wing aircraft had self-protection gear and many helicopters were only in the process of receiving it.
LOGISTICS SUPPORT: The Boeing Co. will provide logistics support for the British military's fleet of 40 Chinook helicopters until 2040 under a new contract agreement, the United Kingdom's defense ministry says. The contract is worth 199 million pounds ($347.8 million) over the first five years. Boeing will manage maintenance, provide spares, and make sure that an agreed number of serviceable aircraft are available at RAF Oliham, the U.K.'s main Chinook operating base, and at its depth maintenance hub at DARA Fleetlands.
The Coast Guard's fiscal 2007 budget request includes $62.4 million to pay for the aircraft and infrastructure to patrol the no-fly zone of the National Capital Region (NCR), according to Adm. Thomas Collins, the Coast Guard commandant.
WEATHER REPORT: A European team has developed a computer model that makes it possible to predict cloud formation and distribution on Jupiter's moon Titan. Based on observations from the U.S. Cassini orbiter, the European Huygens probe that landed on Titan in January 2005, and Earth-based observations, the model combines separate one-dimensional circulation and microphysical cloud models to predict ethane and methane cycles and droplet formation.
SUPPLEMENTAL: Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld said the White House will request $65.3 billion more in additional supplemental warfighting appropriations this fiscal year for the Defense Department. The secretary, testifying before the House Appropriations defense subcommittee Feb. 16, said the supplemental would be sent to Capitol Hill that afternoon. Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), subcommittee chairman, told reporters after the hearing that the panel had not received details yet.
Charles McQueary, undersecretary for Science and Technology at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), is stepping down. McQueary, who joined the then-fledgling department in March 2003, oversaw several research and development programs, including efforts to develop protection for commercial aircraft from portable, surface-to-air missiles known as MANPADS (for Man Portable Air Defense Systems.) McQueary said in a Feb. 10 resignation letter to President Bush that he plans to leave government March 25. He did not disclose his future plans.
TANKS DELIVERED: General Dynamics Land Systems said Feb. 16 that it delivered the first five of 59 M1A1 Abrams Integrated Management tanks to Australia's military on Feb. 16. A ceremony was held at the Joint Systems Manufacturing Center in Lima, Ohio. The Abrams tanks will replace Australia's aging Leopard main battle tanks. All 59 Abrams tanks will be shipped to Australia in June and December 2006.
SPIRALING DOWN: NASA's Chandra orbiting X-ray observatory has validated a theory about the formation of spiral galaxies like the Milky Way, detecting a halo of hot gas exactly where theory predicted it would be, surrounding a spiral galaxy 100 million light years distant. Showing up as a faint blue cloud that extends roughly 60,000 light years above and below the plane of galaxy NGS 5746, the X-ray-emitting cloud of hot gas is believed to be an inflowing remnant of the clouds of intergalactic gas that cooled and collapsed to form the spiral galaxy.
The Bush administration is requesting $1.726 billion in fiscal 2007 to reduce the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, which is a 6.9 percent increase over the FY '06 request. The Department of Energy's National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) budget request includes $638 million for Fissile Material Disposition, $551 million of which will go toward disposing of U.S. and Russian plutonium, and $87 million of which will be used to dispose of U.S. highly enriched uranium.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin defended NASA's fiscal 2007 science budget on Capitol Hill Feb. 16, saying that what some science stakeholders characterize as "cuts" are actually just unavoidable delays that follow years of robust growth in agency science funding. NASA's FY '07 budget proposes to reduce science programs at NASA by $3.1 billion through FY '10 as compared to projections in the FY '06 budget, to fund pressing human space flight efforts.
The Defense Department, Northern Command (NORTHCOM) and the National Security Agency were among 115 federal, state, local and private sector organizations participating in the just-completed Cyber Storm national cyber preparedness exercise. According to the Homeland Security Department (DHS), which ran Cyber Storm, the exercise tested national response to a large-scale incident affecting the energy, information technology, telecommunications and transportation sectors.
House defense appropriators are expressing concern with the Defense Department's proposal to kill the Joint Strike Fighter's alternative engine. "We're going to look very seriously" at whether to sole source the JSF engine or keep with two providers, House defense appropriations chairman Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.) told reporters Feb. 16. Young praised the Alternative Fighter Engine (AFE) program with the F-16 fighter, in which the Air Force divided engine orders between General Electric and Pratt & Whitney.
