CORRECTION: A study titled "The Market for APU/GPU Gas Turbines" was conducted by Forecast International, not Frost & Sullivan, as reported in the story "Study: Honeywell to keep dominating APU, GPU market" (DAILY, Jan. 13).
NASA's Stardust mission is on track to return a capsule to Earth on Jan. 15 that contains samples of comet dust and interstellar dust, the space agency said. Following a scheduled course correction maneuver on Jan. 13, Stardust's sample return capsule is set for a parachute landing in the Utah desert at roughly 5:12 a.m. Eastern time on Jan. 15, NASA said.
PUBLIC SERVICE ADS: The Defense Department was one of seven federal agencies spending a total of $152 million on public service announcement campaigns over two and half years, a congressional audit says. The DOD spent $36 million - all but $1.58 million of it outsourced - between fiscal 2003 and the middle of fiscal 2005, on radio, TV, Internet and print ads, the Government Accountability Office says.
BUDGET REQUEST: The U.S. Coast Guard's Deepwater recapitalization program is scheduled to request $752 million for fiscal 2007 - but that was dependent on FY '06 appropriations of $966 million, and Congress provided only $933 million. Under five-year budgeting projections after Deepwater was rebaselined last year, the program is supposed to request $766 million for FY '08, $780 million for FY '09 and $796 million for FY '10.
ROTORCRAFT RESEARCH: The Army is putting the finishing touches on a broad area announcement that will kick off the competition to establish a new Vertical Lift Center of Excellence (VLCOE) for academic research on rotorcraft. The current VLCOE is co-located at Georgia Tech, Penn State and the University of Maryland. The new center will receive $2 million in annual funding for five years, to be split among the participating universities. Universities can propose whatever teaming arrangement they like, according to Army Chief Scientist Thomas Killion.
RENO, Nev. - NASA is backing away from flight demonstrations in its aeronautics program to refocus efforts on fundamental research and development of design tools, Associate Administrator for Aeronautics Lisa Porter told an American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics conference here Jan. 12.
U.S. Army officials say they are on schedule for the first flight of the Armed Reconnaissance Helicopter in March, although they acknowledge the program's schedule is tight and risky. Bell Helicopter won the ARH development competition in July, and limited user testing is scheduled in August. Officials expect the first 38 ARH deliveries (30 for operational use and eight for training) in the summer of 2009. The Army plans to buy 368 ARH units at a cost of about $2.2 billion.
STARSEM LAUNCH SET: Starsem, the Arianespace affiliate that markets Soyuz-Fregat launches, has won a contract to launch Canada's Radarsat-2. The launch, scheduled for December, will be the fourth on Starsem's manifest this year. Arianespace officials also say they have been chosen to orbit SES Global's Astra 1M telecom spacecraft, assuming that the backup spacecraft is assembled as planned. The Astra 1M award compensates Arianespace for the loss of Astra 1KR, which was transferred to International Launch Services.
NO FEAR: Fears of a wholesale slashing of defense acquisition budgets in coming years are unfounded, says Aerospace Industries Association President and CEO John Douglass. Pentagon memos directing the military services to scale back future budgets actually refer to spending outlooks that were over and above levels spelled out in last year's five-year defense spending plan.
BLACKWATER GROWING: International security firm Blackwater USA says it is branching out with Blackwater Airships. The new subsidiary will develop and use small, remotely piloted airships that will be able to stay aloft for up to four days and be equipped with surveillance and detection equipment that is linked in real time to friendly forces. They will primarily target terrorists. Follow-on projects are planned for larger airships to support humanitarian and peacekeeping missions.
Matthew O'Connell, president and chief executive officer of GeoEye, the new satellite imagery company created by Orbimage's $58.5 million acquisition of Space Imaging (DAILY, Jan. 13), says his focus now is on business plan execution. "We've done a big acquisition and our mantra right now is execute, execute, execute," he said in a telephone interview from Dulles, Va., the day after completion of the long-anticipated deal was announced. It cuts the number of industry players from three to two -- GeoEye and DigitalGlobe.
LUNAR MISSION BOOSTER: China's Plan China intends to launch four unmanned space missions this year and to start work on its lunar launch vehicle. Scheduled for launch in 2006 are the large Xinnuno 2 communications spacecraft, a new weather satellite and two space science missions. Fabrication is under way on the Long March 3A booster that China plans to use for the April 2007 launch of the Chang'e spacecraft into lunar orbit. The $137 million Chang'e development is also progressing.
At least five other nations have expressed interest in buying the seaframe to the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), and 26 have voiced interest in their own nation-specific mission modules - developments that Navy officials believe will help control, if not lower, costs in the prominent new class of combat craft.
AGILE TO FLY: India will launch Italy's Agile satellite on a PSLV C-8 booster in May, the nation's first fully commercial satellite launch. The Indian Space Research Organization is also planning a GSLV launch in April, which will carry the INSAT 4-C broadcast satellite for augmenting DTH technology. The twin launches will require the use of both large pads at the launch facility on Sriharikota Island in the Bay of Bengal. ISRO has entered into partnerships with EADS Astrium and Arianespace as India moves to market its satellite-building and launch services.
Jan. 17 - 20 -- Network Centric Warfare 2006, Ronald Reagan Building and International Trade Center, Washington, D.C. For more information call 1-800-882-8684 or go to www.ncw2006.com. Jan. 18 - 20 -- ION National Technical Meeting 2006, Hyatt Regency, Monterey, Calif. For more information go to www.ion.org. Jan. 19 -- Royal Aeronautical Society's Annual Corporate Partner Seminar, "Aerospace - The Year Ahead," London. For more information call +44 (118) 947-4853 or go to www.raes.org.uk.
The bad news on recommended defense budget cuts continues to leak out of the Pentagon. Now considered dead or fatally crippled is the Air Force's E-10 command and control aircraft, which is down to a single demonstrator with no planning for full-scale development. The Navy/Air Force Joint Unmanned Combat Air System (J-UCAS), an unmanned strike aircraft demonstrator, has also been gutted, service and industry officials say.
The worldwide market over the next 10 years for aircraft auxiliary power units and ground power units will be worth $4.6 billion and will see production of more than 23,000 APUs and GPUs, according to a new study by market analysis company Frost & Sullivan. The study, "The Market for APU/GPU Gas Turbines," says Honeywell Aerospace will remain the dominant player. It predicts that sales of commercial aircraft APUs through 2012 will remain flat and then dip a bit in 2013 and 2014, reflecting the end of production of several aircraft.
The team behind the recent "Agile Lion" network-centric warfare exercise plans to brief Marine Corps leadership on its results in mid-February, according to Agile Lion Project Officer Lt. Col. Robert Sofge. "We'll look at the results, look at the data, and show it to leadership," Sofge said during a briefing in Washington on Jan. 11. "I can assure you that my leadership is ... very interested in fielding some type of network capability," he said, although it's too early to say precisely when.
PAYLOAD TEST: The U.S. Army and Northrop Grumman Corp. have successfully tested a new Adaptive Joint Intelligence payload on the RQ-5A Hunter unmanned aerial vehicle that will allow warfighters to share multiple types of communications simultaneously, the company said Jan. 12. The 10-day demonstration was sponsored by the U.S. Joint Forces Command.
The U.S. Coast Guard expects a request for proposals for Automatic Information Systems (AIS) to be issued later this year as part of the Bush administration's push for greater maritime domain awareness (MDA), according to an admiral.
