ATK Thiokol Propulsion Co. successfully conducted a static test-firing of a space shuttle Reusable Solid Rocket Motor (RSRM) at its Promontory, Utah, facility, on Nov. 1, the company announced Nov. 2. The test was part of the engineering test motor program, which is part of the shuttle's ongoing safety program to verify materials and manufacturing processes. It ran for two minutes, the same duration as the motors fire when launching the space shuttle.
TANKER PUSH: Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) is leading a Senate effort to include a provision in the fiscal 2002 defense appropriations bill to allow the Air Force to lease up to 100 Boeing 767s to replace its 136 KC-135E refueling tankers, a Senate aide says. The aide says the KC-135Es, which are 707-derivatives with an average age of 41 years, need to be replaced, and that leasing the planes would be cheaper than buying them.
Following several weeks of speculation over the possible deployment of the Joint Surveillance and Target Attack Radar System (JSTARS) and the Global Hawk for use in Afghanistan, the Pentagon confirmed that it is planning on using both systems for current operations. First deployed in Operation Desert Storm, JSTARS provides ground situation data through surveillance aircraft, a target acquisition radar and a command and control ground station. Global Hawk is the Air Force's high-altitude, long endurance unmanned aerial vehicle.
Satellite service providers and satellite operators can still obtain investment capital, even in the slow telecommunications market, but they must have a solid business plan and a tangible consumer market, financial analysts said at the recent International Space Symposium in Washington.
The U.S. Marine Corps is considering two options to replace its aging EA-6B Prowler force, according to a Marine Corps official - either replace the Prowler with the Boeing F/A-18G Growler, or wait a few years until an electronic warfare version of the Lockheed Martin F-35 Joint Strike Fighter can be brought on line.
LASM APPEAL: The Defense Department is urging the House-Senate conference committee on the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill to reject a Senate-passed provision that would deny the Bush Administration's $34.5 million request to develop the Land Attack Standard Missile (LASM) for the Marine Corps. In a written "appeal" to the committee, DOD says the Marine Corps needs the missile in the near term to provide forces going ashore with ship-based fire support. The Senate opposed the request due to concerns about development delays and cost increases.
KE-ASAT CONFLICT: Sen. Robert Smith (R-N.H.) is holding up the release of $3 million in fiscal 2001 funds for the kinetic energy anti-satellite program until a former program manager who supports KE-ASAT is returned to the program, a congressional source says. Despite the hold, Smith is pleased with recent changes in KE-ASAT management. Smith lifted a hold on $7.5 million in FY '00 money in late September after the Army agreed to transfer the program from the Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) to the Aviation and Missile Command (AMCOM), the source says.
The House voted late Nov. 1 to limit The Boeing Co.'s liability for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks to the amount of the aircraft manufacturer's insurance coverage. The provision, approved as part of an airport/airline security bill, is intended to give Boeing the same kind of protection from lawsuits that Congress approved for the airlines in September. An industry source has warned that Boeing could suffer a "big financial bath" without the lawsuit protection (DAILY, Nov. 1).
LITTLE LAUNCHERS: As the satellite launch industry continues to mature, and large contracts from major telecom companies constitute a bigger and bigger percentage of the market, the business will become even tougher for small launch providers trying to gain a foothold, Albrecht says. "Large, concentrated telecom operators are going to make it harder for newcomers because they are not significant risk takers," he says. "They're very established businesses, and by concentrating they're going to become even larger.
The Boeing Co. and El Al Israel Airlines are studying the feasibility of a joint venture to establish a security and safety business for airlines, airports and governments worldwide. The joint venture could include developing technology, manufacturing products, designing systems and procedures and training personnel, according to Boeing. A memorandum of understanding signed by the companies will be in effect for 60 days while they study the idea.
NOMINATIONS: The Senate Armed Services Committee announced it will hold a nomination hearing Nov. 8 for Peter Teets to be undersecretary of the Air Force, Les Brownlee to be undersecretary of the Army, and Dale Klein to be assistant secretary of defense for nuclear, chemical and biological defense programs.
A400M UNDER FIRE: While Italy has yet to confirm its withdrawal from the European A400M military transporter program, the Italian defense minister has made it clear that Italy is unlikely to participate. "I have many, deep doubts about the A-400M," Italian Defense Minister Antonio Martino says. "The point is whether this specific project pursues the goal [of European defense] economically and effectively.
The top priority for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program now is ensuring that the government team and the prime contractor team share a common vision of how to proceed in the 10-year System Development and Demonstration phase, the government's new JSF program director said in an interview. "The first priority is to get off to a good start with the prime contractor," said U.S. Air Force Brig. Gen. Jack Hudson, who moved up from deputy director to director Oct. 26, succeeding U. S. Marine Corps Maj. Gen. Mike Hough. "We've already begun that process."
Eurockot Launch Services of Bremen, Germany, will launch a spacecraft for Japan's Institute for Unmanned Space Experiment Free Flyer (USEF), the company announced Nov. 2. Launch of the Space Environment Reliability Verification Integrated System-1 (SERVIS-1) is planned for 2003 and will take place from Eurockot's facilities at the Plesetsk Cosmodrome in Russia. The experiment is intended to develop technologies to allow the use of commercial off-the-shelf electronic components in the harsh environment of space.
As the Expedition Three crew aboard the International Space Station (ISS) heads into the last month of its four-month mission, preparations are heating up for a third and final extra-vehicular activity (EVA) Nov. 12. During the five-hour, 45-minute spacewalk, Commander Frank Culbertson and Pilot Vladimir Dezhurov will hook up a set of cables between the docking compartment and the Service Module, as well as test the Russian-built Strela crane that will be used on future assembly missions.
Raytheon Co. will create a modeling and simulation capability to analyze new-technology Air Traffic Management tools under a $9.5 million task order from NASA's Ames Research Center. The task order was awarded under NASA's Air Traffic Management System Development and Integration (ATMSDI) contract. Raytheon will provide models to evaluate concepts NASA is developing to increase capacity and efficiency in the nation's air traffic management system.
Bodenseewerk Geratetechnik GmbH (BGT) is flight testing a new infrared missile warning system for aircraft. The Passive IR Missile Approach Warning System uses two units installed at the wingtips to detect and track ground-to-air and air-to-air missiles. The missiles are recognized by intelligent real-time image processing algorithms. The program began in 1997 under contract to the German ministry of defense, and the company has also contributed in-house funding. Development on the program is scheduled to be completed in 2003.
THE OPEN CHANNEL FOUNDATION, the non-profit arm of Open Channel Software, is selling "NASA classic" software applications, some of which date back to the Apollo program. The software could provide industry with solutions to a wide range of engineering and analysis problems in the fields of medicine, chemistry, aerodynamics and others, according to the foundation. The foundation has entered into an agreement with the Robert C. Byrd National Technology Transfer Center to market individual programs from the collection at prices ranging from $20 to $8,000 each.
LOCKHEED MARTIN'S CONSOLIDATED SPACE OPERATIONS CONTRACT (CSOC) has signed a contract for ground network satellite tracking services with Space Data Services (SDS) AS of Tromso, Norway. CSOC manages NASA's data collection, telemetry and communications operations that support Earth-observing satellites, planetary exploration and human spaceflight activities. CSOC bought the commercial tracking services from SDS as a way to save money without cutting quality, according to Lockheed Martin.
The National Science Foundation has provided a five-year, $10 million grant to help set up the National Virtual Observatory (NVO), which is intended to unite the databases of earthbound and orbital observatories. The goal of the NVO is to increase the potential for new scientific discovery by making the data available in a unified form to researchers, amateur astronomers and students, according to the Space Telescope Science Institute.
Engineers at NASA Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. have been taking a trip down aviation memory lane recently, in an effort to more fully document and understand the discoveries of the Wright Brothers. A life-size reproduction of the 1901 Wright Glider has undergone wind tunnel tests at Langley's Full Scale Tunnel, in which experimenters took a number of different measurements to determine how the glider performed.
REALITY CAPTURE TECHNOLOGIES INC. (RCT) of San Jose, Calif., has received a license from NASA for further development of a software platform that could allow contractors on Earth to construct "virtual" complex industrial facilities before actually breaking ground. The software was developed by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to help explore Mars. The Mars Map 3-D imaging software creates a photographic-quality rendering system, allowing researchers to better understand the surface of Mars.
JMAR/SAL NanoLithography Inc. (JSAL) has been awarded a patent for a process to create high-performance semiconductors that are smaller than 100 nanometers, or about one one-thousandth the width of a human hair. The technology could provide the company's customers with the ability to manufacture semiconductors for use in anti-terrorism surveillance systems, phased array radars, missile seeker devices and other technologies, according to the company.
The Defense Department announced Nov. 1 that it is restructuring the acquisition plan for the Navy's DD-21 next generation destroyer, and no longer intends to procure a single ship class. While similar to the Arleigh Burke-class guided-missile destroyers it would have replaced, the DD-21 was intended to provide land attacks support for ground forces. The new program will "produce a family of advanced technology surface combatants," according to the Pentagon.
House Republican leaders have endorsed a proposal that would give The Boeing Co. the same kind of lawsuit protection that U.S. airlines received for the Sept. 11 terrorist hijackings of four Boeing passenger airplanes that ended up crashing in New York, Pennsylvania and Washington. The provision has been included in a package of amendments that the full House was debating late Nov. 1 during consideration of an aviation security bill.
