Russia on June 9 announced refinements to its schedule for a half-dozen Soyuz crew and Progress re-supply launches to the International Space Station though the remainder of 2015.
An 11-terabyte dataset that combines worldwide environmental measurements and the latest climate-simulation models is available for the public to use in forecasting possible changes to temperature and precipitation patterns though the year 2100.
The move which comes four years after the United States decided not to procure the system, will see Meads replace Germany’s PAC-3 Patriots in the early 2020s.
CAE will take Flight Safety International’s place as the turn-key initial and recurrent simulator and live flight training provider for more than 600 pilots who fly the U.S. Army and Air Force C-12 (Beechcraft King Air), starting in fall 2016.
Amid revived and growing controversy about the relevance of U.S. Navy carrier strike groups, the service invested $4.3 billion on June 5 in the design, development and construction of the future aircraft carrier CVN 79 John F. Kennedy.
Always on the prowl for technology meant to keep sailors out of damaged or dangerous ship areas, the U.S. Navy may be able to count on a new piece of equipment being developed by Pittsburgh-based Sensible Machines.
NASA suffered a second setback June 8 in its drive to develop entry, descent and landing (EDL) technology for an eventual human landing on Mars, with the failure of a redesigned supersonic parachute on a high-speed deceleration flight test off the coast of Hawaii.
Rolls-Royce is increasingly optimistic it will receive funding for retrofit of upgraded T56 engines for the U.S. Air Force and Reserve/National Guard C-130H fleets following better-than-expected results from recently completed flight tests of a P-3 powered by a full shipset of the same modified turboprops.
The six-person International Space Station carried out a nearly 5 ½ half min. maneuver on June 8 to avoid a close pass of a fragment from a U.S. Minotaur rocket launched in 2013 that was to pass within 3 mi. of the orbiting science lab late in the day.
“We are more than 90% there,” says Tom Hartmann, Rolls-Royce Defense senior vice president for customer business. “We have just a handful of lift fans ready to deliver and those are just spare modules to support IOC."
After a suspenseful 17 days in Earth orbit, the Planetary Society reported the deployment start of its crowdsourced LightSail-A, a demonstration of solar sail technology that could one day propel spacecraft between the planets.
South Korea has publicly test fired a version of its Hyunmu 2 tactical ballistic missile, revealing a version with a longer first stage than previously shown, while one news service says the weapon can fly farther than earlier revealed.
Tired of having to gingerly launch unmanned surface vessels (USVs) from other manned surface ships, the U.S. Navy is searching for a way to launch a USV from an aircraft like other payloads, and the company Hydronalix says it has the technology for the task.
Logos Technologies is targeting civilian agencies, as well as military customers, with a compact, lightweight wide-area motion imagery (WAMI) system that can be carried by helicopters, light aircraft and tactical unmanned aircraft.
India’s Mangalyaan Mars probe has entered the “blackout” phase of its mission, in which all communications between the satellite and Earth will be blocked for about two weeks.
LOCKHEED MARTIN has $920.3m U.S. Navy advance procurement contract for long lead-time materials, parts, components for 78 F-35As (USAF-44; Italy-2; Turkey-2; Australia-8; Norway-6; other FMS customers-16), 14 F-35Bs (Marine Corps-9; Britain-3; Italy-2;), and 2 F-35Cs (U.S. Navy, Marine Corps). RAYTHEON declared quarterly dividend of $0.67 per share of common stock, payable Aug. 6 for shareholders of record as of July 1.
First-term Texas Republican Brian Babin will take over as chairman of the House Science, Space and Technology Committee’s space subcommittee, replacing Rep. Steven Palazzo (R-Miss.), who under House rules cannot hold the subcommittee chair because of his recent appointment to the House Appropriations Committee. Babin’s district includes NASA’s Johnson Space Center. A longtime Republican activist in southeast Texas, he was elected to Congress last year.
With such damage, “It is likely parts will be returned to the F-35 spares inventory as appropriate,” says F-35 Joint Program Office spokesman Joe Dellavedova. “Other components of the aircraft will be evaluated for potential reuse in other aircraft or training systems.”
Deliveries are to resume in 2017, and Kaman says launch customers include existing operators Rotex Helicopter of Switzerland, which uses its aircraft for helilogging, and Atlanta-based Helicopter Express, which conducts aerial firefighting and heavy lifting.
Known as Adeline (Advanced Expendable Launcher with Innovative engine Economy), the partly reusable launcher has been in the early stages of development at Airbus since 2010. Airbus says Adeline would be immediately adaptable to Europe’s next-generation Ariane 6.2 launcher, which is expected to enter service in 2020.
