Though not as visible as work on the flight elements, upgrades to NASA’s Mission Control at Johnson Space Center here have been underway since the shuttle program’s retirement in 2011. The Mission Control Center for the 21st Century project is intended to set the stage for a U.S. human spaceflight comeback.
Engineers in NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate (STMD) are using data on supersonic retro-propulsion generated by SpaceX in its Falcon 9 flyback first-stage testing as a substitute for government-funded flight tests aimed at landing large payloads on the surface of Mars. With space-technology budgets tight, the STMD is using partnerships wherever possible to save money on its extensive basket of exploration-enabling technology-development efforts, and SpaceX fit the bill, according to Michael Gazarik, associate administrator for space technology.
McCAIN IN MESA: Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.), a leading member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, will speak at an Aug. 22 town hall meeting at Boeing’s Mesa, Arizona, facility, where the company produces AH-64 Apaches, A160T Hummingbird UAVs and key components for other aircraft. The facility is a major employer in McCain’s home state.
HOUSTON—Planet Labs’ Flock 1B collection of 28 CubeSats for commercial Earth observations began launching in pairs from the International Space Station’s (ISS) Japanese Kibo module on Aug. 19-20. As the latest “Doves” depart the ISS in the coming days, they will join the San Francisco startup’s Flock 1 collection of CubeSats deployed from the station in February and others launched previously aboard Ukrainian Dnepr and Russian Soyuz rockets, bringing the Planet Labs’ camera-toting, orbital CubeSat population to 71.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is taking an X-plane approach to developing technology for a next generation of combat vehicle that will be more mobile, survivable and affordable. The agency’s new Ground X-Vehicle Technology (GXV-T) program will investigate whether mobility and technology can reverse the need for more armor to protect fighting vehicles from advanced weapons.
BEIJING — Avic rotorcraft specialist Avicopter completed first flight of its AC311A light helicopter, an upgrade of the aircraft offered for the key 2-ton market. The flight of the aircraft, which introduces the Turbomeca Arriel 2B1A engine to the AC311 series, lasted 10 minutes and took place at Jingdezhen, the home of Changhe Aircraft, a long-established Chinese helicopter maker now part of Avicopter.
NAVAL BASE VENTURA COUNTY, California — For the first time, media have been allowed to observe “Black Dart,” the military’s large-scale, live counter-unmanned aerial system (CUAS)/air defense exercise. Black Dart, which takes place within and around Naval Base Ventura County, California, (formerly NAS Point Mugu, merged with the adjacent Port Hueneme Naval Base and San Nicholas Island), began in 2004 as a classified exercise.
NEW DELHI—Russia and India have completed the preliminary design stage of their joint-venture multipurpose transport aircraft, a prototype of which is expected to be rolled out in 2017.
HOUSTON—Lengthy spaceflight alters the human immune system in yet to be understood ways, according to results of two complementary studies carried out on 28 astronauts assigned to missions of about six months aboard the International Space Station. The findings raise concerns for plans to send human explorers on longer deep-space missions as well as to destinations far from traditional health care settings.
Norwegian Air International (NAI) and its supporters say the U.S. Transportation Department (DOT) does not have the right to deny its application for a foreign air carrier permit to operate in the U.S., while organized labor, led by the Air Line Pilots Association (ALPA), argue the opposite: that the public interest is best served by the DOT unilaterally denying NAI’s application.
JAKARTA—The Indonesian military has been on a buying spree likely to hold steady for the next decade, according to its outgoing defense minister. Purnomo Yusgiantoro became defense minister in 2009 and is the longest-serving cabinet minister in the government of President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono. But his term is about to end. Indonesia held its presidential elections on July 9; the new government will take office in the coming months and Purnomo will retire in late October.
PLAYING SLOTS: SES has purchased exploitation rights to two of Brazil’s slots in the geostationary belt for fixed satellite services and direct-to-home broadcasting, with plans to develop the slots within six years. SES subsidiary SES DTH do Brasil entered an agreement with Brazil’s national telecom agency, Anatel, for rights to the country’s slots at 48 and 64 deg. W. Long. The company agreed to develop the first within four years for C-, Ku- and Ka-band services, and the second within six years for direct-to-home broadcast satellite services.
While Boeing F/A-18 pilots may not like the idea that the days of piloted carrier ops may be numbered, there is little doubt that unmanned aircraft are better suited for certain missions, according to the X-47B flight-test director, himself a former F/A-18 pilot. The U.S. Navy executed its first-ever takeoff and landing of unmanned and manned aircraft in rapid succession on an aircraft carrier deck Aug. 17, using the X-47B and an F/A-18 operating from the USS Theodore Roosevelt (AWIN First, Aug. 18). Available Aircraft
LONDON — The U.K. Home Office has been told to pay £224 million ($372 million) to Raytheon following the cancellation of a failed secure borders program. An arbitration tribunal ruled that the British government should pay the company £50 million in damages and £9.6 million in contract charges, as well reimburse the money spent by the company on assets for the program, which was awarded to Raytheon Systems Ltd., part of the larger Raytheon group, back in 2007.
