NASA has exempted the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) mission preparations from the federal government shutdown, primarily because the orbiter will be needed as a communications relay for the two rovers operating on the planet’s surface. Bruce Jakosky of the University of Colorado’s Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics in Boulder said in a post on the mission website that the agency “has analyzed the Maven mission relative to the Anti-Deficiency Act and determined that it meets the requirements allowing an emergency exception.”
Four teams competing to build advanced-rotorcraft demonstrators for the U.S. Army have each been awarded $6.5 million of government funding toward completing preliminary design of their aircraft, the service reveals—but only two teams will be selected to flight-test their designs.
As the nation continues its Afghanistan withdrawal, the U.S. Defense Department is focusing its efforts on the logistics of retrieving equipment, successful counternarcotics operations and ensuring proper contracting procedures, a recent Pentagon report says. “Along with the withdrawal of military personnel is the complex withdrawal of DoD (Defense Department) equipment,” the Pentagon says in its report, “Fiscal Year 2014 Comprehensive Oversight Plan for Southwest Asia,” released Sept. 30 by the Pentagon’s Inspector General.
The U.S. pivot to the Pacific advanced this week with a security agreement between the U.S. and Japan that will bring U.S. Global Hawk UAVs, MV-22 Ospreys and, eventually, the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter to Japan. Along with that, the two governments pledged to continue and in some cases expand their cooperation on space, cyberspace and missile defense, announcing that a second AN/TPY-2 radar system would be housed at the Air Self-Defense Force base at Kyogamisaki.
Thousands of aerospace workers could find themselves temporarily out of work if the U.S. government shutdown continues. Sikorsky Aircraft, which produces the UH-60 Black Hawk Helicopter, plans to furlough 2,000 workers at three plants on Oct. 7 due to the absence of Defense Contract Management Agency (DCMA) inspectors who audit and approve the manufacturing of military products. Sikorsky parent United Technologies warns that another 2,000 workers could be furloughed from its Pratt & Whitney and Aerospace units.
Golden Spike is looking to 2015 for U.S. prime contractor selections to develop hardware for a series of $1.5 billion, two-person commercial lunar expeditions marketed primarily to foreign powers, industry and possibly a few wealthy adventurers.
NAVAL RESEARCH: The non-profit Center for the Advancement of Science in Space has awarded the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) a $250,000 grant to use the International Space Station’s hyperspectral imager to study halmful algal bloom in coastal areas around the world. Also known as red tide, the algal bloom releases toxins that are harmful to humans and marine life.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Oct. 14 - 16 — 51st Annual SAFE Association Symposium, Grand Sierra Resort and Casino, Reno, Nev. For more information email to [email protected] Oct. 15 - 18 — Homeland Security 2013, Omni Shoreham Hotel, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.idga.org/events.cfm?filter=1005/
NEW DELHI — AgustaWestland has invoked its contractual right to arbitration over the bribery scandal that tainted its sale of AW101 helicopters to India for VIP transport. India has suspended payments on the €560 million ($762.91 million) contract to buy 12 AW101s and has threatened to cancel the purchase of the helicopters if the charges of bribery to middlemen both in India and abroad are proven. AgustaWestland asserts such a move would violate the terms of the 2010 contract.
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PRIME TIME: NBC plans to broadcast a reality TV competition called “Space Race” that will offer a flight to the edge of space on the Virgin Galactic SpaceShipTwo to its winner. The U.S. network signed a deal with Virgin Galactic and One Three Media, which produced Survivor, Celebrity Apprentice and other “unscripted series.” The production team will have “unprecedented access” to Virgin’s operations at Spaceport America, near Truth or Consequences, N.M., and will begin distribution activities at an upcoming marketing conference in Cannes, France.
Teams are forming bids for a long-anticipated program to provide the Australian Defense Force with a new fixed-wing pilot training system. Lockheed Martin has teamed with Pilatus Aircraft, supported by Hawker Pacific, to offer the PC-21 turboprop trainer for Project AIR 5428. BAE Systems has already teamed with Beechcraft to offer the T-6C turboprop.
NEW DELHI — India’s defense research agency is preparing to test, for the first time, a high-altitude interceptor missile in November, a senior scientist says. The exo-atmospheric test is “part of the developmental trials” for the first phase of India’s ballistic missile defense (BMD) system, an official at the Defense Research and Development Organization (DRDO) says. “Critical simulation tests” are under way to prepare for the flight. “The major trial will be held in the last week of November,” the DRDO official says.
Early peer-reviewed results of soil-sample analysis by an instrument on the Curiosity Mars rover hold potentially good news for future human explorers who will need to live off the land as much as possible, and bad news for scientists looking for evidence of past life on the planet. A scoop of geologic fines — dust and finely grained soil — collected for the Sample Analysis at Mars (SAM) instrument suite inside the rover body detected water molecules that someday may be recovered by astronauts practicing in situ resource utilization (ISRU).
TEL AVIV — The U.S.-Russian initiative to disarm Syria of its chemical weapons will be an enormous challenge, and the prospects for accomplishing it are doubtful, experts contend. Each step of the process, from finding all of the weapons to transporting them and then eventual disposal, will be fraught with risk.
As the U.S. government resigns itself to the prospect of long-term sequestration budget cuts, the Defense Department could consider lifting its ban on prime U.S. contractors acquiring each other, according to Exelis CEO David Melcher. “I don’t see the department … standing in the way of consolidation,” Melcher said Oct. 2 at an Atlantic Council lecture on the defense business in an age of austerity.
At NASA, which celebrated its 55th anniversary by furloughing 97% of its workforce, concern is centered on two programs trying to stay on schedule for their launch windows.
The Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) Aviation unit failed to obtain best value when it purchased sole-source spare parts from Boeing, the Pentagon Inspector General (IG) says in a recently released report.
The U.S. Navy successfully completed nine guided flight tests for the Long Range Land Attack Projectile (Lrlap) 155mm rocket-assisted guided projectile system, Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) announced late last month. All nine tests were accurately guided to their targets about 45 nm from the launch site, Navsea says. Lrlap functionality was proven through gun launch, rocket motor ignition, guidance acquisition, navigation to target and warhead detonation.
STILL SPENDING: A U.S. government shutdown and debt ceiling fight on Capitol Hill notwithstanding, nominal federal spending plans for fiscal 2014 and beyond entail $117 billion in defense information technology (IT) contracting opportunities, according to federal IT consulting company Deltek. Another $38 billion will come from civilian agencies like NASA, FAA and others. Furthermore, despite a common industry complaint that budget caps in recent years have essentially derailed new-start programs, that is not the case. Deltek said in a webinar to clients Oct.
