HOUSTON — NASA’s Human Research Program has selected 10 medical and psychological studies of identical astronaut twins Scott and Mark Kelly as Scott launches in March 2015 on a one-year mission to the International Space Station—the longest spaceflight ever by an American, and a voyage intended to establish a health care baseline for future missions beyond Earth orbit.
New green propulsion technology developed by Swedish Space Corp.’s Ecaps division will help enable Skybox Imaging to sell black-and-white images at resolutions well below 1 meter, positioning the Mountain View, Calif.-based startup to compete with established remote-sensing service providers in the U.S., Europe and Israel.
For years, patrol ships have been the forgotten stepchildren of the U.S. Navy. As noted naval historian, analyst and author Norman Polmar writes in his most recent edition of the Naval Institute Guide to the Ships and Aircraft of the U.S. Fleet: “Historically, the Navy’s leadership has not supported the operation of these ships and on several occasions has attempted to discard the ships.”
A program to develop packages that can lie dormant on the ocean floor for years—then release unmanned vehicles on command—is moving toward a demonstration, with the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) to brief potential bidders on the next phases of its Upward Falling Payloads (UFP) program in Washington on Mar. 24.
With its study of future air dominance systems set to produce prototyping recommendations later this year, the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) is seeking ideas for distributed battle management concepts. The broad agency announcement (BAA) is one of several expected to emerge from the air dominance study, led by Darpa but also involving the U.S. Air Force and U.S. Navy. The study is seeking to identify what is needed to maintain U.S. air dominance beyond 2030.
HOUSTON — U.S. and Russian crewmembers departed the International Space Station late March 10, leaving the six-person orbiting science laboratory with its first Japanese commander in charge. The returning astronauts descended safely to Earth aboard the Soyuz TMA-10M spacecraft for a touchdown on the frigid, snow-blown plains of southern Kazakhstan.
THE PENTAGON — The U.S. decision on whether to refuel or decommission the aircraft carrier CVN-73 USS George Washington promises to leave a mark on the fleet size, the U.S. Navy’s aircraft needs and the nation’s overall combat ship force.
LONDON — Airbus Defense and Space has rolled out a new version of the PZL 130 Orlik turboprop training aircraft. The Orlik Multi-Purpose Trainer (MPT) was rolled out from the company’s facility at Warsaw-Okecie Airport in Poland on March 7, and features a modernized glass cockpit and other systems to allow operators to carry out more basic tactical training and a lead-in to combat training. The aircraft is a variant of the Orlik TC II, which is already in service with the Polish air force as their basic training aircraft.
JEJU, South Korea — The Korean Aerospace Research Institute (KARI) plans to launch a one-off rocket in 2017 to test its Woorae-1 rocket engine, the key technology of its forthcoming KSLV-II space launcher. The KSLV-II, a largely indigenous successor to the much smaller Russo-Korean KSLV-I launched between 2009 and 2013, is due to make its first flight in 2020.
International Launch Services (ILS) is poised to benefit from new satellite export loan guarantees to be made available through the new Export Insurance Agency of Russia (Exiar), which will operate similarly to France’s Coface, ILS President Phil Slack said March 10.
A NASA-backed team is at work on advanced space-telescope technology that may allow researchers to measure the atmospheric composition of extra solar planets directly, by blocking the instrument-blinding direct light of a target star. NASA and Orbital Sciences Corp. are developing a spacecraft, set for launch in 2017, that is designed to add to the catalogue of exoplanets generated by NASA’s Kepler space telescope and by ground-based instruments.
The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (Darpa) will kick off the program to demonstrate the Tactical Boost/Glide (TBG) hypersonic weapon on March 26 with a briefing in Washington for potential proposers. TBG is one of two new high-speed strike weapon programs Darpa plans to pursue with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL). The other is the Hypersonic Air-Breathing Weapon Concept (HAWC) program.
BUDGET NEWS: With the release of the Obama administration’s fiscal 2015 budget request last week, the Aviation Week Intelligence Network’s budget digest page is your one-stop source for news, data and analysis of programs and priorities as the request makes its way through Congress. AWIN subscribers can access the page at www.aviationweek.com/awin/USBudget2015.aspx
LINKOPING, Sweden — Saab is conducting a study of future undersea warfare options for Sweden’s defense materiel agency, FMV, the company announced March 11. Due to be completed in June, the study could be the first step in a Saab-led reorganization of Sweden’s submarine industry, with the defense company becoming the prime contractor for the nation’s next submarine.
THE PENTAGON — The U.S. Navy plans to request EA-18G Growlers in the service’s unfunded priorities list to address future electronic attack (EA) needs for joint operations, says Adm. Jonathan Greenert, the chief of naval operations. During a March 10 budget briefing, Greenert did not say how many additional aircraft would be included in the request, but a senior Navy official said the service would ask for 22 in the list it planned to send to the Defense Department later that day.
ARMY Ronal Industries Inc., Troy, Mich. was awarded a $7,422,150 firm-fixed-price, multiyear indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity contract for 2,075 fan vaneaxials for the M109 howitzer. Funding and work performance location will be determined with each order. The estimated completion date is July, 31, 2019. Bids were solicited via the Internet with two received. Army Contracting Command, Warren, Mich., is the contracting activity (W56HZV-14-D-0042). NAVY
Plans by the U.S. Army to purchase another 100 Airbus UH-72 Lakota light utility helicopters to support future rotary-wing training will not affect Airbus Helicopters’ plans to assemble AS350 Ecureuil/Astar helicopters in the U.S., company officials say. Airbus Helicopters, formerly Eurocopter, announced in September 2013 that it would begin assembly of the light, single-engined helicopter at the company’s Columbus, Miss., plant after the fiscal 2014 budget revealed Army plans to cut procurement of the UH-72 Lakota.
While the Pentagon rethinks and restructures its Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), the U.S. has agreed to help Japan develop its own coastal warship with similar attributes. Recent Pentagon guidance directs the U.S. Navy to halt negotiations for any more LCS contracts less than halfway through the service’s proposed 52-ship buy, as the Defense Department reviews other options to make the vessels more lethal and survivable.
Airbus Defense and Space and Intelsat have signed a multiyear Ku-band maritime mobile capacity agreement to bridge the satellite fleet operator’s existing service to its new, high-throughput Epic platform slated to enter service in 2016.
NASA, working in partnership with Planetary Resources, Inc., will offer $35,000 in awards as part of an Asteroid Data Hunter competition intended to improve the detection of near Earth objects that could pose an impact threat or provide future space resources.
LONDON — Airbus Defense and Space and the Turkish government are said to be involved in “intensive” discussions over the delayed delivery of the country’s first Airbus A400M airlifter. The talks heated up after comments by Airbus CEO Tom Enders at the company’s annual press conference on Feb. 26, during which he described the protracted negotiations and “bargaining” between Turkey and Airbus over the late delivery of Turkey’s first A400M as an “increasingly unbearable situation.
