HOUSTON — Astronauts assigned to multi-month or multi-year missions to near-Earth asteroids and Mars may face an accelerated onset of Alzheimer’s-like symptoms from cosmic radiation exposure, according to a NASA-funded study by researchers at the University of Rochester Medical Center (URMC) that used mice as subjects.
LONDON — Airbus Military has begun flight tests of new winglets for its C295 twin-engine transport aircraft. According to the company, the winglets are just one in a series of developments under way on the aircraft and are designed to improve takeoff, climb and cruise performance.
Hurricane Sandy came and went in late 2012, as did many of the startup issues at Virginia’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport (MARS), elevating the prospects that Orbital Sciences Corp. will complete its NASA Commercial Orbital Transportation Systems program milestones in the new year and begin lucrative cargo deliveries to the International Space Station.
NEW DELHI — The much-awaited test launch of the air version of the BrahMos supersonic cruise missile has been further delayed and now India hopes to undertake the drop trials by December 2013. India had planned to conduct the test launch by December 2012. The development of the missile is already over three years behind schedule.
SPACE LEGISLATION: Congress on Jan. 2 extended for one year an indemnification program allowing the government to share the cost with industry against injuries or property damage suffered by the public in a commercial space launch. The House sought a two-year extension, but the Senate shortened the timeline. The bill also provides a waiver through 2020 allowing U.S. astronauts to fly aboard Russian spacecraft to gain access to the International Space Station.
The Philadelphia-based U.S. Naval Supply Systems Command Weapon Systems Support (Navsup WSS) site needs to better track and document its sole-source procurement, a recent Department of Defense Inspector General (IG) report says. Because of some issues with the sole-source contracting at Navsup WSS, “improper sole-source awards could occur,” the IG says in its December report. “Personnel could not make informed decisions that the proposed contractors were the sole source. Also, interested sources were not aware of future contracting opportunities.”
STATUS QUO: Republican leadership of House Appropriations subcommittees will remain unchanged when it comes to aerospace and defense panels, according to Chairman Hal Rogers (R-Ky.). Rep. Bill Young (R-Fla.), the current chairman of the defense subcommittee, received a waiver to continue in that capacity. Young has led the party on the committee since 2005 and had a previous run as chairman from 1995-1998. He also served as chairman of the full House Appropriations Committee from 1999-2004. Rep.
KERRY NOMINATED: On Dec. 21 President Obama nominated Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.), the son of a diplomat, to replace Secretary of State Hillary Clinton. Kerry, the chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, was widely anticipated to receive the nomination. Obama was also expected to name former Sen. Chuck Hagel (R-Neb.) as Defense Secretary. That did not happen, as opposition in the Senate and in wider Washington continued over Hagel’s past impolitic comments.
Despite spending the last year railing against across-the-board budget cuts, many in the Republican Party are now ready to accept them—at least in the short term. Before the presidential election, sequestration had been front and center for Republicans, particularly those on the House Armed Services Committee (HASC).
Boeing and Cassidian have been shortlisted in a competition to provide an off-the-shelf shipborne unmanned aerial system to assist the U.K. Royal Navy in its anti-piracy missions.
In observance of the year-end holiday season, Aerospace Daily & Defense Report will not publish another issue until Jan. 3. Meanwhile, subscribers to the Aviation Week Intelligence Network can visit www.aviationweek.com/awin for updates.
U.S. lawmakers representing helicopter communities are lauding a provision in the final 2013 defense authorization measure they say prohibits the Pentagon from entering new contracts with Rosoboronexport, the Russian arms provider.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) Jan. 7 - 10, 2013 — 61st AIAA Aerospace Sciences Meeting, New Horizons Forum and Aerospace Exposition, Gaylord Texan Hotel and Convention Center, Grapevine (Dallas/Ft. Worth Region), Tex. For more information go to www.aiaa.org/asm2013/ Jan. 9 - 10 — Fourth Annual China Aerospace Manufacturing Summit, Post Hotel, Harbin City, China. For more information go to www.galleonevents.com
LONDON — The Sultanate of Oman has finally signed a long-awaited contract to buy 12 Eurofighter Typhoon fighter aircraft. The deal, signed in Oman on Dec. 21, also includes eight Hawk jet trainers and in-service support. In all, the deal is worth £2.5 billion ($4.06 billion). Manufacturing of the aircraft is due to begin in 2014, with first deliveries in 2017. The new Typhoons will replace Oman’s aging fleet of Sepecat Jaguars, while the new Hawk Advanced Jet Trainers (AJTs) are likely to replace the fleet of Hawk 100s used for training.
Five years ago, the idea of easing export controls on commercial satellites was politically unthinkable. That mindset has changed during the last half-decade, as the idea that those restrictions are harming both national security and the U.S. industrial base has gradually gained traction. And now, during a year in which the U.S. Congress barely passed even routine bills, lawmakers came together to shed long-standing restrictions on the export of commercial satellites.
As the U.S. migrates away from the ground-war mindset that colored most of the Pentagon thinking through the past decade, the Navy sees a potential resurgence in submarine programs similar to what the service enjoyed during the Cold War. That king of renaissance should help provide support for future, relatively expensive Navy submarine programs, such as the SSBN(X) ballistic missile sub replacement fleet.
Documents released after the U.S. Court of Federal Claims denied a protest filed by Sierra Nevada Corp. to prevent the U.S. Air Force recompeting its Light Air Support (LAS) contract depict a shambolic source selection and potential bias toward Sierra Nevada, offering the Embraer Super Tucano.
Engineers reached a milestone in the development of the parachute recovery system for NASA’s Orion deep space crew vehicle on Dec. 20, as a 21,000-lb. spacecraft simulator floated to an intact landing at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground in Arizona, following an intentional drogue chute failure. Drop tests of the four-person capsule are scheduled to resume in February with an intentional main chute failure.
An engineering board has cleared the first element of NASA’s heavy-lift Space Launch System (SLS) for preliminary manufacturing, keeping the big new government-owned rocket on track for a first flight with the Orion multipurpose crew vehicle in 2017.
