DYING COMET: Scientists at the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory in Palo Alto, Calif., have used the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly instrument on board NASA’s Solar Dynamics Observatory to observe the final death throes of a comet as it passed about 0.2 solar radii off the limb of the Sun. The comet was first discovered July 4, 2011, using the Large Angle and Spectrometric Chronograph aboard the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory and named C/2011 N3 (SOHO).
The demise of the Delta II rocket family and continuing uncertainty over the performance of newer small and medium-lift successors are forcing NASA to delay the allocation of launch vehicles to upcoming science missions.
March 7, 2012 Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. Aviation Week’s 54th annual Laureate Awards will recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision. Join us when we celebrate their significant contributions and the inspiration they provide. Reserve your place today. Visit www.aviationweek.com/laureates to see a complete list of the nominees.
PARIS — European Space Agency subsidies intended to offset high fixed costs incurred by the Arianespace commercial launch consortium could be unnecessary by decade’s end if ESA members agree to invest a little over €1 billion ($1.3 billion) to upgrade the Ariane 5 rocket, according to Astrium Chief Executive Francois Auque.
Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.
Republican members of Congress are bristling about the Obama administration’s decision to work with the European Union on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that the U.S. would not sign on to an EU Code of Conduct but would continue to work with the EU to develop a broader international code.
Of the $1.5 trillion the Defense Department spent on contracts from 2007 to 2010, a full 41% – or $606.3 billion – were granted without first going through a full and open competition, mostly by making use of one of seven Federal Acquisition Regulation exemptions, according to a new U.S. Government Accountability Office report. The most commonly used exemption, stating that “only one responsible source and no other supplies or services will satisfy agency requirements,” ate up $448.6 billion, or a whopping 74% of the total.
A Lockheed Martin/Raytheon team has opted not to protest its loss of a $3.5 billion contract managing U.S. missile defenses to a Boeing/Northrop Grumman team. Boeing re-established itself as the overseer of the massive Ground-Based/Midcourse Defense (GMD) program when the Missile Defense Agency announced the contract win late last year.
The Next-Generation Jammer (NGJ) will have to compensate for some past bad decisions that now hobble electronic warfare and the future of non-kinetic attack. The active, electronically scanned array (AESA) radar, for example, offers the potential for NGJ to become both an electronic sensor and weapon. But there will have to be intense development to make it an operational reality, and funding for such esoteric capabilities has been elusive.
OPEN SOURCE: NASA has unveiled an open-source development website that allows the public to “view and improve software source code,” the space agency says. The site, http://code.nasa.gov, is part of a White House open government initiative aimed at making the workings of federal agencies more transparent. The space agency uses open-source code for specific project and mission needs, to accelerate software development and to inform the public about its research.
In a “first step” toward implementing a more efficient procurement strategy for rockets, the U.S. Air Force has issued a $1.5 billion contract to United Launch Alliance for nine Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) to support launches in fiscal 2014, according to service officials.
Although sales are soaring, two of Israel’s leading defense companies are undergoing unsettling personnel changes: Israel Aerospace Industries’ (IAI’s) CEO for the last six years, Itzhak Nissan, is being forced to retire, and Aeronautics Defense Systems’ CEO and founder Avi Leumi will also depart his position in the coming weeks.
The U.S. Navy LPD-17 San Antonio Class Amphibious Transport Dock ship program is making strides, says the Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E), but the vessel is still a risky asset to deploy when and where it is likely to be needed. Navy officials maintain DOT&E operational concerns fail to take into account that the ship will be deployed with other vessels or assets that will be able to protect it.
March 7, 2012 Andrew Mellon Auditorium Washington, D.C. Aviation Week’s 54th annual Laureate Awards will recognize individuals and teams for their extraordinary accomplishments. Their achievements embody the spirit of exploration, innovation and vision. Join us when we celebrate their significant contributions and the inspiration they provide. Reserve your place today.
PARIS — The U.S. military has removed links to Phobos-Grunt tracking data posted on a public website detailing orbital parameters of the ill-fated Russian Mars mission that Russia says re-entered Earth’s atmosphere over the Pacific Ocean on Jan. 15.
NEW DELHI — India will finalize the schedule for the next launch of its heavy Geosynchronous Satellite Launch Vehicle Mark III (GSLV-Mk III) by May or June of this year. Ground testing is in progress for the GSLV-Mk III, which can lift a 4-ton spacecraft. “Once all the parameters are tested it will be launched on an experimental mission,” says K. Radhakrishnan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). It will be fitted with an Indian-made cryogenic engine. The previous two launches of GSLV were unsuccessful.
Last week the U.S. Army hosted almost 300 defense industry representatives at the Aberdeen Proving Ground in Maryland to further explain the ongoing testing process for its new “agile” approach to buying technologies to modernize its tactical communications network. This second Industry Day event is a big part of the Army’s biannual Network Integration Evaluation (NIE) held at Ft. Bliss, Texas, which puts an entire brigade from the 1st Armored Division into the field for weeks at a time to experiment with new equipment that the Army is considering buying.
The Pentagon’s Director of Operational Test and Evaluation (DOT&E) still has concerns about the U.S. Navy’s Ford-class carrier program meeting its schedule because of radar development, Joint Strike Fighter (JSF) integration and other key technological advancements for the ships being built by Huntington Ingalls Industries. The carrier program has been facing growing uncertainty about its schedule as speculation mounts that the Pentagon will delay development and delivery due to budget concerns.
An agreement by Canada, Denmark, the Netherlands, Luxembourg and New Zealand to become subscribers to the Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) broadband communications network has prompted the U.S. Air Force to exercise an option for Boeing to build a ninth spacecraft. With their $377 million contract, the five nations join Australia, which funded WGS-6 in 2008, as members of the Air Force WGS team.
NEW DELHI — The Indian government is likely to give its final approval this week for the $365 million purchase of 75 Pilatus trainer aircraft from Switzerland. Indian air force (IAF) chief N.A.K. Browne says the green light is expected from India’s Cabinet Committee on Security (CCS) within the next two days. As soon as the CCS gives its stamp of approval , “we should be able to sign the contract,” Browne says. Deliveries of the aircraft are expected to begin next year.
