WASHINGTON – The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command (Navsea) terminated the LPD 17 Class multi-ship, multi-option (MSMO) maintenance contract with prime contractor Earl Industries of Norfolk, Va., the command said May 6, because of Navy findings of improper work performed, concern regarding Earl Industries’ quality assurance program and the company’s ability to control the quality and documentation of work it performs.
SBIRS SCRUBBED: Launch of the first U.S. Air Force Space-Based Infrared System satellite, slated for May 6 at Cape Canaveral, was scrubbed due to weather. At issue were cumulus clouds that failed to clear by the end of the launch window close to 3 p.m. Officials are planning to attempt a launch on May 6 between 2:10-2:50 p.m. Once launched, Sbirs is slated to be certified to warn of ballistic missile attack within 18 months.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) May 9 - 12 — Naval Helicopter Association 2011, Centennial of Naval Aviation Symposium, Town & Country Resort and Conference Center, San Diego, Calif. For more information call (619) 435-7139 or go to www.navalhelicopterassn.org/2011-nha-symposium
Houston – Top NASA managers set May 16 at 8:56 a.m., EDT, as the new target date for launching Endeavour’s delayed STS-134 mission to the International Space Station with the $2 billion Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer and external spare parts. Endeavour’s final flight, STS-134, was also formally extended from 14 to 16 days. A full countdown is set to begin May 13.
London – Balancing arms control and commercial interests is difficult in the best of times, but at a time of shrinking budgets – when foreign sales take on added industrial importance – the issue becomes even more complicated. One place where that is already playing out is in Washington, where discussions on reforming export controls are in full swing. There may also be additional pressure for changes at the international level.
Washington – Northrop Grumman is planning to publicly unveil its secret Firebird aircraft later this month at the Pentagon’s Empire Challenge, an exercise designed to demonstrate intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance technologies that can be fielded quickly. Despite mature work in the unmanned rotorcraft, airship and high-altitude UAS markets, company officials have remained unsatisfied with the dominance of General Atomics in the medium-altitude, long-endurance (MALE) UAS market with its Predator, Reaper and Gray Eagle designs.
NASA’s $700 million Gravity Probe B (GP-B) experiment has demonstrated two key aspects of Albert Einstein’s General Theory of Relativity, but not to the hoped-for degree of confidence because of the complexity of making the extremely subtle measurements in space. The project generated valuable technology and scientific spin-offs, including 100 new Ph.D. scientists whose graduate work contributed to GPB. It also taught some important lessons on the risks associated with tackling such an ambitious project.
The Navy signed a Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) with the Army on May 2 transferring all five of the Army’s Joint High Speed Vessels (JHSV) to the Navy. “This agreement with the Army demonstrates our commitment to reducing redundancies and saving money for the taxpayer,” Navy Secretary Ray Mabus said in a statement, calling the MOA “a responsible step.” Army Secretary John McHugh said in a statement, “The transfer of the JHSV is about aligning our core competencies, while at the same time realizing a measure of managerial efficiency.
DISCOVERY MISSION: Science teams at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Proxemy Research Inc., of Gaithersburg, Md., and the University of Maryland will get $3 million each from NASA to advance concepts for a Discovery-class planetary mission in 2016. JPL’s Geophysical Monitoring Station, headed by Principal Investigator Bruce Banerdt, would study the interior structure of Mars. The Titan Mare Explorer proposed by Ellen Stofan of Proxemy Research would land in a hydrocarbon sea on Saturn’s moon Titan.
Washington – The chairman of the House Armed Services Committee praised General Electric and Rolls-Royce for offering to fund the remaining stages of development for its F136 engine – which the Defense Department has canceled – and said the U.S. government should continue to let the companies operate at government facilities.
The helicopter that crashed in the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound in Pakistan was not undone by a mechanical failure or a pilot problem, the chairman of the House Armed Services Committee said at the Heritage Foundation on Thursday. The helicopter, which appears from published photographs to be an H-60 Black Hawk, crashed into the wall of the compound and ran into problems with a 15-deg. difference in temperature in the courtyard’s compound. “They couldn’t hold the hover,” said McKeon, who has received a briefing on the mission’s details.
Almaty, Kazakhstan – The need to monitor and protect Kazakhstan’s territorial borders and resources explains why the country is investing in satellite technology. Kazcosmos, the National Space Agency of Kazakhstan, has contracted with Astrium/Surrey Satellite to produce two Earth-observation satellites, the first of which is due to launch from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in 2013, says Kazcosmos chairman Talgat Musabayev. He says the spacecraft will have 6.5-meter resolution, making it a medium-resolution satellite.
MOSCOW – With much attention on Russia’s efforts to revive its combat aircraft fortunes, the country is also more quietly making inroads to reviving its military transport aircraft activities. Russia’s United Aircraft Corporation (UAC) is completing assembly of the first prototypes of the new Ilyushin Il-76MD-90A military transport, also known as Il-476 or Item 476. The first-flight prototype and the aircraft to be used for static testing are being assembled at Ilyanovsk-based Aviastar-SP facility, a UAC subsidiary.
After months of studying reasons for the growing cost of the United Launch Alliance’s (ULA) Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELV), Air Force officials are focusing on how to reduce – or at least better account for – overhead rates and indirect costs on the program, according to senior service officials.
