NASA is considering keeping shuttle Discovery as a donor vehicle after it returns from its last scheduled spaceflight this fall. “We’re having the discussions right now as to when we start to take Discovery off of flight status,” Shuttle Program Manager John Shannon said in an interview. “It may be more beneficial to us to keep Discovery in a flight-ready state as a donor vehicle in case Endeavour or Atlantis needed any parts that we didn’t have sufficient stock of.”
FARNBOROUGH — The Joint Strike Fighter’s distributed aperture system (DAS) could be useful for ballistic missile defense, according to Tom Burbage, executive vice president of F-35 program integration at Lockheed Martin. During a recent flight of the system on Northrop Grumman’s BAC-111 testbed near Baltimore, the electro-optical/infrared system captured the launch of a Falcon 9 rocket from 650 mi. away. Burbage hinted at the development during his JSF briefing to reporters July 19 at the Farnborough International Airshow.
HOUSTON — Spacewalking cosmonauts expect to complete the external outfitting of the new Russian Rassvet mini research and docking module during an excursion outside the International Space Station early next week. The six-hour spacewalk by Fyodor Yurchikhin and Mikhail Kornienko is scheduled to get underway July 26 at 11:45 p.m. EDT.
FARNBOROUGH — Pakistan Air Force (PAF) Air Chief Marshal Rao Qamar Suleman is here at this year’s Farnborough International Airshow inspecting the two Joint Fighter (JF)-17 Thunder fighter aircraft, initially designed and produced at Chengdu Aerospace Corp. in China’s Sichuan province. The JF-17s are now being produced at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex in Kamra, and according to the PAF chief, cooperation with China is likely to increase.
A malfunction of seals between the scramjet engine and its nozzle is believed to be responsible for the Boeing X-51A WaveRider experimental hypersonic vehicle failing to reach the planned Mach number on its May 25 first flight. Leakage of hot gases from the Pratt & Whitney Rocketdyne scramjet is thought to have generated unexpected side forces on the vehicle and resulted in a slower acceleration and shorter duration than planned.
Orbital Sciences reduced its margin guidance for the rest of the year to between 5% and 5.5%, a 50 basis point reduction, due to changes in NASA’s Orion spacecraft program. Apart from that correction, Orbital posted a strong second quarter, with revenues of $337.7 million, up 25% from 2009. Operating income was $12.2 million for the second quarter, compared with $12.8 million last year.
FARNBOROUGH — Airbus Military in the next few days expects to commence trials to land the A400M airlifter on unprepared runways, in the first significant step to validate some of the transport’s military performance. The first step is for the A400M, now christened the Grizzly, to land on a runway near Toulouse, France, with chalk pellets. Those are to show how stones would ricochet and impact the A400M’s fuselage, in advance of real landings in austere environments, says Fernando Alonso, head of flight testing for Airbus.
United Technologies Corp. (UTC) reported a strong second quarter, particularly at its Otis and Carrier divisions, both of which were buoyed by the recovering global housing market.
FARNBOROUGH — The European Space Agency (ESA) is preparing a new cost-cutting plan to prepare for possible future budget cutbacks by member nations that have been particularly hard hit by the economic crisis. The plan is one of a set of pre-emptive moves revealed last spring by ESA Director General Jean-Jacques Dordain to head off a possible cash crunch. Among them was a budget freeze for 2010 and 2011 to ensure spending does not surpass 2009 levels.
The House Science and Technology Committee marked up its $19 billion Fiscal 2011 NASA authorization draft July 22, setting the stage for a House-Senate conference to reconcile differences in their two versions of the bill. Building on work kicked off with the Senate Commerce Committee’s draft of a three-year NASA authorization bill, the Senate Appropriations Committee adopted its $19 billion NASA spending measure for Fiscal 2011 on July 21 (Aerospace DAILY, July 22).
PREMIUM CONTENT: Get reports filed by AVIATION WEEK’s Farnborough International Airshow coverage team, with links to company profiles and selected major programs, at AviationWeek.com/awin.
FARNBOROUGH — The new U.K. minister in charge of space, David Willets, says he will study the feasibility of providing Britain with an independent remote sensing capability.
NEW DELHI — India requires greater maritime awareness and a maritime policy for its navy that will allow it to work toward building the right force mix for protecting the country’s interests, according to the National Maritime Foundation (NMF) think tank. While the Indian navy released a vision document in 2006 focusing on a technology-enabled, networked force to safeguard maritime interests, experts say this will need to be backed by a national policy to give it teeth and direction.
DOCKING FAILURE: The Russians are continuing to investigate the cause of the failed automated Progress 38 docking to the International Space Station’s aft docking port on July 2 (Aerospace DAILY, July 6). The freighter made a successful automated docking two days later. The Progress aborted the first attempt, when cosmonauts activated TORU, the backup manual docking mechanism. The activation interrupted the capsule’s communications link to the station, prompting the Progress to abort the docking maneuver.
FARNBOROUGH — The U.S. Navy program manager for the H-60 helicopter, Capt. Dean Peters, says the potential exists to “take out the sonobuoy launcher” from the MH-60R, and launch fewer buoys using a different type of launch system. The goal is to reduce the amount of cabin space taken up by the sonobuoy launcher. “We’re evaluating other options to free up space and reduce cost,” Peters says. The Romeo’s Airborne Low Frequency Sonar (ALFS) worked so well during last year’s deployment that there “was not much need for the [sonobuoy] launcher.
FARNBOROUGH — Rockwell Collins has fused its technical support operation with its international organization to create a unified aftermarket services group, led by Greg Churchill, executive VP of Rockwell Collins International and Service Solutions (I&SS). The meshed operations should better enable Rockwell Collins to capitalize on air transport and defense aftermarket support opportunities in the global market, where most aviation growth will occur.
FARNBOROUGH and NEW DELHI — The planned visit next week to India of British Prime Minister David Cameron likely will coincide with the announcement of a deal for a further 57 BAE Systems Hawk advanced jet trainer aircraft. The state visit will see Cameron meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. The U.K.’s recently-elected Conservative-Liberal Democratic coalition government has already identified India as a nation with which it wants to build a strategic relationship.
BETTER ALIGNMENT: A new partnership between Andrews Space and Honeybee Robotics will have an integrated system prototype of control moment gyroscopes (CMGs) and control avionics available this summer for spacecraft weighing less than 100 kg. (220 lb.). The two companies announced July 19 they are teaming to provide three classes of CMGs. “We are also on track to have a working system sized for small- and micro-spacecraft up and running by January 2011,” says Jason Andrews, chief executive of his eponymous company.
The U.S. Senate Appropriations Commerce, Justice, Science subcommittee quickly approved its version of NASA’s Fiscal 2011 spending bill July 21, providing a $19 billion topline – the same level as the Obama administration’s request – in a key step that furthers a nascent compromise between Capitol Hill and the White House.
AMP ON: Congress seems unlikely to cut the USAF C-130 Avionics Modernization Program (AMP) despite the armed service’s lack of enthusiasm for the embattled effort, according to consultancy Forecast International. “The United States has already spent about $1.5 billion on development and there’s also international interest to consider,” notes Forecast’s Adam Feld.
