Lockheed Martin Space Systems’ first Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) satellite is ready for delivery to Cape Canaveral, Fla., in preparation for a mid-2010 launch on an Atlas V launch vehicle.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — President Barack Obama will announce plans to continue work on the Orion crew exploration vehicle, perhaps as a lifeboat for the International Space Station, when he visits Kennedy Space Center on April 15. Also coming in the president’s first public address on his new space policy will be a timetable for deciding on an exploration architecture that would include a hydrocarbon-fueled heavy-lift launch vehicle to send humans on the first leg of trips deeper into the Solar System than low Earth orbit.
HOUSTON — NASA is considering a second extension of the shuttle Discovery’s mission to the International Space Station to carry out an unplanned spacewalk to replace a nitrogen tank assembly with a stuck thermal control system regulator valve. Ron Spencer, the lead station flight director, said April 14 that the management team plans to reach a decision by April 15 on whether Rick Mastracchio and Clay Anderson will carry out what would be their fourth mission spacewalk.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Orbital Sciences Corp. plans to use extra funding in the Fiscal 2011 NASA budget request to reduce risk on its Taurus 2/Cygnus commercial space cargo delivery system, perhaps including an instrumented test flight of the new stack before loading it with supplies for the International Space Station.
SKY HIGH: NASA’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va., said April 13 that it selected five companies to provide the agency with support for analytical and experimental research and technology development, primarily for aerospace vehicles. They are Analytical Services & Materials, ATK Space Systems, Boeing, Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and Northrop Grumman Systems. The Structures, Materials, Aerodynamics, Aerothermodynamics, and Acoustics Research and Technology contract is valued at up to $400 million over five years.
U.S. Air National Guard F-15C Golden Eagles — upgraded with advanced, long-range radars that also will serve as electronic warfare jamming and attack weapons — are becoming part of the Air Force’s composite air dominance force that also includes stealthy F-22s stationed at Langley AFB, Va.
A commercially provided water generation system is now aboard the International Space Station as part of the STS-131 payload, a key milestone in a unique contracting arrangement between NASA and Hamilton Sundstrand Space, Land & Sea. The United Technologies Corp. subsidiary, best known as the manufacturer of NASA’s Extravehicular Mobility Activity suits, built the Sabatier Reactor System to provide the space station with an alternative chemical reaction water production facility.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) Director Bruce Carlson says he plans to submit a research and technology investment road map with his Fiscal 2012 budget plan, and he hopes this will kick off increased spending in this area.
RIO DEAL: Brazilian Defense Minister Nelson Jobim told Pentagon reporters April 12 that he expects to make a decision on the country’s fighter competition by May to send to President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. “And then we’re going to keep the ball rolling after that,” he said at the signing of a U.S.-Brazilian defense cooperation agreement. Among several bidders, Chicago-based Boeing is pitching its F-18 but faces headwinds against declared favoritism by Lula for the Dassault Rafale and further French cooperation. One criticism of U.S.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — President Barack Obama will spend about 45 minutes on the ground in Florida April 15 explaining his administration’s “game-changing” space policy, and from comments heard by Aviation Week at the 26th National Space Symposium here, even many of the invitees in his hand-picked audience will be skeptical.
REFORM II: The U.S. House Armed Services Committee (HASC) is introducing acquisition reform legislation of its own that, if enacted, supposedly would address the remaining 80% of the defense acquisition system not covered by last year’s Senate-borne Weapon Systems Acquisition Reform Act. Aides say the bill would require the Pentagon to begin to “comprehensively manage the defense acquisition system and acquisition workforce to save taxpayer dollars and ensure that the right materiel gets to warfighters sooner.
GOVERNING OBJECTION: Several state governors are objecting to Pentagon plans to transfer 12 C-130 cargo aircraft from Air National Guard units to the active duty Air Force. “The proposal’s failure to consider the mission-critical needs of the National Guard, as well as the lack of consultation with states ... are deeply troubling,” the National Governors Association stresses in a letter. USAF generals say they have been discussing the move within headquarters and expect an announcement over the next week or so.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Air Force Secretary Michael Donley says he is close to making some decisions on how to shore up management and oversight of military space activities.
Boeing’s fourth GPS IIF satellite will enter the company’s pulse production line in the next couple of months, says Craig Cooning, vice president and general manager of space and intelligence systems for Boeing. The pulse line concept is fashioned after Boeing Commercial Airplanes’ production plan for the 737 airliner, he says. It is designed to reduce manufacturing time and streamline work by shifting satellites along a series of “pulse” points, at which specific tasks are done.
LONDON — The Conservative Party would “re-evaluate” British participation in the European Defense Agency (EDA) as part of an effort to save on “unnecessary and bureaucratic EU (European Union) defense initiatives.” The party’s election manifesto — published April 13 — claims “the hopeless mismanagement of defense procurement by this government has wasted billions of taxpayers’ money and left our Armed Forces underequipped and dangerously exposed.”
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — Hypersonic propulsion technology about to be tested in the X-51A WaveRider program could take a step toward operational use as a hypersonic missile under a U.S. Air Force study called Riptide.
DUEL BIDS: Lockheed Martin Corp. and Austal submitted their bids April 12 for the Fiscal 2010-2014 batch of Littoral Combat Ships (LCS). The Lockheed Martin team was awarded a contract to build the Navy’s first and third LCS, while Austal, teamed with General Dynamics, is on contract for the second and fourth ships. This new contract will provide for 10 ships and combat systems for five additional ships. The award for the estimated $5 billion program is anticipated in July.
MIXED DATA: A new Rasmussen public poll claims that a plurality of American adults surveyed by telephone believe the space shuttle program was worth the price, and they overwhelmingly support NASA. But nearly half (49%) now say that given the current state of the economy, the U.S. should cut back on space exploration. That number is similar to the result found in January but it is up six points from last July. About a third (34%) do not see a need for America to cut back, while 18% are undecided.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. — U.S. Strategic Command is in urgent need of an additional missile-warning system in orbit, according to Lt. Cmdr. Steve Curry, a spokesman for the command.
LANGLEY AFB, Va. — Requests from combat commanders in Afghanistan are not all for esoteric weapons and sensors. “The requests I have been getting are in the arena of limited-effect [grenade-size explosions without fragmentation] kinetic weapons that are all-weather, day/night, high precision and low collateral damage,” says Brig. Gen. Dave Goldfein, Air Combat Command’s (ACC) director of air and space operations (A3).
LOOKING GOOD: Forecast International projects the civil and commercial remote sensing satellite market worldwide to be worth $16 billion through 2019. The most important consumers of satellite imagery data remain government and military agencies, the firm said April 12. Internationally, partnerships continue to blur the line between government and industry.
EADS North America’s plans to quickly secure a U.S.-based strategic partner for its prime contractor bid for the U.S. Air Force KC-135 replacement contract appear to be encountering significant headwind.
A key Senate defense authorizer has advised military leaders that Congress is likely to mandate more fourth-generation-based fighter spending than the Pentagon or even the White House envision in coming years due to setbacks in the Joint Strike Fighter program.
