The Phoenix lander has run into trouble getting samples of the clumpy Martian soil at its north polar landing site into its ovens for analysis. Mission controllers discovered the problem over the weekend when a large sample dumped by the lander’s robotic arm onto a sifting screen on the Thermal and Evolved-Gas Analyzer (TEGA) failed to yield enough particles for analysis.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER – The combined crews of the space shuttle Discovery and the International Space Station (ISS) are putting the finishing touches on Japan’s big new Kibo laboratory module, after a final spacewalk and some robotics work over the weekend to get Kibo’s exterior ready for operations.
SEATTLE – Boeing is working to make key radar and systems decisions for the U.S. Navy’s upcoming EPX signals-intelligence contest, and plans to finalize its team by year’s end. The Boeing bid is founded on the 737-800-based P-8A maritime patrol aircraft under development for the Navy. Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman also are competing for EPX, which is expected to be a $6 billion - $9 billion contest covering up to 26 aircraft.
TUCSON, Ariz – The Phoenix Mars lander’s robotic arm was poised with a load of soil above the spacecraft’s organic chemistry ovens on June 6, ready to drop the sample into instruments to initiate formal science operations at the arctic landing site. The lander is to complete the baking of this sample at up to 1,800 deg. F about June 10 in an initial search for organic clues to possible Martian life.
SOLAR WIN: Lockheed Martin Space Systems Co., the NASA Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., and a national and international team of co-investigators have been selected by NASA to undertake a $750,000 six-month study to design a new NASA Small Explorer Mission called the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS). In the recent announcement, NASA selected six missions for study (Aerospace DAILY, May 30). Two of them will eventually be chosen to move forward to development, with each mission capped at $105 million.
JOHNSON SPACE CENTER - Crews inspecting post-launch damage to Launch Complex 39A at Kennedy Space Center were forced to don hazmat gear after asbestos padding was found behind masonry in the Apollo-vintage flame trench under the pad, but space shuttle managers don’t expect a delay in their launch schedule as a result of the incident.
HELO RESUPPLY: The U.S. Army and Marine Corps could one day use unmanned helicopters to re-supply troops in-theater, if Lockheed Martin and Kaman Aerospace have anything to say about it. The companies demonstrated to the services the feasibility of transporting supplies via unmanned K-Max helicopter during a 45-minute operation at Ft. Eustis, Virginia, in April. The K-Max took off, landed and picked up and delivered a 3,000-pound sling load. A single ground operator used both spoken and data commands to control the aircraft through a data link.
NO TANKER LANGUAGE: Northrop Grumman does not expect any U.S. Air Force aerial tanker language – so far – during the full Senate’s consideration of the fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill, a spokesman says. Senators – possibly including both presumptive major presidential candidates – are expected to debate the bill later this month. Randy Belote, Northrop vice president of corporate and international communications, says he sensed little appetite in that chamber to pre-empt a report by congressional investigators on Boeing’s bid protest. That report is due by June 19.
A senior Pentagon official said June 6 that Defense Secretary Robert Gates is strongly considering Michael Donley to replace Michael Wynne as Secretary of the U.S. Air Force. Donley is director of Administration and Management with DOD’s Washington Headquarters Services (WHS), an operations and program management office within the Pentagon. He was named to the position by former Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld in 2005.
FINE FELLOWS: DOD has announced the selection of six university and faculty scientists and engineers comprising the first class of its new National Security Science and Engineering Faculty Fellows (NSSEFF) program. The Fellows program provides grants to top-tier researchers from U.S. universities to conduct long-term, unclassified, basic research of strategic importance to DOD.
BUDGET STRIKE: The U.S. Air Force is considering “dramatic and disproportionate cuts” of the Air National Guard and Air Force Reserve budgets under fiscal 2010 budget-writing, according to Mackenzie Eaglen, the Heritage Foundation’s senior policy analyst for national security. The conservative think tank analyst is calling for senior uniformed and civilian defense leaders to lobby White House budget chiefs to avoid a purported one-eighth cut. Eaglen argues that the air guard and reserves are the two “most cost-effective organizations in the U.S.
MANNED TUG: Momentum appears to be building to start work on an alternative European human spaceflight capability if talks on joining Russia’s Crew Space Transportation System are not successful. A major factor driving the new European initiative was the flawless launch and docking of the first Automated Transfer Vehicle (ATV) space tug, which would serve as a basis for the proposed system.
SEATTLE – Boeing plans to put “power-on” the first P-8 Poseidon maritime patrol variant of the 737-800 at its Renton, Wash, factory this week in preparation for roll-out, which is expected in early July, slightly ahead of the original plan. Two-thirds of the systems had been installed on the first aircraft, T-1, on June 5 and roll-out is expected to take place just ahead of delivery of the second P-8 fuselage from Spirit Aerosystems in Wichita, Kan.
AUTHORIZING NASA: The U.S. House will consider legislation reauthorizing NASA this week, according to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer (D-Md.). The House Science Committee approved the bill last week. Democratic leadership in that chamber also expects to consider the supplemental appropriations for warfighting in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well as several domestic desires (Aerospace DAILY, May 23).
UAV APPROVED: The French armed forces have cleared the SIDM interim medium-altitude long-endurance unmanned aerial vehicle (MALE UAV) to enter the inventory. The SIDM, which has an autonomy of 20 hours and can carry optical infrared and radar sensors, had initially been expected to be ready in 2006 but was delayed by various problems, including issues related to the Israel Aircraft Industries flying vehicle. France has an urgent requirement to deploy the system, notably in Afghanistan.
SEATTLE – Boeing, Insitu and the U.S. Navy are studying a variant of the ScanEagle unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) that could be air-dropped from a P-8A or other aircraft to detect and stealthily track submarines over many hours.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected]. (Bold type indicated new calendar listing.) June 9 - 10 Cyber Security, “Missions, Initiatives, Opportunities & Risks,” Hilton Arlington & Towers, Washington, D.C. For more information go to www.technologytraining.com
ARIANE RESCHEDULED: Arianespace says it has set June 12 as the new launch date for the U.K.’s Skynet 5C military communications satellite. The launch, which will also orbit the Turksat 3A commercial spacecraft, has been delayed twice because of launch vehicle problems. It had initially been scheduled for May 23.
WIDE LOAD: With the recent signing of a $120 million modification contract for the Heavy Expanded Mobility Tactical Truck (HEMTT) A4 vehicles, Oshkosh will continue production of its Family of Heavy Tactical Vehicles (FHTV). The contract, awarded by the U.S. Army Tank Automotive and Armaments Command, brings the total FHTV contract total value to over $2 billion. The latest contract modification adds 233 HEMTT A4 vehicles to the fleet, including such variants as the recovery vehicle, fuel service vehicle and load handling system vehicle.
Embraer says it is close to starting develop of its first cargo aircraft with a launch contract from the Brazilian air force. Fernando Ikedo, vice president of marketing intelligence for defense and government markets, said June 6 that the company expects a go-ahead for a 22-aircraft purchase of the aircraft, the C390, in the second half, pending finalization of financing and partnering details and aircraft specifications.
Special Briefing: Strategic Communications in Aerospace & Defense Shaping the Future August 11, 2008 | 4:30PM to 6:30PM Embassy Suites (next to the Von Braun Center) Huntsville, Alabama
NO SURPRISE: The Defense Science Board’s 2008 Summer Study on Capability Surprise will meet in closed sessions June 10-12, 25-27, and July 10-12 in Arlington, Va. The board, which advises the U.S. defense secretary and acquisition chief on scientific and technical matters, will discuss interim results from an ongoing task force “on the whats and whys of capability surprise and the measures to ensure that [the Defense Department] and its interested partners are best positioned to prevent, or mitigate, capability surprise against itself.”
FIGHTERS WANTED: Whatever their generation, fighter aircraft are in demand. The United Arab Emirates has confirmed preliminary discussions with France on the potential purchase of Dassault Rafales to replace its 63 French-supplied Mirage 2000-9s beginning in 2013. The Rafale lost to the F-16 in Morocco last year, and Lockheed Martin has just received a $233.6 million contract to begin production of 24 Advanced Block 52 F-16C/Ds for delivery to the North African country beginning in 2011. Separately, the U.S.
SOLID STATE: Boeing achieved the highest known simultaneous power, beam quality and run time for any solid-state laser when it fired its new thin-disk laser system repeatedly in recent tests, the company said June 3. In each firing, the high-energy laser achieved power levels of more than 25 kilowatts for multisecond durations, with a measured beam quality suitable for a tactical weapon system. According to Boeing, the tests prove the concept of scalability to a 100-kilowatt-class system based on the same architecture and technology.
