ROCKOT READY: Khrunichev-Astrium joint venture Eurockot says its Rockot light launcher is ready to return to service. The Rockot had been sidelined since early April by the failure of a Proton M launch vehicle that left its payload in a useless orbit. The Breeze KM upper stage on Rockot and the Breeze M kick stage on Proton share some technology. Flight clearance followed issuance of a Russian State Commission report confirming the cause of the incident — a ruptured exhaust gas duct — and corrective measures to be applied before return to flight (Aerospace DAILY, May 15).
MODERN MINUTEMAN: While nuclear deterrence is not front and center in the headlines today as it was in the Cold War, U.S. Air Force Maj. Gen. Thomas Deppe argues it remains relevant in today’s threat environment. As vice commander of Air Force Space Command, he says the Minuteman III fleet needs upgrades to keep the missile system viable through 2030, a 10-year extension from earlier plans. A new guidance system that can be repaired or replaced through a side access panel is needed.
The U.S. House of Representatives has passed a measure tucked into its fiscal 2009 defense authorization bill that could lead to a permanent freezing of classified Pentagon satellite funding to foreign companies that are developing or producing ITAR-free satellite technology for China. The measure is aimed at European defense electronics giant Thales, and in particular its Thales Alenia Space joint venture with Finmeccanica.
Phoenix Mars Lander mission controllers say the latest images from the spacecraft show that it could have blown away top soil when it landed to reveal ice. Pictures from the robotic arm camera show flat, smooth surfaces exposed beneath the lander that NASA officials say “could be an exposure of ice or rock. We’re pushing for ice, though we don’t know if that’s the case yet — it’s pretty exciting stuff.”
BERLIN – Hispasat will buy and operate the first of a new family of spacecraft intended to give the European satellite industry a foothold in the growing market for advanced small telecom satellites. The satellite, Hispasat AG1, will allow the Spanish operator to extend its Ku-band coverage over the Iberian peninsula and the Americas while testing a new on-board processing package and active antenna designed to permit a more flexible allocation of Ka-band broadband data capacity.
To help the German army close some operational gaps in its CH53G fleet, Eurocopter will retrofit six more of the transport helicopters with ballistic self-protection and special mission equipment. The German Federal Office for Defense Technology and Procurement awarded the 24 million euro ($37 million) contract to Eurocopter Deutschland on May 28.
A coalition of researchers is partnering with NASA to perform research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that they hope will lead to a vaccine against salmonella poisoning. A leading cause of food poisoning and diarrhea, salmonella is not just an inconvenience but “a major killer of children” worldwide, according to Timothy Hammond, associate chief of staff for research and development at the Durham Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in North Carolina.
STOVL FLIGHT: Lockheed Martin’s first short take-off and vertical landing (STOVL) F-35B could fly for the first time this week. Aircraft BF-1 completed hover pit tests of the propulsion system on May 25, and test pilot Graham Tomlinson subsequently flew the first F-35, aircraft AA-1, twice to familiarize himself with the aircraft. Taxi tests were planned for the weekend. The F-35B initially will fly in conventional take-off and landing mode, with STOVL tests now expected to begin early in 2009.
JAGM SHOWDOWN: Raytheon and Lockheed Martin are the only two companies proposing options to the U.S. Army for its Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM), which is to eventually replace the Maverick and Hellfire systems. JAGM emerged after the Army abruptly cancelled Lockheed Martin’s Joint Common Missile program for financial reasons. Proposals were due last month, and a contract award is expected in mid-August, according to an industry official.
DUTCH RAVEN: The Netherlands Ministry of Defense soon will be operating Raven small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS), under a $7.7 million contract with manufacturer AeroVironment. The order includes new aircraft systems as well as training, logistics support and airworthiness certification. Each Raven system typically consists of three aircraft, a ground control station, a remote video terminal, system spares and related services. The Raven weighs 4.2 pounds and can be carried by backpack and launched by hand.
BACKING OFF: The U.S. Coast Guard is temporarily backing away from its attempts to recover $96 million for the faulty conversion of eight 123-foot patrol boats – while the Justice and Homeland Security departments pursue investigations of the Deepwater fleet modernization project. “We are taking a step back from our contractual actions,” says Rear Adm. Gary Blore, the Coast Guard’s acquisition chief.
NO PROTEST: Boeing has informed the U.S. Air Force it will not protest the service’s decision to award a $1.5 billion development contract for the next-generation of GPS satellites to its rival, Lockheed Martin, according to industry sources. The deal, worth up to $3.568 billion, effectively shuts Boeing out of the precision timing and navigation satellite market for years once the company completes its GPS IIF work, which is expected to last about three more years. Boeing’s problems delivering capabilities on time for GPS IIF likely contributed to the company’s loss.
The U.S. Air Force plans to wrap up testing of its first active electronically scanned array radar designed for use on the Global Hawk unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) this fall, says Col. Jim Shaw, the program’s director at the Electronic Systems Center at Hanscom Air Force Base, Mass. This is a slip from plans to wrap up testing in May. Complications calibrating the radar, which program officials say have been resolved, required more time to handle.
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FASTER, FASTER: U.S. Air Force Gen. Arthur Lichte, Air Mobility Command chief, wants to accelerate purchases of the new KC-45A tanker. He hopes to get funding approved for the fiscal 2010 budget request now being put together at the Pentagon. The goal is to boost production from 15 per year to 26 per year. A faster infusion of the new aircraft into the fleet would allow faster retirement of maintenance-needy KC-135s; otherwise, some KC-135s will still be flying in 2040. A potential problem with the KC-135 fleet is “what keeps me awake at night,” Lichte says.
The U.S. Air Force is again extending Raytheon’s contract to design and produce a significant upgrade to its radar-guided Advanced Medium-Range Air-to-Air Missile (AMRAAM).
Ernst Stuhlinger, a space-science pioneer and leading member of the team of German rocket experts who accompanied Wernher von Braun to the U.S., died May 25 in Huntsville, Ala. He was 94. A Ph.D physicist from the University of Tubingen who survived Stalingrad as an enlisted soldier in the German army, Stuhlinger went on to help answer the Soviet Union’s Sputnik I with the Explorer I, launched on a U.S. Army Redstone rocket developed by von Braun’s team.
PASADENA, Calif. – The robotic arm of NASA’s Phoenix Mars lander has been successfully unstowed, marking the second most critical milestone for the mission following its safe landing on May 25.
PARIS – The French Assembly defense committee says it will move to amend some provisions in a white paper planned to reorient France’s defense priorities in light of new threats and budget realities. In particular, committee chairman Guy Tessier, a member of the ruling UMP party, says the Assembly will urge changes to reflect a greater focus on air mobility and less emphasis on complex hardware like digital battlefield systems.
Thales Alenia Space, Telespazio and the Italian Fire Brigade have teamed up to demonstrate a location-based service to enhance civil protection activities. The demonstration, carried out in cooperation with the Sussex, England, police department under the European Liaison program, was intended to show how public safety teams can be provided with guidance and other critical data.
MAJORITY SHARES: Space Transport Inc., majority shareholder in Proton operator International Launch Services (ILS), has sold its shares to Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center. The move will give the Proton prime contractor effective control of the venture, underscoring its growing role in the program.
SMEX FINALISTS: NASA has selected six finalists in its Small Explorer (SMEX) Program. The agency will pick two of the mission proposals in the spring of 2009 for full development, and the first could launch by 2012. The selected proposals are the Coronal Physics Explorer (CPEX), the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS), the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), the Joint Astrophysics Nascent Universe Satellite (JANUS), the Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE), and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
CAMBRIDGE, Mass. – If the U.S. Army wants to field newer technologies faster, the key is collaboration, according to Maj. Gen. Fred Robinson, chief of the Army’s research, development and engineering command (RDECOM).
MBDA chief executive Antoine Bouvier says partners in the trans-Atlantic Medium Extended Air Defense System (MEADS) are reviewing technical difficulties that have been encountered in the development of the system and are preparing a plan to address them. Bouvier said the plan should ensure that the program, which is funded by the U.S., Germany and Italy, remains within the announced schedule and budget envelopes.
