CHINA'S AMBITIONS: China plans the launch of 14 unmanned space missions in 2008, in addition to its third manned Shenzhou flight. The 15 total launches are to orbit 17 spacecraft. The 2008 manifest also marks a revitalization of China's commercial launch program. Three large communications spacecraft are planned for launch, including ChinaSat 9, APStar 6B and a Venezuelan spacecraft.
SUB SCRAPE: The Indian navy's INS Sindhughosh submarine - one of the three diesel-powered submarine classes in the navy - scraped into a foreign merchant vessel, MV Leeds, 140 miles northwest of Mumbai on Jan. 7. The accident took place north of Mumbai when the Sindhughosh, one of the few Indian navy submarines that can launch anti-ship and anti-land missiles, was on operational deployment. A navy spokesman told Aerospace Daily that the sub suffered superficial damage, including bent aerials, as it returned under its own power to Mumbai.
TOKYO - New data from Japan's Selene moon probe has reconfirmed the viability of two of the mission's instruments - the Lunar Radar Sounder (LRS) and the Laser Altimeter (LALT). The data was released by the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) Jan. 10. The LRS and LALT, along with many sensors, are in the midst of creating the first comprehensive map of the moon.
BOISVERT BAILS: Veteran public servant Guy Bujold will head the Canadian Space Agency (CSA) for the next year or so as interim president after former Telesat Canada CEO Laurier Boisvert left the post nine months into an expected three-year term. Bujold, formerly an assistant deputy minister at Industry Canada, quietly assumed the job on New Year's Day, after Boisvert stepped down Dec. 20 "for personal reasons." Speculation in Canada centered on a link to the unexpected announcement that Alliant Techsystems (ATK) would buy MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates.
The U.S. Navy's highly anticipated Remote Minehunting Vehicles (RMVs), originally designed to detect and deal with sea mines, are seeing their embryonic missions already expanded to include anti-submarine warfare and maritime reconnaissance, Naval Sea Systems Command has said.
As the U.S. Army begins to shape its future concept of operations for vertical systems, the service needs to begin thinking more creatively about new designs and technology if it is to advance its rotorcraft capabilities, aviation program officer Paul Bogosian says.
The first two of the new fleet of VH-71 helicopters built for the U.S. president have entered flight-testing with the U.S. Navy and U.S. Marine Corps at Naval Air Station Patuxent River, Md., the Navy announced Jan. 10. The Navy-owned test vehicles, TV-2 and TV-5, arrived at Patuxent River in November and December, respectively, aboard a U.S. Air Force C-17 cargo plane from AgustaWestland's facility in Yeovil, England. The government and industry integrated test team will use the aircraft primarily for structural and propulsion testing, and pilot training.
A leading agitator on Capitol Hill for long-term energy thinking and the implications on U.S. warfighting said Jan. 9 that future presidential administrations may have to seriously reconsider how the U.S. military is used to meet policy and military requirements.
SHUTTLE SCHEDULE: Shuttle managers have outlined a tentative return to flight schedule for the fleet, pending verification that the Atlantis STS-122 external tank on Launch Complex 39A is indeed ready for launch on a mission to carry the European Columbus laboratory to the International Space Station. But engine cutoff (ECO) sensor system testing continues. If test data are favorable, the Atlantis launch will be officially scheduled for as early as Feb. 7, to avoid conflicts with a Russian Progress tanker also set for launch to the ISS in early February.
Scientists will get their first close look at the planet Mercury in 33 years on Jan. 14 as NASA's Mercury Surface, Space Environment, Geochemistry and Ranging (Messenger) probe flies within 124 miles of previously uncharted terrain. Launched Aug. 3, 2004, Messenger will be making the first of three planned Mercury flybys designed to use the planet's gravity to slow it enough to go into orbit. Because of the difficulty of reaching the innermost planet, that won't happen until March 2011.
PARIS - Eurocopter sold more than 800 helicopters in 2007 and saw deliveries jump 30 percent over the 2006 level, EADS CEO Louis Gallois said. But the strong order book, which Eurocopter CEO Lutz Bertling said will allow the rotorcraft maker to retain its market-leading position, doesn't mean there are not challenges, particularly on government business.
FUEL CHARGES: The U.S. Justice Department announced Jan. 7 that two Defense Department contractors were arrested in New York City on Jan. 6 and charged with conspiring to steal information relating to DOD contracts to supply fuel to defense aircraft worldwide. Two contractor firms and a third individual also are charged with participating in the conspiracies. Along with Christopher Cartwright and Paul Wilkinson, two affiliated companies - Prague, Czech Republic-based Far East Russia Aircraft Services Inc.
A manufacturing defect is the root cause for the failure of a primary structure that contributed to the crash of a Missouri Air National Guard F-15C last November, the U.S. Air Force says. The upper right side longeron was poorly manufactured by F-15 producer McDonnell Douglas in the 1970s, said Air Force Col. William Wignall, accident investigation board president. McDonnell Douglas was later acquired by Boeing, which continues to sell F-15s and support them. Wignall spoke at a Jan. 10 Pentagon press conference.
ALL HAIL: The Government Accountability Office (GAO) has turned back ImlCorp's and Wattre Corp.'s protests against a U.S. Navy contract awarded to American Technology Corp. (ATC) for acoustic hailing devices. The award was made based on ATC's higher technical rating and lowest evaluated price. ATC's higher overall technical rating primarily reflected the firm's highly satisfactory ratings under the two most important subfactors - product sample and specification compliance - under the most important evaluation factor - capability, GAO said Jan. 9.
NOAA #2: President Bush will nominate William J. Brennan as assistant secretary of commerce for oceans and atmosphere, the vacant No. 2 position at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He is currently deputy assistant commerce secretary for international affairs and acting director of the U.S. Climate Change Science Program.
JSC SUPPORT: Lockheed Martin announced Jan. 8 that it has signed a memorandum of understanding with United Space Alliance to support Lockheed Martin's pursuit of the Facilities Development and Operations Contract (FDOC) at NASA's Johnson Space Center (JSC). Lockheed Martin is the current contractor for the Mission Support Operations Contract and United Space Alliance is the contractor for the Space Program Operations Contract at JSC, both of which will become part of the FDOC contract.
PREDATOR TEAMING: General Atomics Aeronautical Systems Inc. and Sener Ingeniería y Sistemas S.A. of Spain announced Jan. 9 that they have signed a teaming agreement to promote General Atomics' Predator unmanned aerial vehicle to support Spain's airborne intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (ISR) requirements. Sener is an engineering, consultancy and systems integration company with branches in Spain, Buenos Aires, Lisbon, Mexico, Warsaw and Japan.
Third and fourth-generation cellular telephone technologies, with their wider channel width (3G) and faster data rates (4G), are being adapted and reshaped to fill the needs of military cyber-warriors, according to top electronic warfare researchers. Military organizations around the globe, including those in the U.S., are using commercially developed attack and network exploitation technologies to build an arsenal of rapidly upgraded, flexible and hard-to-avoid cyber weapons. Organized crime
Lisa Porter, NASA associate administrator for aeronautics research, will leave the agency on or around Feb. 1 to become the first director of the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA). In a Jan. 9 notice to colleagues at the civil space and aeronautics agency, Porter said the new organization will sponsor innovative research that will yield revolutionary game-changing capabilities for the intelligence community.
The U.S. Coast Guard's maritime security workload, already stretched since the 9/11 attacks, is likely to increase in the future as more liquefied natural gas (LNG) facilities are added, requiring more escorts of LNG tankers, a new congressional report concludes.
