Ohio-based Defense Research Associates (DRA) has come up with a program to charge the batteries of small unmanned aerial vehicles directly from power lines, potentially providing the aircraft with unprecedented range and capability.
STSS TESTING: Alexis Livanos, president of Northrop Grumman Space Technology, says the first of two Space Tracking and Surveillance System (STSS) satellites has completed environmental testing in the thermovac chamber. The second is expected to begin environmental testing in about two weeks. The two satellites, which were designed under the earlier Space-Based Infrared System Low program and later completed as part of the STSS program, are set to launch in 2009.
NASA managers are pondering their next moves if, as is likely, Rocketplane Kistler (RpK) won't be able to rally in the face of a nonperformance notice from the agency under its Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) program. One possibility, according to Doug Cooke, deputy associate administrator for exploration systems, is a new competition to spend the federal seed money that would otherwise have gone to RpK.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries (MHI) have decided to continue preparing to launch the Selene lunar orbiter Sept. 14, although some officials say there's a fifty-fifty chance it could be delayed a second time due to stormy weather.
The U.S. Air Force's Space Based Infrared System (SBIRS) program still faces multiple challenges and is burning through its management reserves faster than expected, while the service's backup technology program faces problems of its own, according to the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO).
U.S. success with the Orbital Express test bed appears to be rekindling commercial satellite operator interest in orbital servicing. Under an agreement announced Sept. 3, Arabsat will help develop and validate an in-orbit refueling system marketed by Kosmas Geo-Ring Services of Germany and Greece. Arabsat will investigate all types of service Geo-Ring can offer, including extending the service lives of existing and future satellites, and restoring inoperative satellites to operation, according to Kosmas CEO Charis Kosmas.
Senate appropriators Sept. 12 complained about committee changes to fiscal 2008 defense appropriations for the Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), Reliable Replacement Warhead (RRW) and Joint Strike Fighter alternative engine programs, but the panel nonetheless approved its markup without significant changes from the day before.
DANISH RAVENS: The Danish army has placed a $2.4 million order with AeroVironment for 12 of its Raven B small unmanned aircraft systems (UAS). Each Raven B system consists of three aircraft, a hand-held ground control station, a remote viewing terminal, systems spares and related services. Three of the UAS will go to the Danish army special forces, with the remainder designated for deployed units at the Danish army's Artillery Training Center. The Raven is a 4.2-pound, backpackable, hand-launched aircraft used by the U.S. Army Special Operations Command and the U.S.
Senate defense appropriators offered a peek into their fiscal 2008 spending package Sept. 11, including efforts to fully fund the Army's Future Combat Systems (FCS) and significantly encourage quicker dual annual production of Virginia-class submarines. But the panel, whose subcommittee markup comes before the full Senate Appropriations Committee Sept. 12, also sliced into the Bush administration's missile defense request, especially for proposed facilities for an Eastern European branch of the ground-based midcourse missile interceptor system.
Satellite operators are confident they can round up enough support at the upcoming World Radio Conference (WRC) to defeat efforts by broadband wireless operators to encroach on the C-band spectrum. But they are worried the European agency responsible for allocating the spectrum, the European Conference of Postal and Telecommunications Administrations (CEPT), may be caving in to terrestrial operator pressure that is not likely to stop with WRC '07.
NSC PROGRESS: The Coast Guard's National Security Cutter (NSC) Bertholf is more than 90 percent complete and the stern assembly was erected onto the second cutter, Waesche (WMSL 751), last week, industry representatives said Sept. 11. Waesche is one-third complete, according to Integrated Coast Guard Systems (ICGS), a joint venture of Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman. Later this month, the Northrop-led construction team will erect three of the five remaining lifts necessary to complete Waesche's structure.
A new poll of the population of the Czech Republic shows modest growth in support of U.S. plans to base a ground-based midcourse defense (GMD) X-band radar in the Brdy region of the country, according to the Missile Defense Advocacy Alliance (MDAA).
The U.S. Air Force awarded Boeing a 10-year, $1.1 billion contract to continue programmed depot maintenance (PDM) on the U.S. fleet of KC-135 tankers, dealing a significant blow to Pemco Aviation Group, which was counting heavily on landing the contract.
Russia is set to launch the Foton-M3 biological research spacecraft aboard a Soyuz-U rocket from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan on Sept. 14, according to NASA. NASA scientists are participating in several of the mission's experiments, which will research the effects of space on genetics, cell proliferation and tissue regeneration, as well as the physiological effects of microgravity.
THREAT ASSESSMENT: The Threat Reduction Advisory Committee will meet at Fort Belvoir, Va., at the end of November to advise defense officials on technology security, combating weapons of mass destruction (WMD), chemical and biological defense, transformation of the nuclear weapons stockpile, and other matters related to the Defense Threat Reduction Agency's mission. The panel will receive summaries of current activities related to combating WMD as well as nuclear deterrent transformation activities from the Pentagon's acquisition chief and the DTRA director.
The Japanese Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA) is delaying the launch of the SELENE (SELenological and ENgineering Explorer) lunar orbiter, nicknamed "Kaguya," on an H-IIA launch vehicle, at least a day from its original target of Sept. 13, due to weather conditions at the Tanegashima launch site. JAXA is expected to make a decision on the launch date Sept. 12. Selene's launch window extends until Sept. 21.
Future lunar explorers may set out from their base at one of the moon's poles for long-distance surface sorties in pressurized rovers hardened against the galactic cosmic radiation that makes extravehicular activity (EVA) dangerous to their health in the long run.
U.S. Pacific Command Headquarters (PACOM) is tightening the use of some of its purchase cards following a report by the Defense Department Inspector General's (IG) Office. "For most of the purchase card transactions we examined, PACOM personnel complied with regulations," says the Aug. 29 report, "U.S. Pacific Command Headquarters Government Purchase Card Controls." But, the IG says, PACOM "risks abuse" in the use of its purchase cards. 2,086 transactions
Raytheon has finished development work for now on the Active Denial System (ADS) nonlethal weapon following the recent delivery of its ADS 2 system to the U.S. Air Force, and is now awaiting production orders from the services that the company hopes will materialize by fiscal 2009.
