The U.S. Air Force says it is holding firm on the planned launch dates for upcoming Atlas V and Delta IV missions using the Pratt & Whitney RL10 upper-stage engine, having traced the launch anomaly on a recent National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) classified satellite launch to a stuck valve on the Atlas V's Lockheed Martin Centaur upper stage. The stuck valve depleted the Centaur's hydrogen fuel, according to the Air Force Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) in Los Angeles.
The fiscal 2008 NASA budget approved by the Senate Appropriations Committee last week gives the agency a topline of $17.46 billion - $150 million above the Bush administration's request - which includes a number of plus-ups to various science programs. The topline recommendation is $1.175 billion above the FY '07 enacted level. The bill includes $5.655 billion for science, $554 million for aeronautics research and $3.972 billion for exploration systems. $4 billion for space shuttle
Boeing has collected data through the years that, combined with the results of a computer simulation, show the downwash for its HH-47 combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter variant already meets U.S. Air Force requirements, company officials said. The data and simulation show the aircraft's tandem rotors spread out the force necessary to keep the helicopter aloft and disperse the resulting downwash, said Bill Ripley, HH-47 chief engineer.
DIRECTV 10: An International Launch Services (ILS) Proton M rocket with a Breeze M upper stage will orbit the DirecTV 10 satellite on July 7 at 7:16 a.m. local time (9:16 p.m. EDT July 6). The 5,893-kilogram (12,990-pound) spacecraft was built by Boeing based on its 702 bus. Launch will take place from Launch Pad 39 at Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan.
The Defense Department is crafting new regulations to waive domestic sourcing restrictions over specialty metals for acquisitions of commercially available off-the-shelf (COTS) items.
In the battle for the U.S. Air Force's combat, search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter fleet construction contract worth up to $15 billion, the amount of downwash the aircraft can produce is stirring up controversy.
EVOLVED SEASPARROW: The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding Raytheon a $223 million firm-fixed-price contract modification for 294 Evolved Seasparrow Missiles and 68 shipping containers and spares for the NATO Seasparrow Consortium. The contract runs through February 2010, according to the June 27 contract announcement. The missile is an international upgrade effort over the RIM-7 NATO Seasparrow missile.
The Mars rover Opportunity will begin its descent into Victoria crater on about July 9. The descent will be at a location called Duck Bay near where the rover first arrived at the half-mile-wide, 200-foot-deep crater last fall. Opportunity has spent months going about one-third of the way around the edge of Victoria, scouting its steep walls for key science discoveries and also looking for the best way in and out.
While American-led and other global military actions have splintered many terrorists groups, anti-terrorist efforts also have forced some of these groups to share technology and combine resources, according to a recently released RAND report. "Operation Enduring Freedom and the global war on terrorism forced many members of al Qaeda to disperse," the report says. But "some like-minded terrorist groups that perhaps do not have the global reach of a pre-9/11 al Qaeda nevertheless have formed regional alliances." 'Emerging alliances'
NOORDWIJK, Netherlands -- European Space Agency executives appear to have accepted the idea of launching the Automated Transfer Vehicle freighter after the Columbus orbital laboratory, even though policy since the two programs were conceived has been predicated on exactly the opposite.
A reinvigorated missile defense caucus in the House is speaking up to try to support President Bush's missile defense spending requests, especially more money for the Airborne Laser (ABL) boost-phase effort and approval to move forward with proposed ground-based interceptor facilities in Eastern Europe. Ardent missile defense advocate Rep. Trent Franks (R-Ariz.), a caucus co-chair and member of the House Armed Services Committee (HASC), said June 28 the group will push for full authorization of the Bush administration's $550 million ABL request.
In a Senate Appropriations Committee markup hearing June 28, Commerce, Justice, Science (CJS) Subcommittee Chair Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) agreed to postpone the introduction of an amendment to the fiscal 2008 CJS spending bill that would add $1 billion to help NASA recover from the lingering financial effects of the 2003 Columbia accident.
Logistical problems associated with the rebuilding of Chinook helicopters because they were transported on commercial vessels prevented some wartime training for the aircraft, according to a recent Pentagon inspector general (IG) report. "We initiated this audit in response to allegations made to the Defense Hotline," the June 21 report says. The IG "identified an internal control weakness" in U.S. Transportation Command's (TRANSCOM) compliance with DOD policies in the use of commercial transport during wartime.
Bigelow Aerospace launched its Genesis II inflatable space module June 28 on a converted Russian ICBM as the company continues the highly successful orbital test of its first sub-scale module, Genesis I, launched last July.
In what is becoming a trend in India - opposing what the other political party endorses - the planned visit of the U.S. nuclear-powered aircraft carrier USS Nimitz to the Chennai Port has the Left party raising questions as to why it is being permitted to dock. The carrier's visit is a part of the government's move to expand defense cooperation with the U.S. The Nimitz is set to dock at Chennai Port on July 1 and will be anchored until July 5.
