NEW AGREEMENTS: NASA has signed three new unfunded Space Act agreements with SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., Spacehab of Houston, and Constellation Services International (CSI) of Laguna Woods, Calif. The pacts establish milestones for the companies to gauge their progress in developing orbital cargo transportation capabilities. NASA has funded Space Act agreements with its two Commercial Orbital Transportation Services (COTS) contractors - SpaceX and Rocketplane Kistler - who are developing commercial means to resupply the International Space Station.
Congress looks determined to pass more legislation affecting the U.S. Coast Guard's oversight and contracting for its 25-year, $24 billion Deepwater recapitalization program, possibly curbing or even cutting giant contractors Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman from the primary positions they have profited from since 2002.
ROBOTIC MULE: Alion Science and Technology announced June 18 that it and General Dynamics Robotics Systems created and successfully demonstrated an autonomous robotic vehicle able to carry over 1,000 pounds of payload. Under an $850,000 Small Business Innovative Research (SBIR) product contract, the companies developed the self-mobile trailer (SMT), with a hybrid-electric design for quieter operations and speeds up to 28 miles per hour. It also features a top-mounted rack system for cargo restraint.
In addition to the control problem that caused the most recent flight of SpaceX's Falcon 1 to fall short of orbit, the company plans to fix seven other anomalies discovered during post-flight analysis before the next scheduled flight, which will carry the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory's TacSat-1 spacecraft.
BONUS BUY: U.S. Air Force Material Command is contracting for one more KC-130J aircraft for the Marine Corps under a $64.2 million undefinitized contract modification to an award last December. The original award was for four C-130Js (three Air Force C-130Js and one Marine KC-130J) provided by fiscal 2006 defense supplemental appropriations.
Pacific Consolidated Industries LLC has won a $10 million Air Force Research Laboratory (AFRL) effort to engineer new high-capacity Real-time Optical Surveillance Applications (ROSA), or algorithms and software, to process what is expected to be a slew of space-based data from upcoming military space programs while personnel levels plateau or drop.
Commercial satellite imaging company GeoEye is on schedule to meet the fall launch of GeoEye-1, being built by General Dynamics, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye vice president of communications and marketing.
International Space Station (ISS) thrusters fired under the control of freshly repaired computers, and its new solar array wing rotated like a windmill June 18, setting up a planned undocking for the space shuttle Atlantis at 10:42 a.m. EDT June 19.
Citigroup Investment Research analysts believe Capitol Hill is unlikely to pass major acquisition policy changes soon. "We don't expect Congress to have significant profit policy changes, but continue to push the Pentagon away from LSI [lead systems integrator] contracts as they desire the Pentagon to increase its capability in this area," they told clients recently.
PARIS - Infoterra of Germany is set to begin operating the commercial 1-meter resolution remote sensing spacecraft, TerraSAR-X, following a successful launch June 15 from Baiknour, Kazakhstan, aboard a Dnepr rocket. The launch had been set for late last year, but was delayed by problems with tantalum capacitors on the onboard computer and a Dnepr failure in July 2006. The Dnepr returned to flight in April, with a multisatellite payload including the EgyptSat-1 remote sensing/scientific spacecraft.
MISSILE DEFENSE: NATO defense ministers have authorized a study to assess possible integration of the U.S. missile defense system to be set up in the Czech Republic and Poland with the alliance's Active Layered Theater Ballistic Missile Defense System. The latter, when deployed in southeastern Europe, would plug the gap in missile defense coverage left by the U.S. system, which couldn't engage some of the shorter-range missiles launched from the Middle East.
PARIS - Despite significant delays in flight-testing the first A400M engine, the transport aircraft's schedule margin has not completely eroded, prompting managers to express confidence they can still meet the late October 2009 first aircraft delivery milestone.
MISSILE DETECTION: The Department of Homeland Security plans to prototype an existing two-color infrared missile warning system to support a late fiscal 2007 flight demo and evaluation, according to the revised broad agency announcement for the department's Project CHLOE counter-MANPADS unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) effort (DAILY, June 15).
OSPREY READY: The first combat squadron of the Marine Corps' MV-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, Marine Medium Tiltrotor Squadron 263 (VMM-263), is ready for expeditionary operations after having achieved initial operational capability, according to the service. Last month Gen. James T. Conway, Comman-dant of the Marine Corps, announced that the squadron is scheduled to deploy to Iraq in September with ten MV-22s (DAILY, April 16). The Ospreys will be used for medium assault support missions ranging from troop transport and resupply to casualty evacuation.
The U.S. Air Force is developing rules of engagement (ROE) for cyber warfare similar to those it uses for air and space operations, says the general in charge of setting up the service's new Cyberspace Command. "We're exploring the ROEs," said Lt. Gen. Robert "Bob" Elder, commander, 8th Air Force, Barksdale Air Force Base, La., the home of the new cyber command. And just as it does with its air and space operations, the Air Force wants to minimize collateral damage, Elder said June 13 during a breakfast roundtable with reporters.
International Space Station (ISS) crew members pulled panels and worked on the balky Russian-side computers as their colleagues from the space shuttle Atlantis repaired a torn thermal blanket outside June 15. Spacewalkers Jim Reilly and Danny Olivas were scheduled to disconnect a power cable they connected during an earlier extravehicular activity (EVA) June 11, after Russian controllers discovered that anomalies with two sets of three redundant computers started when the cable was connected.
To list an event, send information in calendar format to Donna Thomas at [email protected] (Bold type indicates new calendar listing.) June 18 - 24 -- Paris Air Show, Le Bourget Airport, Paris, France, For more information call +33 (0) 1 5323 3337 or go to www.paris-air-show.com. June 25 - 28 -- Live Fire Test & Evaluation Conference, SPAWAR Systems Center Charleston - Naval Weapons STation, Goose Creek, S.C. For more information call (703) 522-1820, fax: (703) 522-1885 or go to www.ndia.org.
