The Scaled Composites/Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer is being readied for delivery to the National Air And Space Museum after being returned from Bournemouth, England, to its Salina, Kan., base on Feb. 25. Jon Karkow, GlobalFlyer chief engineer and test pilot for Scaled Composites, made the westbound trans-Atlantic trip in the aircraft. He also flew a test flight out of Bournemouth on Feb. 24 to ensure the aircraft's systems were ready for the flight back to Salina.
The Air Force is moving select active duty Air Force combat search and rescue (CSAR) aircraft and crew from Air Force Special Operations Command (AFSOC) to Air Combat Command (ACC) to consolidate personnel. Gen. T. Michael Moseley, Air Force chief of staff, directed the transfer of administrative control for select assets, the Air Force said Feb. 27. Under ACC, the CSAR assets can be mobilized faster during a national crisis, as well as integrated into combat training, the service said.
Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel (ASAP) Chairman Joseph Dyer is pleased with NASA's recent progress in developing its Independent Technical Authority (ITA), which has been a major concern for the ASAP since the panel was reconstituted in 2004. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) recommended the establishment of the ITA to provide an unbiased look at safety. In the past, ASAP panel members have expressed concern about the pace of the ITA's development (DAILY, July 22, 2004).
ARMOR PROTECTION: O'Gara-Hess & Eisenhardt Armoring Co. of Fairfield, Ohio, has been awarded a $66 million contract modification to provide the U.S. Army with M1114 Up-Armored High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicles and Front Wheel Well Armor Protection Field Kits, the Defense Department said Feb. 27. The work will be done in Fairfield, Ohio, and is expected to be finished by Nov. 30, 2007. The contract was awarded by the Army Tank-automotive and Armaments Command, Warren, Mich.
With lawmakers set to start grilling top uniformed officers of the military services this week, observers will be watching for programmatic winners and how Congress changes the Bush administration's recent fiscal 2007 budget request. Excluding the latest supplemental spending request for Iraq and Afghanistan, which asks for $65 billion for the Defense Department, the $439 billion budget request already prioritizes many programs.
The U.S. Navy may not speed up production of Virginia-class nuclear-powered submarines to two a year as planned even if the price goes below $2 billion per hull, according to the Navy's No. 2 leader. "There are a variety of shipbuilding activities that occur across the program, across the FYDP [five-year defense plan]," Adm. Robert Willard said. "The timing of two submarines a year is based on all of the variables associated with that annual program."
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and European Organisation for the Exploitation of Meteorological Satellites (EUMETSAT) have signed a plan to secure the continued flow of environmental satellite data from NOAA-provided instruments aboard EUMETSAT's MetOp spacecraft to select U.S. users during "episodes that might otherwise require data denial," the agencies announced Feb. 22.
DUBAI RISING: If you like Dubai Ports World, the prospective buyer of the British company that operates six major U.S. ports, you'll love Dubai Aerospace Enterprise, the holding company being established to provide, among other things, aircraft leasing, airport development and management and MRO services. At $15 billion, part of it from the government of the United Arab Emirates, the company will be capitalized for a robust startup and early competitiveness in worldwide markets.
SEAL RIBS: The U.S. Navy awarded United States Marine Inc. of Gulfport, Miss., an $8.8 million contract for the Naval Special Warfare's 11-meter rigid, inflatable boat service life extension program. Restoration of 32 boats to like-new condition will be carried out in Gulfport and is expected to be finished by February 2011, the Defense Department said Feb. 23. The contract was not competitively procured - the boats are provided by the company. The high-speed, high-buoyancy, extreme-weather crafts carry a crew of three and special forces, according to the Navy.
To ensure that current and future Mars exploration missions will be able to communicate their data to Earth efficiently, NASA is in the early planning stages for a new orbiter mission that would launch to the red planet in 2013. "We're studying what that ought to be, and it's going to be a hybrid science/telecommunications orbiter," said Doug McCuistion, NASA's director of Mars exploration.
Senior aerospace and defense business executives have identified regaining industry's credibility in military space as the top priority, as well as pushing Congress to bump up NASA's fiscal 2007 budget by as much as $1 billion, the Aerospace Industries Association space council told reporters Feb. 24.
A vocal House proponent of maintaining 12 aircraft carriers in the U.S. Navy's force structure also is siding with plans to retire the USS John F. Kennedy early as the Navy is proposing again this year. "I believe strongly in the need for 12 carriers, and I will continue supporting this goal. However, investing in the future fleet is the way to achieve success," Rep. Jo Ann Davis (R-Va.) told The DAILY.
FUEL TANK ON WAY: A newly designed external fuel tank for Space Shuttle Discovery is expected to arrive at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., this week, NASA says. The huge orange tank, called ET-119, was scheduled to depart NASA Michoud Assembly Facility near New Orleans on Feb. 25 after being loaded on a covered barge. The barge will travel from the Mississippi River-Gulf of Mexico Outlet to Florida's Banana River, which flows into the Atlantic Ocean. The journey is expected to take five to six days.
Telemetry problems with Eutelsat's Hot Bird 7A satellite forced a delay of at least 24 hours in the Feb. 24 planned launch of the heavy-lift Ariane 5 ECA vehicle poised at the European Space Center near Kourou, French Guiana. Arianespace said Alcatel Alenia Space, which built Hot Bird 7A, requested the postponement so its engineers could verify the telemetry circuit. A retry was not expected until at least 24 hours after the planned 05:11-6:21 p.m. Eastern time launch window on Feb. 24.
LAUNCH DELAYED: NASA has pushed back the planned launch of the Space Technology-5 (ST-5) smallsat-constellation mission by more than a week to give engineers time to review test data from the separation system that spins the three ST-5 satellites out like orbiting Frisbees. It was to have launched on Feb. 28.
FULL HOUSE - AGAIN: The space shuttle Discovery's return to the International Space Station for the second time since the Columbia accident will mark resumption of full staffing for the incomplete orbital facility. Although the start date remains uncertain, German astronaut Thomas Reiter is scheduled to join ISS Expedition 13 crewmates Pavel Vinogradov and Jeffrey Williams as a flight engineer when he arrives on the upcoming STS-121 shuttle mission.
