FUTURE MISSIONS: The Advanced Concepts Team (ACT) at the European Space Agency's European Space Technology Research Center is identifying space missions that "sound like science fiction," ESA says. Among other things, the ACT is studying the feasibility of using satellites to generate electricity from sunlight and beam it to Earth, and "tumbleweed" robots that would roam across the surfaces of other planets.
DIGITALGLOBE has announced that the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR) will include its QuickBird satellite imagery in its geographic information system data to help manage and protect the state's coastal marine resources. DMR's Comprehensive Resource Management Plan covers six Mississippi counties and was created to handle increased demands on marine resources in the wake of the Mississippi Gulf Coast's growing casino industry.
The U.S. aerospace industry has lost more than 500,000 jobs in the last decade while production employment fell 58 percent, a trend that an aerospace labor group says could be made worse by the use of offsets in defense transactions. "When those work packages go offshore, we will be conceding production technology and capacity we have never held ourselves," said Stanley Sorscher, a labor representative with the Society of Professional Engineering Employees in Aerospace.
SIRENZA MICRODEVICES, INC. has announced the introduction of a variety of radio frequency (RF) components. They include: DC-20 GHz InP HBT Gain Blocks; DC-3500 MHz Mixer family; Frequency Multipliers and Dividers; Narrow Band and Broadband VCOs operating up to X Band; 20-100 GHz Double Balanced Schottky Diode Mixer family; and 2-16 GHz, 1/4 Watt Distributed Amplifier. The new products were showcased at the IEEE-MTTS Symposium and Exhibition earlier this month.
JACOBS SVERDRUP will be awarded a contract worth more than $48 million by NASA's Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, Calif., to provide support services for facilities maintenance and operations and aerospace testing. The contract covers ARC's wind tunnels, thermophysics testing complex, and other aerospace testing complexes. Jacobs Sverdrup, an advanced technology company based in Tullahoma, Tenn., will provide testing services for NASA programs such as space science initiatives, the Crew Exploration Vehicle, the X-37, and the space shuttle return to flight effort.
HELICOPTER ASSOCIATION INTL., Alexandria, Va. G. Edward Newton has been named treasurer. Roy M. Simmons has been elected chairman. Timothy H. Voss has begun serving as assistant treasurer. Timothy Wahlberg has begun serving as vice chairman. G. Edward Newton has been named treasurer. Roy M. Simmons has been elected chairman. Timothy H. Voss has begun serving as assistant treasurer. Timothy Wahlberg has begun serving as vice chairman.
For the first time, the U.S. Navy will simulate the launch of an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) from a submarine during the Silent Hammer exercise, scheduled to take place off the coast of California this fall. In previous exercises the Navy has tested controlling UAVs from submarines.
COMPLETED: General Dynamics completed its acquisition of satellite and space systems builder Spectrum Astro, the company said July 9. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. Gilbert, Ariz.-based Spectrum Astro now is part of General Dynamics C4 Systems and brings "valuable experience in missile defense and key NASA space business segments," C4 President Mark A. Fried said.
Nearly 60 representatives from the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA) are expected to conduct more than 200 briefings to members of Congress on the importance of NASA's space exploration vision during a "media blitz" July 12 and 13, according to National Space Society (NSS) Executive Director George Whitesides. "As of yesterday, we had ... 120 [briefings scheduled], but these things all get done at the last minute, so we'll probably have over 200 by the end of the day," Whitesides told The DAILY July 9.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - A new push to begin work toward establishment of a separate military "space corps" may be getting under way, according to industry officials. Such a corps was advocated in the Space Commission Report of January 2001, but little has been said publicly about it since then. Sources now say a new effort may be coalescing to take advantage of what probably will be a new tier of civilian leaders at the Pentagon next year, no matter who wins the presidential election in November.
