After traveling roughly 95 percent of its 300 million mile journey since launching last August, NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter is preparing for the riskiest phase of its mission on March 10 - insertion into the red planet's orbit. NASA has only a 65 percent success rate with Mars Orbit Insertion (MOI), according to the agency. "Now we're starting to enter into the realm where we've lost two spacecraft in the last 15 years," said Orbiter Project Manager Jim Graf, referring to the 1999 Mars Climate Orbiter and the 1993 Mars Observer.
GEARING UP: Personnel at Hill Air Force Base, Utah, are gearing up to provide maintenance for 18 of 21 F-22 Raptors that will be arriving for modifications in April, the Air Force says. Maintainers will develop mechanic training requirements, build a special F-22 work area, and make sure that needed parts are on hand. Experienced support personnel and technicians from thoughout the base will take part. Mike Dooner, 309th Aircraft Maintenance Group F-22 production chief, said in a statement that it is challenging to keep up with the latest weapon system technology.
MISSILES FOR TURKEY: Raytheon Missile Systems has been awarded a $35.6 million contract to provide the government of Turkey with 127 AIM-9X tactical missiles, 22 captive air training missiles, and 41 containers, the U.S. Defense Department said last week. The work will be done in Tucson, Ariz.; Rocket Center, W. Va.; and Andover, Mass. It is expected to be finished in March 2008. The contract was awarded under the Foreign Military Sales Program by the Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md.
RULES REVAMPING: A committee headed by former astronaut Mary Cleve, now associate administrator for science, is revamping NASA's public relations rules following the flap over attempts by headquarters public affairs officers to meddle in the release of NASA-funded science results. But some public affairs professionals at the agency - and some of the scientists they serve - are pessimistic about the chances for real change.
HAPPY DAYS: The days of Bell Helicopter Textron and Boeing officials having to worry about the V-22 program's status are clearly over. The Pentagon is starting the paperwork to put in place a multiyear procurement contract for the tiltrotor, something that it's supposed to do only after a program is stable. Multiyear production would begin in 2008 and run through 2012, covering the purchase of 185 aircraft. The bulk of them, 159, would be Marine Corps MV-22s; the other 26 would be Air Force Special Operations CV-22s.
The U.S. Air Force wrapped up its first space program managers conference in Los Angeles on Feb. 23, which brought together more than 160 space acquisition personnel to discuss their programs and share best practices. The event was spearheaded by Air Force Undersecretary Ronald Sega, who is leading the military space acquisition community in a "back to basics" reform approach aimed at curtailing the budget overruns and schedule slips that have plagued so many major space programs.
General Dynamics said Feb. 23 that it has agreed to buy Quebec-based ammunition maker SNC Technologies Inc. for $275 million ($315 million Canadian dollars). SNC Technologies is a subsidiary of Montreal-based SNC-Lavalin Group Inc. SNC supplies small-, medium- and large-caliber ammo and related products to law enforcement agencies and armed forces globally.
RESCHEDULED: Arianespace has rescheduled the dual-launch of the Hot Bird 7A and Spainsat satellites for Feb. 24 from the company's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, following the evaluation and replacement of a component in the Ariane 5 ECA rocket's ground support equipment that forced a scrub on Feb. 21. The new launch is scheduled for a window from 5:11 p.m. to 6:21 p.m. Eastern time.
The U.S. Navy is committed to maintaining 10 aircraft carrier wings, according to Adm. Robert Willard, vice chief of naval operations. The recently completed 2006 Quadrennial Defense Review calls for reducing the number of carriers from 12 to 11, which Willard says is "adequate." But "we intend to hold to 10 air wings," he adds, noting 10 carrier air wings "is a key factor" in meeting Navy goals of maintaining a continuous carrier forward presence while having the ability to dispatch a "surge" of six carriers in emergencies.
The Mars rover Spirit will be forced to at least temporarily abandon its detailed examination of the heavily layered Home Plate feature to head for a nearby north facing slope to prepare for the coming Martian winter. Once winter is over, the rover science team plans to drive Spirit back to Home Plate to continue investigations. Spirit needs by late February to begin the several-hundred-meter trip to McCool Hill, where it can point its solar arrays more directly at the sun to generate electrical power for rover heaters.
An upcoming high-level Defense Department review of the U.S. Air Force's combat search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter effort will entail several policy officials and represents a new form of program review under the Pentagon's newest chief acquisition official, according to an industry representative.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency and a Boeing-led industry team has successfully completed a test that tracked a target missile with an upgraded early warning radar that is being incorporated into the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system. A long-range Strategic Targets System rocket was launched at 7:09 a.m. Alaska time (11:09 a.m. Eastern time) on Feb. 23 from Kodiak Island, Alaska. The rocket was tracked by the radar, which is located at Beale Air Force Base, Calif.
TEST BURN: Europe's Venus Express probe has successfully tested its main engine, which will be used to brake the spacecraft so that it can enter orbit around Earth's cloud-shrouded neighbor. The three-second test burn, performed on the night of Feb. 16-17, came as a prelude to a 51-minute firing sequence set for April 11. Built by EADS Astrium on the basis of the Mars Express orbiter currently circling the Red Planet, Venus Express was launched in November 2005.
U.S. forces in the Persian Gulf area plan to scale back to a much smaller footprint after Iraq operations are wound down, instead of creating large garrisons as was done in post-World War II Germany, according to Army Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt, deputy director for plans and policy at U.S. Central Command. Kimmitt, speaking Feb. 23 at the Heritage Foundation in Washington, pointed to the U.S. military's Combined Joint Task Force-Horn of Africa as an example of how to fight the Pentagon's so-called "long war" against Islamic extremism.
Retired Vice Adm. Joseph Dyer, executive vice president and general manager of iRobot, envisions the number of missions undertaken by the company's PackBot multiplying as robots become more important in day-to-day military operations. "I really look at PackBot as the F-18 of ground robots," said Dyer, the former head of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR) and current chair of NASA's Aerospace Safety Advisory Panel. "That basic platform will take on many payloads, sensors, manipulators, what have you, over time."
The Australian government is expanding communications systems for its surface ships, with a plan to spend $74 million on the effort near-term. The government has announced that ADI Ltd. will be the prime contractor for the third phase of the multipronged Sea 1442 project. It aims at developing the initial Maritime Tactical Wide Area Network (MTWAN), and associated capability, as well as the hardware and software to equip 15 ships. The contract is valued at $33 million (45 million Australian dollars).
Boeing Co. has successfully completed weapons separation wind tunnel tests on P-8A Multi-mission Maritime Aircraft (MMA), the company said Feb. 23. The tests showed that the weapons, which include U.S. Navy mines, missiles and torpedoes, will separate from the aircraft safely when launched during flight. The 220 hours of testing were conducted over three weeks at Arnold Air Force Base Engineering Development Center in Tullahoma, Tenn.
The U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command is awarding General Dynamics Corp.'s Bath Iron Works shipbuilding unit $35.1 million to exercise an option for DDG-51-class destroyer program lead yard services, the Defense Department said Feb. 22. Lead yard services include liaison for ship construction, general class services, class logistic services, class design agent services and class change design services for ships and DDG modernization support. The work will be performed in Bath, Maine, and is expected to be completed by November 2010, the DOD said.
