An emergency landing with just minutes to spare on battery power following an electrical generator failure capped the longest flight in aviation history by Steve Fossett piloting the Scaled Composites/Virgin Atlantic GlobalFlyer.
GETTING GERB: Eumetsat has received the first images from an experimental radiation budget instrument on Meteosat-9 that could be a forerunner of future orbital climate prediction systems. The instrument, known as "Gerb" for Geostationary Earth Radiation Budget Experiment, is designed to provide data on reflected solar radiation and thermal radiation emitted by the Earth and its atmosphere. The main instrument on Meteosat-9 (MSG-2), launched on Dec.
TRY AGAIN: The Russian Space Agency Roscosmos has given contractors an extra month to submit revised proposals for a new human-rated space transportation system to serve the International Space Station (ISS) and future space exploration programs. Roscosmos says earlier proposals that were intended to meet new competitive procurement rules did not fully meet requirements. Vehicles proposed were Energia's Clipper vehicle; a Khrunichev winged vehicle carried by the new Angara booster, and an air-launched system conceived by Molnyia.
SHIP KILLED: The Navy will not require another class of fast combat support ships for the foreseeable future and has decided to keep the existing T-AOE class of ships in service longer and operate them in conjunction with the new T-AKE dry cargo/ammunition ships, according to a White House plan. Navy officials unveiled the decision against starting a new T-AOE(X) class -- as previously planned -- when the fiscal 2007 budget was announced, but it was not known then whether the program was being terminated altogether (DAILY, Feb. 8).
The Defense Department will conduct a review of the U.S. Air Force's combat search and rescue (CSAR-X) helicopter competition in light of the DOD's related capabilities, according to the Pentagon's chief acquisition official. "What we've asked them to do is to come back and look at that overall portfolio of capability that the department has and what they seek to do and try to think through that program in that context," said Ken Krieg, undersecretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics.
Aerospace and defense is leading other industry sectors in the implementation of product lifecycle management (PLM) software and processes, according to Bernard Charles, president and CEO of Dassault Systemes in Paris. While the auto industry led the world in the move to 3D digital mockup of products such as new cars a decade ago, aerospace is moving ahead of auto manufacturers with PLM -- a combination of software and processes created to carry a product from design through manufacturing and the rest of its life cycle.
JDAMS FALLING: The fiscal 2007 defense budget request and subsequent five-year plan proposes to cut Joint Direct Attack Munition (JDAM) annual production by about 25 percent in 2007, and by roughly 50 percent in 2008 and 2009, according to the White House. The JDAM is a joint Air Force-Navy program that upgrades the current inventory of general-purpose bombs with a guidance kit consisting of a precision, satellite-aided navigation system.
Not retiring the aircraft carrier USS John F. Kennedy early -- as the Navy is proposing again after Congress rejected the idea last year -- would cost $2-$3 billion over the next five years, a cost that would be taken out of the $77.5 billion projected for new shipbuilding, the chief of naval operations told The DAILY. Speaking to reporters Feb. 10 after appearing at a Capitol Hill luncheon, Adm. Mike Mullen also said that maintaining the JFK would then impact the "imperative" of shipbuilding.
LONG RANGE: Industry expects the Defense Department to wrap up a classified report on its newly revised long-range air strike capability, including a new vehicle platform as well as missiles, within a few weeks. An industry member says it won't hold any major surprises itself, but will start to fill in the blanks on a new manned or unmanned bomber, moved up to 2018 from 2037 by the Quadrennial Defense Review (DAILY, Feb. 3).
Space Adventures, which markets commercial space tourism trips to the International Space Station (ISS) using Russian Soyuz vehicles, hopes eventually to mount missions to the lunar surface using a variant of the Russian Soyuz TMA spacecraft. The company announced last year that it plans to offer trips that will orbit the moon using a lunar-rated Soyuz starting in 2009 or 2010, at a ticket price of $100 million per seat on the two-seat vehicle (DAILY, Aug. 12, 2005).
HIGH-FLYING PLAN: The Defense Department will conduct a review of a phasing plan to ensure that high-altitude, long-endurance surveillance and reconnaissance requirements will be satisfied during a transition from the aging U-2 spy plane to the Global Hawk unmanned aircraft, according to a White House plan. The review will be ready by May 1. The five-year savings for retiring the U-2 by fiscal 2011 will run more than $1 billion, the executive branch says. Similarly, the Air Force also will retire its fleet of 52 F-117A aircraft by 2008, saving another $1 billion.
THREE FOR PROTON: International Launch Services has won three new contracts, all for repeat customers and all on the Russian Proton rocket it markets along with the Atlas V. Japan's JSAT Corp. has committed its fourth launch with ILS and its first using the Proton Breeze M. The launch of JCSat-11, built on a Lockheed Martin A2100 series platform, is to be in 2007. In 2008, Canada's Telesat will launch its Nimiq 4 spacecraft in its fifth ILS mission.
BUILDING BRIDGES: C. Ryan Henry, principal deputy undersecretary of defense for policy, is ambiguous about how many F-22As the Air Force eventually will buy. The 183 stealth fighters currently approved are "roughly sufficient," he says. "We did need the [F-35] JSF capability, specifically the carrier-based aspects. It did not make sense to make cuts of the JSF variants within the future years defense budget. [But] there was a technical risk in shutting down one production line before you brought up another one.
POSTPONED: It probably will be another two to four weeks before SpaceX can re-attempt the debut launch of its low-cost Falcon 1 rocket from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific, according to company CEO Elon Musk. The long-delayed liftoff had been scheduled for Feb. 10, but a static test firing the day before prompted the company to scrub and lower the vehicle "for further investigation," Musk says. The nature of the problem was not disclosed. The rocket is carrying the FalconSat-2 spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.
CHINA PORTRAIT: The Pentagon's Quadrennial Defense Review says China is a potential military threat, and China is unhappy about it. Beijing says it promotes peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region, and the U.S. is trying to mislead world opinion. The Pentagon is unrepentant. "It's difficult to know exactly what they're doing," says C. Ryan Henry, principal deputy under secretary of defense for policy. "They continue to increase their [military] budget. It looks like they are preparing for something other than a political solution to the Taiwan problem.
The Boeing Co. said Feb. 9 that it is closing its Melbourne, Ark., facility, in part because of the expiration of its contract supporting the U.S. Navy's E-6 aircraft program. The shutdown affects 103 workers, who the company will help find jobs at other Boeing operations. The facility is set to be completely closed down during the second quarter of this year. Remaining work now done in Melbourne will be transferred to the company's Salt Lake City facility.
The Defense Department plans to slice $1.66 billion from the Transformational Satellite Communications (TSAT) program, the next generation of military satellite communications, over the next five years, according to the White House. "The program will be restructured so as to reduce the emphasis on new technology and apply an incremental approach to near-term satellite development and system testing," a document says.
Baring unforeseen weather difficulties, pilot Steve Fossett was on track late Feb. 10 to complete the longest nonstop unrefueled flight in history with a Feb. 11 landing in England. Fossett was scheduled to land the Scaled Composites/Virgin Atlantic aircraft at Kent International Airport near London as early as 6:30 p.m. local time Feb. 11 to complete a flight around the world, topped off with a second Atlantic crossing for the extra distance to set the record.
EDELMAN CONFIRMED: Eric Edelman, tapped by the Bush administration to be undersecretary of defense for policy, has been confirmed by the Senate. The voice vote, late Feb. 9, comes after Edelman had been serving in the position since last August under a recess appointment. But his term would have expired next January, when the next Congress takes office (DAILY, Aug. 11, 2005). Edelman is Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's chief policy adviser on myriad issues, including the DOD framer of Iraq policy.
