COUNTDOWN REHEARSAL: The crew of STS-114 conducted a countdown rehearsal at Kennedy Space Center in Florida May 4. Known as a Terminal Countdown Demonstration Test (TCDT), the exercise is held before every flight. The test ended with a mock countdown culminating in a simulated main engine cutoff. Following the engine cutoff, the crew performed an emergency escape in which they exited the orbiter and practiced getting into baskets that would carry them away from the launch pad on a slidewire. Discovery is scheduled to launch during a window in July.
NOAA CHANGES: The House Science Committee intended to mark up its authorization bill for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration on May 4, but the panel delayed the move due to squabbling over the measure's language. "Both we and the Democrats have brought up significant additional changes to the bill," said Rep. Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), the committee chairman. He said the NOAA markup could be rescheduled for as soon as next week.
The once-lauded bomb dud rate goal of 5% now is far too high for U.S. military forces to accept, and industry and the Defense Department must work to cut that failure rate, the U.S. Navy program executive officer for strike weapons and unmanned aerial vehicles said May 3. Rear Adm. Timothy L. Heely told the 2005 Navy Opportunity Forum in Reston, Va., that with the use of fewer but dramatically more precise weapons, the 5% level is "unacceptable" in modern warfighting. Every weapon strike must be effective when it is needed, he said.
The U.S. Army is considering developing a smaller, more deployable variant of its Tactical High Energy Laser (THEL), the sprawling chemical-laser demonstrator that has shot down rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds in tests, an industry official said May 4.
Eric Anderson, Takafumi Horie and J. Craig Venter have been elected to the board of trustees. Anderson is president and CEO of Space Adventures Ltd. Horie is CEO and president of Livedoor Co. Ltd. Venter is founder and president of the J. Craig Venter Institute and the J. Craig Venter Science Foundation.
Lockheed Martin has reported successful completion of a "jitter" test of the Space-Based Infrared System High (SBIRS High) satellite. The test, which ran from Feb. 21 to April 8 at the company's Sunnyvale, Calif., facility, focused on the Pointing and Control Assembly (PCA) of the geosynchronous orbit satellite. Lockheed Martin said this "allows the satellite's two optical systems to be positioned to scan and stare at designated areas, enabling operators to modify areas of surveillance according to national priorities."
International Launch Services (ILS) has announced upcoming launches for the Nordic Satellite AB (NSAB) Sirius 4 satellite and a classified National Reconnaissance Office (NRO) spacecraft, both to take place in 2007.
The Air Force and NASA are calling for proposals to improve liquid lines and ducts in rocket engines as part of the Integrated High Payoff Rocket Propulsion Technology (IHPRPT) program.
LONDON - Although Lockheed Martin Space Systems recently was awarded an $11 million contract to support the British Royal Navy's Trident D5 nuclear submarine-launched ballistic missile (DAILY, April 29), the debate over the future of the United Kingdom's nuclear deterrent has intensified. British citizens will go to the polls May 5, and it is likely that the next government will have to decide what happens to the U.K. nuclear deterrent before the next general election in 2010.
Col. Ishmon F. Burks (USA-Ret.) has been appointed executive vice president - communications (investor and media relations). Gen. Larry R. Ellis (USA-Ret.) has been named president of the firm. Ellis will also continue to serve on the board of directors.
Congressional negotiators working out the $82 billion supplemental measure decided against Senate provisions for $213 million toward additional up-armored Humvee manufacturing and $32 million to buy defense systems to protect commercial aircraft against shoulder-fired missiles.
The U.S. Army is expected to launch a competition by the end of calendar 2005 to develop a mobile, solid-state laser defense against airborne threats, an industry official said May 4. The ground-based, electrically-driven laser system, which likely will have at least 100 kilowatts of power, is intended mainly to destroy rockets, artillery shells and mortar rounds, said Art Stephenson, vice president of directed energy systems at Northrop Grumman Space Technology.
The U.S. Navy's EA-18G electronic-attack aircraft program has completed a key design review, according to industry officials. Although the Navy has not announced the results of the critical design review (CDR), which concluded April 28, officials at the Boeing Co., the EA-18G's prime contractor, said May 2 that the Navy seems pleased with the outcome.
The International Space Station (ISS) program is adjusting to the postponement of STS-114 by rearranging the manifest of its upcoming June Progress resupply ship to include more of the station's most critical consumable - water. ISS managers already had planned an alternate manifest for the Progress in the event the shuttle was delayed. The ISS will have roughly six weeks supply of water left when the unmanned Russian Progress docks. The next Progress visit is scheduled for August.
WORKSTATIONS: DRS Technologies Inc. of Parsippany, N.J., has been awarded $50 million in new orders to provide engineering, spares, and production services for the U.S. Navy's AN/UYQ-70 Advanced Display Systems and related computer equipment, the company said May 3. The systems will be installed on the Navy's new Aegis destroyers, cruisers and other surface ships, as well as E-2C Hawkeye aircraft and attack submarines.
ORBITER ARRIVES: NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) has arrived at Kennedy Space Center, Fla., to prepare for its planned Aug. 10 launch, NASA said. The spacecraft, whose mission is to last through 2010, was built near Denver by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
The Defense Department's financial performance has worsened and is now receiving the equivalent of an unsatisfactory grade from the White House, according to the latest federal agency scorecard compiled by the Office of Management and Budget.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - The recent TOPOFF 3 exercise, simulating a biological and chemical weapon attack on the U.S. by terrorists, showed a need for greater coordination with industry's first responders, and senior government officials will meet here May 4 to discuss this and other lessons, according to Adm. Timothy Keating, commander of U.S. Northern Command.
