ENROLLMENT SPIKE: Enrollments at science and aeronautics classes at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) have "spiked considerably" following the successful Mars Exploration Rovers (MER) and President Bush's announcement of a new vision for space exploration, according to Maria Zuber, head of MIT's Department of Earth Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences and a member of the President's Commission on Implementation of U.S. Space Exploration Policy. "It happens every time something like this is announced," Zuber says.
EUROPEAN UNION: The newly formed European Union (EU) defense agency could move out of NATO headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, in the future to strengthen its independence, says Christopher Preble, director of foreign policy studies at the CATO Institute. The EU defense agency, approved June 14, was established to help the bloc's 25 member states coordinate and make the best use of their defense budgets (DAILY, June 17). "The U.S. has been opposed to an EU defense agency independent of NATO because it wants to maintain a predominant role in Europe," he says.
The U.S. Air Force should set its depot maintenance prices high enough that the maintenance activity group will recover all its estimated costs, the General Accounting Office said in a report issued last week. GAO said that prices charged to customers were not set high enough to recover about $1.1 billion of the group's reported costs for fiscal years 2000 through 2003. The average price for Air Force depot maintenance in-house labor work also increased from $200 per hour of work in fiscal 2000 to $238 per hour in fiscal 2004, the report said.
If successful, the June 21 flight of Scaled Composites' SpaceShipOne could boost the fortunes of other suborbital space companies and finally pave the way for a viable space tourism market, according to analysts.
STRIKER40: General Dynamics Armament and Technical Products will manufacture the MK47 MOD 0 Weapon System under a $16 million government contract, the company said June 18. The MK47 weapon system, also called the Striker40, is a lightweight 40mm grenade launcher with an integrated fire control system that is capable of firing air-bursting ammunition. General Dynamics and partner Raytheon will build the program's Lightweight Video System (LVS) fire control.
ENGINE UPGRADE? The U.S. Navy says it is studying the possibility of upgrading the Rolls-Royce F405 engine it uses on its Boeing T-45 Goshawk trainer. The Navy is interested in eliminating surges that cause the engine to run too quickly, forcing the aircraft to land. As part of the fiscal 2007 budget process, the Navy plans to decide whether to pursue the upgrade, which would be made on as many as 213 of the single-engine T-45s, according to Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR).
BE SPECIFIC: The U.S. Navy should review its shipbuilding program to establish a consistent requirement for new construction, coupled with a streamlined approach to upgrades and modernization efforts, says the House Appropriations Committee. "The committee remains deeply troubled by the lack of stability in the Navy's shipbuilding program," the HAC says in its report on the fiscal 2005 spending bill, which was approved June 16. "...
COMET ANSWERS: The European Space Agency's Rosetta comet rendezvous mission could help determine whether Earth's oceans came from icy comets hitting the planet, ESA says. Rosetta was launched in March on a mission to visit Comet Churyumov-Gerasimenko in 2014 (DAILY, March 3). It carries an instrument named Ptolemy that is to analyze the mix of isotopes on the comet to see if the water frozen on comets is similar to water in the Earth's oceans.
The House Appropriations Committee said the U.S. Navy's development of the DD(X) guided missile destroyer is on a "rush to failure" as it recommended scaling back program funding from the requested level and delaying construction by a year. "The committee believes the DD(X) development schedule does not provide sufficient time for the proper maturation and testing of transformational technologies prior to initiating construction of the first ship," the committee said in its report.
The U.S. Missile Defense Agency already plans to take the kinds of steps lawmakers are calling for to increase the realism of testing for the Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system, an MDA official said June 18. "We're doing about everything we can to make this as realistic as we can," said Air Force Brig. Gen. Mark Shackelford, MDA's deputy for test and assessment, who spoke at a Defense Forum Foundation luncheon on Capitol Hill.
"Numerous changes and improvements" have been implemented to dramatically upgrade the defense of U.S. airspace in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks, a North American Aerospace Defense Command statement said June 17.
June 21 - 25 -- National Space & Missile Materials Symposium, "Developing Materials to Transform the Future," Seattle, Wash. For information go to www.usasymposium.com/. June 22 - 24 -- NDIA, 4th National Intelligent Vehicle Systems Symposium & Exhibition, Grand Traverse Resort and Spa, Traverse City (Acme), Mich. For information go to www.ndia.org.
BURNHAM AWARD: Tom Burbage, Lockheed Martin's executive vice president and general manager of the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program, was awarded the Donald C. Burnham Manufacturing Management Award by the Society of Manufacturing Engineers on June 11. The award recognizes Burbage "for exceptional success in the integration of the infrastructure and process manufacturing," Lockheed Martin said June 17.
House appropriators eliminating funding for a study of the Robust Nuclear Earth Penetrator (RNEP) and other small nuclear weapons programs when it approved the fiscal 2005 energy bill, which funds the Department of Energy, the National Nuclear Security Administration and other agencies. The House Appropriations Committee approved the bill June 16. "I am very pleased that the House Appropriations Committee recognized the need to halt funding for nuclear 'bunker busters' and an arsenal of new nuclear weapons," said Rep. Ellen Tauscher (D-Calif.).
The U.S. Army's Rapid Equipping Force (REF), set up as an experiment two years ago to speed the deployment of urgently needed tools, is taking steps to expand its reach and effectiveness, a spokesman said June 17. The REF expects to receive a formal charter in about a month, which will make it easier to work through the government bureaucracy to secure funding and personnel, spokesman Frank Phillips told The DAILY.
NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has ordered the leaders of the agency's field centers to begin dialogues with employees on the findings of the Aldridge commission report, which recommends a number of sweeping changes at NASA to help it carry out its new vision for space exploration.
Congressional appropriators see little future for the Space Based Radar program unless the U.S. Air Force redirects its technology to less expensive program efforts and concentrates on seeking breakthroughs to lower its cost.
NASA's authorization bill for fiscal year 2005 urges the agency to give private industry responsibility for flying an unmanned probe to the moon within three years, according to Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who introduced the legislation June 17. Such a mission would "ensure America remains in the lead in understanding and utilizing this body," Brownback said while chairing a hearing of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science, Technology and Space in Washington June 17.
LAUNCHED: Intelsat's 10-02 satellite was successfully launched June 16 on an International Launch Services Proton vehicle from Baikonur Cosmodrome, Kazakhstan. The launch had been delayed a day due to minor technical problems. The satellite, built by EADS Astrium based on its Eurostar-3000 bus, is the largest spacecraft in Intelsat's fleet.
Rolls-Royce has assembled a team of engineers to assess how the company's aircraft engines can be ruggedized for the harsh environmental conditions that U.S. troops have encountered in Afghanistan and Iraq. Scott Crislip, president of Rolls-Royce's Defense North America, said during a press briefing June 17 that the team will examine such things as keeping sand out of engines and making engines more resistant to corrosion. Engines used on C-130 transports and V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft are among those that could be examined.
The Senate approved an amendment to the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill June 17 that would require the Missile Defense Agency (MDA) to conduct more tests on its proposed missile defense system. The amendment, introduced by Sen. John Warner (R-Va.), chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee, sets parameters for what lawmakers called "operationally realistic" testing and sets an Oct. 1, 2005 deadline for completion.
Union and small business officials told House Armed Services Committee (HASC) members June 17 that they support language in the House and Senate versions of the fiscal 2005 defense authorization bill that would discourage or eliminate offset agreements with other countries. Offsets are the compensation required by countries as a condition for buying aerospace and defense products and can include co-production, subcontracting, technology transfer and other requirements.
Dassault Aviation's Rafale is a multirole combat aircraft with low observability intended to perform missions including air superiority, air defense, air-to-surface attack and reconnaissance. Powered by two French Snecma M88-2 turbofan engines, the Rafale entered service with the French navy about a year and a half ago and has flown off the Charles de Gaulle aircraft carrier in the Indian Ocean. The French air force is expected to begin fielding the new jet in late 2005 or early 2006.
The House Appropriations Committee says the Coast Guard must "rebaseline" the Deepwater program. The huge project - which involves the replacement or improvement of ships, fixed-wing aircraft, helicopters, command and control equipment, and support of such items for 40 years - "has reached a critical juncture within its development," the committee says in its report on the Department of Homeland Security's fiscal year 2005 budget request. The Coast Guard is an element of DHS.
A Lockheed Martin-Northrop Grumman team successfully completed a recent two-day space segment requirements review (SSRR) for the Transformational Communications MILSATCOM (TCM) Space Segment at Lockheed Martin Space Systems facilities in California, Lockheed Martin said June 17. More than 120 government representatives took part, including DOD service representatives. The review was an important milestone in the program's risk reduction and system definition phase, the company said. Two teams
