Scientists operating the New Horizons probe to explore Pluto and its moons plan to ask for an extended mission to a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), now that the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted three of the tiny faint bodies at the outer reaches of the Solar System that the nuclear-powered probe may be able to reach after it passes Pluto. The KBOs are 15-34 mi. across, and one of them is “definitely reachable,” according to the program team. All lie at least 1 billion mi.
GE Capital Aviation Services is set to take over helicopter-leasing specialist Milestone Aviation Group in an agreement valued at $1.775 billion. The deal, revealed on Oct. 13, is likely to shakeup the still-fledgling helicopter leasing business, which was rebooted by the formation of Milestone in 2010.
The U.S. Navy has declared its new Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne command and control aircraft operational. The first five aircraft—one full squadron—has been fielded and initial operational capability was declared Oct. 10. The first squadron will deploy next year on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy plans to buy 75 E-2Ds to replace 52 E-2Cs now in service, in a $19.9 billion, 10-squadron program, says Capt. John Lemmon E-2/C-2 program manager for the Navy.
President Barack Obama has nominated Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be deputy administrator at NASA. Best known for innovative spacesuit designs, Newman joined MIT’s faculty in 1993. Pending approval by the Senate, she will follow Lori Garver, who resigned in September 2013 to become general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association.
An innovative partnership between NASA and SpaceX is giving the U.S. space agency an early look at what it would take to land multi-ton habitats and supply caches on Mars for human explorers, while providing sophisticated infrared imagery to help the spacecraft company develop a reusable launch vehicle.
Just seven years into his career, Thomas McGuire is leading a Skunk Works project to find the “Holy Grail” of low-cost and low-impact energy in the form of nuclear fusion.
The CubeSat movement may make it to the surface of Mars, possibly within a decade, allowing low-cost, minituarized secondary payloads on missions carry rovers and other high-priced gear.
Dassault Aviation Chairman and CEO Eric Trappier talks to Aviation Week about the market, the company’s hefty R&D investments and why he is confident Dassault will gain ground on Gulfstream in China. Since since taking the top job in January 2013, he has focused intensely on the company’s business-jet dossier, which accounts for 70% of sales. The 5X and 8X mark Dassault’s expansion into the super-midsize and long-range markets.
The device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations and, potentially, large aircraft.
Over the past decade, Pentagon plans to replace the AGM-114 Hellfire have been scaled back from joint-service development of an all-new tri-mode missile for launch from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, fast and slow, to a dual-mode guidance section upgrade for the AGM-114R now carried by U.S. Army and Marine Corps attack helicopters. Delayed and descoped, the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) finally looks set to move into full development.
Pan-European cooperation in military Earth observation could see progress by the end of this year as France presses for allied contributions to the next-generation Optical Space Component (CSO) system in exchange for access to its high-resolution imagery.
An article in the Oct. 6 issue (page 22) should have stated the cost increase of the F-35 to Norway is 5.58% and the first phase for an F-35 facility will cost $96 million.
Around 353 Earth observation (EO) satellites are expected to be launched over the next decade compared to 162 in 2004-13, according to Euroconsult. This will result in $36 billion in manufacturing revenue globally, an 85% increase over the previous decade, the consulting company said Oct. 9. In 2023, the commercial EO data market is expected to reach $3.6 billion (for an 8% compound annual growth rate for 2014‑23). Asia, Latin America and Africa are expected to grow at over 10% each.
The French defense equipment agency DGA took delivery of the first of 10 modernized Dassault Rafale fighters for the nation’s navy Oct. 3. Upgraded to the current F-3 standard, the Rafales will replace Super Etendards as of 2016, when they will become the navy’s only strike fighters. Produced hastily to the F1 standard in the late 1990s in an effort to replace aging F-8 Crusaders, these 10 navy Rafales have been limited to superiority and air defense missions.
