NASA ABANDONED plans for two spacewalks from the Space Shuttle Columbia Saturday after spacesuited astronauts were unable to open the hatch leading from the airlock into the cargo bay. Engineers on the ground feared the crew would damage the latching mechanism if they forced it, making it difficult or impossible to repressurize the airlock. They hoped to identify the source of the problem when the Shuttle returns to Earth. The extravehicular activity was planned to test assembly techniques developed for the International Space Station (DAILY, Nov. 20).
Russian space officials have drafted an intense launch plan for the last month of the year and for operations of the Mir station throughout 1997, despite continuing difficulty financing national space projects and a short supply of basic hardware. The approved launch manifest for December features six launches, even though Russia has conducted only 24 launches in the first 11 months of 1996. The December plans indicates a strong desire by the military Space Forces to make up a shortfall of military launches during the year.
RUSSIA'S TUPOLEV DESIGN BUREAU has flown the last remaining Tu-144 supersonic transport, outfitted with money from U.S. aircraft firms as a flying testbed for future SST development, for the first time in six years. In a 43-minute flight near Moscow last Friday, the Tu-144LL reached an altitude of 6,600 feet and a top speed of 280 mph. It was the plane's first flight since it was outfitted with Samara/Trud NK-321 engines originally built for the Soviet-era Blackjack bomber and selected for the NASA flight test program because they are still in production (DAILY, Dec.
McDonnell Douglas is touting a new airborne battle management system that is being demonstrated as part of the U.S. Defense Dept.'s Battlefield Awareness and Data Dissemination (BADD) advanced concept technology demonstration. The Battlefield Visualization System, used last month in a joint forces interoperability demonstration at Camp Pendleton, Calif., features ground and on-board sensors to provide an image of the battlefield, MDC said. It can receive pre-requested information from the BADD system, and update information in real time.
The allocation of the limited number of Airborne Self Protection Jammers the Pentagon has used in Bosnia operations is basically up to the Navy commanders in charge of the Pacific and Atlantic theater, says Marine Corps Col. Nolan Schmidt, the Naval Air Systems Command's EW programs director. The only order guiding their use otherwise comes from the Navy requirements office, which says equip F-14Ds first, then F/A-18s flying contingency operations.
CHRYSLER CORP., Auburn Hills, Mich., agreed to sell its PENTASTAR ELECTRONICS INC. subsidiary to PEI ACQUISITION CORP., Huntsville, Ala. Closing is expected to occur in late January 1997. Upon closing, Chrysler will have sold all its aerospace and defense businesses as it focuses on its core automotive business.
U.S. Air Force B-2s bombers already have flown more than 1,000 missions, the Air Force reports as it gears up for the first improvement program in the life cycle of its newest bomber (DAILY, Nov. 27). The 1,000th mission was logged Nov. 21 after more than two years of B-2 training and test operations.
TRIMBLE has been chosen by CIRRUS DESIGN CORP. as the primary avionics supplier for the Cirrus SR20. Trimble will provide a fully integrated avionics package that includes a PS Engineering audio panel and intercom; 2000 Approach Plus GPS certified for IFR; two 760-channel communication transceivers; a navigation receiver transponder, and altitude encoder.
BOEING and ROCKWELL INTERNATIONAL CORP. completed the consent solicitation launched Nov. 6 with respect to Rockwell's six series of debt securities with a value of $1.6 billion. The solicitation ended Nov. 22.
U.S. and Russian space officials are working toward an agreement that could see the International Space Station's Service Module completed with U.S. funds paid at an accelerated rate, but still too late to meet the mid- 1998 schedule for the first full-time Station crew.
The Army wants to add satellite communications to the Guardrail Common Sensor signals intelligence aircraft and downsize its ground station. But even if those efforts aren't funded, program officials say the Army will see those developments around 2005 when it plans to field the Aerial Common Sensor. ACS is the future Army aircraft that will consolidate the Guardrail and the Airborne Reconnaissance Low communications and imagery intelligence aircraft's missions.
The U.S. Army is looking for new ideas for weapons with a particular emphasis on directed energy and interceptor technologies, according to a Nov. 27 Commerce Business Daily notice. Several program awards are possible, ranging from $100,000 to $3 million, the Army's Space and Strategic Defense Command said. Although the Army said it is looking for "advanced and innovative concepts," it asked that contractor proposals be "derived from current and emerging principles."
SIGNAL TECHNOLOGY CORP., Sunnyvale, Calif., won a $1.4 million power supply contract from an Israeli system manufacturer. The power supplies will be delivered over the next two years.
The Air Force plans its last test today in the Wind Corrected Munitions Dispenser fly-off between the competing Alliant Techsystems and Lockheed Martin solutions, more than a month before the expected Jan. 13 deadline, an AF spokesman says. A total of 12 WCMDs have been dropped so far, six from each competitor. As throughout the test series at Eglin AFB, the last drop will take place simultaneously from the same aircraft, with one WCMD under each wing. Despite the quick conclusion of testing, the AF still plans to wait for the contract award until Jan. 31.
Later this month the Navy will undergo critical design review for the radio-frequency portion of the Integrated Defensive Electronic Countermeasures program, Schmidt says. So far the program is about 99% on cost and schedule, he says, while acknowledging that the effort led by Lockheed Martin's Sanders Div. and ITT hasn't been without hiccups. Schmidt said he'd be "very surprised" if the CDR didn't go well.
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.) will chair the House Science subcommittee on space and aeronautics in the next Congress. Rep. F. James Sensenbrenner, Jr., (R-Wis.), who headed the panel in the 104th Congress, is moving to chair the full Science Committee. Meanwhile, some seat shuffling is still taking place to fill several vacancies on the space and aeronautics panel. Aides expect the membership on the panel to be ironed out by the end of this week.
BOEING renewed its CATIA computer-aided design/manufacturing licensing agreement with IBM and DASSAULT SYSTEMS with a multimillion-dollar, five- year arrangement. Boeing is using the CATIA system to introduce digital product definition across its entire product line.
The U.S. Air Force successfully tested a full-up McDonnell Douglas Joint Direct Attack Munition with Global Positioning System-aided guidance for the first time last Tuesday, after glitches occurred during two earlier tests. The Nov. 26 mission was a replica of the first-ever GPS-aided JDAM test on Oct. 31 in which the precision munition failed to acquire GPS satellites (DAILY, Nov. 4).
Boeing and McDonnell Douglas officials said last week the two companies are holding discussions concerning what a Boeing spokesman described as the "possibility of Douglas Aircraft Co. supporting some of our Commercial Airplane Group activities." A Douglas Aircraft spokesman said that "we are at a point in our history where we are exploring a lot of opportunities. We have had some discussions with Boeing." Boeing said the talks are "preliminary" and "cover whether Douglas could support" BCAG.
