U.S. and Russian engineers continue to search for the cause of a slow loss of cabin pressure onboard the International Space Station (ISS), although the likeliest culprit is a Russian carbon dioxide removal unit, according to NASA. Station managers noticed a "subtle" decrease in cabin pressure on Jan. 2, according to ISS Operations Integration Manager Mike Suffredini. Subsequent analysis of ISS records revealed that the pressure drop began on Dec. 22, he said.
The Defense Department said Jan. 6 it plans to delay the purchase of some F-35 Joint Strike Fighters to ensure the program has enough time to resolve the aircraft's weight problems. The decision means that some JSFs DOD intended to buy in the current future years defense program (FYDP), which runs through fiscal 2009, will instead be purchased in FY '10 or later. DOD did not specify how many aircraft would be delayed, but the vast majority already had been slated for procurement after FY '09.
HERCULES WORK: United Defense Industries Inc. will procure long-lead material and parts for 21 M88A2 Hercules tank-recovery vehicles it plans to build for Egypt under a contract award expected later this year. The long-lead work is being done under a $15.5 million Foreign Military Sales contract.
The U.S. Air Force plans to consider additional upgrades to the aging A-10 Thunderbolt II aircraft to sustain the close-air-support platform for nearly another quarter century, a general said Jan. 6.
Lockheed Martin Canada has asked for a review its disqualification from the competition for Canada's $2.5 billion Maritime Helicopter Program but is undecided about where to go from there, a company spokesman said Jan. 5. "We have requested a review by the department of Public Works and Goverment Services," said Michael Barton. "We haven't ruled out the possiblity of pursuing a CITT [Canadian International Trade Tribunal] challenge."
GPS III: The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp. were each awarded $20.1 million contracts for Phase A of the GPS III program, the Department of Defense announced Jan. 5. A competition for a single developmental contract is expected to follow a meeting of the Defense Space Acquisition Board (DSAB) in the third quarter of fiscal 2005 (DAILY, June 6, 2003).
ROVER SUCCESS: NASA's Spirit rover successfully landed on Mars on Jan. 3 and began sending back pictures, including a panoramic view of its landing site that was posted Jan. 5 on the Jet Propulsion Laboratory web site. That picture can be viewed at http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html.
MOSCOW - Late in 2003, Russia launched two important telecommunications satellites from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. On Dec. 28, a Soyuz-FG/Fregat booster carried the 3,600-pound Amos-2 satellite to orbit. The Amos-2, owned by Spacecom Satellite Communications of Israel, carries 14 Ku-band transponders and will provide broadcasting and communications services to the Middle East, Central Europe and the Northeast coast of the United States.
The U.S. Defense Department's F-35 Joint Strike Fighter, the Air Force's F/A-22 Raptor and several other major manned military airplanes will undergo key reviews in 2004. "It should be an interesting year" for military aircraft, said Paul Nisbet, an aerospace analyst at JSA Research. JSF, whose prime contractor is Lockheed Martin Corp., is scheduled to have its first critical design review in April. The F-35 has been exceeding its weight targets, but Nisbet predicted the problem of extra pounds eventually will be solved.
This year will be a significant one for the U.S. Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) program, with a contract award expected before summer. Preliminary design proposals from three teams - Lockheed Martin/Bath Ironworks, Raytheon, and General Dynamics - are due Jan. 30. In May, the Naval Sea Systems Command will award a final design and construction contract to one or two of the industry groups.
Although supporters and critics of the Missile Defense Agency's Ground-based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system continue to disagree over GMD's technical maturity, both camps have little doubt that the Bush Administration will meet its goal of fielding the anti-missile system by October. President Bush announced in late 2002 that his Administration would begin to deploy GMD in 2004. Continued U.S. tension with North Korea and the approaching November presidential election are fueling the drive to meet that objective.
NASA plans to deliver the redesigned external tank for the shuttle's return-to-flight mission, STS-114, to the Kennedy Space Center in May, according to Michael Greenfield, the associate deputy administrator for technical programs. Several elements of the shuttle's external tank are being redesigned to eliminate sources of foam debris. Among them is the bipod ramp that attaches the orbiter to the tank, which was the source of the foam fragment that doomed Columbia.
North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD) and U.S. Northern Command said they are responding to an elevation of the national threat level to "high" on Dec. 21, but declined to say how. The measure was taken because of "a substantial increase in the volume of threat-related intelligence reports," Tom Ridge, secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, said Dec. 21. He said reports "suggest the possibility of attacks against the homeland around the holiday season and beyond."
PRAGUE, Czech Republic - Shareholders in Czech aircraft producer Aero Vodochody have postponed a decision on the state-owned company's future business strategy for a second time. Aero's main shareholders, which include state company Letka, the Czech Consolidation Agency and Boeing, agreed during a 20-minute general meeting Dec. 19 to wait until the Czech cabinet discusses the future of the company next month. The shareholders failed last month at extraordinary general meeting to agree on a medium-term business plan.
PROWLER RESTART: Northrop Grumman has restarted the production line for outer wing panels for the EA-6B Prowler, the company said Dec. 22. The large number of Prowler missions flown in recent conflicts means the aircraft must be overhauled sooner than planned. The line had been shut since 1987.
EUROPEAN UCAV: Sweden's Saab and France's Dassault Aviation have signed a memorandum of understanding to define a program to develop an unmanned combat aerial vehicle (UCAV) demonstrator, the company said Dec. 22. Dassault will manage the program, with Saab as a principal partner. "This is an extremely important step for the development of Swedish UAV technology," Lennart Sindahl, senior vice president and general manager at Saab Aerosystems, said in a statement.
Based on worldwide satellite orders in 2003, the head of Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) is "cautiously optimistic" that the commercial satellite market is beginning to rebound from its slump.
