COM DEV INTERNATIONAL LTD. has opened a $10.7 million surface acoustic wave (SAW) development and manufacturing laboratory at its COM DEV Space facility in Cambridge, Ontario. The new facility will allow the company to use its proprietary design tools to develop and manufacture high efficiency, high frequency SAWs, which are crystal devices used in electronic circuits to process radio signals by converting them into acoustic waves (vibrations), modify them mechanically as they traverse the device, and then convert the modified vibrations back into a radio signal.
A panel sponsored by the Joint Chiefs of Staff to look over the Quadrennial Defense Review process has warned the Bush Administration against completing the QDR without adopting an overall national security strategy. Michele Flournoy, a member of the QDR Working Group and senior adviser at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said May 24 that in addition to reviewing the military's current role and future mission, the Department of Defense needs to adopt an overall national security strategy to provide context for the military effort.
MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES LTD. (MDA) of Richmond, British Columbia, has won a $11.5 million CDN ($7.4 million USD) contract to provide a system that allows astronauts on the International Space Station to safely install external payloads. Using a combination of precision cameras and targets, the Berthing Cue System will enable operators to move payloads along a trajectory within berthing range for accurate placement on the station. The company is teaming with Lockheed Martin Space Operations of Houston, Texas, on the project.
Some aerospace experts believe the Democratic takeover of the Senate could help military aviation programs, but others see the potential impact as less clear. By resisting the Bush Administration's push to deploy national missile defenses (NMD) for diplomatic, financial and technical reasons (DAILY, May 24), Democrats will probably free up money in the defense budget for fighter aircraft modernization, Teal Group analyst Richard Aboulafia said May 24.
President Bush intends to nominate Alberto Jose Mora to be general counsel of the Department of the Navy and Everet Beckner to be deputy administrator for defense programs at the Department of Energy, the White House announced May 23.
Russia and Australia on May 23 signed an historic space agreement that allows Russian rockets to be launched from pads on Christmas Island off Australia's northwest coast and from Woomera in central Australia, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. The agreement represents the first dedicated commercial use of a wholly Russian launch vehicle outside the Commonwealth of Independent States, according to the Australian government.
Beijing and Washington have now agreed that the crippled U.S. Navy EP-3E Aries II surveillance plane stranded on China's Hainan island for nearly two months will be disassembled for its eventual return to the U.S., a Chinese Foreign Ministry spokesman said May 24. But whether that means the pieces can be flown out remains unsettled, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
INTEGRAL SYSTEMS INC. of Lanham, Md., announced it has been awarded a contract by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Md., to support three upcoming deep space missions over the next five years. The financial terms of the deal were not disclosed. APL is a not-for-profit research and development division of Johns Hopkins University that supports NASA and Department of Defense space missions.
TRANSCENDENT TECHNOLOGIES, INC., of Sunnyvale, Calif., has received a Phase II contract from PanAmSat Corp. for a second set of satellite downlink quality monitoring units plus system engineering support. The new digital signal monitoring units will be used to augment PanAmSat's 2010 Carrier Monitoring System (CMS), also supplied by Transcendent Technologies. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Applied Signal Technology, Inc., of Sunnyvale, provides advanced signal processing systems for wireless networks.
ALLIANT TECHSYSTEMS (ATK) of Minneapolis, said the successful May 18 launch of a Boeing Delta II vehicle marks the first time a space launch mission has been supported by both ATK Aerospace Propulsion Co. rocket motors and motors manufactured by ATK Thiokol Propulsion Co. since Thiokol was acquired by ATK in April 2001. Nine GEM-40 strap-on motors manufactured by ATK Aerospace Propulsion Co. of Magna, Utah, provided the first-stage boost for the Delta II, which placed a National Reconnaissance Office satellite in orbit (DAILY, May 18, May 21).
Funding for U.S. Air Force space technology programs is increasing, Gen. Lester Lyles, commander of Air Force Materiel Command, said yesterday. Thirty-eight percent of the service's science and technology (S&T) budget for fiscal 2002 is going toward space technology under current plans, Lyles said at a conference here May 24. This is up from 32% in fiscal '01 and only 13% in fiscal '99. About 13% of the '02 budget is for the Space Based Laser.
NASA's Expedition Two crew on the International Space Station Alpha has successfully set up the orbiting laboratory's second and third major science facilities, according to NASA. This will enable the start of new experiments in human life sciences and materials science.
Saying America's national security is "in jeopardy," the Navy League recommends expanding the U.S. carrier fleet and increasing the Navy role in missile defense. Bulking up the carrier fleet to better allow the Navy to fulfill its responsibilities around the world is particularly necessary in light of U.S. military base closures overseas, according to James Offutt, chairman of the Navy League Resolutions Committee.
NASA is planning a unique $279 million robotic spacecraft mission to intercept a comet in deep space and use a projectile to blow a huge hole in it to see what's inside. The Deep Impact mission, planned for launch in January 2004, is slated to intercept comet Tempel 1 in July 2005. A 700-pound impactor, equipped with a camera, will then separate from the spacecraft and slam into the comet at about 22,300 miles per hour, blowing a hole in it the size of a football field and seven stories deep.
THE EUROPEAN SPACE AGENCY is putting on a traveling exhibit about its new environmental satellite, Envisat, slated for launch in October. The exhibit about Envisat, which ESA says is the largest and most up-to-date satellite ever built for Earth observation, will last for a year and will travel to 14 cities across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. The exhibit will present some uses of the data that Envisat will gather, and will also explain the scientific background for the mission.
CALIAN's SYSTEMS ENGINEERING DIVISION (SED), of Kanata, Ontario, has been awarded a $9.2 million contract to provide operations and maintenance services for the Canadian Space Agency's Satellite Operations Directorate at its facilities in Saint-Hubert, Quebec, and Saskatoon, Sasketchewan. The contract runs until March 31, 2003 and includes provisions for an additional two years of service, potentially bringing the total value to $18.7 million.
Northrop Grumman Corp. on May 23 announced that it will begin offering to buy or exchange all outstanding stock shares of Newport News Shipbuilding Inc. from shareholders of Newport News stock. Northrop will offer shareholders the option to receive $67.50 cash per share or shares in Northrop Grumman common stock valued at $67.50 per share, subject to certain limitations.
ARIANESPACE and the European Space Agency have agreed on an early summer launch date for Artemis, ESA's new advanced telecommunications satellite. The multi-purpose satellite will be launched by Arianespace on an Ariane 5 from Europe's spaceport in Kourou, French Guiana, on July 12. It will share the trip with the Japanese BSAT-2b direct broadcasting satellite. During its 10-year lifetime in space, the Artemis satellite's orbital position will be maintained by ion propulsion thrusters, a new technology making its first appearance on an ESA satellite.
EDO Corp. has received a $2.8 million contract from the U.S. Navy for continued development and fabrication of its BRU-55/A "smart bomb rack," slated for use on the Navy's carrier-based F/A-18 Hornet. The BRU-55/A will carry new smart weapons, including Joint Direct Attack Munitions (JDAM) weapons, the company announced May 24. With the addition of the F/A-18, EDO equipment will now be used on the F-14, F-15, F-16, F-18 and F-22, as well as the planned Joint Strike Fighter.
NASA's 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft performed its first trajectory correction on May 23 as it fired its thrusters to fine-tune its flight path for arrival at Mars in October. Odyssey fired its thrusters for 82 seconds at 10:30 a.m. Pacific time, which changed the spacecraft's velocity by 3.6 meters per second, according to NASA. The spacecraft is currently about 8.9 million miles from Earth and is traveling about 65,700 miles per hour relative to the Sun.
A strike at the Boeing military aircraft plant in St. Louis has been delayed. Boeing officials announced May 24 that the union leadership of the International Local 837 of the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers agreed to extend the strike deadline to June 4. Contract talks are scheduled to resume on Wednesday, May 30, Boeing officials said. The decision allows Boeing workers to remain at work and earn holiday pay.
CUBIC DEFENSE SYSTEMS has completed a major test of its common data link (CDL) capabilities at the Naval Air Warfare Center China Lake, near Ridgecrest, Calif. Cubic tested its new digital signal processor-based CDL at China Lake on May 8, the company announced May 24. Cubic's CDL synchronized with government CDL systems and transmitted navigation data, digital audio and pseudo-random test data, the company reported.
Sen. John Breaux (D-La.), who expects to take the helm of the Senate Commerce Committee's science, technology and space subcommittee with the Democratic takeover of the Senate, plans to have a busier hearing schedule than his Republican predecessors, an aide told The DAILY May 24. The subcommittee has held few hearings under the chairmanship of Sen. George Allen (R-Va.), said Andy Vermilye, a senior policy adviser to the senator.
General Dynamics Information Systems has been awarded a $3.2 million contract by the Raytheon Electronic Systems Co. to design and develop the data storage system for the Active Electronic Scanned Array fire-control radar for the U.S. Navy's F/A-18E/F Super Hornet. The contract will also cover other radar system improvement programs, the company announced May 24.
Hawker Pacific Aerospace has signed a contract with AIR 2000 to provide landing gear overhaul services for AIR 2000's B757-200 and B767-300ER fleets, which currently total 20 aircraft. The 10-year contract is worth about $4.5 million, Sun Valley, Calif.,-based Hawker announced May 23. AIR 2000 is a charter airline based at London's Gatwick Airport.
