ECAPS, of Stockholm, Sweden, owned equally by the Swedish National Space Board and Volvo Aero, has received its first order from the Swedish National Space Board for a demonstration of environmentally friendly rocket fuel for satellite engines. The order is worth 11 million Swedish Krona (about $1.1 million USD). ECAPS plans to develop a competitive alternative to today's most commonly used fuel, hydrazine, which is hazardous and carcinogenic.
MERCURY COMPUTER SYSTEMS of Chelmsford, Mass., a provider of real-time digital signal processing systems, announced its RACE++ systems will be used by Boeing Satellite Systems to test the Spaceway high-speed communications satellite network, due to be in service in 2003. Boeing is building the network for Hughes Network Systems. Spaceway will enable businesses and homes to have access to two-way desktop video conferencing, interactive distance learning and Internet services at faster speeds than those provided by current land-based systems, according to Mercury.
Despite ongoing Department of Defense efforts to alert industry to the danger, commercial satellite systems remain undefended from the effects of nuclear explosions in space, according to specialists in nuclear threat deterrence. The radiation effects from even a single low-yield detonation in orbit could produce major disruptions in communications capability that could last for months.
PANAMSAT's PAS-10 is scheduled to be launched at 6:11 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on May 14 aboard an International Launch Services Proton rocket from Baikonur, Kazakhstan. PAS-10 is a Boeing 601HP satellite built by Boeing Satellite Systems, the third of three satellites the company has delivered under an order placed in 1999. Overall, PAS-10 is the 17th satellite that BSS has built for the PanAmSat fleet.
India and France signed an agreement on May 9 to jointly develop a new science satellite for atmospheric research that is scheduled to be launched in late 2005. The satellite, called Megha Tropiques, will carry three instruments to conduct research on the role of water cycles in the tropical atmosphere, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported. The instruments will provide data on rain above the oceans, water vapor content in clouds and humidity in the atmosphere.
THE BOEING CO. has been awarded a $251.9 million, two-year contract to provide full logistics support of about 850 components for the Navy F/A-18 E/F Super Hornet. The contract contains options that could be worth up to $770 million, the company said. The contract is part of a program aimed at improving readiness and lowering support costs for the Super Hornet fighter.
The self-financed space trip of American millionaire Dennis Tito may rank above that of Charles Lindbergh in terms of overcoming obstacles to manned flight, an industry executive said during a May 10 committee meeting at the Federal Aviation Administration. Michael Kelly, a member of the FAA's Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee and president of Kelly Space&Technology, Inc., also said Tito's visit to the International Space Station compares with the groundbreaking work of Bessie Coleman, the first African-American female aviator.
LOCKHEED MARTIN GLOBAL TELECOMMUNICATIONS has designed a broadband satellite network for General Communication, Inc., an Alaska-based full-service telecommunications provider. GCI will use LMGT's LINKWAY family of satellite networking products to provide broadband communications to rural and remote villages across Alaska, providing voice, Internet and cable. The LINKWAY network designed for GCI consists of over 20 operating sites across Alaska, with plans to expand to nearly 70 sites.
HARRIS CORP., of Melbourne, Fla., will provide digital voice and video communications for astronauts and scientists working in the U.S. Destiny Laboratory module of the International Space Station once installation is complete and the module is operational, the company announced. Harris produced the Internal Audio System (IAS) and the Internal Video Distribution Subsystem (IVDS) as part of the fiber-optic communications network installed by Boeing. The first phase of the Harris system was delivered to the ISS in early February by the Space Shuttle Atlantis.
A fire destroyed a military space control center on May 9 in central Russia, cutting communications with four orbiting military satellites. The nighttime fire destroyed the six-story control center of the Russian armed forces' space division. No deaths were reported, but Anatoly Perminov, the newly assigned commander of the space forces, confirmed that communications with four satellites was lost due to the fire. Communication with the satellites was reportedly restored on May 10 from a reserve location.
Spacehab, Inc., which provides commercial space services, including pressurized space research modules, reported a $3 million net loss for the third quarter of fiscal 2001. The company also reported a $7.2 million loss for the nine months ending March 31 - nearly double the losses it reported for the same time last year. It posted revenues of $24.5 million for the third quarter and $75.4 million for the nine months ended March 31, both down 2% from comparable periods last year.
Stellex Technologies, Inc., of Florham Park, N.J., announced May 10 it will invest $40 million in tooling and equipment for its subsidiary, Stellex Aerostructures, as part of a company reorganization. Stellex provides highly engineered subsystems and components for the aerospace and defense industries through its Stellex Aerostructures subsidiary. That company is composed of three units, Stellex Monitor, Stellex Precision and Stellex Aerospace.
The Air Force Research Laboratory's directed energy directorate at Kirtland AFB, N.M., has awarded $23 million in contracts to four companies working to develop laser defenses against anti-aircraft missiles. Textron Systems of Wilmington, Mass., was awarded $13 million. ITT Industries' advanced engineering and sciences division, of Albuquerque, N.M., and Raytheon Electronic Systems' Missile Systems of Tucson, Ariz., received $4.5 million each. The Georgia Institute of Technology's Applied Research Corp. of Atlanta received $1 million.
The F-22 Raptor, bomber aircraft modernization and the V-22 Osprey all received a boost May 10 with favorable comments from key people at a Senate confirmation hearing for the prospective Air Force, Army and Navy secretaries. Air Force Secretary-nominee James Roche, a Northrop Grumman executive who has overseen the division that makes the F-22's fire control radar, told the Senate Armed Services Committee that the air-superiority fighter offers the benefits of stealth, supercruise and advanced weapons and sensors.
Revenues for the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company (EADS) should get a 20% boost this year if current dollar-euro exchange rates hold up, the company announced May 10 in Amsterdam, Holland. A first quarter decline in the dollar versus the euro boosts the value of some EADS contracts, which helps increase the amount of revenues, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Raytheon Co. has received $50 million in contracts from the U.S. Army and the General Motors General Dynamics Land Systems (GM GDLS) Defense Group to supply equipment for the Brigade Combat Team (BCT). Contract options extending through 2006 could provide Raytheon a potential $250 million in additional sales, the company announced May 10. Raytheon's Tactical Systems business unit in McKinney and Dallas, Texas, and El Segundo, Calif., will perform the work.
U.S. senators pressed the Bush Administration on several shipbuilding fronts May 10, urging it to preserve the DD-21 future destroyer, increase the ship production rate and take care to preserve the shipbuilding industrial base. Nine senators, including Senate Majority Leader Trent Lott (R-Miss.), sent a letter to Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld recommending he support the Navy's DD-21 program.
Boeing's new home is Chicago. A Boeing Business Jet carrying the company's top executives departed Seattle-Tacoma Airport at 11 a.m. May 10, leaving its home since 1916. The plane was bound for either Dallas, Denver or Chicago - Boeing's top three civic finalists for its corporate headquarters. The company's search fueled two months of speculation over the company's final choice.
LOCKHEED MARTIN CORP., Fort Worth, Texas, has been awarded a $12 million contract to provide for fleet upgrade for 22 F-16 aircraft. This upgrade includes incorporation of interface software for the Advanced Medium Range Air-to-Air Missile and the Advanced Identity Friend and Foe system. This effort supports foreign military sales to Bahrain. The work is expected to be completed by January 2003.
LOCKHEED MARTIN Missiles and Fire Control - Dallas conducted three successful developmental flight tests of the Multiple Launch Rocket System (MLRS) upgraded M270A1 launcher this week at White Sands Missile Range, the company announced May 9. Twenty-three MLRS rockets were successfully fired from the launcher over a two-day testing period. The M270A1 is a major upgrade to the launcher.
The U.S. Air Force demonstrated precision-strike accuracy with a Block 1A Conventional Air Launched Cruise Missile (CALCM) in a flight test at the Utah Test and Training Range, the Boeing Co. announced May 8. The test also validated advanced Global Positioning System processing flight software, which provided the precision delivery guidance, according to Boeing. The flight test, which took place last week, was the culmination of a three-year program to upgrade the CALCM with precision GPS-aided inertial navigation.
John Douglass, president of the Aerospace Industries of America, said the Commission on the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry needs to give the industry "a coherent road map that will help guide us all in the next four to eight years." Most of the members of the new commission have yet to be named, but Douglass, speaking at the Global Air&Space 2001 Forum and Exhibition, said it needs to be a "strong" commission that will look at current industry trends and help guide a changing industry.
Three divisions of New York-based L-3 Communications have joined a TRW-led team vying to replace the Air Force's Satellite Control Network Command and Control Segment, the company announced May 9. L-3's Communication Systems-West, Telemetry&Instrumentation and Storm Control Systems are part of the team led by TRW Inc., which has been awarded a Phase One contract in support of the Command and Control System-Consolidated (CCS-C) program.
Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld's plans for reorganizing military space management will streamline the space acquisition process, according to Lt. Gen. (s) Brian Arnold. These changes could also attract more funding for military space endeavors, Arnold said at a National Defense Industrial Association (NDIA) Space Committee luncheon on May 9. Rumsfeld called for giving the Air Force clear authority over space (DAILY, May 9) and announced several structural changes (see related story on Page 7).
European Space Agency officials are preparing another round of parabolic flights on an Airbus A300 to provide temporary weightlessness for researchers preparing experiments for the International Space Station. Three flights of 30 parabolas each are planned for May 15-17 from the Bordeaux-Merignac airport in France. Fourteen experiments will be onboard during the latest round, the most since the agency began the flights in 1984. Eight experiments are in the field of physical sciences, three are in life sciences and three were proposed by students.
