LUMINANT WORLDWIDE CORP. of Dallas has teamed with United Space Alliance, a company owned by the Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin Corp., to provide information to potential customers regarding sending payloads into space on the Space Shuttle. The companies created a multimedia Web-enabled CD-ROM providing detailed information about the Shuttle's payload program, including its capabilities, benefits and procedures for transporting goods. It includes a look at methods used to monitor payloads, preparation and flying procedures and storage options inside the Shuttle.
MSC.SOFTWARE CORP. of Costa Mesa, Calif., has had several contracts for its simulation software extended by several NASA space flight centers. NASA and its contractors will use MSC.Nastran to identify possible design flaws early in product cycles, reducing time to launch, manufacturing expenses and material costs. The Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., will use MSC.Nastran for analysis of Space Shuttle and X-Plane projects.
CORRECTION: An article in the March 15 issue on a U.S. Navy contract was imprecise. The Navy has ordered from Raytheon additional equipment used in the Aegis Weapons System. Lockheed Martin is the Aegis program's prime contractor.
STAY IN: Withdrawing from the Outer Space Treaty of 1967 would be a dangerous "sea change" in U.S. space policy, says Colorado-based lawyer Wayne White, speaking at a Cato Institute conference last week. White points to Article II of the treaty, which specifically bans territorial sovereignty in space, as the primary reason to preserve it. "I don't want military competition in outer space.
DLR, the German Aerospace Center, is working in partnership with a design services team from the U.K.'s Celoxica Ltd. to develop a new range of multimedia terminals for broadband satellite systems. As part of the agreement, DLR has signed a contract for Celoxica's new DK1 design suite as well as its RC-1000 development boards for rapid prototyping.
The Air Force should limit F-22 low-rate initial production (LRIP) to no more than 10 aircraft a year until it finishes initial operational test and evaluation, the General Accounting Office said in a report released late yesterday. The limit is needed to "minimize risks," the GAO said. Current plans calls for buying 10 LRIP F-22s in fiscal 01, 16 in FY 02 and 24 in FY 03. Full-rate production is to begin in FY 04.
NASA needs to exercise care with the Space Launch Initiative to avoid repeating the mistakes it made in the canceled X-33 and X-34 programs, according to NASA's Office of Inspector General (OIG).
LOCKHEED MARTIN SPACE SYSTEMS' Advanced Technology Center, working with structural design engineers from the Fleet Ballistic Missile program, successfully demonstrated use of a low-cost, vacuum-assisted resin transfer molding process to manufacture a complex structure integral to the Trident II D5 fleet ballistic missile, the company announced. The company said the molding process will significantly reduce the cost of components for future generations of submarine-launched ballistic missiles.
ICO-Teledesic Global Limited and Ellipso Inc. have announced plans to collaborate on a mobile satellite system that will bring advanced telecommunications services to previously neglected markets. "The mobile satellite industry has failed spectacularly in delivering on its promise to users," said Craig McCaw, ICO-Teledesic Global's chairman. "We continue to be compelled by the scope of the market and the importance of providing services for the under-served in the United States and around the world," McCaw said.
The Senate Commerce Committee yesterday elected Sen. George Allen (R-Va.) chairman of the space subcommittee, giving him a leadership role in overseeing NASA. Allen, whose elevation to the space post had been expected (DAILY, March 13), replaces Sen. Sam Brownback (R-Kan.), who became chairman last month but had to step down because he had more subcommittee chairmanships than Senate rules allowed (DAILY, March 5).
An analyst yesterday blamed NASA for suppressing the U.S. space launch industry and recommended stripping the agency of its operational role. "The underlying belief is central planning - that government should be in a commanding role," Robert Poole, director of transportation studies at the Reason Public Policy Institute, told conferees at the Cato Institute in Washington, D.C.
Today marks the 75th anniversary of Robert Goddard's first liquid-fueled rocket launch - a milestone as epic as that of the Wright brother's flight at Kitty Hawk, N.C., and one that paved the way for later spacecraft to soar into Earth orbit and beyond. Goddard's launch on March 16, 1926, "became the underpinning of everything that we are able to do in space today and which we take for granted," said William Townsend, deputy director of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., named for the rocket pioneer.
Kamov Helicopters has exhibited their Ka-137 unmanned surveillance helicopter at the High Technologies of the Defense Industry forum here, which was sponsored by the Moscow Major Office and opened this week. The 280-kilogram (612 pound) at lift-off helicopter is basically a 1.3 meter (4.3 ft.) diameter sphere equipped with four rod-shaped landing legs and a coaxial main rotor powered by a Hirth 2706 R05 two-cycle piston engine, delivered by Gobler Hirthmotoren of Germany. Composite materials are used in the aircraft's structure.
A National Audit Office (NAO) report released yesterday says it is essential the United Kingdom "remains at the forefront" of international collaboration on military equipment. In the new report, the NAO says in 1998-99 the Ministry of Defense spent 13% of the defense equipment budget (1.3 billion pounds, or $1.9 billion) on 64 cooperative equipment programs that involved 19 partner nations.
Alarming shortfalls in British service pilot totals, particularly for fast-jet operations, are behind the Ministry of Defense's recent establishment of a tri-service Aircrew Retention Review (ARR). United Kingdom problems with military pilot shortages were highlighted last September by the National Audit Office (NAO). It said the annual totals becoming available for operational service over the past few years averaged about 18% fewer than MoD requirements.
The Senate Banking Committee yesterday postponed a vote on an export control bill to iron out unspecified differences with the Bush Administration. "By continuing discussions with the Bush Administration, I am confident that we can, in short order, reach a consensus and receive the president's full endorsement of our efforts to bring U.S. export controls in line with the realities of the 21st century," committee Chairman Phil Gramm (R-Texas) said.
The U.S. Army will undertake a major exercise next month designed to emphasize its efforts to move from an analog Army to a digitized future with command, control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C4ISR) enhancements put to the test in a demonstration of advanced information technology. The Division Capstone Exercise, or DCX, is intended to demonstrate and assess both the mechanized and aviation brigades' data-linked networking capabilities under a counteroffensive dynamic battle scenario.
Two Pentagon officials disagreed yesterday about the need to develop electronic warfare systems that would allow aircraft to operate with relative safety below 15,000 feet in the presence of enemy shoulder-fired anti-aircraft missiles.
U.S. Marine Corps Commandant Gen. James L. Jones said although a UH-60 or derivative helicopter - together with more CH-53E Super Stallions - is an alternative to the V-22 should the program be cut, the package would have shortcomings for the missions of the Marines.
Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman John Warner (R-Va.) recommended yesterday that Senate budget writers provide $8.5 billion more for defense in fiscal 2002 than President George W. Bush has requested.
Alliant Techsystems' Aerospace Composite Structures Co., of Clearfield, Utah, has been awarded a $1.8 million contract from European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. member Construcciones Aeronauticas S.A. Espacio, of Madrid, Spain, to produce composite structures for the Ariane 5 space launch vehicle, the company announced Tuesday.
After tallying its first financial loss, European launch giant Arianespace faces critical challenges in 2001 in order to regain its profitability and remain ahead of growing competition in the world's commercial launch market. Last year, for the first time in its 20-year history, the French-led consortium took a loss of more than $200 million. That setback came despite a record 12 commercial launches - all of them successful - in 2000.
A U.S. Defense Dept. electronic warfare official painted a bleak picture of EW business opportunities from the Pentagon, telling executives of American companies Wednesday to continue looking abroad for new sales. "Last year, I told you to look towards international sales," said Tony Grieco, deputy director, electronic warfare, in the office of the under secretary of defense for acquisition, technology and logistics. "I think I'll tell you the same thing this year."
The Air Force should revive its original plan to buy 750 F-22 Raptors, according to House Armed Services Committee member Jim Gibbons (R-Nev.). In an "issue brief" released Tuesday by the congressional Electronic Warfare Working Group, Gibbons wrote that "arbitrary budget compromises" reduced the number of F-22s the Air Force plans to buy to 339. He said buying 750 would provide enough aircraft to have "the continuous enabling force every [unified commander in chief] requires without overtasking our airmen."
Although Gen. James L. Jones, the Marine Corps' senior leader, believes a decade of studies have shown the V-22 tiltrotor Osprey to be the best solution to meet Marine Corps mission requirements, he said his service is not blinded by its love of it.
