The 350-kilogram UoSAT satellite, to be launched next month on a Dnepr rocket, will carry communications and remote sensing payloads. Onboard will be a six-color, 30-meter resolution camera and an eight-meter resolution, panchromatic camera. Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd. of Surrey England, which owns UoSAT and has done other remote sensing payloads, has been discussing selling its imagery commercially. A spokesman told SBT that SSTL has been approached by outside companies to provide remotely-sensed data.
The Boeing-led Sea Launch venture plans to launch its first commercial satellite in August or September, after demonstrating with a dummy payload that it can launch a Ukrainian Zenit booster from a modified Norwegian oil rig on the equator and use a Russian upper stage to put a satellite in geostationary transfer orbit.
3/22/1999; NASA JSC; CLASS A; SOL 9-BG03-8-45P; Solicitation Number: 9-BG03-8-45P; NAIS Posted Date: Mar 22, 1999; CBDNet Posted Date: Mar 22, 1999; Response Date: Mar 31, 1999; Classification Code: A - Research&Development; Contracting Office Address: NASA/Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center, Houston Texas, 77058-3696, Mail Code: BG; Commerce Business Daily; Sources Sought For studies; Part: U.S. Government Procurements; Subpart: Services; Subject: International Space Station Transhab Deployment; Due: Mar. 31.
WorldSpace Corp. still needs to raise several hundred million dollars to carry it through to the breakeven point in its financial plan, said Steve Gavenas, executive vice president for operations of the Washington, D.C.-based company. Speaking at Aviation Week's Space Technology Business '99 Conference in Arlington, Va., last week, Gavenas said WorldSpace, which aims to provide satellite-based radio broadcast services around the world, has already raised about 70% of what it needs.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 24, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 29, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: T-Photographic, Mapping, Printing, and Publication Services; OFFADD: U.S. Geological Survey, Branch Of Acquisition and Federal Assistance, Box 25046, Denver Federal Center, Denver, CO 80225-0046; SOL 99CRQQ0144; DUE 040999; POC Robert C. Valdez (303) 236-5900 ext 424
Defense Secretary William Cohen ordered more strategic and support aircraft to Europe to augment air assets carrying out strikes on Yugoslavia, Pentagon spokesman Ken Bacon said yesterday. Five B-1B bombers, five EA-6B electronic combat aircraft, four B-52 bombers, and ten additional tankers will be in place later this week to participate in the second phase of NATO air strikes, Bacon said. The B-52s are replacing bombers that are returning to the U.S. The U.K. is also contributing additional aircraft.
Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, will cut its workforce by 10%, or about 1,200 employees, as part of a cost saving plan, Lockheed Martin reported yesterday. About 30% of the cuts will be management positions. More than 300 of the cuts already have been achieved through attrition since the beginning of 1999. The rest will take place over the remainder of the year, with the management cuts being finished by the end of June.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 23, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 25, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: D-Information Technology Services, including Telecommunication; Services-Potential Sources Sought; OFFADD: U.S. Geological Survey, MS 205A, 12201 Sunrise Valley Drive, Reston, VA 20192; SOL N/A; POC Brian Heath 703/648-7362
Boeing Co. said it has taken steps to make it simpler to configure and produce airplanes. It said yesterday that the system, initiated on March 1, "stabilized quickly and there have been few user-identified problems." Implementation of the new system, called Define and Control Airplane Configuration/Manufacturing Resource Management, or DCAC/MRM, marks the eighth of 11 planned phases. It is also the beginning of a process to more carefully track airplane parts data in a system that will eventually become Boeing's single source of such data.
With the extension of two COMSAT contracts worth a total of $5.7 million and results of testing done on military use of Iridium hand-held telephones soon to be announced, the U.S. Dept. of Defense continues its move towards increased use of commercial communications satellites.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 24, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 26, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: D-Information Technology Services, including Telecommunication Services; OFFADD: DISA/DITCO/DTS11, 2300 East Drive, Scott AFB, IL 62225-5406; SOL NX18MAR990046 and 0047; DUE 041699; POC Mr. Rey Flores, 314-229-9478 or Ms. Carolyn Franey, 314-229-9490
March 22, 1999 Northrop Grumman Corp., Rolling Meadows, Ill., is being awarded a $5,200,000 face value increase to a firm-fixed-price contract to provide for 65 test sets applicable to the electronic system on the F-15 aircraft. Expected contract completion date is Dec. 31, 2003. Aeronautical Systems Center, Wright-Patterson AFB, Ohio, is the contracting activity (F41608-93-C-0064-P00083).
March 26, 1999 Lockheed Martin Integrated Systems, Orlando, Fla., is being awarded a $63,200,000 face value increase to a cost-plus-award-fee contract to provide for a six-month extension of risk reduction activities in support of engineering and manufacturing development for the Joint Air-to-Surface Standoff Missile (JASSM). Expected contract completion date is March 1, 2002. Air Armament Center, Eglin AFB, Fla., is the contracting activity (F08626-96-C-0002-P00046).
A contingent of U.S. Air Force Predator unmanned aerial vehicles arrived in Tuzla, Bosnia, aboard a C-5 transport over the weekend and began training flights yesterday to prepare for missions over Kosovo. The same unit will patrol over Bosnia. The UAVs will supplement reconnaissance assets already trained on Kosovo by giving closer looks at relatively small areas. They apparently will play a role in NATO's plans to strike at Serb vehicles and artillery in Phase II of its air operation.
Iridium LLC has gotten a 60-day waiver from its lenders to meet customer and revenue milestones set when it completed $1.95 billion in new financing late last year. Under that arrangement, which included an $800 million Senior Secured Credit Facility (DAILY, Jan. 7), the "Big LEO" low-Earth orbit satellite communications startup was to have cash revenues of at least $4 million, cumulative accrued revenues of at least $30 million, at least 27,000 Iridium World Satellite Service customers and at least 52,000 total customers by the end of March.
The U.S. Army's Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) missile yesterday failed for the sixth consecutive time to hit a target, but Pentagon leaders reported they will stay the course with no change to prime contractor Lockheed Martin's role leading the program. After the last failure, the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization put Lockheed Martin on notice that it would have to pay a price if its missiles continued to fail.
Rolls-Royce has proposed a Private Finance Initiative (PFI)-based partnership with the U.K. Ministry of Defense to meet the Short Term Strategic Airlift requirement. The company is proposing Managed Fleet Service (MFS) for four Boeing C-17 airlifters or equivalent aircraft to enter service in late 2000, a need first identified in last year's Strategic Defense Review.
The Pentagon will recommend that the White House send to Capitol Hill by the end of next week a budget amendment identifying the offsets required to get a fully funded Space-Based Infrared High (SBIRS High) program in the future years defense plan, according to Deputy Defense Secretary John Hamre.
