NASA named three more astronauts to round out the crew that will make a rush visit to the Hubble Space Telescope in October to replace its aging gyroscopes before the three that still work fail and throw off the telescope's observation schedule. Commanding the STS-103 mission will be U.S. Astronaut Curtis L. Brown, making his sixth Shuttle flight. U.S. Astronaut Scott J. Kelley, making his first space flight, will be pilot, while European Space Agency Astronaut Jean-Francois Clervoy will operate the robotic arm in his third flight.
The European Commission has proposed that the European Union create a public/private partnership (PPP) to finance and build a new satellite navigation constellation. The new system, dubbed Galileo, is envisioned as providing the EU a more competitive position in the increasingly lucrative satellite navigation market. It would also be a boon to the European aerospace industry, which would likely build and launch the system. The European Space Agency would develop the system should it be approved.
Boeing Co. is focusing on a balanced menu of aircraft products to provide increased profits despite "modest growth" in the worldwide military marketplace, said Michael M. Sears, president of the company's Military Aircraft and Missile Systems Group. He said the most promising domestic and international military markets include aircraft modifications, aircraft support, training, training systems and aircraft refurbishment.
March 11, 1999 Raytheon E-Systems, Inc., Greenville, Texas, is being awarded a $12,619,762 modification to previously awarded contract N00019-94-C-0213 to exercise an option for the installation of 11 P-3 sustained readiness program core kits and associated technical and administrative data. Work will be performed in Greenville, Texas, and is expected to be completed by June 2001. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Air Systems Command, Patuxent River, Md., is the contracting activity.
The U.S. Federal Aviation Administration's Office of Commercial Space Transportation (OCST) has issued a license to the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture for its planned demonstration flight next week, clearing the way for the partnership to launch a Ukrainian/Russian Zenit booster from its floating pad.
President Clinton's proposed budget for fiscal year 2000 shifts the U.S. Air Force portions of two programs - the Discoverer II satellite radar project and the Space-Based Laser effort - to the Air Force Research Lab without additional funding, a move that would force AFRL to reallocate its budget and cut or realign up to 560 civilian and 61 military personnel - over 10% of its workforce of 5,900.
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 9, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES; CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: NASA/Lewis Research Center, 21000 Brookpark Road, Cleveland, OH 44135; SUBJECT: A-HIGH THRUST-DENSITY OPTICS FOR ADVANCED ION PROULSION; SOL RFO3-119631; DUE 032499; POC Kurt A. Straub, Contracting Officer, Phone (216) 433-2769, Fax (216) 433-2480, Email [email protected]
From Commerce Business Daily: Posted in CBDNet on March 8, 1999; Printed Issue Date: March 10, 1999; PART: U.S. GOVERNMENT PROCUREMENTS; SUBPART: SERVICES CLASSCOD: A-Research and Development; OFFADD: NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 215, Greenbelt, MD 20771. TRANSFER OF SMEX LITE SPACECRAFT ARCHITECTURE AND RELATED TECHNOLOGIES FROM NASA TO PARTNER COMPANIES; SOL NAS5; DUE 041299; POC Wayne Hudson, Chief, Technology Commercialization Office, Phone (301) 286-8497, Fax (301) 286-0301, Email [email protected]
GIO Space, an Australian insurance underwriter serving the space industry, will expand its activities to include investing directly in space-related companies. The company, a wholly owned subsidiary of Sydney-based GIO Insurance, Ltd., wrote over $150 million in premiums during the 1997/1998 financial year. It was originally part of the GIO Reinsurance division but was spun off as a separate unit in September 1998.
NASA has awarded AlliedSignal Technical Services Corp. a seven-year contract worth as much as $324 million for testing, evaluation and maintenance work at the agency's White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico.
Textron Inc. said John Janitz has been named president and chief operating officer, effective March 12. Janitz, who also was appointed to the board effective March 25, replaces Herbert Henkel, who left to become president and chief operating officer and chief executive officer - designate of Ingersoll-Rand Co. Janitz, 56, jointed Textron in June 1996 as chairman, president and CEO of Textron Automotive Co.
President Boris Yeltsin has signed an edict ordering the transfer of 350 aviation industry companies to oversight by the Russian Space Agency, which now becomes the Russian Aviation and Space Agency, the Russian news agencies Interfax and Itar-Tass reported.
From Commerce Business Daily. Posted on Mar 05, 1999. Contracting Office Address, NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 214.1, Greenbelt, MD 20771; SOL RFO5-03279-358; NAIS Posted Date Mar 01, 1999; CBDNet Posted Date Mar 01, 1999; Response Date N/A; Classification Code: A- Research&Development; Contracting Office Address: NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 214.1, Greenbelt, Md. 20771
Boeing will begin supplying customized replacement floor panels for the commercial airplane aftermarket, with Delta Air Lines signed to the first contract, Boeing reported yesterday. Boeing will supply panels through June 2003 for all the aircraft in the Delta fleet. That is expected to generate a requirement for up to 10,000 replacement panels per year, Boeing said.
Michael Mruz resigned as chief executive officer of Nichols Research Corp., Huntsville, Ala., the company reported yesterday. Chris Horgen, chairman and co-founder of Nichols, was named CEO. "While we have accomplished much of our agenda during my five years at Nichols, I believe it is in the best interest of the company in achieving its strategic objectives for me to resign," Mruz said in a statement. "Accordingly, I have resigned today. I will work with Chris and the other executive leadership to foster as smooth a transition as is possible."
GENERAL ELECTRIC said its new CF34-8C1 turbofan completed it initial test flight on March 10. The engine will power Bombardier's new 70-passenger Canadair Regional Jet Series 700.
When age and attrition take the current U.S. Air Force bomber inventory below the required numbers in 2037, the next step may not be an airplane, Acting AF Secretary F. Whitten Peters said Friday. This summer, Air Combat Command will unveil a draft version of a future strike assessment that will detail threats to be countered by bombers in coming decades. From that document, the AF plans to design a bomber replacement, possibly a space-based system. "We are looking for an effect," an AF spokesman said. "It doesn't have to be a bomber."
Delays and overruns have forced a four-and-a-half-year slip from original plans in an important microgravity science facility on the International Space Station, according to a document prepared by the Glenn Research Center where the "Fluids and Combustion Facility" (CFC) is managed. Based on the most recent Station assembly schedule and belt-tightening in the fiscal 2000 budget mandated by the White House Office of Management and Budget, the three-rack CFC won't be complete on orbit until mid-2005.
The Comanche helicopter this week is scheduled to fly with a new pylon that changes airflow over the tail to reduce buffeting. The change is primarily for "creature comfort," said a Boeing spokesman. Fabrication of the second Comanche should be completed March 25. It is scheduled for five hours of flight tests before going back in the hangar to await installation of its digital flight control system and mission equipment.
First liftoff from the Boeing-led Sea Launch venture's floating launch pad has been set for March 26 from a site on the equator about 1,400 miles south of Hawaii at 154 degrees West longitude. The "Odyssey" self-propelled launch platform, essentially a modified oil rig, and the command ship Sea Launch Commander will proceed to the launch location from their home port in Long Beach, Calif., with a Ukrainian/Russian Zenit booster and an instrumented dummy flight for the launch demonstration.
NASA has issued a request for proposals for a low-cost advanced Earth-imaging radar satellite to be launched by the end of 2002 as part of the U.S. space agency's efforts to develop spaceborne radars for scientific and commercial purposes.
Ballistic Missile Defense Organization Director Lt. Gen. Lester Lyles last week told lawmakers it would be possible to develop a version of a sea-based national missile defense (NMD) system for less than the high-end $19 billion cost estimate. A Pentagon study on sea-based NMD, made partially public this month, concluded that a system to complement a ground-based site could be built for between $16 billion and $19 billion (DAILY, March 9).
