Can industry really police itself? That's the question the Transportation Department's Inspector General will pose the second time starting Sept. 19, in an audit of the FAA's voluntary disclosure reporting program. The IG's review of the program comes as lawmakers continue to be concerned about the findings of a 2008 Inspector General's audit that found an FAA inspector and Southwest Airlines ducked the system.
Last week, a fresh set of calls urged Congress to address the nation's financial situation. Executives from Lockheed Martin, BAE Systems and EADS North America are proceeding with pre-election plans to warn thousands of workers that they might be laid off early next year. Two former Treasury secretaries, one Republican and one Democrat, said failing to address America's debt problem has dire economic and foreign policy implications. And Moody's rating agency now says the nation's long-held AAA rating hinges on congressional budget negotiations. Sen.
As CEO of EADS, Louis Gallois was repeatedly rebuffed by his board when he sought to acquire U.S. defense companies. Less than four months after Gallois' retirement, a single deal could finally make EADS a top supplier to the Pentagon—and in the process create the largest aerospace and defense (A&D) company ever.
Francesco Caio Title: CEO, Avio Age: 55 Birthplace: Naples, Italy Education: Engineering degree from Milan Politecnico and MBA from INSEAD in Fontainebleau, France.
Mars Curiosity rover's three left wheels frame the lower slopes of Mount Sharp in this two-frame mosaic collected Sept. 9 by the Mars Hand Lens Imager (Mahli) during tests of the robotic arm.
NASA’s Curiosity Mars rover is a day away from finishing its thoroughgoing checkout period, and soon will begin driving in search of a good rock to touch with its robotic arm and analyze. Performance of the rover’s Canadian-built alpha particle X-ray spectrometer (APXS) has checked out on a sample target of polished basalt from Earth that is mounted on the rover’s deck. Plans call for Curiosity to set off Friday in search of a piece of Mars basalt to reach out and touch with the APXS sensor on the end of the rover’s robotic arm.
CLASSIFIED PAYLOAD: A United Launch Alliance Atlas 5 launched NROL-36, a classified payload for the National Reconnaissance Office from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., Thursday at 2:39 p.m. PDT. As is typical of classified missions, there was only limited comment about the success of the ascent or the health of the payload. The only confirmation was success through the payload fairing separation. The launcher included a 4-meter fairing, no solid rocket boosters and a single Centaur upper stage.
Houston – Japan’s third H-II Transfer Vehicle departed the International Space Station on Sept. 12 following a seven-week stay. NASA and Japanese astronauts Joe Acaba and Akihiko Hoshide unberthed the 32-ft.-long spacecraft from the station’s U.S. segment Harmony module using the Canadian robot arm shortly before 7 a.m. EDT. The capsule was released at 11:50 a.m. EDT .
SAT DEAL: Spacecom has reached a $200 million accord with Israel Aerospace Industries for the manufacturing of the AMOS-6 satellite, Spacecom said Sept. 10. The AMOS-6 is set to launch in 2015. IAI will build the satellite, prepare it for launch, place it into its orbital position, and provide ground control operations. The satellite is expected to be operational for at least 16 years. MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates Ltd. will be the contractor for the Ku and multibeam Ka payloads.
New Delhi – India is awaiting assurances from its troubled partner Russia that it will be prepared for India’s second mission to the Moon, the Chandrayaan-2, in 2014, the country’s top scientist says. Russia, which is reviewing its space mission program after the recent failure of an interplanetary mission with China, will provide the lander while India will build the lunar orbiter and rover for Chandrayaan-2.
HOUSTON — NASA and SpaceX are working toward an Oct. 9-10 launch of the first Falcon 9/Dragon Commercial Re-Supply Services (CRS) cargo mission to the International Space Station, though the two would like to lift off several days earlier if the opportunity arises. NASA would like to start the mission as soon as Oct. 5 if the U.S. Air Force Eastern Range becomes available, to avoid any conflicts with the launching of Russia’s Soyuz 30 mission to the station on Oct. 15, says Mike Suffredini, NASA’s ISS program manager.
NEW DELHI — The 51-hr. countdown is underway for India’s latest Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle (PSLV-C21) mission, which will orbit two foreign satellites. The PSLV-C21 will be launched from the Satish Dhawan space center at Sriharikota in south India at 9:51 a.m. local time on Sept. 9, an official at the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) says. The countdown began Sept. 7. The launch will mark ISRO’s 100th mission into space.
CHILL TEST: Results of a cold-temperature hot-fire test have qualified a new fixed nozzle for ATK’s GEM-60 strap-on solid-fuel booster for the United Launch Alliance Delta IV, as ATK continues to upgrade the 12-year-old design. In a test Sept. 6 at the ATK facility in Promontory, Utah, the 53-ft.-long GEM-60 was chilled to a core temperature of 30F before the 90-sec. burn, which generated about 270,000 lb. of thrust. In addition to qualifying the new fixed nozzle for flight, the test results validated the low-temperature performance of the new nozzle insulation.
PARIS — French defense equipment agency DGA has ordered a pair of studies from private industry on developing a successor to the Syracuse 3 military communications satellite system, the results of which are expected to support defense program decisions as the administration of President Francois Hollande updates the country’s defense and security strategy in the coming months.
NASA’s Dawn probe broke free of the pull of gravity from the asteroid Vesta early Sept. 5 and re-entered orbit around the Sun as its low-thrust xenon-ion propulsion system moves it on to the dwarf planet Ceres. With the change in orbit, which came at 2:26 a.m. EDT, Dawn started a transit through the Asteroid Belt that will take it to Ceres early in 2015. The spacecraft entered orbit around Vesta — exceeded in mass within the main belt only by Ceres — in July 2011, and spent 13 months studying the giant asteroid.
