As the U.S. looks for ways to reduce an immense budget deficit, planners in the military and intelligence communities appear to be questioning whether they really need two commercial imagery providers to supplement the super-capable government spacecraft. And that has set off a messy dance between two publicly traded satellite operators, DigitalGlobe and GeoEye, about whether they should merge and on what terms.
Los Angeles – Alliant Techsystems (ATK) will develop a composite crew compartment with support from Lockheed Martin as part of a complete launch system being proposed with partner Astrium for NASA’s commercial crew program. Unveiling new details about the Liberty project, ATK says the system is on track for initial tests in 2014, with the first crewed test mission anticipated as early as 2015. Kent Rominger, ATK vice president and Liberty program manager, says the test plan supports crewed missions for NASA by 2016 and is built on flight-proven elements.
As the House of Representatives begins debate on funding legislation that would direct NASA to move quickly to pick a single commercial crew vehicle for public support, the commanders of three Apollo missions to the Moon endorsed the approach.
COLORADO SPRINGS — Swedish Space Corporation (SSC) believes it has an answer to the problem of how to deorbit spent cubesats before they can smash into more valuable spacecraft. SSC’s NanoSpace unit has developed miniaturized spacecraft thrusters using Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) fabrication technology. The tiny thruster systems have been partially validated in space, on the company’s Prisma satellites that also proved out the nonhypergolic green propellant developed by another SSC subsidiary.
Bordeaux, France – Commercial satellite imagery provider DigitalGlobe rejected an unsolicited May 4 offer from competitor GeoEye to purchase the Longmont, Colo.-based company in a $792 million deal that would create the largest fleet of high-resolution imaging satellites in the world. In a May 6 letter to GeoEye President and CEO Matt O’Connell, DigitalGlobe rejected GeoEye’s public offer, asserting it substantially undervalues DigitalGlobe in relation to its standalone business and financial prospects.
Automated non-destructive inspection of composite parts for delamination and other defects is a critical step that is becoming more challenging as structures become larger and more complex. Ultrasound inspection conventionally requires parts to be immersed in a water tank or sprayed with water jets to guide the pulses. Now non-contract laser ultrasound is allowing remote, robotic inspection of complete airframe sections. Airbus, with EADS Innovation Works and France's Ecole des Mines, is evaluating a laser ultrasound system using a composite forward-fuselage demonstrator.
Space Shuttle Enterprise flies past the Manhattan skyline while making its final voyage April 27, from Washington to New York, where it will be placed on permanent exhibit July 19 as one of the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum's major attractions. En route to John F. Kennedy International Airport, tens of thousands of spectators on the New York and New Jersey sides of the Hudson River were treated to dramatic views of the prototype test vehicle and the NASA Boeing 747 that transported the orbiter.
Across composite and metallic aircraft structures, technology is being developed and deployed to minimize component lead times, reduce manufacturing costs and increase production rates. Automated processes that can take component geometry data directly from three-dimensional design databases are high on the most-desired list for aerospace manufacturers.
Cutting and drilling of cured composite components during manufacture or repair are a growing challenge as structures become bigger, more complex and costly.
The nation’s NASA- and National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration-administered Earth observation program is at risk of collapse, the victim of poor strategic planning, budget shortfalls and cost overruns.
AEHF-2: The U.S. Air Force’s second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF) spacecraft was successfully placed in orbit May 4 by a United Launch Alliance Atlas V rocket Liftoff from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., took place at 2:42 p.m. EDT and the rocket’s Centaur upper stage deployed the spacecraft at 3:33 p.m.
Friction welding fuses metals without melting them and is used in aerospace to join engine disks (rotational welding) or fabricate aircraft and spacecraft structures (friction-stir welding). Now hybrid components produced by linear friction welding of dissimilar metals promise to overcome a key disadvantage of composites: carbon fiber cannot be attached directly to aluminum because of galvanic corrosion, forcing use of higher-cost titanium. But friction welding can allow titanium to be incorporated into the join between aluminum and composite structures.
The U.S. Operationally Responsive Space (ORS) office has unveiled details of its ORS-4 rail-launched satellite experiment. Dubbed “Super Stripey,” ORS-4 will combine the Scout launch missile rail system at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii, with the Stripey target system at Sandia National Laboratory. Working with Aerojet, ORS is developing an expanded, three-stage, solid-rocket version of the original sounding rocket.
Isogrids are among the lightest and strongest of structures, the lattice pattern of integral stiffening ribs providing extremely high strength-to-weight ratios. Lightweight isogrid panels machined from aluminum plate to produce thin-walled, self-stiffened and damage-tolerant structures are used in launch vehicles and aircraft doors. Advanced grid structures made from composites have been used for components such as payload shrouds, but require time-consuming and costly manual layup. Isogrid Composites Canada Inc.
BERLIN — Commercial satellite imagery provider GeoEye is proposing to buy competitor DigitalGlobe in a $792 million deal that would create the largest fleet of high-resolution imaging satellites in the world. The two companies have been in merger talks for several months, but negotiations recently broke down, GeoEye CEO and President Matt O’Connell told investors and reporters during a May 4 teleconference call.
Composites may be replacing metals in aircraft structures, but the use of titanium is increasing both to reduce weight and because of the incompatibility of aluminum and carbon fiber. Boeing's 787 is 50% composite by structural weight, whereas its earlier 777 is only 12%, but a 787 contains almost 90 tons of titanium compared with 55 tons in a larger 777. And titanium can be around 10 times as expensive as aluminum, so pressure is on to reduce costs.
China specialists contend that conflict with the U.S. is inevitable and that space- and cyber-supremacy, at least for limited periods, will be deciding factors in a confrontation if a Chinese attack is unexpected, short in duration and quick in resolution.
Nanotechnology-enabled materials are moving into aerospace. New Hampshire-based Nanocomp Technologies is scaling up production of electrically and thermally conductive yarn, sheet and tape made from long carbon nanotubes (CNT). Spun yarn is being used to replace copper in data cables in aircraft and spacecraft, potentially halving the weight of wiring harnesses. Sheet material was used on NASA's Juno spacecraft, launched in August 2011, to provide electrostatic-discharge protection of attitude-control thruster and main-engine components.
Engineers on Boeing’s CST-100 commercial crew vehicle project are turning their attention to a forward heat shield jettison test and a hot fire of the capsule’s orbital maneuvering/attitude control engines.
AEHF SCRUB: The U.S. Air Force scrubbed an attempt to launch the second Advanced Extremely High Frequency (AEHF-2) secure communications satellite on May 3 due to a lack of helium flow from ground support equipment into the Interstage Adapter compartment on the Atlas V rocket. Launch provider United Launch Alliance and the Air Force plan another attempt to lift off from Space Launch Complex-41 at Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla., on May 4 during a two-hour window that opens at 2:42 p.m. EDT.
