UPSTARTS WELCOME: Sending a clear warning shot across the bows of established launch suppliers, Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, says the service is increasingly interested in the potential of emergent space companies like Blue Origin and Space Exploration (SpaceX). Propulsion systems recently demonstrated by Blue Origin “might well be worth examining for our own unmanned purposes,” Shelton says.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Gen. William Shelton, commander of Air Force Space Command, is drawing attention to the the increasingly decrepit state of infrastructure at the Cape Canaveral and Vandenberg AFB launch sites, and the threat it poses to national security space. “We limp along from year to year keeping our fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong,” Shelton says, speaking at the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics New Horizon Forum here.
BEIJING — Testing has proved the effectiveness of crucial landing technology for China’s third lunar exploration mission, due to be launched in 2013, says national space contractor CAST. The mission, to be called Chang’e 3, is aimed at making advances in a wide range of technologies, CAST says. It lists them as soft landing, surveying the surface by rover, “survival on the lunar surface,” communications for long-distance monitoring and control, and direct injection into a lunar transfer orbit.
Launch of France's first Pleiades Earth-imaging satellite plus a quartet of French military radar-mapping microsatellites atop the second Russian Soyuz flying from the European spaceport near Kourou, French Guiana, suggests that some cross-fertilization may be in order for the troubled Russian space program. The Dec. 16 mission marked the second flight of the Europeanized rocket from the new Soyuz pad at Sinnamary (see photo).
WATCH THE SKIES: Satellite trackers predict Russia’s Phobos-Grunt Mars mission will reenter the Earth’s atmosphere on or about Jan. 15, with a more precise forecast possible as it winds down toward the atmosphere. Carrying a Chinese probe piggyback, the 13,200-kg (29,040-lb.) spacecraft was left stranded in low Earth orbit after its Nov. 8, 2011, launch on a Zenit 2-SB rocket. Most of the probe’s liftoff mass was hypergolic fuel that may be frozen, and it carried a sample-return capsule that may survive reentry and reach Earth’s surface.
BELL PICKED: Bell Helicopter has entered final negotiations for the sale of 15 429s to the Turkish National Police, the company reports. The 429 is a new entrant in the light twin-engine helicopter market, and the company sees Turkey’s selection “as a significant win in the European market.”
New approaches to life-support technologies, as much as powerful rockets and optimally configured spacecraft, promise to pace NASA's push into deep space with humans. Frequently, advances in the space life-support realm—where the emphasis is on compact, reliable low-energy systems—can lead to improvements at a faster clip in more down-to-earth arenas, including public and personal health, and even environmental protection. Activities at NASA's Kennedy and Johnson space centers, as well as on the International Space Station, are bearing this out.
LUKEWARM WELCOME: Just in time to help carry out new defense priorities and changes that the White House and Pentagon announced last week, the four-star chief of the National Guard has taken his seat on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. The move marks the first significant change to the Joint Chiefs since the Goldwater-Nichols Act of 1986, and brings full and equal Joint Chiefs representation to a part-time element of the military that not only is not a free-standing armed service, but is also shared with state governors. The move caps a decade-long effort.
It's been two years since European launch consortium Arianespace turned a profit. Despite Europe's economic crisis, the market for commercial satellite communications is strong and conditions for launch providers are generally favorable, yet the Evry, France-based launch services company continues to rely on government subsidies.
GERMAN ARMOR: The German army will not see any cuts in its 765 Fuchs (Fox) armored personnel carriers, 175 of which are being upgraded to the A8 standard. In addition to the improved ballistic protection and new axles able to support nine tons of the Fuchs 1A7, the Fuchs 1A8 features further improvements in ballistic and mine protection and adds protection from improvised explosive devices, both blast and explosively formed projectiles. By the end of 2011, 88 Fuchs 1A8s had been delivered by Rheinmetall.
When it comes to the U.S. missile defense market, nothing and everything have changed. In the closing days of 2011, the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) announced that Boeing would retain its decade-long position as prime contractor for the Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) missile shield for another seven years. But if the $3.48 billion contract signifies a renewal of the partners' sometimes-rocky marriage, there now seems to be a change in the wedding vows.
HOUSTON — An emerging space environmental movement finds a new forum in “Space Junk 3D,” a new documentary that dramatically illustrates the collision threat posed by the accumulation of manmade space debris to Earth-orbiting satellites offering a range of services all too often taken for granted. Those include cell, smart phone and broadcast communications, weather forecasting and GPS navigation data, not to mention vital but less visible support for national security.
AERONAUTICS/PROPULSION •The AeroVironment Nano Air Vehicle Team developed and unveiled a tiny remotely piloted air vehicle, the Nano Hummingbird. Looking and flying like a tiny bird, it is designed to record video with an onboard camera and send color video to a hand-held controller.
The past year has seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market, but there have been a few bright spots for investors in aerospace and defense companies. Shares in suppliers of aerospace components fared particularly well in 2011 as Airbus and Boeing ramped up output, and soaring order numbers added to the airframers’ already bulging backlogs.
The past year has seen a lot of turbulence in the stock market, but there have been a few bright spots for investors in aerospace and defense companies. Shares in suppliers of aerospace components fared particularly well in 2011 as Airbus and Boeing ramped up output, and soaring order numbers added to the airframers' already bulging backlogs. Notable performers among suppliers include Hexcel (up 34%), TransDigm Group (33%), Triumph Group (31%), Sifco Industries (23%), Rolls-Royce (20%), Precision Castparts (18%), Safran (12%) and Moog (10%).
The initial two service modules for the Orbital Sciences Corp. Cygnus commercial cargo carrier, which is scheduled to fly to the International Space Station this year, are nearing completion at the company's factory in Dulles, Va.
NASA's twin Gravity Recovery And Interior Laboratory (Grail) spacecraft straddled the New Year as they eased into orbit around the Moon, where they will provide the most detailed gravity maps available and important clues to the origins of Earth's big satellite. Before the mission is over, the two spacecraft will also give thousands of middle-school students some hands-on experience in space research. After spending 3.5 months on a low-energy trajectory that started with a tandem launch Sept. 10, 2011, the first of the Grail orbiters braked into lunar orbit at 5 p.m.
WRITE IN: In addition to its lawsuit against the service, Hawker Beechcraft is hoping to build political pressure on lawmakers and the Defense Department to force the U.S. Air Force to revisit its decision to award the Light Air Support (LAS) contract to Sierra Nevada/Embraer. The company has launched a letter-writing campaign, asking customers and other supporters to contact their local congressmen and the Pentagon. As a result, close to 5,700 letters had been sent to Congress and the Pentagon by the afternoon of Jan. 6, according to the company.
