NASA’s $8.8 billion James Webb Space Telescope program was rebaselined in 2011 and has since adhered to its revised cost and schedule estimates for a planned launch atop an Ariane 5 ECA rocket in 2018, but technology challenges could threaten the agency’s ability to keep it on track.
Opinion: USAF has the rare opportunity to improve U.S. national security, impose costs on an aggressive foreign power, promote American technological innovation and create jobs at home.
Rolls-Royce has begun flight tests of its composite carbon/titanium (CTi) fan blade, which will be a key feature in the company’s next-generation Advance and UltraFan engine designs.
First-light imagery from the Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (Maven) orbiter displays some of the components of the planet’s upper atmosphere that the spacecraft will study as they interact with the Sun. The three views captured by the probe’s Imaging Ultraviolet Spectrograph offer “the most complete picture of the extended Martian upper atmosphere ever made,” says Mike Chaffin of the University of Colorado, Boulder, a member of the Maven remote-sensing team.
As part of Russia’s effort to strengthen its military, the air force received many new aircraft in 2014, according to figures revealed earlier this month during a joint acceptance day held by the defense ministry. On the same day, the air force also took delivery of three Sukhoi Su-35 multirole fighters, two Su-30SM2 two-seaters and three Mil Mi-8MTV5-1 military transport helicopters. Russian manufacturers also have delivered nine Su-30SMs, a domestic version of the export bestseller Su-30MKI two-seat fighter and four Su-30M2s, according to air force Cmdr. Lt. Gen. Victor Bondarev.
Embraer plans to formally roll out the first prototype of its KC-390 military transport aircraft during a ceremony at its Gaviao Peixoto facility near Sao Paulo on Oct. 21. The aircraft will be the largest built in Brazil. The company hopes to fly the IAE V2500-powered aircraft by year-end.
Qatar has agreed to purchase 152 PAC-3 Cost Reduction Initiative (CRI) interceptors and 15 launcher modification kits from Lockheed Martin for $595 million. Twelve U.S. allies have purchased the Patriot air defense system. Of those, the Netherlands, Japan, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, Germany and Kuwait already have the CRI interceptor. The company is in talks for sales of the CRI to Saudi Arabia, Poland and South Korea. Lockheed recently received U.S.
Prox Dynamics has unveiled a night-capable version of its PD-100 Black Hornet unmanned air vehicle, believed to be the smallest operational military UAV. The 18-gram single-rotor helicopter is fitted with a Flir Systems infrared camera and a day video sensor, and can transmit video streams or high-resolution still images via a digital datalink with a 1-mi. range. More than 3,000 PD-100s have been delivered, the company says. The system has been used in Afghanistan by British Army units since 2013.
The U.S. Navy has declared its new Northrop Grumman E-2D Advanced Hawkeye carrier-based airborne command and control aircraft operational. The first five aircraft—one full squadron—has been fielded and initial operational capability was declared Oct. 10. The first squadron will deploy next year on the USS Theodore Roosevelt. The Navy plans to buy 75 E-2Ds to replace 52 E-2Cs now in service, in a $19.9 billion, 10-squadron program, says Capt. John Lemmon E-2/C-2 program manager for the Navy.
GE Capital Aviation Services is set to take over helicopter-leasing specialist Milestone Aviation Group in an agreement valued at $1.775 billion. The deal, revealed on Oct. 13, is likely to shakeup the still-fledgling helicopter leasing business, which was rebooted by the formation of Milestone in 2010.
Scientists operating the New Horizons probe to explore Pluto and its moons plan to ask for an extended mission to a Kuiper Belt Object (KBO), now that the Hubble Space Telescope has spotted three of the tiny faint bodies at the outer reaches of the Solar System that the nuclear-powered probe may be able to reach after it passes Pluto. The KBOs are 15-34 mi. across, and one of them is “definitely reachable,” according to the program team. All lie at least 1 billion mi.
The owner of London Heathrow Airport is selling Aberdeen, Glasgow and Southampton airports to a consortium of Ferrovial and Macquarie in a deal worth £1.048 billion ($1.68 billion). The long-awaited sale by Heathrow Airport Holdings announced on Oct. 16 is expected to close in 2015. Ferrovial currently owns the controlling share of 25% of Heathrow Holdings through a subsidiary called FGP Topco Ltd.
President Barack Obama has nominated Dava Newman, a professor of aeronautics and astronautics and engineering systems at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, to be deputy administrator at NASA. Best known for innovative spacesuit designs, Newman joined MIT’s faculty in 1993. Pending approval by the Senate, she will follow Lori Garver, who resigned in September 2013 to become general manager of the Air Line Pilots Association.
The device is conceptually safer, cleaner and more powerful than much larger, current nuclear systems that rely on fission, the process of splitting atoms to release energy. Crucially, by being “compact,” Lockheed believes its scalable concept will also be small and practical enough for applications ranging from interplanetary spacecraft and commercial ships to city power stations and, potentially, large aircraft.
Pan-European cooperation in military Earth observation could see progress by the end of this year as France presses for allied contributions to the next-generation Optical Space Component (CSO) system in exchange for access to its high-resolution imagery.
Over the past decade, Pentagon plans to replace the AGM-114 Hellfire have been scaled back from joint-service development of an all-new tri-mode missile for launch from rotary- and fixed-wing aircraft, fast and slow, to a dual-mode guidance section upgrade for the AGM-114R now carried by U.S. Army and Marine Corps attack helicopters. Delayed and descoped, the Joint Air-to-Ground Missile (JAGM) finally looks set to move into full development.
Galileo satellite prime contractor OHB System of Germany is assessing options for salvaging the first two satellites in support of the full Galileo constellation. Kristian Pauly, deputy program manager for Galileo at OHB, says in their current elliptical orbit the spacecraft’s Earth-view sensors see the planet as overly large at the orbit’s perigee, sending their Attitude and Orbit Control System (AOCS) into safe mode and rendering them intermittently inoperable.
Northrop Grumman falsified test data on a GPS-based navigation system used to guide U.S. military ships, missiles and aircraft, including Predator and Reaper unmanned systems, an employee of the aerospace giant claims in a lawsuit alleging the company cut corners and produced phony test results. In a September 2012 complaint filed in U.S. District Court in Utah under a federal whistle-blower law, Todd Donaldson alleges Northrop Grumman sold the LN-100 guidance system to the U.S.
A new study for the U.K. Space Agency said Britain appears on track to reach its target of representing 10% of the global space economy in 2030. But the 2020 goal remains “a challenging target, and would necessitate a significant acceleration in revenue growth over the next six years.” Indeed, the London Economics analysis last month said that to achieve the interim objective set by the Space Growth Action Plan for 2020, industry sales would need to grow by an average of 8.7% per year through then, even as increases in the past two years have slowed to 7.3%.
Giuseppe Orsi, the former president and CEO of Finmeccanica, has been given a two-year suspended prison sentence for false invoicing along with the former CEO of AgustaWestland, Bruno Spagnolini. The pair were found guilty in the corruption case relating to the sale of 12 VIP helicopters to the Indian government in March 2010. However, both men were acquitted of charges relating to international corruption.
