A board investigating the loss of the shuttle Columbia now believes that the section of the shuttle's left wing hit by foam debris during launch is a few inches farther out than previously thought. "New analysis has moved the possible strike zone outboard a bit, from [panels] five, six, seven to panels seven and eight," Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) member Scott Hubbard said in a briefing.
NEW DELHI - Canada could participate in India's planned lunar program, according to a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed recently in Bangalore. The MOU was signed by Marc Garneau, president of the Canadian Space Agency, and Krishnaswamy Kasturirangan, chairman of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO). An Indian space ministry official said the MOU would make Canada the first country to partner with India in its space program.
PRAGUE - The United Kingdom Ministry of Defence is disputing a Czech newspaper report that it is negotiating the possible sale or lease of used Tornado F-3 fighters to the Czech Republic. The daily Pravo claimed April 15 that Britain could supply up to 14 Tornado aircraft by 2006 under a Czech-U.K. inter-governmental agreement.
The Navy's MH-60R multi-mission helicopter recently completed three weeks of developmental testing at the Atlantic Undersea Test and Evaluation Center (AUTEC) in the Caribbean, Lockheed Martin announced April 15. The tests, which began last month, primarily evaluated the helicopter's radar, acoustics, and electronic surveillance measures (ESM) systems to verify their expected performance individually and as an integrated unit. The aircraft logged over 125 flight hours during the tests.
PROPULSION WORK: Boeing Electron Dynamic Devices of Torrance, Calif., will develop advanced xenon ion propulsion technologies under three contracts from NASA's In-Space Propulsion Technologies program, the company said. Boeing will work on the Carbon-Based Ion Optics project, the NASA Evolutionary Xenon Thruster System and the High Power Electric Propulsion project. The goal of the propulsion program is to develop technologies for use beyond Earth's orbit.
HALL OF FAME: Northrop Grumman Corp. has been inducted into the Space Foundation's Space Technology Hall of Fame, the company said. It was honored for the development of monolithic microwave integrated circuits originally designed to improve satellite communications, but which later were used in cell phones and other wireless systems.
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colo. - While some forces are pulling back from the Iraqi theater of operations, Air Force Space Command personnel are not, an AFSPC spokesman said. "There's been no official word that we know of in terms of pulling people back," Mike Kurcharek said April 15. "Until we get the word, we're there." The command, based at Peterson Air Force Base here, has about 1,100 people deployed for Operation Iraqi Freedom and other operations around the world, Kucharek said.
Two of three industry teams competing for the contract to design the Navy's Littoral Combat Ship (LCS) have proposed surface-effect ship designs, company officials said April 14. A third team has chosen an advanced semi-planing mono-hull form based on the design of a 1,000-ton ship that won the transatlantic speed record in 1992. The semi-planing hull form was chosen after studies were conducted on more than one dozen hull forms, said Carol Hulgus, vice president of programs for Lockheed Martin Naval Electronics & Surveillance Systems.
In the build-up for the war in Iraq, the Office of Naval Research used a new quick response procedure to answer urgent warfighting needs, a senior Navy official said April 15. Rear Adm. Jay M. Cohen, chief of naval research, described three technologies, including two unmanned aerial vehicles and a cruise missile, that were certified within weeks of being requested and shipped to U.S. Central Command (CENTCOM).
NAME CHANGE: FlightSafety Boeing Training International began operation under its new name, Alteon, on April 14, according to company owner Boeing. The flight and maintenance training company had operated as a joint venture of Boeing and FlightSafety International since 1997, but Boeing acquired the entire company in October 2002.
SATELLITE SHIPPED: Orbital Sciences Corp. of Dulles, Va., has shipped the OrbView-3 imaging satellite to its launch site at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., the company said April 15. The satellite will be integrated and mated with the company's Pegasus launch vehicle upon arrival at Vandenberg. OrbView-3 is scheduled to be launched in about 45 days, Orbital said. The satellite was built for Orbital Imaging Corp. (ORBIMAGE) and will provide imagery for commercial, environmental and government customers.
NEW DELHI - Even as the Indian government is trying to procure advanced jet trainers (AJTs) elsewhere for the Indian air force, state-owned Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) has proposed designing and developing a homegrown AJT.
FORT WORTH, Texas - An internal analysis of the U.S. Army's future force structure needs isn't expected to change the service's estimated need for 819 RAH-66 Comanche helicopters, according to a senior Army officer. "I think it [the number] will hold," Maj. Gen. Curran, chief of the Army Aviation Center, told reporters April 11 at the Army Aviation Association of America's annual convention here.
The Boeing Co. is hoping the U.S. Navy will help it develop the Harpoon 21, a next-generation variant of its original Harpoon surface-warfare missile. Boeing already has developed a Block II variant of the ship-launched Harpoon missile. The Block II has been sold to nine countries, but the Navy so far has opted to retain its older Block 1C variants, although it is testing the Block II.
AsiaSat 4 was launched successfully April 11 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., satellite maker Boeing said. The Boeing Satellite Systems 610HP spacecraft was launched by International Launch Services for the Asia Satellite Telecommunications Co. Ltd. of Hong Kong.
The U.S. Navy is seeking more ideas for a potential successor to the Navy Area program, the service's canceled effort to develop a sea-based system to intercept short-range ballistic missiles in their terminal phase. Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA) has invited private industry to submit papers suggesting how the Navy can meet its requirement for a terminal-phase system for enemy missiles with a range of less than 1,000 kilometers (621 miles). The proposals are due July 1.
April 7, 2003 ARMY Thales Raytheon Systems, El Segundo, Calif., was awarded on March 31, 2003, a $45,790,000 modification to a firm-fixed-price contract for sentinel radars and initial spares. work will be performed in El Segundo, Calif., and is expected to be completed by March 31, 2005. Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This was a sole source contract initiated on Feb. 21, 2003. The U. S. Army Aviation and Missile Command, Redstone Arsenal, Ala., is the contracting activity (DAAH01-00-C-0059).
AMARILLO, Texas - A CV-22 aircraft now in storage may be pressed into the U.S. Air Force's flight test program by next summer, Bell-Boeing officials said here April 14. The V-22 program office is considering accelerating the Air Force special operations variant into production. Adding a third vehicle to the flight-testing program at Edwards Air Force Base, Calif., may be required to accelerate the program, said Sean Bond, Bell-Boeing's program director.
AMRAAM WORK: Raytheon Co. has received a $95.8 million Lot 17 production award for the AIM-120 Advanced Medium Range Air to Air Missile (AMRAAM), the company said April 14. The work is part of a six-year procurement plan awarded last year by the U.S. Air Force. Lot 17 covers 206 AMRAAMs and related services through August 2005.
In June, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is expected to award two or more contracts for its Tera Hertz Operational Reachback (THOR) program, which seeks to deliver broadband communications to the battlefield by way of optical (laser) links.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the U.S. General Services Administration (GSA) broke ground on the site of a new $61 million Satellite Operations Center in Suitland, Md., on April 11. Scheduled to open in 2005, the new building will house $50 million in equipment, including 15 antennas. The facility will control approximately $3 billion worth of satellites, including the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System and Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES).
Congress has approved a fiscal 2003 supplemental appropriations bill that provides money for munitions, unmanned aerial vehicles and other equipment to support ongoing military operations.
The European Aeronautic Defence and Space Co. (EADS) announced plans to form a Defense and Security Systems division that merges the operations of three units to leverage existing strengths through integration and to grow defense revenues.
NEW DELHI - The Indian air force has allocated an additional $50 million to upgrade 11 MiG-21 aircraft at India's Hindustan Aeronautics Ltd. (HAL) facility in Bangalore. A defense ministry official said the allocation has been added to the budget for the current fiscal year, which began April 1 and will end March 31, 2004. India is upgrading 125 MiG-21s at a total cost of $626 million. The total cost of each upgraded aircraft would be around $4.5 million, including design and development, new systems, maintenance and ground support.
MOSCOW - On April 14, an RSC Energia chief designers' council meeting approved plans for Russia's support of the International Space Station (ISS) this year, which include the launch of a Soyuz TMA-2 carrying a two-person crew to the station later this month. Plans for the rest of the year include launching one Progress M cargo spacecraft, two Progress M1 cargo craft modified to carry extra fuel, and another manned Soyuz later in the year.
