NASA has selected Spectrum Astro of Gilbert, Ariz., to build the Gamma ray Large Area Space Telescope (GLAST), NASA said Aug. 23. GLAST will observe thousands of black holes, magnetized pulsars, gamma ray bursts, and other gamma ray sources, according to NASA. Under the $107 million contract, Spectrum Astro will be responsible for the design and fabrication of the GLAST observatory, integration of its instruments, testing and on-orbit checkout.
WEATHER REPORT: The European Space Agency (ESA) is considering developing a network of weather services that could issue space weather information, the agency says. That information could complement conventional weather forecasting, according to ESA, and could include space weather forecasting and a database of space weather events. "We have just issued an announcement of opportunity inviting the community to propose contributions to such a space weather service," says Alexi Glover, of ESA's ESTEC organization in the Netherlands.
Pratt & Whitney Canada Corp. announced Aug. 23 that aviation authorities in Canada and the United States have certified its new PT6C-67D engine, which will be used in the company's Huey helicopter UH-1H Plus upgrade program. Transport Canada granted the certification Aug. 12 followed by the Federal Aviation Administration on Aug. 14, the company said.
MTHEL BOOST: The Army is expected to add tens of millions of dollars to the $118 million it already has budgeted over the next five years to develop the Mobile Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL). The extra funding is intended to speed up the system's development. Israel, which jointly developed the fixed-site THEL with the U.S., is expected to match the American contribution to MTHEL (DAILY, Aug. 23).
The Army has found the wreckage of an AH-64A Apache helicopter that crashed in South Korea, a Defense Department spokesman said Aug. 23. The Apache had been missing since about midnight Aug. 22, when it was flying from Camp Page in Chunchon, South Korea to Camp Eagle at Wonju. Two crewmembers belonging to the 8th Army died in the crash, according to the spokesman.
RAYTHEON CO. has dedicated a new $14 million facility designed to promote hands-on customer involvement in jointly developing new satellite communications systems, and in improving existing systems, the company said. The 70,000-square-foot Satellite Communications, Integration and Operations Center in Marlborough, Mass., features diagnostic equipment, environmental test labs, modeling and simulation systems and roof-mounted SATCOM antennas. It also has high-bay test areas that can accommodate nine communications systems vehicles at once.
Aug. 27 - 29 -- Hannover Fairs USA will host the International Satellite & Communications Exchange Conference and Expo - Long Beach Convention Center, Long Beach, Calif. For more information call (609) 987-1202 or visit www.satcomexchange.com. Aug. 31 - Sept. 2 -- The Cleveland National Air Show, 1501 North Marginal Road, Burke Lakefront Airport, Cleveland, Ohio. For more information call Kim Dell at (216) 781-0747 or visit www.clevelandairshow.com.
ANTI-MISSILE SHIPS: Rep. Robert Aderholt (R-Ala.), a member of the House Appropriations Committee, says he supports developing sea-based missile defenses but believes the Navy will have trouble carrying out a "serious deployment" unless it gets more ships. "Simply adding this mission to an already strained Navy stretches resources if you're talking about a crisis more than a couple weeks in duration," Aderholt says. "As a member of Congress, I'm prepared to vote for additional funds necessary to provide for that mission."
B-1B REDUCTION: The Air Force has begun reducing its B-1B bomber fleet to 60 aircraft from the current 92. Twenty-four of the bombers already have been delivered to the Aerospace Maintenance and Regeneration Center at Davis-Monthan Air Force Base, Ariz., the Air Force says. Of those, 10 will be kept in storage for possible future use and 14 will be cannibalized for spare parts. Another eight aircraft will be sent to various bases and placed on display.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Army is stepping up its efforts to develop a mobile version of the Tactical High Energy Laser (MTHEL), with a competition expected to begin sometime in 2003 to choose a contractor to build the anti-rocket system, according to MTHEL program manager Gerald Wilson.
Hours after completing the first launch aboard an Atlas V evolved expendable rocket Wednesday, Eutelsat's HOT BIRD 6 satellite began maneuvers for a late-September rendezvous at its orbital station. The German Space Operations Center in Bavaria is steering the bulky television and radio broadcast satellite, which carries 32 transponders and a Skyplex payload for onboard multiplexing, to its scheduled position at 13 degrees East longitude.
Orbital Sciences Corp. said Aug. 22 that it will use the proceeds of a financial transaction to repay the company's $100 million convertible bonds due Oct. 1, and to prepay a $25 million term loan. The company completed a private sale of $135 million worth of notes and warrants to buy company common stock, Orbital Sciences said.
COLORADO SPRINGS, COLO. - Once the Air Force's new Space Situational Awareness Integration Office (SSAIO) gathers the requirements of all the government agencies and military departments that need space situational awareness to do their jobs, it will build an overall architecture that maps the best way for information to get from a sensor to a user, according to Lt. Col. Tom Simpson, the SSAIO's acting director. To refine the architecture, he said, the requirements will be presented to higher authorities to see which are most important.
LGTR: Lockheed Martin will deliver laser-guided training rounds (LGTR) and related equipment to the French air force under a $3 million contract, the company said Aug. 21. The contract includes four one-year options for LGTRs, which could bring the total value to $23.5 million. The LGTRs are used to train aircrews in place of more expensive laser-guided bombs.
The number one problem facing the U.S. aerospace research and technology community is the lack of a unified vision spearheaded by strong leadership, according to a new report by the National Research Council's Committee on Aeronautics Research and Technology for Vision 2050.
INTERNATIONAL LAUNCH SERVICES successfully launched the EchoStar VIII satellite into orbit Aug. 22, bringing EchoStar's fleet to eight satellites. A Proton K/Block DM rocket lifted off at 1:15 a.m. EDT from Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, marking the third Proton mission of the year for ILS, a joint venture between Lockheed Martin Corp. and two Russian companies, Khrunichev State Research and Production Space Center and RSC Energia. The satellite will be located at 110 degrees West longitude. The launch had been planned for Aug.
The pressure to transition maturing technologies to the military to support anti-terrorism has forced the Air Force to divert money away from basic science, according a senior civilian service official. At an Aug. 22 meeting of the Air Force Science and Technology Board, Jim Engle told board members that while the Air Force must be able to transition technologies to support immediate military requirements, the process risks depleting funds needed to sustain basic science and technology.
HUNTSVILLE, Ala. - The Integrated Space Command and Control (ISC2) program, which calls for integrating about 40 C2 systems at U.S. Space Command and North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), is underfunded in military budget plans, said Air Force Brig. Gen. Simon "Pete" Worden. The underfunding could run to several hundred million dollars over the next few years, said Worden, who is deputy director of operations at U.S. Space Command.
Demonstration testing of the Autonomous Underwater Vehicle (AUV) system has successfully been completed, the Boeing Co. and the Naval Oceanographic Office (NAVOCEANO) announced Aug. 22. The testing, which took place over more than two weeks aboard the USS Pathfinder in the Gulf of Mexico, sets the stage for the beginning of commercial surveys for the worldwide oil and gas industry, Boeing and NAVOCEANO said.
NEW DELHI - India has decided to buy more than 100 air-to-air missiles from Israel, including Python-4 and Derby missiles. A senior ministry of defense official told The DAILY that a contract for the missiles should be signed in about a month. The official did not give details about the terms of the deal. The India air force asked the defense ministry to buy the missiles earlier this month (DAILY, Aug. 15).
An article in the Aug. 21 issue of The DAILY misstated the date of the final public meeting of the Commission of the Future of the U.S. Aerospace Industry. It was Aug. 22.
Hamilton Sundstrand will provide aircraft flight systems for 60 C-17 Globemaster III transport aircraft under a $90 million contract from the Boeing Co., the company said Aug. 22. Hamilton Sundstrand will provide electric power systems, ram air turbine emergency power systems, electronic engine controls, fuel metering units and aircraft/propulsion data management computers, the company said. It also will manufacture the aircrafts' main fuel pumps and on-board inert gas generating system (OBIGGS) compressors, among other equipment.
TRADE MISSION: Thirteen aerospace companies will send representatives on a trade mission to Vietnam from Aug. 25-30. They include Advanced Navigation & Positioning Corp.; ARINC; Bell Helicopters; Boe-ing Air Traffic Management; the Boeing Co.; Gravitas Digital Solutions; Lockheed Martin Global; the LPA Group; Orbital Communications International; Pratt & Whitney; Raytheon Inter-national; Sikorsky Air-craft; and Uplift. This is the first U.S.
