The House-Senate conference committee for the fiscal 2002 defense authorization bill has tentatively agreed to fund the procurement of 11 V-22 Ospreys, according to congressional and industry sources. The number is a compromise between the original House bill, which authorized 12 of the Bell-Boeing tiltrotor aircraft, and the Senate version, which funded nine. The appropriations picture is less certain. The House-passed FY '02 defense appropriations bill would fund 11 V-22s.
The Boeing C-17 Globemaster III, which just submitted 13 new entries to the aviation record books after a series of recent flights at Edwards Air Force Base, is scheduled to get further improvements. The next big modification for the C-17 will be the addition of the Global Air Traffic Management (GATM) avionics system, according to Brig. Gen. Ted Bowlds, the Air Force's program executive officer for airlift and trainers. GATM is a satellite-based communication, navigation, surveillance and air traffic management system.
The U.S. may want to consider using aerostats and unmanned aerial vehicles for continental air defenses to relieve some of the strain on the American and NATO airborne warning and control system (AWACS) planes that have been patrolling U.S. skies since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, according to Christopher Bolkcom, an aerospace analyst at the Congressional Research Service.
Lt. Gen. Brian Arnold, commander of the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center, warns industry against advocating constellations with large numbers of satellites. "What scares us is when you stand up and say large numbers," he says at a Colorado Springs conference. "That's what scared the Congress two years ago" about the Discoverer 2 program, which some said would have consisted of 40 satellites. The program was killed. "We're in a death spiral on" some of the large space programs because of cost and schedule problems, he says (DAILY, Nov. 30).
NASA has selected a Pluto-Kuiper Belt mission to proceed to preliminary design studies, with the goal of a launch in 2006 - if Congress and the Bush Administration approve the budget.
NASA scientists are ready to demonstrate aerocapture - using a planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft and "capture" it into orbit - before the end of the decade. Aerospace agency scientists have been ready to try it for years, according to Richard Powell, senior research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and head of NASA's Aero-Assist Working Group. "I think if you talk to anybody in the aerocapture community, they'll tell you all they really need is the chance," Powell told The DAILY.
Although much of the focus on homeland defense has been on securing the nation's airports and airways, the Department of Transportation will also take steps to secure the nation's ports, says Transportation Secretary Norman Mineta. Mineta told attendees at the Nov. 27 Homeland Security&Defense conference in Washington that more than 17 million cargo containers pass through America's 361 ports each year. "This raises a specific concern, because there are going to be times ... when a container unloaded at a port on one day ends up ...
Rep. Dana Rohrabacher (R-Calif.), who has to give up his chairmanship of the House Science space subcommittee in a year due to term limits, says his top goals for the rest of his tenure are to move ahead with development of the federally funded DP-2 vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) transport jet, continue NASA efforts that could lead to a space maneuvering vehicle, and bring the International Space Station's cost overruns under control. Rohrabacher says he told NASA Administrator-nominee O'Keefe about his goals Nov. 28.
Although he's spoken to many experts who favor face recognition as the biometric of choice for aviation security, Homeland Security Director Tom Ridge believes the industry should move forward with whatever technology can have the greatest impact in the shortest amount of time. "I happen to believe that whatever technology can be applied with the greatest impact immediately, even if the technology's going to change, we [should] adopt it," Ridge says. "We will deploy the best first, and when that changes, let's change our system.
In spite of enthusiastic support from the Air Force's Scientific Advisory Board for development of a space-based radar, Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper says he would like to see the program go through more risk reduction before deciding on a final option. By providing high-resolution ground coverage, the space-based radar could take the place of many airborne surveillance aircraft, such as the Airborne Warning and Control System (AWACS) and Joint STARS (Surveillance, Targeting, and Attack Radar System).
NASA delayed the launch of the shuttle Endeavour from Nov. 29 to Dec. 4 after a Progress cargo ship apparently failed to dock securely at the International Space Station because of debris at a docking port. Endeavour is now scheduled to launch at about 4:45 p.m. EST Dec. 4, carrying the station's three-member Expedition Four crew and the Raffaello Multi-Purpose Logistics Module. The launch will come after station crewmembers conduct a Dec. 3 spacewalk to remove the debris, which could be a loose rubber seal or a cable.
The B-2 stealth bomber is still not ready to be deployed in forward positions, according to Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. John Jumper, even though the Pentagon has awarded a $12 million contract to build four specially designed shelters to protect the aircraft. "This is going to require considerable testing to prove to me that when it's deployed forward in these shelters that you can maintain the LO [low observable] capabilities as well as I expect them to be maintained," Jumper said earlier this week.
During a meeting of NASA's Biological and Physical Research Advisory Committee (BPRAC) Nov. 29, members criticized a recent International Space Station task force report's recommendation that experiments supporting long-duration human space flight be made the highest research priority aboard the station.
NASA'S AMES RESEARCH CENTER, Moffett Field, Calif., and San Jose State University (SJSU) have signed an agreement to establish the Metropolitan Technology Center (MTC) at the center's NASA Research Park. SJSU will act as the California State University system lead to develop the MTC to foster research collaborations between Ames and the CSU system. Such collaborations could include participation by SJSU graduate students in NASA research and the formation of joint university/NASA research teams.
A leading congressional supporter of the Space Based Infrared Satellite System-Low program said Nov. 29 that he was pleased with a new pledge by key House appropriators to revisit their decision to restructure SBIRS-Low.
IRIDIUM SATELLITE LLC and Icarus Instruments Inc. are offering SatTalk II, a $6,000 satellite-based aeronautical voice and data communications system that provides aircraft crew and passengers with worldwide communications in the air and on the ground. The companies are pitching the service to individual aircraft and corporate jets, and said the system will allow travelers to send and receive phone calls and electronic mail from anywhere in the world during a flight.
Most of the big programs run by the Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center are over cost and behind schedule, according to the center's commander, Lt. Gen. Brian A. Arnold. "As I look across the whole portfolio that I manage today," Arnold said at a conference here, "I will tell you that in virtually every one of our major programs we are out of control on cost and schedule." He said government and industry both share the blame.
Airbus announced Nov. 29 it has selected Wichita, Kan., home of 45,000 aviation workers and more than 130 aviation-related companies, as the home for its new engineering facility. Airbus will hire 60 structural and stress design engineers and plans to open the new facility early next year in Wichita's Old Town section, Aerospace Daily affiliate Aviation Daily reported.
MACDONALD, DETTWILER AND ASSOCIATES LTD. will use satellite imagery from Canada's RADARSAT to monitor ice conditions in northern British Columbia as part of a pilot project with the BC Hydro and Power Authority. "Planes can't fly during extremely cold weather with ice fog conditions along the river valley," said BC Hydro Operations Planning Engineer Dan Nixon. "And we can't correlate ice strength to what an observer sees by air. So we turned to MDA's RADARSAT International to help us get more detailed information."
LORAL SKYNET, a subsidiary of Loral Space&Communications, has signed a long-term agreement with Pittsburgh International Telecommunications to expand its direct-to-home and business platforms on Skynet's Telstar 5 satellite, which entered service in 1999. The company provides ethnic and business programming. "Loral Skynet is a leader in the satellite industry and offers PIT the ability to reach our customers throughout North America," said PIT CEO Robert Caruso. The Telstar 5, built by Space Systems/Loral, carries 24 C-band and 28 Ku-band transponders.
Senior managers from a variety of industries have said protecting the nation's computer networks from cyber attack will become an important part of homeland defense. Steve Carrier, chairman of Northrop Grumman Corp.'s integrated product team, said during a recent conference that protecting against cyber attack might become one of the most challenging aspects of homeland defense.
With a final deadline still weeks away, Pentagon officials are predicting that the Defense Department might receive between 10,000-20,000 proposals in response to last month's Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) soliciting innovative ways to combat terrorism.
MISSILE TEST: The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization will conduct an intercept test of the Midcourse Defense Segment Dec. 1. The test launch window is scheduled for 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. EST, BMDO announced Nov. 29. A prototype kill vehicle will attempt to intercept a missile carrying a mock warhead and a single decoy.
AMGEN of Thousand Oaks, Calif., a biotechnology company, and NASA are teaming up to study bone loss in space and whether the protein osteoprotegerin (OPG) can help prevent such loss caused by a lack of weightbearing, a common problem for bedridden seniors. An Amgen experiment will be conducted on the shuttle Endeavour, scheduled to launch Nov. 30. The experiment will be conducted with the assistance of BioServe Space Technologies, a non-profit, NASA-sponsored Commercial Space Center located at the University of Colorado and Kansas State University.
Aerospace and defense analysts with Standard&Poor's downgraded the credit ratings for Hexcel Corp. Nov. 28 due to concerns about the company's weak operating performance and reduced liquidity. Hexcel's corporate credit rating was downgraded from "BB-" to "B." Analysts also downgraded the company's senior secured debt from "BB-" to "B" and its subordinated debt from "B" to "CCC+." The company remains on CreditWatch with negative implications, where it was placed Sept. 21.
