NASA's Mars Global Surveyor is monitoring the largest dust storm to be seen on Mars since the spacecraft arrived there in 1997, the space agency announced July 9. The dust storm is currently raging across half the planet, according to NASA, which will keep a close eye on the storm to make sure it doesn't affect the approaching 2001 Mars Odyssey spacecraft.
The planned July 15 launch of an Atlas IIA rocket carrying the GOES-M weather satellite has been delayed at least a week to allow for repairs of an electrical part in the booster's guidance system. Launch provider International Launch Services (ILS) said the problem part is located in the Remote Control Unit, part of the upper stage's guidance system. When the repaired unit is reinstalled on the rocket, the booster will be put through an electrical readiness test before ILS will confirm a new launch date.
Alliant Techsystems (ATK) has extended two Titan IV B production and launch operations contracts with Lockheed Martin, the Minneapolis-based company announced July 10. The first extension, valued at $1.2 million, will continue ATK launch support activities at Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., from March 2002 to September 2002.
Alenia Aerospazio and Aeronavali of Italy, both Finmeccanica companies, have signed a memorandum of agreement with the Boeing Co. to become partners in the development, production and support of a tanker/transport version of the Boeing 767 commercial aircraft. The memorandum of agreement with Boeing follows a request for proposals from the Italian defense ministry for a new tanker transport aircraft. Boeing's 767 aircraft was chosen by the Italians last week as the tanker system to meet its requirements.
Evans&Sutherland Computer Corp. of Salt Lake City will supply the visual systems for three full flight simulators under a contract with Delta Air Lines, the company announced July 10. The order calls for the company to deliver ESIG-3350GT image generators and 12 raster/calligraphic monitor replacement projectors. The systems will be used to replace existing systems on Delta's B757#1, B757#2 and B767#3 full flight simulators. Delivery of the first system will begin in October 2001.
NASA's Space Shuttle Atlantis is scheduled to liftoff at 5:04 a.m. from Kennedy Space Center, Fla., on July 12 to deliver the six-ton Joint Airlock to the International Space Station. The airlock will give astronauts living on the space station access to space without the need of a docked shuttle.
Although the fate of NASA's International Space Station crew return vehicle is not clear, NASA completed the seventh flight test of the X-38, a return vehicle prototype, on July 10. The unmanned vehicle was released from NASA's B-52 aircraft at an altitude of about 37,500 feet at 10:47 a.m. over the Dryden Flight Research Center, Calif. Thirteen minutes later, at 11 a.m., it glided to a 40 mph touchdown under a huge parafoil on Rogers Dry Lake at Edwards AFB.
President Bush plans to appoint Daniel P. Burnham, Chairman and CEO of the Raytheon Company, as chairman of the President's National Security Telecommunications Advisory Committee, the White House said July 9. Joseph Paul Nacchio will be appointed vice chairman and will represent Qwest on the panel, the statement said.
An advisory group created by the European Commission to study the competitiveness of the European aerospace industry began its first series of meetings last week. Star 21, composed of senior representatives from the private sector and other European Union institutions, will explore ways to modernize or upgrade the EU's political and regulatory framework to keep pace with the economic and technological changes in the aerospace industry.
The Navy plans to take advantage of the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet's ability to serve as a carrier-based mid-air refueler when it phases out the S-3 Viking in the 2007 to 2011 timeframe. When reconfigured for tanker service, one Super Hornet can carry five fuel tanks, each one containing 3,000 pounds of fuel, according to Navy Spokesperson Dawn Cutler. In a given air wing, five or six Super Hornets will typically be configured to serve as tankers at any one time, although that number could vary depending on the missions being carried out.
The U.S. Space and Naval Warfare Systems Command has awarded two contracts to help develop the next-generation Advanced Extremely High Frequency satellite communications terminal. Harris Corp. of Melbourne, Fla., and Raytheon Co. were awarded $1.3 million contracts to develop prototypes of the system, intended to link terminals based on ships, submarines and shore with the Air Force's Advanced EHF satellites and commercial satellites.
The British Ministry of Defence says it rejects totally the accusations made by two U.K. think tanks that it subsidizes U.K weapons manufacturers. A ministry spokesman says U.K. taxpayers and weapons manufacturers benefit from the nearly 400 million pounds in export sales of weapons and weapon systems.
United Technologies Co., Pratt and Whitney Aircraft Group, West Palm Beach, Fla., is being awarded a $21,000,000 firm-fixed-price contract to provide for three months (July-September 2001) advance procurement in support of low rate initial production of 20 F119 engines in support of the F-22 aircraft. At this time, the total amount of funds have been obligated. This effort will be performed in East Hartford, Conn. This work is expected to be completed June 2003. Solicitation began February 2000.
Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wis.) plans to offer an amendment to the fiscal 2001 supplemental spending bill to shift $594 million from the V-22 to international health programs, a source said July 9. Feingold has raised questions in the past about the Osprey's safety, cost-effectiveness and mission capable rates, but his amendment faces an uphill fight in the Senate, where the Osprey still enjoys significant support despite three fatal crashes, including two last year.
Lockheed Martin will upgrade its own AN/FPS-117 radars for the Air Force's Atmospheric Early Warning System under a $47 million contract, the company announced July 9. The long-range surveillance radars are located at 33 sites in Canada, Alaska, Iceland, Hawaii and Puerto Rico, and are used to provide military aircraft identification and commercial air traffic surveillance for up to 250 nautical miles.
The challenges of protecting the computer networks of the Department of Defense were brought home to U.S. Space Command earlier this year when Chinese and American hackers dueled in the wake of the EP-3E incident. Hackers in China were upset over the loss of a Chinese pilot, and began to deface Websites of the DOD, as well as those of the State and Commerce departments. When this was publicized, American hackers retaliated.
Lockheed Martin's X-35B Joint Strike Fighter STOVL aircraft made its first conversion from conventional wingborne to Short Takeoff and Landing mode and its first supersonic flight July 9, company spokesman John Kent told The DAILY. "We did an in-flight conversion to STOVL and then a supersonic dash," Kent said.
THE BALLISTIC MISSILE DEFENSE ORGANIZATION will conduct a test of the Midcourse Defense Segment program - formerly called the National Missile Defense program - on July 14. The flight test launch window lasts from 9 p.m. to 1 a.m. EDT. An exoatmospheric kill vehicle (EKV) prototype will attempt to intercept a modified Minuteman II carrying a mock warhead.
General Electric Aircraft Engines, General Electric Co., Lynn, Mass., is being awarded a $15,521,000 advance acquisition contract to provide long lead funding for the procurement of long lead hardware needed to manufacture 96 F414-GE-400 engines and devices for the F/A-18E/F Super Hornet aircraft. Work will be performed in Lynn, Mass. (58%); Evendale, Ohio (25%); Rutland, Vt. (4%); Albuquerque, N.M. (4%); Madisonville, Ky. (4%); Hooksett, N.H. (3%); and Wilmington, N.C. (2%), and is expected to be completed in May 2004.
Parts shortages linked to a variety of causes severely hampered U.S. Air Force readiness during the last five years, but programs aimed at correcting the shortcomings are showing signs of success, a government report found. The General Accounting Office, fulfilling mandates from the 2000 National Defense Authorization Act and two congressional committees, looked at three AF programs - E-3 and C-5 aircraft fleets and the F-100-200 engine fleet - and 75 parts they depend upon regularly, Aerospace Daily affiliate AviationNow.com reported.
Messier-Dowty, maker of landing gear systems for military and commercial aircraft, announced July 9 it was opening a new $46 million facility in Mirabel, Quebec, to manufacture landing gear components for the Airbus A320 commercial aircraft. Claude Sauvageau, project manager for the existing Messier-Dowty facility in Mirabel, Quebec, said the new plant is an extension of the existing 160,000-square foot facility. That facility manufactures landing gear components for the Airbus A320 and A340 families.
European Space Agency experiments will fly on Chinese spacecraft for the first time under an agreement signed July 9 between ESA and the Chinese National Space Administration (CNSA). ESA and CNSA will cooperate on project "Double Star," the first mission launched by China to explore the Earth's magnetosphere, the magnetic bubble that surrounds the planet. The agreement was signed at ESA's Paris headquarters by ESA Director General Antonio Rodota and CNSA Administrator Luan Enjie.
Lockheed Martin Co., Sunnyvale, Calif., is being awarded a $59,744,340 (estimated) cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to provide for adjustment of the launch schedule for the Milstar communication satellite program. This includes a two-month delay in the launch of Space Vehicle 3 (launch in April 1999) resulting from the launch failure of Titan IV mission A-20.
Pilot programs by the U.S. Transportation Command (TRANSCOM) are cutting air cargo wait times by nearly one third, according to TRANSCOM Deputy Commander in Chief Lt. Gen. Daniel G. Brown. The pilot programs are part of the Strategic Distribution Management Initiative (SDMI) - an effort by TRANSCOM and the Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) to re-think and improve the DOD's $80 billion per year logistics operation. According to Brown, before SDMI, no single DOD organization has ever attempted to measure and improve DOD logistics.
The Boeing Co., Kent, Wa., is being awarded a $26,075,826 cost-plus-award-fee contract modification to provide for a nine-month extension (through September 2002) of intertial upper stage integration and launch support for the Defense Support Satellite on the Titan IV Launch Vehicle. At this time, zero funds have been obligated. This work is expected to be completed September 2002. Solicitation began September 2000; negotiations were completed May 2001. The Space and Missile Systems Center, Los Angeles, Calif., is the contracting activity (F04701-97-C-0004; P00039).
