Space

The demise of the Delta II rocket family and continuing uncertainty over the performance of newer small and medium-lift successors are forcing NASA to delay the allocation of launch vehicles to upcoming science missions.

PARIS — European Space Agency subsidies intended to offset high fixed costs incurred by the Arianespace commercial launch consortium could be unnecessary by decade’s end if ESA members agree to invest a little over €1 billion ($1.3 billion) to upgrade the Ariane 5 rocket, according to Astrium Chief Executive Francois Auque.

Boeing reports the fourth Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) military communications satellite is “healthy and ready to begin orbital maneuvers and operational testing” following its Jan. 19 launch from Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. The 7,600-lb. spacecraft, based on a Boeing 702 platform, was lifted into orbit on a United Launch Alliance (ULA) Delta IV in a Medium-plus configuration. It was ULA’s first launch of the year and the Delta IV’s 18th. Contact with it was made 58 min. after liftoff.

HOUSTON — NASA’s Multi-Mission Space Exploration Vehicle (MMSEV), now in its third generation, is emerging from a five-year Johnson Space Center-led research and technology effort as a versatile component of still-forming U.S. human space exploration plans.

Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the National Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite System Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The problem appeared shortly after NPP returned this first full-Earth VIIRS image on Nov. 24. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.

LightSquared and the GPS industry continue their war of words over potential interference between the planned broadband wireless network and the position and timing signals from the U.S. government-owned navigation-satellite constellation.

Combat Aircraft: Growing demand for stealth technology gives Lockheed Martin's F-35 a dominant position in the global fighter market, even if the U.S. cuts the number it buys. And where the F-35 leads, new trainers will follow. See pp. 49 and 54. Commercial Transports: They face new challengers this time around, but Airbus and Boeing rake in orders in a high-stakes struggle for the narrowbody market. Their airline customers warn of higher costs and lower profits in 2012. See pp. 76, 80, 86 and 88.

Satellites play a vital role in the increasingly networked world, and satellite operators are discovering a wealth of new opportunities.

Significant defense orders, strong government subsidies and growing demand for domestically produced commercial aircraft have provided optimism regarding the Russian aircraft industry.

Michael J. McCord, the U.S. Defense Department's comptroller, warns of dire consequences if more than $1 trillion in approved cuts to military spending over 10 years are allowed to take effect. The result would be the lowest number of ships since World War I, the smallest ground force since 1940 and the smallest Air Force ever, he recently told investors.

Few times in aerospace history can have been as difficult for forecasters as recent months. Things are changing, that is certain, but there are so many conflicting signs that the direction of the industry is almost impossible to project. Debt crises, oil prices, climate change, competition for resources and many other factors inject unprecedented unpredictability into the equation.

As market demand for high-definition video and broadband Internet service grows, so too does the need for technologies to form the backbone of global networks.

The majority of the 161 unclassified milsats forecast for production in the next decade will go into service in the near term with production tapering in the outyears.

The U.S. Air Force's tanker contract has been awarded, Airbus and Boeing have moved to upgrade the A320 and 737, and NASA's space shuttle has flown its last mission. It's time to move on to 2012 and the next round of big developments in the aerospace and defense industry. Here are 12 to keep an eye on.

A new opportunity is on the horizon for companies hoping to sell unmanned aircraft to support the missile defense mission in the U.S. This is welcome news for companies seeking to break into this space or expand this type of work because late last year the U.S. Missile Defense Agency (MDA) selected incumbent Boeing to manage the massive Ground-Based Midcourse Defense (GMD) system for another seven years.

The launch industry is still recovering from a downturn that reduced the number of competitors in the market and forced the remaining players to restructure. These companies also have become more reliant on government spending. A recovery is being driven by the reduction of launch vehicle operators and an increase in launch opportunities, but an expected decline in satellite purchases and an increase in the number of launch vehicle operators could fuel greater competition.

Launch industry managers worldwide will go after government markets as the industry continues its recovery from a downturn that has brought a reduction in the number of competitors in the market and forced the remaining players to restructure. While the reduction of launch vehicle operators and an increase in launch opportunities is driving recovery for the survivors, an expected decline in satellite purchases and rise in the number of launch vehicle operators down the road could fuel greater competition in coming years.

Although space assets play a vital military role on the battlefield, militaries are being forced to balance increased demand for satellite capabilities with tightening budgets. The current drive of governments worldwide to rein in spending will have an effect on military satellite procurement during the next decade.

“It hasn't been splatted by the Internet” is how a friend once described an Ethiopian village she'd visited. Her short sentence reveals the nostalgia for a simpler life felt by many in the developed world who have never experienced it themselves, and a truth about the economic position of the so-called dark continent.

Controllers guiding NASA's Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) are planning their next trajectory-correction maneuver on March 26, after a major burn Jan. 11 sent the big rover and its Atlas V upper stage on their separate ways. A 3-hr. series of thruster pulses set up the rover for an Aug. 6 powered descent into Gale Crater, while the upper stage was left to proceed away from the planet. The Nov. 26 launch was deliberately targeted away from Mars to prevent the upper stage from plummeting into the Martian environment with Earthly contaminants.

Controllers have restarted on-orbit checkout of the Npoess Preparatory Project (NPP) satellite, which was suspended last year after the Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS) sensor begin losing sensitivity in four of its channels. The spacecraft originally was scheduled to become fully operational in December, but its commissioning was put on hold while the VIIRS problem was analyzed.

Republican members of Congress are bristling about the Obama administration’s decision to work with the European Union on an International Code of Conduct for Outer Space Activities. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton last week announced that the U.S. would not sign on to an EU Code of Conduct but would continue to work with the EU to develop a broader international code.

OPEN SOURCE: NASA has unveiled an open-source development website that allows the public to “view and improve software source code,” the space agency says. The site, http://code.nasa.gov, is part of a White House open government initiative aimed at making the workings of federal agencies more transparent. The space agency uses open-source code for specific project and mission needs, to accelerate software development and to inform the public about its research.

In a “first step” toward implementing a more efficient procurement strategy for rockets, the U.S. Air Force has issued a $1.5 billion contract to United Launch Alliance for nine Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs) to support launches in fiscal 2014, according to service officials.

LightSquared has rejected as rigged government testing of the potential for its L-band wireless network to interfere with GPS satellite signals, and vows to fight its case in court, if necessary.