Aerospace & Defense News - Space

AirGuide Business, Jan 28, 2008

Jan 28, 2008

NASA may relax sensor requirements before launch. NASA said it will not require all of the shuttle's four fuel sensors to work when it launches next month under a recommendation by the agency's Program Requirements Control Board. The board's recommendation still needs approval from the program-level Flight Readiness Review. Jan 27, 2008

NASA survey finds no evidence of astronaut intoxication. An anonymous survey taken by all 31 NASA flight surgeons and 87 of 98 current astronauts does not demonstrate that crew members drink alcohol before flights, NASA said. A report last year by independent committees raised questions about potentially drunken astronauts. NASA officials have conducted investigations and have found no evidence supporting the report. Jan 27, 2008

Presidential candidates offer few specifics on space Most presidential candidates are not discussing how they would change the space program. The issue isn't a top priority for candidates because it does not swing many voters. However, they are getting more questions related to NASA as they campaign in Florida ahead of the primary. Jan 23, 2008

Spacecraft's shaking concerns NASA engineers. NASA engineers say the new rocket that will replace the space shuttle might shake violently during the first few minutes after its launch. Shaking could be severe enough to destroy the new spacecraft, they say. Engineers hope to have a plan to fix the design in place by March. Jan 22, 2008

Alliant Techsystems, Orbital Sciences

Aerospace firms compete for NASA rocket funding Aerospace contractors Alliant Techsystems and Orbital Sciences are on the short list of teams competing for $175 million in funding to build multipurpose rockets. NASA will release four teams of finalists later this month, and just one proposal is likely to receive funding, officials said. Jan 21, 2008

Lockheed Martin

U.S. should award global positioning satellite contract, official says. An Air Force official urged the U.S. to award a contract for the next generation of Global Positioning Satellites. Boeing and Lockheed Martin are competing for the contract for the new satellites, which will be more resistant to jamming and more accurate. Jan 27, 2008

Lockheed Martin

Lockheed will continue work on Air Force network system. Lockheed Martin will continue work on an Air Force network and operations management system for a high-bandwidth satellite communications network. The new contract award is worth $336 million. Jan 27, 2008

Raytheon

Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems business has named W. Timothy Carey vice president for its Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance Systems organization. Carey will report to Jon Jones, Raytheon Company vice president and president of SAS. Carey assumes overall responsibility for the business operations and strategic direction of the ISR systems group, which produces and supports a vast array of electro-optical and infrared sensors, active electronically scanned array and scanning radars, and various integrated system solutions for strike, persistent surveillance and special mission applications. He will succeed Michael L. Proch, who is retiring after 34 years of dedicated leadership and outstanding contributions to the company. Jan 27, 2008

Space Adventures

The leader in the budding sector is Space Adventures of Vienna, Virginia, which started the space tourism phenomenon in 2001 when it put U.S. businessman Dennis Tito on a Russian Soyuz spacecraft headed for the International Space Station for a reported $20 million. It has since sent another four paying passengers into space the same way. Jan 23, 2008

Virgin Galactic

Suited for space. Can humans cope with the final frontier? People did not evolve for space flight, so how will they cope when the tickets go on sale? It will be a wild ride, but one that a surprisingly large number may enjoy. Many of Virgin Galactic's early customers have been put through a human centrifuge to find out. This tests their reactions and tolerance to the forces that they would experience on a sub-orbital trip. That includes dealing with G-forces 6.5 times that of Earth's gravity and mostly they coped very well. Jan 24, 2008

Virgin Galactic

The Virgin Galactic space trips, from a launching pad to be built in New Mexico, should take about two and a half hours, with about five minutes of weightlessness. SpaceShipTwo, and its launch aircraft WhiteKnightTwo, also unveiled on Wednesday, were designed by Burt Rutan, whose SpaceShipOne collected the Ansari X Prize for privately funded space flight in 2004. Branson teamed up with Rutan shortly afterwards to design a suborbital spacecraft for Virgin Galactic. Virgin Galactic is only one of several high-profile contenders in the new commercial space race. Others include Europe's EADS Astrium; Blue Origin, started by Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos; Space Exploration Technologies Corp (SpaceX), created by PayPal founder Elon Musk; Rocketplane Kistler; and Bigelow Aerospace, a venture aimed at creating space hotels, started by hotelier Robert Bigelow. Jan 23, 2008