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Falcon HTV Concept
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The path toward a hypersonic space plane has been a slow one, filled with twists and turns one would expect given the technological leap involved. Speeds of Mach 8+ place tremendous heat and resistance stresses on a craft. Building a vehicle that is both light enough to achieve the speeds desired at reasonable cost, and robust enough to survive those speeds, is no easy task.

The famous SR-71 Blackbird, which cruised at “only” Mach 3, made heavy use of titanium and had to use slip fits instead of rivets in many places, so that the plane wouldn’t tear itself apart when 800-900 degree surface temperatures made it expand. On the ground, and when being refueled shortly after takeoff, the plane would reportedly leak like a sieve until speed and heat had given the airframe its requisite fit. While the state of the art has advanced since then, so have the desired speeds – and the accompanying challenges.

Despite the considerable engineering challenges ahead, the potential of a truly hypersonic aircraft for reconnaissance, global strike/ transport, and low-cost access to near-space and space make DARPA’s FALCON HTV program a compelling goal to work toward on both engineering and military grounds. The question, as always, will be balancing the need for funding to prove out new designs and concepts, and risk management that ensures limited exposure if it becomes clear that the challenge is still too great for the nonce.

DID covers its ongoing developments below – including a development on the contractor side that may render contract competition plans moot.

• The FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Program & Challenges [updated]
• The FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Industrial Teams [new]
• FALCON Hypersonic Vehicle: Contracts & Key Events [updated]
• Additional Readings & Sources

Bruce Willis missed…
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Kirkland AFB, NM recently gave the University of Hawaii of Honolulu, Hawaii a modified contract for $8 million for the Panoramic Survey Telescope and Rapid Response System (PanSTARRS) multi-year program. The initial effort to develop and deploy a telescope data management system was awarded via a Grant to the University of Hawaii (considered a Minority Institute) and “as the various phases progressed, the Air Force determined that a Cooperative Agreement would be the more appropriate instrument as now we would be substantially involved.” At this time all $8 million has been committed (FA9451-06-2-0338, P00002).

PanSTARRS will address numerous science applications ranging from the structure of the Solar System to the properties of the Universe of the largest scales. It will be able to detect and catalog large numbers of earth-orbit crossing asteroids, or near earth objects (NEO) that present a potential threat to mankind. That last component to the mission is especially intriguing, as there is a long history of partial efforts in this direction within the US and elsewhere. So, where does this award fit in?

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Eros-A pic,
Cape Canaveral
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In 2005, issues regarding Israeli weapons exports boiled over between Israel and the USA. Israel’s status as an observer in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter program was suspended until a resolution in 2006 resulted in the USA assuming de facto veto power over all Israeli exports – even those that do not use American technologies, and fall outside of ITAR as non-military items, but could have potential security implications.

Israel’s canceled $100 million deal to upgrade Venezuela’s F-16s at a time when America was still shipping spare parts is often touted as the first example of that covenant in action. A more recent illustration of that covenant’s effects was recently provided when China sought to purchase time-share use of an Eros-B satellite from the ImageSat International (ISI) joint venture. IAI’s Eros series is derived from Israel’s Ofek-5 military satellite, and provides sub-1.8m imaging similar to France’s Spot satellites, and Space Imaging’s IKONOS. Although the Eros is not classified as a military item, the ISI Satellite Operating Partner (SOP) program allows images to be streamed directly to a customer’s ground stations, and it was submitted for review – a review that may yet scupper the deal…

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Militaries around the world are moving to modernize and transform themselves to meet the challenges of the 21st century. Our mission is to deliver a monthly cross-section of relevant, on-target stories, news, and analysis that will help experts and interested laypeople alike stay up to speed on key military developments and issues as we head into the USA’s Memorial Day weekend. Stories are broken down by military category and presented as fast bullet points that orient you quickly, with accompanying links if you wish to pursue more in-depth treatments.

This monthly briefing comes from a team a team that includes professional publications Defense Industry Daily and Aviation Week & Space Technology, with Winds of Change.NET acting as the briefing’s “neutral ground.”

Some of This Month’s Targets of Opportunity Include: Upgraded A-10s; Orbital Express; Hypersonics; Pod people; nEUROns; AARGMs, Spikes, & MOPs; Project Sandblaster; Compound helicopters; Stealth going mainstream; Routers in space; UAV swarms; Land Warrior RIP, Counter-sniper systems; Mine-protected vehicles go big; Trophy ready in Israel – or how about a net instead; Border robots with guns; Non-lethal weapons; UCAVs from carriers; the ASDS fiasco; Firing NEMO; Virginia’s new nose; Intercontinental cans of whup-ass; Paying for jets, not parts; EFP land mines – and the response; Inventory outsourcing in US military; Medical research; Bulgarian telemedicine; Privatized air tankers? Afghanistan doctrine; Canada’s tank lesson in Afghanistan; 6-Day Satellites; Transformation & Air Power; Lebanon post-mortems; Medals for UAV crews? And much, much more…!

• Air & Space Sector
• C4SI Dimension
• Land Sector
• Maritime Sector
• Strategic Weapons & Missile Defense
• Supply & Support
• Transformation: Policy & Doctrine
  
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MSS on Space Station
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Canada isn’t known for space launch technologies. It does have a satellite industry, and is the origin of both the American Space Shuttle’s robotic “Canadarm” and the International Space Station’s Mobile Servicing System (MSS) that includes Canadarm-2 with Dextre et. al. In line with this focus as a respected components manufacturer, The Canadian Space Agency recently announced an investment of CDN$ 10.3 million (currently about $8.7 million) in 36 research and development projects involving new space technologies and applications.

The investments support Canada’s leadership position in niche markets such as robotics, remote sensing both within and beyond space platforms, satellite communication components, and radar; and for making groundbreaking technologies market-ready. Areas covered include hyperspectral sensors, tunable on-orbit microwave filters, micro-motors, intelligent optimization emulator for multiple spot-beam bandwidth management with quality of service, multiple bandwidth and Q0S projects, planetary exploration sensors, more flexible mechanical tools, navigation and control including formation flight, etc.

Dextre: part of MSS
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Their backgrounder page has a full list of companies and projects, with 19 projects based in the province of Ontario, 14 in Quebec, and 1 project each in Nova Scotia, Manitoba, and Alberta. Canada-UK firm COM DEV International Ltd. in Cambridge, Ontario was the big organizational winner, with 6 contracts totaling about CDN$ 2.35 million.

Not yet.

Japan is finding itself hemmed in these days by increasingly hostile and dangerous neighbours. Whether the issue is the unstable Kim Jong-Il of North Korea with his drive for nuclear weapons and penchant for launching missile tests that travel over Japan, or a Chinese government perceived as increasingly hostile, Japanese situational awareness and self-defense are beginning to require deep surveillance capabilities.

This may help to explain why Japan’s Liberal Democratic Party has drafted a bill to allow Japan’s military into space within the parameters of self-defense rights. That would be a major change from the current civilian-only restrictions that Japan has placed on space ventures.

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Galileo concept
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Lockheed Martin and EADS Astrium announced that they have signed a teaming agreement to ensure interoperability of the Global Positioning System (GPS) III and the European Galileo Satellite Navigation programs. The two companies will perform systems engineering and technical assistance tasks for each other in the areas of interoperability, integrity and optimization of joint constellation performance. Additionally, the companies will offer reciprocal bids on operational hardware and software within the policy and export constraints of both programs.

Navstar Constellation:
GPS Block IIA, IIR/M, IIF
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“This opens a new dimension of cooperation between two of the world’s leading technology companies in systems that will benefit consumers for decades as the Galileo and GPS III systems come on line,” said Reinhold Lutz, EADS Senior Vice President for Earth Observation, Navigation & Science.

See DID’s in-depth coverage of the USA’s NAVSTAR GPS system plans for more information.

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Article pulled, pending revision.

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QuickReach concept

On April 19, 2005, DID reported on a Headquarters Space and Missile Systems Center contract for SpaceX’s Falcon I system, under a Responsive Small Spacelift Launch Vehicles program. Indeed, SpaceX’s Falcon I system has 3 scheduled launches between now and Q1 2006 – 2 for the US (DARPA, NRL) and 1 for Malaysia. We’ve also reported on another program named FALCON, and we’ll explain both the difference and the connections.

Meanwhile, the competition for the overall USAF/DARPA Small Launch Vehicle program has narrowed to three companies: Space Exploration Technologies Corp. (SpaceX), AirLaunch LLC, and Lockheed Martin Corp. A fourth Phase 2 competitor, Microcosm of El Segundo, CA, recently broke up its subcontractor team, terminated arrangements with consultants working on the Falcon effort, and laid off about 15 of its 50 employees based on its assumption that it has lost out in the competition. Next phase awards are expected in the near future, and the program continues to evolve in other ways. At present…

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Atlas IIAS

The International Space Business Council today announced the release of the commercial for-fee publication 2005 State of the Space Industry. This is the 9th issue of the SBC’s report.

The report’s press release & highlights [PDF format] notes their findings that world turnover generated from commercial services and government programs reached $103 billion in 2004, and is forecast to exceed $158 billion in 2010. U.S. Defense spending on space has grown from around $15 billion in 2000 to more than $22 billion today and is forecast to reach $28 billion by 2010, though ITAR export restrictions are also cited as a serious competitive problem for U.S. industry. Meanwhile…

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