Goodrich Begins Qualification Testing of U.S. Air Force C-130 Boltless Wheels and Carbon Brakes

July 20, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CHARLOTTE, N.C., July 19, 2010 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ — (Farnborough International Airshow) Goodrich Corporation (NYSE: GR) has begun qualification activities for the U.S. Air Force to upgrade the service’s C-130 transport fleet with new boltless wheels and carbon brakes. Goodrich is currently under contract to design, develop and perform qualification activities; support flight testing; and provide retrofit equipment for the Air Force’s C-130 fleet. Qualification is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2011, with initial hardware deliveries to the Air Force expected soon thereafter.

“In my opinion, we are very pleased with the rapid progress Goodrich has made to date on this critical improvement program, and look forward to fleet implementation on our aircraft. Goodrich’s boltless wheels and carbon brakes are expected to provide the Air Force with increased up-time and lower cost of operation compared to the current equipment,” said Ron Montgomery, Landing Gear Systems Chief Engineer, 417 SCMS, Hill AFB. “We’re also working with our C-130 Major Commands to ensure a smooth and seamless transition to Goodrich’s wheels and brakes for all our operators,” he continued.

Jeff Atkinson, director of military programs for Goodrich Aircraft Wheels and Brakes, said, “We continue to see strong interest from the international C-130 community in this upgrade because of the significant weight and maintenance savings. Our low-risk design and validation approach combined with advanced aircraft wheel and brake technologies will provide C-130 users worldwide with significant performance, cost and maintainability benefits throughout the life of the fleet.”

Goodrich’s C-130 wheel and brake retrofit features DURACARB® carbon brakes to provide lighter weight, longer life, higher performance and lower cost of ownership compared to steel braking systems. Its boltless aircraft wheels employ a lock-ring design, dramatically lowering maintenance time and cost, as well as parts count, when compared to traditional bolted aircraft wheels. Goodrich aircraft wheels and brakes are in service on more than 20,000 military, commercial, regional and business aircraft produced by manufacturers such as Airbus, Boeing, Bombardier, Cessna, Embraer, Lockheed Martin and Northrop Grumman.

Goodrich Corporation, a Fortune 500 company, is a global supplier of systems and services to aerospace, defense and homeland security markets. With one of the most strategically diversified portfolios of products in the industry, Goodrich serves a global customer base with significant worldwide manufacturing and service facilities. For more information visit http://www.goodrich.com.

Goodrich Corporation operates through its divisions and as a parent company for its subsidiaries, one or more of which may be referred to as “Goodrich Corporation” in this press release.

SOURCE Goodrich Corporation; GR – Actuation and Landing Systems

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U.S. Air Force plans to make rocket that can fly back to its base

May 19, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 19 (ANI): The U.S. Air Force is making a prototype reusable rocket that can fly itself back to the launch site.

The Air Force Research Laboratory plans to invest 33-million dollars on pathfinder program to develop a prototype booster.

The Air Force hopes to award up to three 1.5-million-dollar contracts for studies before selecting one team for a 28.5-million-dollar contract to build the prototype. The first test flights are targeted for 2013.

The production process needs to initiate with the demonstration of a turn-around maneuver known as “rocket-back,” wherein a rocket uses its own engines to fly back to the launch site and glide in for landing.

Two companies- Lockheed Martin and Starcraft Boosters – hold patents for fly-back boosters.

Starcraft Boosters, which was founded by Apollo 11 astronaut Buzz Aldrin, develops low-cost alternative launchers.

A group had successfully tested a sub-scale fly-back booster based on Aldrin”s design in 2001-02.

“Our two big areas of concern were the separation of the vehicle so that it would come off the center stage in a way that wouldn”t damage or impede the flight, and how to control it on the way down,” Discovery News quoted, Trevor Foster, project manager for the program, as saying.

Foster”s team at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, Calif., had attempted flying a single-stage reusable launch vehicle three times and a two-stage vehicle once.

They were once successful, out of the three attempts, in flying the single-stage reusable launch vehicle.

Foster said: “That one went really well. It seems to me that the only show-stopper would be something along the lines of what they”re seeing with the space shuttle. Is it really reusable, or do they have to rebuild it every time?

As far as the technology itself, it didn”t seem to be a show-stopper there.”

(ANI)

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US moving towards ‘high-altitude’ weaponry era with Falcon, X-37B launches

April 24, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Apr 24(ANI): The Pentagon’s test launch of two unmanned space vehicles this week have highlighted the efforts being made by the United States to develop a new generation of high-altitude weapon systems.

The United States Air Force (USAF) and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) test launched a space plane – the Hypersonic Technology Vehicle 2 (HTV-2), known as the Falcon, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

One part of the program aims to develop a reusable, rapid-strike Hypersonic Cruise Vehicle (HCV), and the other is for the development of a launch system capable of accelerating a HCV to cruise speeds, as well as launching small satellites into Earth orbit.

Defense analysts believe that the Falcon is part of the Pentagon’s effort to develop the capability to strike anywhere in the world with a conventional warhead in less than an hour – known as Conventional Prompt Global Strike.

Meanwhile, the USAF’s secretive X-37B robotic space plane took off from Florida’s Cape Canaveral Air Force Station for a mystery mission that is expected to take months testing new spacecraft technologies.

The X-37 is an unpiloted demonstration spaceplane built by Boeing Phantom Works that is intended to test future launch technologies while in orbit and during atmospheric re-entry.

“The X-37B has been in development for more than 10 years and had a tumultuous history. So, it’s great to see the X37 finally get to the launchpad and get into space,” The Washington Times quoted Gary Payton, U.S. Air Force Deputy Under Secretary for Space Programs, as saying.

The spacecraft will be placed into low Earth orbit for testing, following which it will be de-orbited for landing. (ANI)

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Delaying Polish funeral over ash cloud “last resort”

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

Delaying Sunday’s planned funeral for Polish President Lech Kaczynski because of a volcanic ash cloud hanging over Europe would be a “last resort”, an official at the presidential administration said on Friday.

Jacek Sasin, who had earlier mooted the possibility of a delay, said senior officials would meet later on Friday to analyse the situation and would then make a final decision.

The huge ash cloud has spread across northern Europe since the volcano began erupting on Wednesday, closing airports and stranding hundreds of thousands of travellers.

U.S. President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders are due to attend Kaczynski’s funeral at Krakow’s Wawel cathedral in southern Poland. Krakow airport was was one of only two in Poland still open on Friday morning because of the cloud.

“A scenario to delay (the funeral), that kind of scenario does not exist. It’s not being discussed… This would be the last resort. For now we’re monitoring the situation,” Sasin told reporters.

“This afternoon there will be a meeting at the prime minister’s office and I believe the decision will be made then.”

Kaczynski, his wife and scores of senior Polish officials were killed in a plane crash last Saturday, plunging Poland into deep mourning.

The White House said late on Thursday Obama’s weekend trip to Poland was, for the moment, expected to go ahead despite the ash.

“It’s something that we are keeping an eye on. Right now, our schedule is still on. We have every intention of making it to Poland,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters.

He said he had spoken to U.S. Air Force officials, adding: “They felt confident that they’ll be able to make that trip, but it’s something we’re watching and obviously cognizant of.”

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock that can damage engines and airframes.

Polish authorities had intended to fly the coffins of the First Couple to Krakow on Saturday afternoon after a planned memorial service in Warsaw. They are currently on public view in the presidential palace.

Apart from Obama, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain’s Prince Charles, Spain’s King Juan Carlos and many other heads of state and government and royalty were due to attend the funeral.

(Reporting by Pawel Florkiewicz, writing by Gareth Jones; editing by Philippa Fletcher)

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Volcanic ash may force delay in Polish funeral

April 17, 2010 By Leave a Comment

A huge ash cloud from an Icelandic volcano that has caused the closure of airports across northern Europe may force a delay in Sunday’s funeral for Poland’s President Lech Kaczynski and his wife, an official in the presidential administration said on Friday.

U.S. President Barack Obama and dozens of other world leaders are due to attend the funeral at Krakow’s Wawel cathedral in southern Poland. On Friday Krakow airport was one of only two in Poland still open.

“If this (volcanic ash) could affect events and if some participants are not able to arrive, then such an option (delay) could be considered,” Jacek Sasin, an official in the president’s chancellery, told RMF FM radio.

Kaczynski, his wife and scores of senior Polish officials were killed in a plane crash last Saturday, plunging Poland into deep mourning.

The White House said late on Thursday Obama’s weekend trip to Poland was expected to go ahead despite the ash, but U.S. authorities were keeping an eye on things.

“It’s something that we are keeping an eye on. Right now, our schedule is still on. We have every intention of making it to Poland,” Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton told reporters.

He said he had spoken to U.S. Air Force officials, adding: “They felt confident that they’ll be able to make that trip, but it’s something we’re watching and obviously cognizant of.”

The volcanic ash cloud has caused huge disruption of air traffic across Europe, leaving hundreds of thousands of passengers stranded. It was not known how long the affected airports, including Warsaw, might have to remain closed.

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of glass and pulverised rock that can damage engines and airframes.

Polish authorities had intended to fly the coffins of the First Couple to Krakow on Saturday afternoon after a planned memorial service in Warsaw. They are currently on public view in the presidential palace.

Apart from Obama, Russia’s President Dmitry Medvedev, French President Nicolas Sarkozy, German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Britain’s Prince Charles, Spain’s King Juan Carlos and many other heads of state and government and royalty were due to attend the funeral.

(Reporting by Chris Borowski, writing by Gareth Jones; Editing by Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Eaton Wins U.S. Air Force Power Reliability Contract

April 16, 2010 By Leave a Comment

CLEVELAND–(Business Wire)–
Diversified industrial manufacturer Eaton Corporation (NYSE:ETN) today announced
that it has been awarded a contract to provide the U.S. Air Force`s Air
Logistics Center (ALC), at the Hill Air Force Base, Utah, power reliability
products and complete turnkey services including engineering, project
management, system integration, installation, training and onsite maintenance
services. The win could be worth as much as $568.7 million and will be divided
among two suppliers over the life of the five-year contract with one single
two-year option period. Eaton`s Electrical Service & Systems Division`s Federal
Systems Business Unit will manage the work for the contract.

“For more than 20 years, we have provided vital power solutions for the U.S. Air
Force`s complex applications,” said Thomas S. Gross, vice chairman and chief
operating officer -Eaton`s Electrical Sector. “This contract further
substantiates our uncompromising commitment to providing world-class power
solutions, and superb customer focus and service.”

Products include commercially available, on-line, double conversion, single or
three-phase Static Uninterruptible Power Supplies (SUPS) ranging in size from
3kVA to 1000kVA, associated equipment, ancillary electrical equipment, and spare
parts. Designed and engineered to deliver the highest level of system
reliability and availability, the total power solution supports the Air Force`s
applications around the world.

The Air Force awarded the contract to Eaton after competitively evaluating
technical, past performance and price criteria. This contract represents the
fourth such award by the U.S. Air Force to Eaton for uninterruptible power
system (UPS) equipment and system integration. The previous contracts were
awarded in 1988, 1996, and 2001 to Powerware Corporation, which was acquired by
Eaton in 2004.

Based on existing contract awards, Eaton is one of the largest UPS suppliers to
the U.S. Government and has been recognized for providing the highest quality
products and services to some of its most critical and classified operations in
the world.

Eaton`s electrical business is a global leader in power distribution, power
quality, control and industrial automation products and services. Eaton`s global
electrical product lines, including Cutler-Hammer®, Moeller®, Powerware®,
Holec®, MEM®, Santak®, and MGE Office Protection Systems™ provide
customer-driven PowerChain Management® solutions to serve the power system needs
of the data center, industrial, institutional, government, utility, commercial,
residential, and OEM markets worldwide.

Eaton Corporation is a diversified power management company with 2009 sales of
$11.9 billion. Eaton is a global technology leader in electrical components and
systems for power quality, distribution and control; hydraulics components,
systems and services for industrial and mobile equipment; aerospace fuel,
hydraulics and pneumatic systems for commercial and military use; and truck and
automotive drivetrain and powertrain systems for performance, fuel economy and
safety. Eaton has approximately 70,000 employees and sells products to customers
in more than 150 countries. For more information, visit www.eaton.com.

Eaton Corporation
Kelly Jasko, Corporate Media Relations, 216-523-5304
Mark Horner, Electrical Sector Media Relations, 412-893-3590

Copyright Business Wire 2010

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U.S. aircraft crashes in Afghanistan, 4 die

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Reuters) – A U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft crashed overnight in Afghanistan, killing three American service members and one civilian employee, the NATO-led international force in the country said on Friday.

The CV-22 Osprey is a hybrid aircraft with giant rotors at the ends of its wings. It takes off and lands like a helicopter and can tilt the rotors to fly like a fixed-wing turbo-prop plane.

The cause of the crash, in southern Zabul province, was not yet known, the international force said in a statement.

The force said the aircraft was carrying U.S. troops at the time of the crash. An undisclosed number of injured people were treated at a nearby base.

There are some 120,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan and that is set to rise to nearly 150,000 by the end of this year as Washington sends in more troops as part of a new strategy to try and quell the mounting violence.

(Reporting by Peter Graff; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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U.S. aircraft crashes in Afghanistan, 4 die

April 10, 2010 By Leave a Comment

(Updates with type of aircraft, confirmation of casualties)

KABUL, April 9 (Reuters) – A U.S. Air Force Osprey aircraft crashed overnight in Afghanistan, killing three American service members and one civilian employee, the NATO-led international force in the country said on Friday.

The CV-22 Osprey is a hybrid aircraft with giant rotors at the ends of its wings. It takes off and lands like a helicopter and can tilt the rotors to fly like a fixed-wing turbo-prop plane.

The cause of the crash, in southern Zabul province, was not yet known, the international force said in a statement.

The force said the aircraft was carrying U.S. troops at the time of the crash. An undisclosed number of injured people were treated at a nearby base.

There are some 120,000 foreign troops in Afghanistan and that is set to rise to nearly 150,000 by the end of this year as Washington sends in more troops as part of a new strategy to try and quell the mounting violence.

(For more on Afghanistan click [ID:nAFPAK])

(Reporting by Peter Graff; Editing by Sugita Katyal)

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U.S., Israel in pact for Lockheed planes

March 27, 2010 By Leave a Comment

The United States has signed a deal to supply Israel with initially up to three new Lockheed Martin Corp C-130J “Super Hercules” tactical transport aircraft, the Defence Department told Reuters on Friday.

The deal is part of an order worth up to $1.9 billion if all options are exercised for nine C-130Js. The aircraft may be used for special operations, disaster relief or humanitarian missions.

Under a government-to-government pact signed on Wednesday, Israel would get its first C-130J in 2013, said a source familiar with the sale, who asked not to be identified pending official government announcements.

The deal was inked amid turbulence in U.S.-Israeli ties, highlighted by strains over Jewish housing construction in occupied East Jerusalem.

In a sign of the rift over Israeli settlement policy, the White House withheld some of the usual trappings of a White House visit on Tuesday by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Israel has a fleet of older C-130 transports. The J version boosts the previous models’ range, payload and speed roughly 40 percent, according to Lockheed Martin, the Pentagon’s No. 1 supplier by sales.

A standard C-130J costs about $75 million, not including any special configurations or support. The U.S. Air Force, the middleman in the sale, must now negotiate a contract with Lockheed to cover the aircraft configuration and support services.

A Defence Department spokeswoman said the $115 million agreement signed on Wednesday is for the purchase of one C-130J with options for two additional aircraft. She also said additional purchases are anticipated over the next few years.

Israel has asked to buy up to nine C-130Js, the Pentagon’s Defence Security Cooperation Agency told the U.S. Congress in July 2008. It put the potential value of the deal at $1.9 billion.

The U.S State Department and Israeli Defence Forces had no immediate comment.

Lockheed Martin said it looked forward to modernizing Israel’s airlift fleet.

In notifying Congress of the proposed sale in 2008, the Pentagon said it would provide Israel a “credible special operations airlift capability that will deter aggression in the region, provide humanitarian airlift capability, and ensure interoperability with U.S. forces in coalition operations.”

Other nations that are operating or have ordered the C-130J include Australia, Canada, Denmark, India, Iraq, Italy, Norway, Oman, Qatar, Britain, Tunisia and the United States.

The U.S. Air Force uses it in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

(Reporting by Jim Wolf; Editing by Gary Hill; editing by Carol Bishopric)

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Satellite images of night time lights offer better GDP Growth measurements

September 6, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, September 6 (ANI): Three Brown University economists have come up with a unique way for measuring economic growth in developing countries-using images of night time lights as seen from outer space.

In a National Bureau of Economic Research working paper, J. Vernon Henderson, Adam Storeygard, and David N. Weil point out that measurements of economic growth often fall short for developing countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, and are rarely calculated at all for cities throughout the world.

They say that it is possible to improve GDP estimates for such areas by using satellite images of night time lights.

The authors cite the Penn World Tables, one of the standard compilations of data on income, which rank countries with grades A through D by the quality of their GDP and price data.

They say that nearly all sub-Saharan African countries get a grade of C or D, which is interpreted as roughly 30 or 40 percent margin of error.

They also say that several countries-including Iraq, Myanmar, Somalia, and Liberia-do not appear in the table.

To improve these estimates, the three economists suggest combining measured income data with the changes observed in a country’s “night lights” as seen from outer space.

They use U.S. Air Force weather satellite picture composites to look at the changes that have occurred in a region’s light density over a 10-year period.

“Consumption of nearly all goods in the evening requires lights. As income rises, so does light usage per person, in both consumption activities and many investment activities,” they write.

Upon applying the novel method to countries with low-quality national income data, the researchers observed that their estimates were significantly different.

According to them, lights in the Democratic Republic of Congo suggested a 2.4-percent annual growth rate in GDP, while official estimates suggested a negative 2.6-percent growth over the same time period.

At the other end, Myanmar has an official growth rate of 8.6 percent a year, but the lights data imply only a 3.4-percent annual growth rate.

Henderson, Storeygard, and Weil say that they do not envision the lights density data as a replacement for official numbers.

They, however, insist that using the lights density in addition to existing data from agencies like the World Bank can lead to a better indicator of how these economies really are performing.

“Our hope is that people start using this, either when they don’t have actual data on economic growth … or when the numbers are pretty bad. This is just a way to get better estimates,” said Henderson, a professor of Economics. (ANI)

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Chicago Air and Water Show 2009 – Air and Water Show – Air and Water Show Chicago – 2009 Chicago Air Water Show – Chicago Air and Water Show – Air and Water Show Chicago 2009

August 11, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Chicago Air and Water Show 2009 | Air and Water Show | Air and Water Show Chicago | 2009 Chicago Air Water Show | Chicago Air and Water Show | Air and Water Show Chicago 2009

The Chicago Air and Water Show 2009 is going to exhibit on 15th and 16th August 2009, is going to be the largest free air and water show in  America,started since 1959, but on a much smaller scale.

This year it is going to be a great event show. The show will start at 10 a.m. and will get over at 4 p.m. and the venue is North Avenue Beach.

Participants : U.S. Air Force Thunderbirds, U.S. Army Parachute Team Golden Knights,U.S. Navy Parachute Team Leap Frogs ,   Aeroshell Aerobatic Team,   Sean D. Tucker & Team Oracle,  Lime Lima Flight Team, Chicago Fire Department Air/Sea Rescue,    Lima Lima Flight Crew,
Sean D. Tucker & Team Oracle, The Firebirds Delta Team, Red Bull Choppers, Ed Hamill – Air Force Reserve Bi-Plane, Red Bull Mig, Red Bull Helicopter, P-51 Mustang, Chicago Fire Department Air/Sea Rescue,

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Al Qaeda’s ‘deathly fear’ from US forces reflected in new book: Experts

July 10, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, July 10 (ANI): A new book published by the Al Queda reveals that the terror organization is under immense pressure from the US-driven war on terror in Pakistan.

Written by a senior Al Qaeda commander, Abu Yahya Al-Libi, the “Guide to the Laws Regarding Muslim Spies” was recently posted on jihadist Web sites.

The 150-page book also features an introduction by Al Oaeda’s No. , Ayman Al-Zawahri.

The book accuses some in Al Qaeda’s ranks of being spies who provide intelligence, including information about Al Qaeda camps and safehouses, to U.S. forces, Fox News reports.

“It would be no exaggeration to say that the first line in the raging Crusader campaign waged by America and its allies against the Muslims and their lands is the network of spies, of various and sundry sorts and kinds,” says the book, translated by the Washington-based Middle East Media Research Institute, or MEMRI

Terror experts have termed the book unique in its weak and worried tone.

“I haven’t ever seen this kind of language from senior Al Qaeda commanders before. In general, Al Qaeda speaks in a very triumphant tone, but in the new book Al-Libi speaks of the group’s dire straits and serious problems,” said Daniel Lev, who works for MEMRI.

“Such an admission of distress on the part of a senior Al Qaeda commander makes this a very unique book in terms of the author.”

Military analyst Tom McInerny said the book is a “gold mine” that attests to the success of the Predator strikes that are decimating Al Qaeda’s ranks in Pakistan.

“They are in deathly fear of airpower. Whether it’s unmanned drones or whether it’s fighters or bombers using precision weapons, they are deathly afraid,” said McInerny, a retired lieutenant general in the U.S. Air Force.

Lev said that the group’s suspicions could be used as an excuse to conduct a purge, which could further harm the Al Qaeda’s stature in Pakistan.

“That can be the beginning of the end,” he said. (ANI)

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Hypersonic test vehicle flies in Australia

May 23, 2009 By Leave a Comment

CANBERRA, May 23 (Xinhua) — Scientists have successfully completed a hypersonic flight trial in southern Australia, with the test vehicle traveling faster than five times the speed of sound.

The May 7 flight, seen as a step toward building next-generation air vehicles that could dramatically reduce inter-continental travel times, was the first of up to ten planned flight experiments to be conducted at Woomera, the Australian Department of Defense said on its website.

The flights are part of a joint research program between the Australian Defense Science and Technology Organization (DSTO) and the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory.

“This trial has successfully tested the flight and mission control systems that will be used in future experiments,” said Minister for Defense Science and Personnel Warren Snowdon in a statement released Friday.

“Using nitrogen gas valves as thrusters to maneuver the test vehicle in space, the test vehicle was turned onto the correct heading and elevation for re-entry into the atmosphere as designed.”

Snowdon noted that this trial has “given scientists a wealth of new data and demonstrated that hypersonic flight could become a reality in the not too distant future.”

So far, the Australian-U.S. collaboration, he said, had already achieved some significant milestones such as the design, assembly and pre-flight testing of hypersonic vehicles and the design of complex avionics and flight systems.

“Hypersonic technology offers a quantum leap in speed and fuel efficiency for air vehicles of the future,” Snowdon said. “Thanks to the work of this dedicated team of DSTO scientists, Australia is at the forefront of this technology.”

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NASA tests largest rocket parachutes ever for Ares I rocket

May 21, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 21 (ANI): NASA and industry engineers successfully completed the first test of the Ares I rocket’s three main parachutes on May 21, which are the largest rocket parachutes ever manufactured.

The parachutes are designed to slow the rapid descent of the rocket’s spent first-stage motor, permitting its recovery for use on future flights.

The Ares I, the first rocket in NASA’s Constellation Program, is designed to launch explorers aboard the Orion crew capsule on journeys to the International Space Station, the moon and beyond.

The three main parachutes measure 150 feet in diameter and weigh 2,000 pounds each.

They are a primary element of the rocket’s deceleration system, which also includes a pilot parachute and drogue parachute.

Deployed in a cluster, the main parachutes open at the same time, providing the drag necessary to slow the descent of the huge solid rocket motor to a soft landing in the ocean.

“The successful main chute cluster test today confirms the development and design changes we have implemented for the Ares I first stage recovery system,” said Ron King, Ares I first stage deceleration subsystem manager for the Ares Projects at NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama.

“Thanks to our great, collaborative team, the test went as anticipated, and all of our design objectives were met,” he added.

Engineers from Marshall managed the team that conducted this first cluster test at the U.S. Army’s Yuma Proving Ground near Yuma, Arizona.

This was the eighth in an ongoing series of flight tests supporting development of the Ares I recovery system.

Researchers dropped the 41,500-pound load from a U.S. Air Force C-17 aircraft flying at an altitude of 10,000 feet. The parachutes and all test hardware functioned properly and landed safely.

As the test series progresses, engineers will perform three classifications of testing: development, design load and overload.

Each level of testing is designed to fully test the performance of the new parachute design with different size payloads under varying conditions.

The next test in the cycle, scheduled for fall 2009, will involve the first design limit load test of a single main parachute. (ANI)

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New nanotube coating enables novel laser power meter

May 9, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, May 9 (ANI): Researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have developed a novel nanotube-coated power measurement device, which would be able to calibrate high-power laser systems, such as those intended to defuse unexploded mines, more quickly and easily.

The new laser power meter, tested at a U.S. Air Force base, will be used to measure the light emitted by 10-kilowatt (kW) laser systems.

Light focused from a 10 kW laser is more than a million times more intense than sunlight reaching the Earth.

Until now, NIST-built power meters, just like the lasers they were intended to measure, were barely portable and operated slowly.

The new power meter is much smaller-about the size of a crock pot rather than a refrigerator. It also features a new design that enables it to make continuous power measurements.

A key innovation is the use of a sprayed-on coating of carbon nanotubes, tiny cylinders made of carbon atoms, which conduct heat hundreds of times better than conventional detector coating materials.

In the new power meter, laser light is absorbed in a cone-shaped copper cavity, where a spinning mirror directs the light over a large area and distributes the heat uniformly.

The cavity is lined with a NIST-developed coating made of multiwalled carbon nanotubes held together by a potassium silicate (water glass) binder, and surrounded by a water jacket.

The coating absorbs light and converts it to heat.

The resulting rise in water temperature generates a current, which is measured to determine the power of the laser.

The new power meter uses the latest version of NIST’s nanotube coating, which absorbs light efficiently, is more stable than some conventional coatings such as carbon black, and resists laser damage as effectively as commercial ceramic coatings.

NIST’s nanotube coating technology already has been transferred to industry for use in commercial products. (ANI)

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NASA ‘nano satellite’ to study how effectively drugs work in space

May 2, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, April 29 (ANI): NASA is preparing to fly a nano satellite about the size of a loaf of bread that could help scientists better understand how effectively drugs work in space.

The nanosatellite, known as PharmaSat, is a secondary payload aboard a U.S. Air Force four-stage Minotaur 1 rocket planned for launch the evening of May 5.

PharmaSat weighs approximately 10 pounds.

It contains a controlled environment micro-laboratory packed with sensors and optical systems that can detect the growth, density and health of yeast cells and transmit that data to scientists for analysis on Earth.

PharmaSat also will monitor the levels of pressure, temperature and acceleration the yeast and the satellite experience while circling Earth at 17,000 miles per hour.

Scientists will study how the yeast responds during and after an antifungal treatment is administered at three distinct dosage levels to learn more about drug action in space, the satellite’s primary goal.

“Secondary payload nanosatellites expand the number of opportunities available to conduct research in microgravity by providing an alternative to the International Space Station or space shuttle conducted investigations,” said Elwood Agasid, PharmaSat project manager at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Moffett Field, California.

“The PharmaSat spacecraft builds upon the GeneSat-1 legacy with enhanced monitoring and measurement capabilities, which will enable more extensive scientific investigation,” he added.

After PharmaSat separates from the Minotaur 1 rocket and successfully enters low Earth orbit at approximately 285 miles above Earth, it will activate and begin transmitting radio signals to two ground control stations.

When NASA spaceflight engineers make contact with PharmaSat, which could happen as soon as one hour after launch, the satellite will receive a command to initiate its experiment, which will last 96 hours.

Once the experiment begins, PharmaSat will relay data in near real-time to mission managers, engineers and project scientists for further analysis.

The nanosatellite could transmit data for as long as six months.

“PharmaSat is an important experiment that will yield new information about the susceptibility of microbes to antibiotics in the space environment,” said David Niesel, PharmaSat’s co-investigator from the University of Texas Medical Branch Department of Pathology and Microbiology and Immunology in Galveston.

“It also will prove that biological experiments can be conducted on sophisticated autonomous nanosatellites,” he added. (ANI)

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U.S., satellite operators discuss better tracking

April 3, 2009 By Leave a Comment

.S. military officials and commercial satellite operators on Thursday discussed better tracking of satellites to avert collisions like the one that destroyed a Russian and U.S. satellite in February, creating more space debris.

The meeting, on the sidelines of the Space Foundation’s National Space Symposium, is part of the U.S. Air Force’s drive to improve tracking of objects in space.

The Air Force said this week it would work with U.S. Strategic Command to expand satellite tracking by Oct. 1 to all 800 maneuverable spacecraft now operating.

The move was spurred by the Feb. 10 collision of a dead Russian military communications satellite and a commercial U.S. satellite owned by Iridium, an event neither the U.S. military nor private tracking groups predicted.

British satellite communications company Inmarsat, which owns 11 satellites providing mobile phone and broadband coverage around the world, welcomed the news, said Rebecca Cowen-Hirsch, vice president for global government services.

“We’ve seen significant progress and movement on the defense side to explore more exchange of data and more meaningful data with industry,” Cowen-Hirsch told Reuters at the annual space conference.

Lieutenant General Larry James, commander of the Air Force’s Joint Functional Component Command for Space, attended a meeting hosted by industry in Washington last week, said Cowen-Hirsch, who participated in both meetings.

Inmarsat is one of several satellite operators that provide communications services to the U.S. military.

Commercial services account for about 80 percent of the military’s satellite communications, although protected communications — such as those used by the president — come from military-owned and operated satellites, General Robert Kehler, head of Air Force Space Command, said on Thursday.

NEW CAPABILITIES NEEDED

Air Force Secretary Michael Donley told some 7,500 conference participants the satellite collision had focused attention on the need to increase and improve tracking of objects in space, and several efforts were under way.

He said the Air Force needed to field more capable sensors in space and on the ground, and to better integrate and manage data from existing sources and sensors.

The goal is to build an integrated network that includes data from commercial satellite operators, foreign governments, and all parts of the U.S. government. Officials are still trying to determine how to assure that the data can be trusted, particularly when it comes from satellite operators that do not have close ties to the U.S. government, Cowen-Hirsch said.

The Air Force has an Internet-based pilot program that allows commercial operators and foreign governments to report any issues with their spacecraft.

The trick, Donley said, was being able to assess rapidly what had happened, and then “straightforwardly differentiate between attack and anomaly.”

One Air Force official, who said he was not authorized to speak on the record, said government attorneys were still working on legal agreements that commercial companies and satellite operators would have to sign to get access to the expanded tracking data.

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U.S. facing asymmetric, cyber warfare

March 8, 2009 By Leave a Comment

ORLANDO, Fla., March 5 (UPI) — The head of the U.S. Air Force Space Command said future combat environments are shifting toward asymmetric online battlefields.

Gen. Robert Kehler, commander of Air Force Space Command, said recently that 21st-century warfare is erasing physical boundaries as more threats to security in the United States are coming from cyberattacks, the Air Force reported.

Kehler, discussing the evolving Joint Operating Environment, said distances in warfare are changing. Unmanned aircraft systems, piloted at air force bases in Nevada, are bombing targets in Afghanistan and cyberattacks could come from someone sitting at a computer next door.

“When you come to work, and you log in … you are entering a war zone, and everyone has to be a defender. We do not have a security forces squadron for cyberspace,” Kehler said in a statement.

“Make no mistake about it; the fight is on in cyberspace. The adversary can be down the street or halfway around the world, and you never know. The enemy could be down the street and look like he’s halfway around the world.”

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Nanogenerators produce electricity from jacket wearing hamsters

February 15, 2009 By Leave a Comment

Washington, Feb 14 (ANI): Researchers at Georgia Institute of Technology, US, have used nanotechnology to produce electricity from running hamsters wearing power-generating jackets.

“Using nanotechnology, we have demonstrated ways to convert even irregular biomechanical energy into electricity,” said Zhong Lin Wang, a Regent’s professor in the Georgia Tech School of Materials Science and Engineering.

“This technology can convert any mechanical disturbance into electrical energy,” he added.

The research was supported by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), the U.S. Department of Energy, the U.S. Air Force, and the Emory-Georgia Tech Center for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence.

The study demonstrates that nanogenerators, which Wang’s team has been developing since 2005, can be driven by irregular mechanical motion, such as the vibration of vocal cords, flapping of a flag in the breeze, tapping of fingers or hamsters running on exercise wheels.

Scavenging such low-frequency energy from irregular motion is significant because much biomechanical energy is variable, unlike the regular mechanical motion used to generate most large-scale electricity today.

The nanogenerator power is produced by the piezoelectric effect, a phenomenon in which certain materials – such as zinc oxide wires – produce electrical charges when they are bent and then relaxed.

The wires are between 100 and 800 nanometers in diameter, and between 100 and 500 microns in length.

To make their generators, Wang’s research team encapsulated single zinc oxide wires in a flexible polymer substrate, the wires anchored at each end with an electrical contact, and with a Shottky Barrier at one end to control current flow.

They then attached one of these single-wire generators to the joint area of an index finger, or combined four of the single-wire devices on a “yellow jacket” worn by the hamster.

The running and scratching of the hamster – and the tapping of the finger – flexed the substrate in which the nanowires were encapsulated, producing tiny amounts of alternating electrical current.

Integrating four nanogenerators on the hamster’s jacket generated up to up to 0.5 nanoamps; less current was produced by the single generator on the finger.

Wang estimates that powering a handheld device such as a Bluetooth headset would require at least thousands of these single-wire generators, which could be built up in three-dimensional modules.

“We believe this is the first demonstration of using a live animal to produce current with nanogenerators,” Wang said. “This study shows that we really can harness human or animal motion to generate current,” he added.

Beyond the finger-tapping and hamster-running, Wang believe his modules could be implanted into the body to harvest energy from such sources as muscle movements or pulsating blood vessels. (ANI)

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