April 19 News Items

OMB Guidance on Earmarks (Source: NASA Watch)
According to minutes from a recent NASA Strategic Management Council meeting: "- OMB policy on earmarks: [Griffin] announced the new policy of OMB Director Rob Portman not to honor report language requiring congressionally mandated spending; the only earmarks that will be honored are those that are included in legislation. PA&E Strategic Investments Division Director Chris Shank warned members to expect special congressional requests to honor report language.

Lockheed Martin Receives $6 Million Contract to Add Signal to Modernized GPS Satellite (Source: Lockheed Martin)
The Air Force has awarded Lockheed Martin a $6 million contract to develop and integrate a demonstration payload that will temporarily transmit a third civil signal on a modernized Global Positioning System Block IIR (GPS IIR-M) satellite. This new contract directs Lockheed Martin and its navigation payload supplier ITT in Clifton, N.J. to provide an on-orbit demonstration capability for the new civil signal. The Block IIR-M spacecraft with the demonstration payload is planned for launch in 2008.

Boeing and Argon Non-GPS Surface Navigation Effort Under Way (Source: Aviation Week)
Teams led by Boeing and Argon ST are embarking on a DARPA-sponsored effort to develop technology capable of determining one's position on the Earth based on available terrestrial signals when the Global Positioning System (GPS) is being jammed or blocked. The Robust Surface Navigation (RSN) program seeks to exploit "signals of opportunity" -- such as electronic waves emanating from satellites, cell phone towers or TV transmitters -- to provide precise location and navigation information to ground troops.

"If one could also get some sort of a time-sync signal from a television transmitter, and if you knew where the television transmitter was, then you can assess exactly how far away you are from that television transmitter, just like you do with GPS today," said Boeing's project manager. Comparisons between several such signals then could yield a fairly precise position. Boeing received $2.6 million and Argon ST $2.4 million for Phase 1A, which began in February. The ultimate vision for RSN is to develop an enhanced geo-location receiver no bulkier than today's receivers that can both receive GPS and other satellite-based positioning signals such as Galileo, as well as assess and exploit terrestrial signals. If no "signals of opportunity" are available, standalone beacons dropped by warfighters could be an option as well.

Orbital Reports First Quarter 2007 Financial Results (Source: Orbital Sciences Corp.)
Orbital Sciences Corp. announced its financial results for the first quarter of 2007. Orbital's first quarter revenues increased 19% to $228.2 million in 2007, compared to $192.2 million in 2006. The company's first quarter operating income rose 10% to $17.5 million in 2007, as compared to $16.0 million in 2006. First quarter net income increased 29% to $11.5 million in 2007, compared to $8.8 million in 2006.

Lockheed's Setbacks Raise Concerns (Source: AIA)
Lockheed Martin has faced criticism recently for its work on several defense contracts. Some experts say Lockheed executives are concerned that the recent problems may affect the company's ability to win new business. "These are significant setbacks for Lockheed that occur against a backdrop of remarkable success over the last five years," says Loren Thompson, a defense analyst at the Lexington Institute in Arlington, Va. "The real question is if that trend is going to continue."

KSC Test Flight Advances Concept for Horizontal Spaceport Operations (Source: Florida Today)
An F-104 jet owned by StarFighters blasted through the sky over the Cape Canaveral Spaceport on Tuesday, gathering test data about what kind of noise nuisance frequent space tourism flights from here may cause nearby residents. "I didn't hear a thing here at KSC, which is good news," said NASA's Jim Ball, the manager spearheading NASA's efforts to find alternate uses for the unique Shuttle Landing Facility and nearby supporting facilities. NASA, KSC and Florida officials hope that, perhaps before the end of this decade, private spacecraft are able to launch tourist flights into space from the three-mile-long runway where orbiters have landed for decades.

NASA made a deal with Starfighters to share the data from the flights in exchange for use of the shuttle runway and support facilities on Tuesday and for some future test flights. In some cases, if Starfighters is using the shuttle facilities to gather data for itself, the company will reimburse some of NASA's costs. The experiment in question is being run by Florida Institute of Technology researcher Sam Durrance, a former astronaut who has for years been closely involved in space-related economic development in the state. Durrance formerly headed the Florida Space Research Institute. Starfighters also hopes its planes could someday be used as part of the formal training program that tourists would go through before flying on a sub-orbital space mission.