January 31 News Items

ATK to Seek Investment Canada Act Approval for MDA Acquisition (Source: NewsWire.ca)
Alliant Techsystems will file an Investment Canada Act (ICA) Registration relating to its planned acquisition of the Information Systems and Geospatial Businesses of MacDonald Dettwiler and Associates. Once the acquisition is closed, ATK will merge its existing satellite assets with the MDA space business to form ATK Space Systems. The Canadian-based facilities and workforce will remain in Canada, preserving the company's unique and complementary strengths, and drive much of the group's growth profile. The Investment Canada Act review will run concurrently with a U.S. Hart-Scott-Rodino review. The transaction is also subject to MDA shareholder approval. ATK now expects to complete all reviews and approvals by late May or early June.

Harris Sales and Profit Soar (Source: Florida Today)
Melbourne-based Harris Corp. reported increases in quarterly sales and profit, led by growth in the company's defense and government communications divisions. Harris reported sales of $1.32 billion in its fiscal 2008 second quarter that ended Dec. 28. That was up 29.4 percent from sales of $1.02 billion in the second quarter of 2006. Harris also increased profit to $114.3 million, up 21.6 percent from $94 million in same quarter the previous year. The company is projecting annual sales between $5.2 billion and $5.3 billion.

ISRO Confident of Sending Indian Crew to Moon in 8 Years (Source: Times of India)
India will be able to send a space crew to Moon in about seven to eight years and the Union Government has been fully "sensitized" on this ambitious venture, its space chief has said. Madhavan Nair, the Head of Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO), expressed optimism on sending manned Moon mission from India although it was still in the conceptual study stage at present. "We have sensitized the government on manned space flights. In seven to either years we will be able to carry a crew to orbit and back," Nair said. A report to this effect has been submitted and the top official does does not see any big hurdles in the project. The allocation for the entire Human Space Program has been pegged at around $2.5 billion.

Alliant Raises Fiscal Year Outlook (Source: AP)
Military contractor Alliant Techsystems raised its fiscal year profit target after third-quarter results beat Wall Street expectations. The company, which makes ammunition and rocket launch systems, now expects sales of at least $4.1 billion in the year ending March 31. Analysts estimated sales of $4.13 billion for the year. For the following fiscal year, Alliant projects sales of about $4.5 billion. On Thursday, Alliant said third-quarter profit rose 14 percent. Higher sales of bullets and rocket launchers paced the gain.

Kink Fix Plan Expected Friday (Source: Florida Today)
NASA managers hope Friday to announce a plan to manage a kinked radiator hose on Atlantis' payload bay door. A delay of next week's Feb. 7 launch has not been proposed. Engineers are studying the 1 to 1.5-inch diameter hose to determine whether it's under any danger of rupturing, which would release Freon and force the shuttle to use a backup cooling system on launch and re-entry. The fix could be as simple as pushing the bent hose into place and replacing it after the mission to the International Space Station. Replacing the hose would have to be done in the Vehicle Assembly building. However, a rollback to the VAB has not been proposed. Three other hoses are retracting normally.

Dark Energy Makes Galaxies Keep Their Distance (Source: New Scientist)
Galaxies today are struggling to clump together against the incredible repulsive power of dark energy, hints a new survey of thousands of galaxies. Measuring this anti-clumping effect puts a new arrow in the quiver of cosmologists seeking to uncover the nature of the mysterious force. Scientists proposed the existence of a mysterious repulsive force called dark energy in 1998 to explain supernova observations showing the universe is expanding at ever faster rates. Since then, researchers have been trying to measure the properties of dark energy more precisely, in the hope of discovering what it is. Possible explanations include fluctuating energy fields from quantum physics and the effects of unseen extra spatial dimensions. Now, an Italian study may pave the way for researchers to decide between the different theories. Visit http://space.newscientist.com/article/dn13253-dark-energy-makes-galaxies-keep-their-distance.html to view the article.

Raytheon Posts 64% Increase in Q4 Profit (Source: AIA)
Lower pension costs and a tax benefit helped Raytheon post a 64% increase in fourth-quarter profits. Net income rose to $598 million from $365 million in the same quarter a year earlier. Raytheon also said its backlog increased 13%, and it boosted its outlook for 2008 to between $3.65 and $3.80 a share.

Mikulski Signals NASA is Free to Make COTS Award (Source: Space News)
The dismissal by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) of RocketPlane Kistler's challenge to NASA's procurement strategy for commercial space station logistics demonstrations clears the way for the agency to make a new award on the program, according to a spokeswoman for U.S. Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.).

Strong Plane Sales, Improved Productivity Lift Boeing's 4Q Profit (Source: AP)
Boeing posted better-than-expected fourth-quarter earnings on the strength of still-booming commercial airplane sales and improved productivity, easing investor concerns for now about the possibility of another setback for its thrice-delayed 787 Dreamliner. Boeing's net income for the last three months of 2007 was $1.03 billion, up from $989 million in the fourth quarter of 2006. Revenue was virtually unchanged at $17.5 billion.

Boeing's defense and space business saw earnings from operations decline 5 percent to $978 million and revenue fall 14 percent to $8.6 billion. The revenue drop was largely because results from a year earlier included two months of revenue from its Delta IV family of rockets, now part of the United Launch Alliance joint venture with Lockheed Martin Corp.