Spaceflight Now | STS-127 Shuttle Report | Lightning delays Endeavour launch

Spaceflight Now | STS-127 Shuttle Report | Lightning delays Endeavour launch

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Lightning from a severe thunderstorm that rolled over the Kennedy Space Center on Friday, July 10 caused NASA to postpone the launch of space shuttle Endeavour, originally planned for Saturday, to allow engineers additional time to ensure the strikes at pad 39A didn't harm onboard systems.

This gallery of images from a camera positioned near the pad to capture the launch caught the dramatic lightning show.




Photo credit: Gene Blevins/LA Daily News

Launch Decision To Come Sunday Morning

Launch Decision To Come Sunday Morning: "

KENNEDY SPACE CENTER -- Engineering analysis teams are expected to work through Saturday night to analyze the data from July 10 lightning strikes that forced a launch scrub of the space shuttle Endeavour.

The protective catenary wires on the launch pad took seven lightning strikes during an electrical storm Friday afternoon.

'There is no indication that there is any damage,' said NASA spokesman Allard Beutel. 'Mission management is being extra cautious.'

Managers will meet at 8 a.m. EDT Sunday to review the data from the overnight analysis, Beutel said. The decision will be made then whether to scrub or continue with the planned launch at 7:13 p.m. EDT. The meeting will roll into the standard meeting on whether to fill the external tank with liquid oxygen and liquid hydrogen.

A final decision whether to proceed with the launch, based on the engineering analysis and favorable weather conditions for tanking, will be made by about 9:30 a.m. EDT.

Beutel noted that mission management decided to scrub Saturday's launch to give engineering teams more time to analyze the data from the seven lightning strikes.

'There was not enough time between the strikes and tanking today to analyze all the data,' he said.

In September 2006, STS-115 was delayed by several days by a single large lightning strike, which also resulted in a voltage surge past the 100 volt threshold engineers think acceptable. 'We had different analytical tools then, so it took longer to determine if it was safe to proceed,' Beutel said.

Conditions are better a launch Sunday, with a 60% chance of the weather being favorable compared with 40% for today's scrubbed launch.

NASA can go as late as Tuesday with the launch before running into a conflict at the International Space Station with a planned Russian launch of a Progress resupply capsule. That launch could be delayed to give Endeavour more time to complete its mission, but no formal discussions have yet occurred between NASA and Russian officials. That will happen if Endeavour fails to launch by Monday, Beutel said.'

'

"

(Via On Space.)

Report pins cyberattacks on N. Korean army

Report pins cyberattacks on N. Korean army: "SEOUL, South Korea — A North Korean army lab of hackers was ordered to ‘destroy’ South Korean communications networks — evidence the isolated regime was behind cyberattacks that paralyzed South Korean and American Web sites — news reports said Saturday, citing an intelligence briefing.Members of the parliamentary intelligence committee have said in recent days that the National Intelligence Service has also pointed to a North Korean boast last month that it was ‘fully ready for any form of high-tech war.’The spy agency told lawmakers Friday that a research institute affiliated with the North’s Ministry of People’s Armed Forces received an order to ‘destroy the South Korean puppet communications networks in an instant,’ the mass-circulation JoongAng Ilbo newspaper reported.The paper, citing unidentified members of parliament’s intelligence committee, said the institute, known as Lab 110, specializes in hacking and spreading malicious programs.The Ministry of People’s Armed Forces is the secretive nation’s defense ministry.The NIS — South Korea’s main spy agency — said it couldn’t confirm the report. Calls to several key intelligence committee members went unanswered Saturday.The agency, however, issued a statement late Saturday saying it has ‘various evidence’ of North Korean involvement, though has yet to reach a conclusion.South Korea’s Yonhap news agency carried a similar report, saying the NIS obtained a North Korean document issuing the June 7 order. The report, quoting an unidentified senior ruling party official, said the North Korean institute is affiliated with the North Korean People’s Army.The state-run Korea Communications Commission said Friday that it had identified and blocked five Internet Protocol, or IP, addresses in five countries used to distribute computer viruses that caused the wave of Web site outages, which began in the U.S. on July 4.The addresses point to the computers that distributed the virus that triggered so-called denial of service attacks in which floods of computers try to connect to a single site at the same time, overwhelming the server.They were in Austria, Georgia, Germany, South Korea and the U.S., a commission official said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to speak to the media on the record.Speculation over who was responsible for the attacks that targeted high-profile Web sites, including those of the White House and South Korea’s presidential Blue House, has centered on North Korea.And though such finger-pointing has been trickling out since the attacks began, the identity of the IP addresses themselves provides little in the way of clarity.That’s because it is likely the hackers, whoever they are, used the addresses to disguise themselves — for instance, by accessing the computers from a remote location. IP addresses can also be faked or masked, hiding their true location.South Korean media reported in May that North Korea was running an Internet warfare unit that tries to hack into American and South Korean military networks to gather confidential information and disrupt service. The Chosun Ilbo newspaper reported Friday that the North has between 500-1,000 hacking specialists.The fact that some of the attacked sites — such as the ruling party and the office of President Lee Myung-bak — have links to the South Korean government’s hard-line policies toward the North was cited as further reason why Pyongyang might attack them.The North has drawn repeated international rebuke in recent months for threats and actions seen as provocative by the international community. Those include a nuclear test in May and short-range ballistic missile launches on July 4.North Korea has not responded to the allegations of its involvement in the Web site outages.The assaults appear to be on the wane. No new similar cyberattacks have been reported in South Korea since Friday evening, according to the state-run Korea Information Security Agency."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Guard F-15s, F-16s duel in skies over Montana

Guard F-15s, F-16s duel in skies over Montana: "Montana Air National Guard pilots built a good relationship with their Iowa Air National Guard counterparts in spring 2008, when the units deployed together to Iraq, both flying F-16s.Now they are engaged in two weeks of friendly combat training above the military operating area near Highwood. The exercise started Thursday and will continue through July 23, with as many as 10 aircraft in the sky at once.This time around, the Montana guard is flying the larger two-engine F-15 fighter jet against the Iowa Guard’s lighter, somewhat more maneuverable one-engine F-16.In fact, the difference in aircraft is the key point to the training exercise, called ‘dissimilar air-combat training,’ or DACT.‘It’s a big opportunity for us to do training competition with planes we don’t usually fly against,’ said Capt. Shawn Tapps, a pilot and scheduler with the Iowa guard. ‘At home, we usually train against other F-16s, and that’s not realistic combat experience. In real wartime, you’d fly against planes different than your own. The exercise gives us the opportunity to visualize while we’re flying what to do against a plane of different size and capabilities.’Lt. Col. Mike Buck, the Montana guard’s fighter squadron commander, agreed.Because the F-15 is an air-combat specialist designed to fight off more than one enemy plane, the Montana guard’s jets will be outnumbered by the Iowa guard’s F-16s during most of the exercises, he said.The Montana guard pilots are in an unusual situation. They flew F-16s for years and are relative newcomers behind the stick of the F-15s.Buck said he flew the F-16 for 18 years, but has been training with the F-15 during the past year. The Montana Air National Guard flew the F-16 for more than two decades before beginning its conversion to the F-15 in August.‘I’ve got 3,000 hours in the F-16, versus a whopping 65 hours in the F-15,’ he joked. ‘That gives me the knowledge of what to expect from the Iowa F-16 planes, if I can push my new F-15 skills to a high enough level.’Buck and Tapps contrasted the planes.Designed for shooting down enemy aircraft, the F-15 has far-reaching radar and carries twice as many missiles as the F-16, Buck said.The F-16 originally was designed to fly low and bomb enemy targets on land, Tapps said, but it has the versatility to fight air-to-air battles, too.Though bigger, the F-15 can maneuver almost as well as the F-16, especially at lower speeds, Buck said, ‘but that depends on the pilot’s stick and rudder skills and finesse.’During the DACT, the pilots will strut their planes’ stuff through mock air combat.‘The planes may start tens of miles apart and progress as close as 500 feet, at air speeds ranging from close to 1,000 mph to as slow as 150 mph,’ Buck said.Computer displays within the aircraft will project whether a missile would hit the rival plane if it were fired, depending on that plane’s maneuver. When a hit is projected, the ‘struck’ plane is told by radio to leave the scene.Sure, there’s a good-natured rivalry for bragging rights, both men said, but the exercise is mostly about training.Through the DACT, the Iowa guard is providing additional planes during training exercises that the Montana guard needs to be certified as a mission-ready wing, Buck said. With continued hard training, the Montana guard unit expects to be combat operational by about this time next year.Buck said both units benefit from the DACT training, noting the Iowa unit gets to fly ‘in our enormous, unmolested Big Sky air space.’Tapps readily agreed.‘Montana’s air space is phenomenal, unrestricted and huge,’ he said. ‘It allows for very lively, robust competition.’"

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

VIDEO: Bio-inspired Nano-UAV Takes Flight

VIDEO: Bio-inspired Nano-UAV Takes Flight: "

AeroVironment is to build a prototype flapping-wing nano air vehicle (NAV) for DARPA, having successfully demonstrated controlled hovering flight with an interim test vehicle called Mercury. Here's AV's pretty cool video showing the test steps that led up to that milestone.


Video: AeroVironment

This is a vehicle that, under its own power and remote control, demonstrated it could use a pair of flapping wings for both propulsion and flight control, climbing, descending and flying forwards, backwards and sidewards in the hover.

The next step gets tougher, AV has to shrink the vehicle's size and weight, extend its endurance and demonstrate transition between vertical and forward flight and back again. The prototype NAV'is to'be small enough to sit in the operator's hand and will closely resemble its biological inspiration, the hummingbird.




Artwork: AeroVironment

"

(Via Ares.)

U.S. options limited in cyberattack response

U.S. options limited in cyberattack response: "WASHINGTON — A lot of people are saying this is cyber war. But if the Internet attack on U.S. Web sites was an assault by North Korea or some other foreign government, what good responses are in America’s arsenal?‘The short answer is probably ‘Not a heck of a lot,’ ’ says James Lewis, a senior fellow at the Center for Strategic and International Studies.Defense and cyber analysts said Thursday that chances are high that very little eventually will be done to whoever orchestrated several days of attacks against Web sites including the White House and Pentagon as well as sites in South Korea. That’s largely because the investigation is unlikely to figure out who did it.But even it’s determined that another nation was behind the attacks, the possible responses are hardly warlike: trade sanctions, diplomatic protests or a complaint before the United Nations.‘You could eject an attache, recall your ambassador and throw out their ambassador,’ Lewis said. That’s not possible with North Korea, he noted of a main suspect in the attacks, since Pyongyang doesn’t have an embassy in the U.S.But war? Military action? No one is talking about that. Any punishment needs to fit the crime, analysts said, and this doesn’t meet the threshold of an act of war.‘I don’t think this kind of attack merits the use of force,’ said Kristin Lord, national security expert at the Center for a New American Security.‘It’s annoying, a little embarrassing, but it’s not a big deal,’ Lewis said, meaning that no major damage was done.But others think retaliation might be called for, strong enough to send a stiff message, perhaps even a similar dose of the U.S. military’s secret offensive cyber capability.U.S. officials routinely refuse to talk about either computer defenses or computer attacks America might have launched. But U.S. offensive cyber retaliation could range from a passive intrusion such as listening in on a foe’s communications to an attack that cripples an enemy’s air defense systems to clear the way for a bomber attack.A counterstrike on an attacker’s computer network could be launched, Lewis said, but it would be extremely difficult.‘This is a gray area,’ said Stewart Baker, who worked on cyber security at the Department of Homeland Security. ‘But if you know that the North Koreans were doing this, then at a minimum I would have thought you’d be entitled to do the same thing to them to show that you didn’t like it.’If the attacks caused harm to anyone ‘you get more serious, and start thinking and talking about it as an act of war or at least state-sponsored violence,’ said Michael O’Hanlon, a defense analyst at the Brookings Institution.Though the recent computer attacks are considered by many cyber experts to be little more than a nuisance to public Web sites, the incident raised anew old criticism that the U.S. government’s policies on cyber warfare are shrouded in secrecy, ill-formed and require broad public debate.‘There’s a lot of thinking that needs to be done about how to respond to attacks like this and what the threshold is for responding to cyber attacks, with other means, whether they be economic sanctions or even military force,’ Lord said.The assault involved more than 100,000 ‘zombie’ computers, used by someone without their owners’ knowledge and linked together in a network known as a ‘botnet.’ Most of those computers were in South Korea, but others were in Japan, China, the U.S. and possibly other countries.‘If you shoot back at the computers that actually launched the attack, then you’re hitting third parties who probably don’t even know they were involved,’ Lewis said.‘And if you go out over the networks to strike back at Pyongyang, how can you be sure you’re not accidentally going to also take down Japan at the same time?’Said Lewis: ‘You could end up shooting the wrong guy.’"

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Petraeus: Tough fight ahead in Afghanistan

Petraeus: Tough fight ahead in Afghanistan: "SAN FRANCISCO — The head of U.S. Central Command in Afghanistan warned that months of fighting lie ahead in what will likely be the biggest military operation there since the American-led invasion of 2001.Gen. David Petraeus said the effort will center on 10 percent of districts where about 70 percent of Afghanistan's violence occurs.Petraeus was in San Francisco as part of a national speaking tour — he gave a talk in Seattle on Wednesday night. He was greeted warmly at the Marines' Memorial Club by a mostly male, pro-military crowd that included many veterans.During his hour-long speech, which included a PowerPoint presentation, Petraeus warned of a tough fight as Marines have recently gone deeper into Taliban areas of southern Afghanistan to 'reverse the cycle of violence' there.He described it as, 'the longest campaign.'Petraeus added that it will take a 'sustained and substantial commitment' to prevent the Taliban from making the area a hot spot for terrorists. He said it's especially important for troops to have a presence prior to presidential elections there next month.He said about 68,000 American troops will be in Afghanistan by this fall — more than double the number from last year. He also mentioned armored Stryker vehicles, which were successful in Iraq, will be in Afghanistan and likely deployed in the troubled Kandahar province.Petraeus, 56, is best known for coordinating the troop surge in Iraq that is credited with significantly reducing the country's violence. He said while Iraq has made significant progress, it's also in a significant period of transition and fragile situation.'The fabric of the society has perhaps had a stitch or two put back into it as the security has improved,' Petraeus said. 'But I don't want to overstate that at all.'During the talk, about 50 people demonstrated outside calling Petraeus a 'war criminal.' Police said no arrests were made."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Panetta Says CIA Officials Have Misled Congress Since 2001

Panetta Says CIA Officials Have Misled Congress Since 2001: "CIA Director Leon Panetta told lawmakers that CIA officials have misled Congress 'for a number of years' since 2001, according to a letter released from six Democratic lawmakers. The lawmakers say the CIA also withheld information about unspecified 'significant actions.'

"

(Via digg.com: Stories / Popular.)

Cyberattacks Hit U.S. and South Korean Web sites

Cyberattacks Hit U.S. and South Korean Web sites: "SEOUL, South Korea--Cyberattacks that have crippled the Web sites of several major American and South Korean government agencies since the July 4th holiday weekend appear to have been launched by a hostile group or government, South Korea's main government spy agency said on Wednesday.

"

(Via digg.com: Stories / Popular.)

Report: Bomb parts brought in federal buildings

Report: Bomb parts brought in federal buildings: "Plainclothes investigators sent to test security at federal buildings in four U.S. cities were successful in smuggling bomb components through guard posts at all 10 of the sites they visited, according to a government report. The investigators then assembled the bombs in restrooms and freely entered numerous government offices while carrying the inert devices in briefcases, the GAO report said.

"

(Via CNN.com - U.S..)

U.S. launches 'major' Afghanistan operation

U.S. launches 'major' Afghanistan operation: "U.S. troops have launched a 'major operation' against Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan, U.S. military officials announced in Afghanistan early Thursday.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Child found alive in ocean after jumbo jet crash

Child found alive in ocean after jumbo jet crash: "Rescuers searching the wreckage of a downed Yemeni jet found a young child alive in the Indian Ocean. 'It is a miracle; I am glad the toddler is safe,' Jon Cox, an aviation expert, told CNN. The child is the only survivor from the Yemenia Airways flight, which was carrying 153 people to Comoros from Yemen's capital, Sanaa.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Yemeni plane crashes with 150 aboard

Yemeni plane crashes with 150 aboard: "A Yemeni jetliner with 150 people aboard has crashed in the Indian Ocean off the island nation of Comoros, aviation officials in Yemen said Tuesday. The Airbus A310, from the national airline Yemenia, was en route to Comoros when it crashed about an hour before it was due to land, an airline official said. There was no word on the fate of those on board. Most of the passengers were Comoran, an official at Sanaa's airport told CNN.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

USMC: GAO V-22 Report Misses The Mark

USMC: GAO V-22 Report Misses The Mark: "'The Osprey's performance in Iraq proved to us that it is safer, faster and can range farther than any helicopter'"

(Via Aerospace Daily & Defense Report on AviationWeek.com.)

One giant leap for space tourists in New Mexico

At a groundbreaking ceremony Friday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson talked about the world's first facility for space tourists.

"New Mexicans have stepped up to the plate by making this investment," Richardson said. "This groundbreaking ceremony is an important step toward our goal of being at the forefront of a vibrant, new commercial space industry."

The almost $200 million project is funded by the state. Once completed, British business magnate Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic will begin taking tourists to space from the facility. Flights are expected to start in 2010.

Branson has said that he has a list of 45,000 people from 120 countries who have registered to take the space trips. It will cost $200,000 a ride, according to the Spaceport America Web site.

The spaceship will be connected to a specially designed carrier aircraft that will take it to about 50,000 feet, according to Virgin Galactic. The aircraft will release the spaceship, which will then use rockets to propel itself into space.

Virgin Galactic has envisioned one flight a week, with six tourists aboard.

The tourists will train for at least three days before going.

Bat planes at Kadena?

I found this on Google earth, at Kadena AFB Okinawa.

What do you suppose the building houses?

NASA sends orbiter to explore moon

NASA sends orbiter to explore moon: "Humans are a step closer to returning to the moon after NASA launched a lunar orbiter Thursday to provide a comprehensive survey of our nearest celestial neighbor. The Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter lifted off aboard an Atlas V Rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida, powered by two liquid-fueled engines and a pair of solid-fueled boosters. NASA described the liftoff as 'flawless.'

"

(Via CNN.com.)

U.S. ready if N. Korea launches missile

U.S. ready if N. Korea launches missile: "Defense Secretary Robert Gates said the United States could defend itself in the event of a North Korean missile launch toward Hawaii, and that U.S. officials were monitoring the situation carefully.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

U.S. spy aircraft patrol northern border

U.S. spy aircraft patrol northern border: "FORT DRUM, N.Y. — U.S. border officials are testing an unmanned surveillance aircraft on the U.S.-Canadian border along Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River to judge whether the drones can be used more widely along the northern border."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

Don't panic - its just a Spectre Gunship

Press Release - LOCALS MAY NOTICE DIFFERENCES IN TRAINING AS NEW CANNON AIRCRAFT ARRIVE

from 27th Special Operations Wing
Public Affairs Office

6/18/2009 - CANNON AIR FORCE BASE, N.M. -- People living in the communities surrounding Cannon may notice some differences in night-flying operations since two AC-130H Spectre gunships arrived permanently for duty May 19.

According to 16th Special Operations Squadron Commander Lt. Col. Sean Farrell, the nature of the gunship mission calls for much of the training to be conducted in urban areas.

"When we deploy, we will often be flying over cities and tracking targets within those cities under the cover of night," he said. "So when we train at Cannon, it is imperative that some of our operations be done over cities at night as well."

Local residents may notice the low rumbling of gunships flying in circles overhead as aircrew perform training, flying at an altitude in which the oxygen is sufficient because the aircraft is not pressurized.

"Much of what we'll be doing is adjusting our sensors as we practice acquiring targets," said Colonel Farrell. "That will require us to fly in circles around the target. The communities we're flying over will hear us, but we will do our best to fly at altitudes that will limit the amount of noise. We want to be good neighbors, too."

Current Cannon Airfield operating hours are 10 a.m. to 2 a.m. Monday through Thursday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Friday and Saturday. The AC-130H Spectre generally flies at night.

For more information about the AC-130H Spectre gunship and its mission, look at the fact sheet on www.cannon.af.mil or call the Cannon Public Affairs office at (575) 784-4131.

Plane Forced to Land After Pilot Dies

Plane Forced to Land After Pilot Dies

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Pilot Dies in Mid-Air - Plane Landed Sfely

Continental Airlines en route from Belgium landed safely in Newark, N.J., today after the pilot died midflight at the controls of a jet with 247 passengers onboard.


The Federal Aviation Administration says a plane carrying a pilot who died in mid-flight has landed safely at the airport in Newark, N.J.
(ABC News)
More Photos
The crew onbord the Boeing 777 included two trained pilots who took control of the plane and landed it at the airport just outside New York City. There were also federal air marshals onboard Continental Flight 61.

The 61-year-old pilot apparently died of natural causes, Continental said in a statement, and the passengers were not immediately told of his death, according to the airline.

"The crew on this flight included an additional relief pilot who took the place of the deceased pilot. The flight continued safely with two pilots at the controls," according to Continental's statement.

NASA ready to explode one of the coolest space missions ever

NASA ready to explode one of the coolest space missions ever: "In an unprecedented scientific endeavor — and what may be one of the coolest space missions ever — NASA is preparing to fly a rocket booster into the moon, triggering a six-mile-high explosion that scientists hope will confirm the presence of water.

"

(Via digg.com: Stories / Popular.)

Space shuttle launch now set for Wednesday

Space shuttle launch now set for Wednesday: "NASA has rescheduled the launch of space shuttle Endeavour for 5:40 a.m. ET Wednesday, pushing back the planned launch of a separate lunar mission.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Wild Thing? Not Quite

Wild Thing? Not Quite: "

No it's not another fuzzy image of the Beast of Kandahar. It's a Northrop Grumman concept for a ship-based fan-in-wing VTOL'unmanned cargo aircraft that for a time we all thought was called, however unlikely, the Wild Thing.


Concept: Northrop Grumman

The image was featured in a larger powerpoint slide from a briefing on unmanned systems given at Paris on Monday by Northrop's vp strike and surveillance systems Gene Fraser. The slide was intended to illustrate the company's broad capability to provide a range of unmanned systems operating in a networked environment (hence the yellow 'connectivity' lines).

When questioned about the unknown UAV on the chart, Fraser revealed Northrop has conducted windunnel tests of the beast, which is designed to lift podded payloads of up to 10,000lb from the flightdeck of any air-capable ship. That's about the same load carried by the U.S. Navy's Grumman C-2 Greyhound carrier onboard delivery aircraft - and that needs a full-size flattop to operate from.

And the name? Well a few hours later we were told by Northrop that it's not really the Wild Thing, it's the Mover. Which sounds more appropriate, but way less fun. {UPDATE - okay, sorry, it's MUVR...)

"

(Via Ares.)

What Is This?

What Is This?: "

What is this? I've tweaked the photo a bit to remove the identifier under the name Talisman. Don't scroll down until you've had a hard think. And it's not a prop for the next James Bond film, or at least, not until the producers have seen it!

OK, so it looks like an E-type Jaguar 'absolutely on purpose' according to Andy Tonge, the project manager for the object in question, but BAE Systems has not gone into the car manufacturing business. If I tell you that Tonge told me that 'design rule number 1 was that it mustn't look like a torpedo and design rule number 2 was that it must not be yellow or orange,' you may get the hint.

Well, here is the untweaked photo:

Now you know, Talisman M (for mine-hunter) is an autonomous underwater vehicle using technology from the racing-car industry. Talisman M has a brand new little sister: Talisman L (for littoral) the prototype of which came out of its mould last Wednesday just in time for the Undersea Defence Technology Conference which opened in Cannes, France's Mediterranean resort town, today. 'We started designing this in early March,' Tonge told me and it was ready just in time for the show. Here it is with a hand in the photo to give you an idea of the size:

This one is portable by two people and was designed to be deployed from a rubber boat and used in shallow waters (it needs a minimum of 1m of water). 'This is for use in that moving boundary between defense and security,' Tonge told me.

photo credits: Christina Mackenzie

"

(Via Ares.)

STS-127 Mission Will Be Long and Busy

STS-127 Mission Will Be Long and Busy: "Robotics, spacewalks to dominate 16-day station assembly mission"

(Via Aviation Week & Space Technology on AviationWeek.com.)

CIA seeks to keep interrogation records secret

CIA seeks to keep interrogation records secret: "CIA Director Leon Panetta on Monday asked a federal judge to keep records of U.S. interrogations of top al Qaeda captives secret, arguing their release could cause 'exceptionally grave' damage to national security.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Kim Jong Il's son 'not interested' in politics

Kim Jong Il's son 'not interested' in politics: "The eldest son of North Korean leader Kim Jong Il, in a rare television interview Tuesday, shed some light on who might eventually take over leadership of the country.

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Reporters get 12 years labor in N. Korea prison

Reporters get 12 years labor in N. Korea prison: "Two U.S. journalists detained in North Korea while covering defectors living along the China-North Korea border have been sentenced to 12 years in labor prisons, the country's state-run media said today. The court sentenced Laura Ling and Euna Lee for the 'grave crime they committed against the Korean nation.'

"

(Via CNN.com.)

Spy planes due in Afghanistan are late

Spy planes due in Afghanistan are late: "The Air Force’s delay in deploying MC-12W spy planes to Afghanistan could hamper a summer offensive planned against the Taliban, a spokesman for Defense Secretary Robert Gates said."

(Via Air Force Times - News.)

The Real Blue Thunder?

The Real Blue Thunder?: "

Remember Blue Thunder, the high-tech police helicopter from the eponymous movie and TV series of the early 80s? The one with the 'Whisper Mode' for silent flight? Well according to an eminent rotorcraft academic, aural stealth at the push of a button might just be possible. He calls it 'acoustic cloaking'.

Video: via Youtube

According to Dr Fredric Smith, professor of aerospace engineering at the Univeristy of Maryland giving the Nikolsky lecture at AHS Forum 65 in late May, there are two main kinds of rotor noise. Blade-vortex interaction (BVI) noise is the annoying one, caused by'each blade slicing through the tip vortex shed by the preceding blade. BVI noise is directed downwards and best mitigated by modifying the approach to put the vortices above or below the rotor.

The other main source is thickness noise, 'which is caused by the blade displacing the air and is directed in the plane of the rotor. This is the one that makes helicopters detectable at a distance, and the one you need to get rid of if you want a stealthy rotorcraft.

Prof Smith reported on recent tests that showed the shape of the acoustic pulse from thickness noise could be modified by controlling the drag force on the blade as it rotates. Using trailing-edge devices on the blade to control drag it's possible, at the point where the pulse is directed towards the observer, to generate an anti-noise pulse to cancel out the sound from the rotor. 'It's basically a beam,' he said. 'You can kill the noise in a certain direction.'

It's still early days in the research, nothing has been flown and the impact of drag control on rotor performance has not been established, he said. Also the technique is likely to send noise in other directions. But with helicopter manufacturers experimenting with active rotor control using on-blade flaps and slats, 'acoustic cloaking' could yet emerge as one of the key benefits.

"

(Via Ares.)

UAV-based Missile Interceptors Reconsidered

UAV-based Missile Interceptors Reconsidered: "

The pursuit of Boost Phase Intercept (BPI) from unmanned aircraft is back after an 18-year pause for development of new generations of long-endurance aircraft and very fast interceptor missiles.

The advances demonstrated by new, faster, higher-altitude, larger-payload' UAVs' is revitalizing the concept of BPI - the tactic of striking enemy ballistic missiles within the first minute or so after launch.

With Sec. Robert Gates revamping national security strategy by budgeting for more unmanned airborne weapon systems, advocates of the UAV/BPI combination are rallying support for another effort, perhaps built around versions of Northrop Grumman’s Global Hawk or larger versions of General Atomics Aeronautical Systems' Predator, such as the turboprop B-model or the all-jet C-variant capable of carrying up to a 3,000-lb. payload of 2-3 very fast missiles - perhaps a variant of Raytheon’s NCADE/AMRAAM design - and advanced sensors linked to a sophisticated command and control systems and able to loiter near areas where mobile ballistic missile launchers operate.

Credit: General Atomics

During boost phase, the ballistic missile’s rocket engine produces a plume of heat and light that makes a huge target for high-speed defensive interceptor missiles. Supporters say it is the only effective way to guard against a single, nuclear-tipped missile, particular those aimed by Iran and North Korea at Israel, South Korea, Japan and U.S. forces there. The concept was examined when it was discovered during the 1991 Gulf War that none of Iraq’s mobile Scud launchers were found and attacked in time to prevent a launch.

Concepts developed in the post-war period included the U.S. Raptor Talon and Israel’s IBIS HA-10 but programs stalled over the lack of small, fast interceptor missiles. However, in the past 18 years, UAVs have gotten larger and interceptors have gotten smaller and ballistic missiles have proliferated which makes the concept interesting again.

"

(Via Ares.)