SpaceX sues US Air Force over allocation of contracts

SpaceX on Friday filed suit against the US Air Force for awarding billions of dollars to a single company for national security launches, and said the contracts might even violate sanctions against Russia.

The US military spends billions yearly with United Launch Alliance (ULA), a joint operation of aerospace giants Boeing and Lockheed Martin, to launch government satellites.

The Atlas V and Delta IV rockets are powered by Russian engines, which has raised concern among some lawmakers that such reliance is dangerous in a time of escalating tensions over Ukraine.

"This is not right," SpaceX CEO Elon Musk told reporters, describing the policy of "uncompeted procurement" by the Air Force's Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program.

"SpaceX has decided to file suit and protest the Air Force EELV block buy," Musk said.

Musk claims his aerospace company SpaceX was unfairly shut out of a contract for rocket launches he says he can do for less money.

The process "essentially blocks companies like SpaceX from competing for national security launches," said Musk at a press conference in the US capital.

The suit was filed in the US Court of Federal Claims, he added. Musk said ULA rockets cost four times the amount of SpaceX's. "To add insult to the wound, the primary engine is made in Russia," said Musk.

"The person who heads Russian space activities is (deputy prime minister) Dmitry Rogozin, who is on the sanctions list. So it seems pretty strange, like, you know, how is it that we are sending hundreds of millions of US taxpayer money at a time when Russia is in the process of invading Ukraine?" Musk asked.

"It would be hard to imagine some way in which Dmitry Rogozin is not benefiting personally from the dollars that are being sent there," he added.

"On the surface of it is seems there is a good probability of some sanctions violation."

"This is not SpaceX protesting and saying these launches should be awarded to us. We are just protesting and saying these launches should be competed," Musk said.

Musk alleged the United Launch Alliance contract is costing taxpayers "billions of dollars, for no reason" because SpaceX could provide launch rockets more inexpensively.

SpaceX has a $1.6 billion contract to launch a dozen unmanned cargo ships to the International Space Station, delivering equipment and supplies.

US Air Force's X37B in orbit for more than 469 days

One of the US Air Force's most mysterious projects - an unmanned space-faring plane - has broken its own longevity record by staying in orbit for more than 469 days.

There aren't many details floating around in public regarding the X-37B - a classified project that's seen three launches into space thus far - but a new report by the IDG News Service suggests the plane is being used to test out the Air Force's new space capabilities while also boosting the intelligence community's surveillance capacity.

Launched back in December 2012, the Boeing-designed X-37B has been floating above the Earth ever since.

The plane is only 8.8m long and looks like a smaller cousin to NASA's past space shuttle models, It has been designed with quick turn-around times in mind, so that it can easily be re-launched after landing.

Although few people know exactly what the vehicle is intended for, astrophysicist Jonathan McDowell told IDG it seems clear one of the big features is the plane's ability to stay in space for extended periods of time.

The US Air Force has two of the Boeing-built robotic vehicles. One of them was launched into space on top of an Atlas 5 rocket on December 11, 2012. It's been up there ever since - but exactly where or why is unknown.

The space plane is able to sustain itself on such a long flight through the solar cells built into its wings which charge internal banks of lithium-ion batteries.

It's only the second time such a craft has been sent into space.

What the reusable space plane carries in its 2.1m by 1.2m cargo bay is classified. So is its mission. So is its course.

This is because it falls under the command of the US Air Force Rapid Capabilities Office - an organisation which, among other things, tests experimental equipment on real operational deployments.

"The Air Force now has a policy of acquiring capabilities rather than missions, so some general somewhere probably thinks it would be spiffy to have a space plane that can launch at short notice," he said.

"It's worthwhile learning lessons from the shuttle and how to do turn-arounds cheaper."

The fact that the project is clouded in secrecy hasn't stopped people from speculating on its goals, however.

Before the X-37B's first launch, officials told the Christian Science Monitor that it would conduct various experiments" involving the transport of "satellite sensors, subsystems, components, and associated technology" into space and back to Earth.

"I believe it's testing some kind of experimental sensor for the National Reconnaissance Office; for example, a hyperspectral imager, or some new kind of signals intelligence package,"McDowell said to IDG.

"The sensor was more successful than expected, so the payload customer asked the X-37 folks to keep the spacecraft in orbit longer."

Pilotless F-16 jet tested as Drone by Boeing and US Air Force

The pilotless jet flew over the Gulf of Mexico on the test carried out on 19 September

Boeing has revealed that it has retrofitted retired fighter jets to turn them into drones. (Watch the video)

It said that one of the Lockheed Martin F-16 made a first flight with an empty cockpit last week.

Two US Air Force pilots controlled the plane from the ground as it flew from a Florida base to the Gulf of Mexico.

Boeing suggested that the innovation could ultimately be used to help train pilots, providing an adversary they could practise firing on.


The jet - which had previously sat mothballed at an Arizona site for 15 years - flew at an altitude of 40,000ft (12.2km) and a speed of Mach 1.47 (1,119mph/1,800km/h).

It carried out a series of manoeuvres including a barrel roll and a "split S" - a move in which the aircraft turns upside down before making a half loop so that it flies the right-way-up in the opposite direction. This can be used in combat to evade missile lock-ons.

Boeing said the unmanned F16 was followed by two chase planes to ensure it stayed in sight, and also contained equipment that would have allowed it to self-destruct if necessary.

The firm added that the flight attained 7Gs of acceleration but was capable of carrying out manoeuvres at 9Gs - something that might cause physical problems for a pilot.

"It flew great, everything worked great, [it] made a beautiful landing - probably one of the best landings I've ever seen," said Paul Cejas, the project's chief engineer.

Lt Col Ryan Inman, Commander of the US Air Force's 82nd Aerial Targets Squadron, also had praise for how the test had gone.

Boeing said that this was the first time an F-16 jet had been flown without a pilot

"It was a little different to see it without anyone in it, but it was a great flight all the way around," he said.

Boeing said that it had a total of six modified F-16s, which have been renamed QF-16s, and that the US military now planned to use some of them in live fire tests.

However, a spokesman for the Campaign to Stop Killer Robots warned of the temptation to use them in warfare.

"I'm very concerned these could be used to target people on the ground," said Prof Noel Sharkey.

"I'm particularly worried about the high speed at which they can travel because they might not be able to distinguish their targets very clearly.

"There is every reason to believe that these so-called 'targets' could become a test bed for drone warfare, moving us closer and closer to automated killing."

US Air Force's Experimental Waverider Scramjet hits Mach 5.1 (3,880 mph)

The final flight of the X-51A Waverider test program saw the Scramjet aircraft reach Mach 5.1 over the Pacific Ocean, the U.S. Air Force said Friday.

The unmanned hypersonic researcher craft traveled more than 230 nautical miles in just over 6 minutes Wednesday over the Point Mugu Naval Air Warfare Center Sea Range off California before crashing into the ocean as intended, an Air Force release said.

The X-51A took off from Edwards Air Force Base in California under the wing of a B-52H Stratofortress before being released at about 50,000 feet.

A solid rocket booster took the X-51A to about Mach 4.8 at which point the craft's scramjet engine ignited and accelerated it to Mach 5.1 - about 3,880 miles per hour - at 60,000 feet.

Scramjet stands for supersonic combustion ram jet, which has no moving parts; fuel is mixed with air rushing into the combustion chamber at supersonic speeds and then ignited.

"It was a full mission success," Charlie Brink, X-51A program manager for the Air Force Research Laboratory
, said in a statement.

"I believe all we have learned from the X-51A Waverider will serve as the bedrock for future hypersonics research and ultimately the practical application of hypersonic flight."

Space Launch Workers Badly Burned in Electrical Explosion at Vandenberg Air Force Base

Two workers for a company that launches spacecraft for the U.S. government were seriously injured in an electrical explosion at Vandenberg Air Force Base on the California coast.

The United Launch Alliance said in a statement that the two employees were transferred Monday to a Los Angeles hospital that specializes in treating burn victims.

Reports confirm that the two were working at Space Launch Complex 6, where a Delta IV rocket is being prepared for an August launch, when an “arc flash” occurred.

Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center (Los Angeles) 
The Los Angeles County-USC Medical Center, also known as the LAC+USC Burn Center, is one of three burn centers located in the Los Angeles area.

This center is a teaching hospital that also houses a number of other injury-specific centers, such as pediatric and coronary care.

US Air force Hypersonic flight Crashes and Burns!

US Air Force test of its hypersonic X-51A Waverider vehicle, an unmanned aircraft designed to fly six times the speed of sound, ended in catastrophe.

The hypersonic test vehicle lost control and was destroyed before reaching it's 4,600 mph goal.

Controllers identified a fault in one of the X-51A Waverider's control fins shortly after its rocket booster had fired, the service said in a written statement. 

About 16 seconds into the flight, the aircraft "was not able to maintain control due to the faulty control fin and was lost," the service said.

The Air Force had hoped the craft would be able to reach speeds of up to 4,600 mph. The service said it will release details of the failed test in a few weeks, after researchers are able to analyze the data.

The US Air Force hasn’t disclosed the cost of the WaveRider program, but Globalsecurity.org, a website that tracks military spending, says the project has cost $250-300 million since it began in 2004.  

After this loss during testing, only one aircraft remains, and Air Force officials have not decided when or if it will fly.

Background
At just 25 feet long and only a few inches in diameter, the Waverider is a far cry from an aircraft that can carry people anywhere. But the technology one day could send people or troops across the world in just minutes.



Hypersonic travel, meaning speeds of Mach 5 (3,800 miles per hour) and above, has been a focus of the military as it looks to perfect a technology that can become the new stealth. The Pentagon says that countries are becoming wiser to US stealth technology and it is increasingly becoming a less effective tool.

Hypersonic flight does away with stealth because its speeds allow for greater flexibility and control for missions that are not possible with current jet technology.

But in the commercial world, it can mean flights are so quick a flight attendant hardly would have time to serve drinks and a meal, and there would be no more groggy feeling after those transcontinental flights.

The technology is significant because a hypersonic aircraft breaths oxygen, like a regular jet engine, but reaches speeds five times that of commercial aircraft. To get similar results, the only other option is rocket power.

"You would have to have bulky fuel tanks, nozzles and plumbing and that makes rocket power more heavy and more expensive," says Dora Musielak, an adjunct professor of physics at the University of Texas at Arlington.

Pentagon considers NASA's nuclear-powered drones

NASA long duration Global Hawk. Furture UAVs could be powered by nuclear batteries staying airborne for months at a time.

NASA scientists are working on new-generation nuclear-powered unmanned aircraft capable of staying in the air for up to several months.

While being able to tackle a wider range of more complicated tasks compared to their existing analogues, the new drones will not require a costly air base network for refueling and technical maintenance.

What's more, on February 14 President Barack Obama signed the Federal Aviation Administration Reauthorization Act that allows the use drones in U.S. airspace by both state-owned and private companies.

The CIA has often resorted to drones in its war on global terrorism. In the past decade, U.S. drones flew various missions in Afghanistan, Pakistan and other "hot spots".

Unlike manned warplanes, they offer considerable advantages and help avoid a diplomatic scandal that normally erupts whenever pilots are taken prisoner.

In October 2009, the CIA reported that more than a half of 20 most dangerous Al Qaeda leaders were eliminated with the help of drones.

Despite being an effective anti-terror tool, drones have become a nightmare for local residents. Civilian deaths inflicted by drone strikes have repeatedly strained relations between America and Pakistan, one of its key allies in the crackdown on terrorism.

According to a report published by the Washington-based Brookings Institution in 2009, ten times as many civilians as suspected terrorists died in U.S. drone attacks.

Pakistan's patience expired in November 2011 after a drone strike erroneously targeted Pakistani troops, prompting Islamabad to shut NATO supply routes to Afghanistan.

The above Reauthorization Act approved by the Senate and signed into law by President Obama shows that no lessons have been learnt from that incident.

While providing virtually unlimited opportunities for the use of drones in search and rescue effort as well as in battling wildfires, the document gives the "green light" for drone-based domestic spying.

A tandem of the Sandia National Laboratories and Northrop Grumman company is said to be the closest ever to creating nuclear-powered highly-maneuverable missile-carrying drones that can fly for months on end without refueling.

Analysts are warning that the improved drone technology has some major drawbacks to consider.

Drones are not easy to control and the intended proliferation of drones in the skies over the US and other countries may affect the safety of passenger planes and other manned aircraft.

Human rights activists are also ringing alarm over civil liberties violations arising from drone spying.

George Dyson (Science Historian): Project Orion - A nuclear-powered rocket to Saturn - YouTube

George Dyson tells the amazing story of Project Orion, a massive, nuclear-powered spacecraft that could have taken us to Saturn in five years.

With a priceless insider's perspective and a cache of documents, photos and film, Dyson brings this dusty Atomic Age dream to vivid life.

US Air Force Reusable Rockets: Giant Leap From Spaceport America

Lockheed Martin’s Reusable Booster System Flight Demonstrator Program is under way, designed to advance the affordability, operability and responsiveness of future spacelift capabilities over current expendable launchers. 

This image shows how the vehicle would land.

CREDIT: Lockheed Martin

Billed as the nation’s first dedicated commercial spaceport, New Mexico's Spaceport America is becoming a desirable location to experiment with new types of reusable booster systems.

Armadillo Aerospace, of Heath, Texas, used the site on Dec. 4 to test their STIG A reusable suborbital rocket technology. The rocket shot to a projected suborbital altitude of 137,500 feet (about 42 kilometers) above the Earth.

The STIG A flight demonstrated a number of technologies that Armadillo is assessing for a human-passenger suborbital program, said Neil Milburn, vice president of program management at Armadillo Aerospace.

Armadillo's test program is geared toward providing a way for civilians to access suborbital space through a partnership with Space Adventures Ltd., a space tourism firm based in Vienna, Va.

Soyuz landing experience: U.S. vs. Russian

Expedition 28 Commander Andrey Borisenko and Flight Engineers Alexander Samokutyaev and Ron Garan landed their Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft in Kazakhstan a few seconds before midnight EDT Friday, with an offical landing time of 11:59:39 p.m. Thursday.

Russian recovery teams were on hand to help the crew exit the Soyuz vehicle and adjust to gravity after 164 days in space.

Ron Garan also known as @Astro_Ron

Russian flight controllers reported the official landing time The trio launched aboard the Soyuz TMA-21 spacecraft from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan in April and spent 162 days living and working aboard the International Space Station.

Samokutyaev was at the controls of the spacecraft as it undocked at 8:38 p.m. Thursday from the Poisk docking port on the station's Zvezda service module.

Garan, Andrey Borisenko & Alexander Samokutyaev

The undocking marked the end of Expedition 28 and the start of Expedition 29 under the command of NASA astronaut Mike Fossum, who is scheduled to remain on the station with Flight Engineers Sergei Volkov and Satoshi Furukawa until November.

Borisenko ceremonially handed command of the station over to Fossum on Wednesday. Fossum, Volkov and Furukawa arrived at the station aboard the Soyuz TMA-02M spacecraft in June.

NASA and its international partners have agreed to a tentative launch schedule with crew flights to the International Space Station resuming on Nov. 14.

The Space Station Control Board, with representation from all partner agencies, set the schedule after hearing the Russian Federal Space Agency’s findings on the Aug. 24 loss of the Progress 44 cargo craft.

The dates may be adjusted to reflect minor changes in vehicle processing timelines.

US military loses contact with HTV, hypersonic aircraft

US military scientists on Thursday launched a hypersonic aircraft but lost contact with the experimental plane in its second test flight, officials said.

The unmanned Falcon Hypersonic Technology Vehicle (HTV-2), designed as a global bomber prototype capable of a mind-boggling 20 times the speed of sound, launched successfully from California aboard a Minotaur IV rocket, according to the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency.

But after the plane separated from the rocket in the upper reaches of the atmosphere for its "glide" phase, contact was lost, DARPA said.

"Range assets have lost telemetry with HTV2," DARPA wrote in a Twitter post after the launch.

The agency provided no other details about the flight or how long it had been separated from the rocket.

Last year, scientists lost contact with the HTV-2 after nine minutes in its inaugural flight.

The hypersonic plane, which is supposed to travel at Mach 20, or 13,000 miles (21,000 kilometers) per hour, could potentially provide the US military with a platform for striking targets anywhere on the planet within minutes using conventional weapons.

Such a weapon, still in development, is part of what the US Air Force has dubbed "prompt global strike" capability.

"The ultimate goal is a capability that can reach anywhere in the world in less than an hour," DARPA said on its website.

In theory, the Falcon could travel between New York City and Los Angeles in less than 12 minutes.

Unlike a ballistic missile, a hypersonic vehicle could maneuver and avoid flying along a predictable path. Moreover, analysts say it would not be mistaken for a nuclear missile, avoiding the possibility of triggering a nuclear confrontation.

But Loren Thompson, an analyst at Lexington Institute with links to the defense industry, said there was still much work to be done before the hypersonic bomber becomes a reality.

"The military has a long way to go before hypersonic vehicles are ready for deployment," Thompson told AFP.

After separating from the rocket Thursday, the Falcon undertook some maneuvers before contact was lost, DARPA said.

The test flight plan called for the Falcon to eventually roll and dive into the Pacific Ocean.

NASA - ACAT F-16D Flight Test

In this image from November 2010, the U.S. Air Force's ACAT F-16D flew through Sierra Nevada canyons and past peaks during ground collision avoidance test flights.

The ACAT, which stands for Automatic Collision Avoidance Technology, aircraft took off from Edwards Air Force Base on a flight originating from NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center.

Researchers at Dryden are working with the Air Force Research Laboratory in the ACAT Fighter Risk Reduction Project to develop collision avoidance technologies for fighter/attack aircraft that would reduce the risk of ground and mid-air collisions.

Image Credit: NASA/Carla Thomas

Space Debris: US Air Force Holds Satellite Collision Avoidance Data

The U.S. Air Force remains undecided about how much data it will make available on the whereabouts of satellites and orbital debris beyond what it publicises now, as it weighs orbital traffic safety concerns against the national security penchant for secrecy.

Two years ago an active Iridium Communications satellite and a retired Russian Cosmos spacecraft slammed into each other, spewing thousands of pieces of debris across popular orbital routes. This was the worst-ever collision of man-made objects in orbit.

Even now, the US Air Force is still grappling with how much of the data, which it harvests from ground-based radars, should be made public, Richard W. McKinney said.

Commercial satellite operators and others interested in the growing problem of space debris have long requested the U.S. military to loosen its grip on what it harvests from its sensors, which feed into a catalogue of orbital objects.

A select portion of that catalogue, called Two-Line Elements (TLEs), is made public to give basic information on a satellite’s whereabouts.

Following the Iridium-Cosmos collision, the Air Force agreed to review whether it should be making public a larger share of the data it collects. McKinney said that process continues.

“We’re looking at that, and we’re looking at M2M relationships,” McKinney said at the MilSpace 2011 conference organised by SMi Group of London, referring to automated, machine-to-machine communications that would manage data dissemination. “A policy on how we would share data, and whether we go beyond TLEs, is part of the review.

“There are some real security issues involved, but having said that, I can say we don’t want to see another collision in space, because that would create yet more debris and that would make further collisions even more frequent.”

The U.S. Space Surveillance Network is about to undertake a major upgrade of the Space Fence, a group of Very High Frequency radars deployed across the United States in a line at about 33 degrees north latitude.

The upgrade, for which two design contracts worth $107 million, have been awarded to competing teams led by Raytheon Integrated Defense Systems and Lockheed Martin Mission Systems and Sensors.

These will feature higher-frequency, S-band radars able to detect smaller pieces of orbital junk in low and medium Earth orbit. The Air Force has estimated that the new Space Fence, which could be operational by late 2015, will cost $3.5 billion.

US military launches top-secret robotic spacecraft

US military launches top-secret robotic spacecraft

A US Air Force unmanned spacecraft blasted off on Thursday from Florida, amid a veil of secrecy about its military mission.

The robotic space plane, or X-37B, lifted off from Cape Canaveral atop an Atlas V rocket at 7:52 pm local time (2352 GMT), according video released by the military.

"The launch is a go," Air Force Major Angie Blair told AFP.

Resembling a miniature space shuttle, the plane is 8.9 meters (29 feet) long and has a wing-span of 4.5 meters.

The reusable space vehicle has been years in the making and the military has offered only vague explanations as to its purpose or role in the American military's arsenal.

The vehicle is designed to "provide an 'on-orbit laboratory' test environment to prove new technology and components before those technologies are committed to operational satellite programs," the Air Force said in a recent release.