Government/Military

Courtney Stadd, a former NASA official who left the agency, was indicted by a federal grand jury for allegedly using a temporary NASA post he held later to help steer space agency business to a client of his consulting firm, The Washington Post reported. That later post as a special government employee involved how $15...

A new Navy Air and Missile Defense Command will be stood up next month at the Naval Surface Warfare Center at Dahlgren, Va., Adm. Gary Roughead, chief of naval operations, said. The center will have a yearly budget of about $10 million, with some 75 military and civilian personnel. Roughead sees it as a center...

Incorrect information was supplied to Space & Missile Defense Report by Fleishman-Hilliard public relations concerning the title of Ed Anderson, information that was used in an article March 2, 2009. His correct title with Booz Allen Hamilton now is principal. Also, he formerly was deputy commander of the Northern Command and vice commander of the...

[Satellite Today 03-09-09] NASA needs to increase the effectiveness of its project management and adopt better practices that focus on closing gaps in knowledge about requirements, technologies, funding, time and other resources before it makes commitments to large-scale programs, according to a U.S. Government Accountability Office report released Mar. 6.     The report, titled "Projects...

Discovery Launch A Day Earlier Than Expected; NASA Likely Can Execute Its Five Planned Space Shuttle Missions This Year, On Schedule Satellites Colliding Raise Risk Of Catastrophic Damage To Space Shuttles, Officials Predict NASA leaders think they have solved the threat of cracked flow control valves breaking and damaging fuel systems on Space Shuttle Discovery,...

NASA is making progress in tackling problems with programs suffering cost overruns and schedule delays, but more work remains in fixing the mess, the Government Accountability Office (GAO) testified. The space agency programs have been seen as high-risk endeavors for almost two decades, and problems still plague programs, according to Christina Chaplain, GAO director of...

Russia is developing an anti-satellite capability, The International Herald Tribune reported, quoting a Russian official. Deputy Defense Minister Gen. Valentin Popovkin said Russia can’t remain idle while China and the United States develop and test ASAT capabilities, though he added that Russia continues its opposition to a space arms race. He referred to China using...

Mikulski Continues To Chair NASA Oversight Subcommittee Sen. Barbara A. Mikulski (D-Md.) will continue to chair the Senate Appropriations Committee commerce, justice, science and related agencies subcommittee for the next two years, full committee chairman Daniel K. Inouye (D-Hawaii) announced. Other Democrats serving on the panel include Inouye and Sens. Patrick Leahy, Herb Kohl, Byron...

NASA named six people to a mishap investigation board to probe causes of the Orbiting Carbon Observatory (OCO) disaster, in which the carbon-dioxide-tracking satellite was lost as it plunged into the Ocean near Antarctica. OCO was launched Feb. 24 from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif., atop a Taurus XL rocket provided by Orbital Sciences Corp....

The Air Force Research Laboratory gave Northrop Grumman Corp. [NOC] a contract to develop lightweight wireless systems inside spacecraft, in place of heavy copper wire systems. Northrop will develop a robust, radiation-hardened, wireless spacecraft bus under the 21-month first-phase contract. A spacecraft data bus serves as the electrical interface between the spacecraft’s equipment and payloads,...