1 février 2024 | International, Aérospatial, C4ISR
Korean Air begins producing reconnaissance drone for South’s military
Four underwing hardpoints are visible on the prototype, indicating the unarmed drone may evolve into a combat-capable UAV.
20 août 2019 | International, Aérospatial
NASA Seeks Lunar Gateway Resupply Proposals
Mark Carreau
NASA has issued a request for proposals (RFP) from U.S. companies capable of carrying out up to $7 billion in re-supply missions to its planned lunar-orbiting, human-tended Gateway.
The request asks for a service similar to how multiple commercial providers deliver pressurized and unpressurized cargo to and from the six-person International Space Station (ISS) under commercial resupply services contracts.
The major difference is that the ISS orbits in a high inclination orbit about 250 mi. from the Earth's surface. The Gateway is to orbit the Moon in a near rectilinear halo orbit, an elliptical track that comes as close to the lunar surface as 1,875 mi. (3,000 km) and as far as 43,750 mi.
Under the Gateway cargo RFP, the craft would remain parked at the Gateway for six months, followed by an automated departure and disposal.
Responses to the RFP, issued Aug. 16, are due Oct. 1.
Under the Artemis initiative unveiled by NASA earlier this year, astronauts will return to the lunar surface via the Gateway by 2024 as the agency pursues a sustainable presence by 2028 and prepares for the human exploration of Mars.
Under the RFP issued through NASA's Kennedy Space Center (KSC), the agency is prepared to commit up to $7 billion to contract with multiple U.S. suppliers for 15 years on a fixed-price basis. Each resupply service would be assured at least two missions.
NASA is asking RFP responders to address logistics, spacecraft design, cargo mass capability, pressurized volume, power availability for payloads and transit time to the Gateway.
“We chose to minimize spacecraft requirements on industry to allow for commercial innovation, but we are asking industry to propose their best solutions for delivering cargo and enabling our deep-space supply chain,” said Mark Wiese, NASA's Gateway logistics element manager at KSC, in an Aug. 19 NASA statement. “In addition to delivering cargo, science and other supplies with these services, private industry also has the opportunity to deliver other elements of our lunar architecture with this solicitation.''
Once the initial contracts are awarded, NASA may issue additional lunar cargo contract opportunities to keep the operations competitive. With advance permission from NASA, its providers also may use mission capabilities to deliver, remove and/or return non-NASA cargo if the additional activities do not interfere with the prime mission.
In late November, NASA announced the selection of nine U.S. companies under its Commercial Lunar Payload Services (CLPS) program, making them eligible to bid on the delivery of payloads to the lunar surface. The agency plans to invest up to $2.6 billion in CLPS over the next decade.
https://aviationweek.com/space/nasa-seeks-lunar-gateway-resupply-proposals
Sur le même sujet
-
-
16 décembre 2021 | International, Aérospatial, Naval
Pacific Deterrence Initiative: A look at funding in the new defense bill, and what must happen now
Congress established the PDI last year for two basic reasons: to better understand what the Pentagon was spending in the Indo-Pacific region, and to change the composition of that spending.
-
29 juin 2018 | International, C4ISR
A Senate panel wants to spend an extra $400 million on microelectronics
By: Daniel Cebul When the Senate Appropriations subcommittee on defense released a summary of their spending priorities June 26, the bill included a significant increase for one emerging technology. The panel recommended setting aside an additional $447 million for microelectronics. Specifically, the committee wanted to ensure the Department of Defense has access to trusted microelectronics and can develop manufacturing processes for next-generation microprocessor chips. To do so, the bill raised the fiscal year 2019 research, development, testing and evaluation budget for microelectronic technology from $169 million in the president's fiscal year 2019 budget request to $616 million. Already, concern about the domestic production of microelectronics is expected to be part of a large defense industrial base review now underway. But what exactly are microelectronics, and why is their development worth so much to DoD? Microelectronic chips are essentially integrated electric circuits that regulate energy consumption, and perform complex computations that enable capabilities like global positioning systems, radar and command and control. Imagine all of the components that go into your computer ― memory, graphics processors, wifi modules, etc ― all on a single silicon chip, called a wafer. eading-edge wafers typically are 300 mm in diameter and loaded with transistors, resistors, insulators and conductors that control the flow of electrons (read electrical energy) across the chip. The smaller and smaller these components are, specifically transistors, the more can be fit on a chip, enabling faster and more efficient processing. Transistors themselves are measured in nanometers (nm), and are unfathomably small to most non-scientists and engineers. One nanometer equates to a billionth of meter! To put that into perspective, the average diameter of a human hair is 75,000 nm. The most cutting-edge transistors used in microelectronics measure between 10 and 7 nm, and are expected to get smaller in coming years. Smaller and smaller transistors will contribute to breakthroughs in “machine learning, data sorting for recognition of events, and countering electromagnetic threats,” according to a Defense Advance Research Project Agency backgrounder. Because Pentagon leaders believe this technology is vital for current and future capabilities, technology officials say it is important DoD can trust microelectronics are reliable and secure from adversary attacks and sabotage. For this reason, DARPA launched the five-year, up to $200 million Electronics Resurgence Initiative in September 2017 “to nurture research in advanced new materials, circuit design tools, and system architectures.” A key thrust of this initiative is partnership with top universities through the Joint University Microelectronics Program, or JUMP. The program enlists top researchers to work on proejcts like cognitive computing, secure cellular infrastructure to support autonomous vehicles and intelligent highways and other technologies enabled by microelectronics. Under the Senate defense subcommittee's markup, ERI received an additional $30 million to help “reestablish U.S. primacy in assured microelectronics technology.” https://www.c4isrnet.com/it-networks/2018/06/28/a-senate-panel-wants-to-spend-an-extra-400-million-on-microelectronics/