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NASA's ICON launch to the ionosphere delayed (update)
Need something else to watch after all the results come in? Tonight NASA's launching a mission to explore Earth's ionosphere, but this isn't the average rocket launch. The Ionospheric Connection Explorer (ICON) will take off on a Northrop Grumman Pegasus XL rocket -- in use since the 90s, and scheduled for use with the giant Stratolaunch once that's ready to fly -- that's being dropped from a specially designed plane at about 40,000 feet over the open ocean. Dubbed Stargazer L-1011, the carrier aircraft will take off from Cape Canaveral ahead of a 90-minute launch window that opens at 3 AM ET. As Space.com notes, the launch has been delayed over concerns about the rocket, but all the testing is complete and now it's ready to fly.
NASA delays James Webb Space Telescope launch until 2021
Today, NASA's independent review board announced that it has unanimously recommended that development on the James Webb Space Telescope should move forward. As a result, NASA has a new official launch date for the space observatory: March 30, 2021.
NASA’s Hubble successor may miss its launch window
The James Webb Space Telescope, NASA's successor to Hubble, has undergone its share of delays. Now, things are getting even tighter. A report from the US Government Accountability Office finds that because of ongoing technical issues with the telescope, "additional launch delays are likely." What's more, the project is "at risk of breaching its $8 billion cost cap for formulation and development set by Congress in 2011."
SpaceX says its rocket didn’t malfunction during the Zuma launch
Sunday night, SpaceX launched a Falcon 9 rocket carrying the mysterious Zuma payload -- a satellite made by Northrop Grumman for an unnamed US government agency. The launch itself was more secretive than usual as the classified status of Zuma meant portions of the launch weren't livestreamed like they typically are. Shortly after launch, the rocket's first stage successfully landed at Cape Canaveral but it appears that Zuma's fate wasn't as rosy. It's unclear what exactly happened to the satellite, but it appears that at the very least, it didn't end up where it was supposed to. Some pointed their fingers at SpaceX, but on Monday the company said, "We do not comment on missions of this nature; but as of right now reviews of the data indicate Falcon 9 performed nominally," meaning the rocket performed as expected. Now, SpaceX has doubled down on that statement saying whatever happened is definitely not on them.
SpaceX's mysterious Zuma mission won't launch tonight
We still don't know what Northrop Grumman commissioned SpaceX to launch for the US government, but whatever it is won't get there tonight. In a move that leaves Elon Musk's calendar open for the Tesla electric semi-truck reveal (still scheduled for 11 PM ET), SpaceX said it's standing down on the Zuma mission "to take a closer look at data from recent fairing testing for another customer." The launch, which is scheduled to include a landing attempt by the Falcon 9's first stage, could go off tomorrow night, but no new launch date has been confirmed.
SpaceX is launching a secret mission called 'Zuma'
On November 16th, between 8PM and 10PM Eastern, SpaceX is sending a secret payload called "Zuma" beyond our atmosphere. The aerospace corporation test-fired a Falcon 9 rocket on November 11th with the intention of launching the mission on the 15th. While the latest target date was moved by a day, and it could be delayed again, Zuma needs to launch by November 30th. Why it absolutely needs to be in position by the end of this month isn't clear, though -- not when we know next to nothing about the mission.
US Navy's MQ-4C Triton drone prepares for deployment in 2018
The last time we mentioned the Navy's long-range MQ-4C Triton drone was in 2013, and the project is still creeping towards eventual deployment. Northrop Grumman announced this week that it has completed formal lab testing, and also successfully flew for the first time with a software upgrade adding "Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), multi-aircraft control and additional Multi-Function Active Sensor (MFAS) radar modes."
Eight top-secret aircraft that definitely aren't UFOs
Since its establishment in 1955, the Groom Lake airfield at Edwards Air Force Base—better known as Area 51—has hosted the development of some of the most exotic and advanced aircraft the world has ever seen. These so-called black projects, named for their ultra-classified nature, have produced planes like the SR-71 Blackbird, which is still the fastest and highest-operating aircraft ever built (that we know about); the F-117 Nighthawk, the world's first stealth attack aircraft; and the RQ-170, a mysterious and seldom-seen aerial reconnaissance UAV.
DARPA wants a military drone that can land on small ships
For the longest time, the US Navy has conducted surveillance and reconnaissance missions by launching planes from large aircraft carriers. Those vessels are expensive though, so the Office of Naval Research and DARPA are working on a long-endurance drone that can launch from small ships instead. Project TERN (Tactically Exploited Reconnaissance Node) has now entered phase three, meaning the initial designs are complete and the team is ready to build its first prototype. It's being developed for $93 million by Northrop Grumman, a defense contractor with plenty of experience building nightmare-inducing military assets.
Northrop Grumman lands USAF deal for new long-range strike bomber
Defense Secretary Ash Carter and Air Force Secretary Deborah Lee James announced on Tuesday that the DoD has awarded Northrop Grumman the lead contract for the US military's upcoming Long-Range Strike Bomber (LRSB). The contract is valued $60 billion, making it the single largest airframe contract since Lockheed won the deal for the $400 billion F-35 Joint Strike Fighter over a decade ago. At that price, the 21 airframes on order are expected to cost roughly $564 million apiece (in FY2016 dollars).
US Navy's Triton UAV completes initial flight testing
One of Northrop Grumman's new war/spy gadgets, the Triton unmanned aerial vehicle, just got closer to joining the US Navy's reconnaissance fleet. After almost two years since the defense tech company announced the aircraft, the Triton has finally completed its initial test flight program and has now been cleared to fly at various altitudes, speeds and weights. The tests, which kicked off in May 2013, spanned 13 flights (including long-endurance ones) with a total of 81 hours flown at altitudes up to 59,950 feet. To put that in perspective, commercial airplanes usually fly at around 35,000 feet in the air. While the company and the Navy successfully got through this phase, they still have to tackle more tests before the Triton goes into service sometime in 2017. They're currently preparing to equip two Tritons with sensor systems designed to take high-res images, detect targets with radar and provide a means of communication between military units over long distances. These UAVs will take to the air this June or July to determine whether the sensors work as intended. In the future, the Navy plans to build 68 Tritons specifically to work with manned P-8 Poseidon patrol planes. If the latter sounds familiar, it's because a deployed P-8 unit is currently involved in the search for the missing Malaysian Airlines flight MH370. When the Triton's ready for primetime, it could considerably extend the P-8's search range, making it better equipped to handle similar missions.
Navy launches first drone squadron, comprised of ten Fire Scout MQ-8Bs
The US Navy has officially introduced unmanned aircraft along with eight newly manned helicopters into its squadron, making it the latest military branch after the Army and the Air Force to embrace the drone. Indeed, ten of the 18 aircraft to be deployed are Fire Scout MQ-8Bs, an unmanned chopper the Navy wishes to operate from combat ships set in the Pacific in about a year. Built to track targets, the Fire Scout lets troops see what's happening over potentially dangerous areas, allowing them to regroup and rearm if necessary. The drone isn't without its fair share of detractors of course, especially after the occasional communication failure, but here's hoping that these Linux-operated copters will remain well within human control.
Northrop Grumman Unveils US Navy's MQ-4C BAMS Triton unmanned aircraft
If Broad Area Maritime Surveillance, or war gadgets are your bag, then things just got real. Northrop Grumman has just unveiled the MQ-4C BAMS Triton, the latest addition to the US Navy's Maritime Patrol and Reconnaissance Force. The spy plane was more than four years in development, has a wingspan of 130.9 feet, and is able to cover more than 2.7 million square miles in a single mission. As you will have been unable to avoid noticing, the unmanned aircraft definitely inherited some of the RQ-4 Global Hawk's dome-like DNA, and will edge towards active service after completing functional requirement reviews and system development and demonstration flights. Want to bone-up on the full spec? Hit the more coverage link for the numbers. In the meantime, we're wondering if they might extend the research.
Army spy blimp to launch within weeks: 300 feet long, $500 million, 'multi-intelligent'
It can't go faster than 34MPH and it's already a year late for its planned deployment in Afghanistan, but Northrop Grumman's Long Endurance Multi-Intelligence Vehicle (LEMV) is now set for its maiden flight. The test run is scheduled for sometime between June 6th and 10th over Lakehurst, New Jersey, whose residents ought to be forewarned that it is not a solar eclipse or a Death Star, but simply a helium-filled pilotless reconnaissance and communications airship that happens to be the size of a football field. After floating around for a while, the giant dirigible is expected to journey south to Florida, where it'll be fitted to a custom-built gondola that will carry the bulk of its equipment, and by which time her enemies hopefully won't have come into possession of an air force.
US satellites successfully track ballistic missile from cradle to grave, don't pay for the flowers
Lasers destroy missiles, missiles shoot down satellites, and soon, satellites may tell both where to aim, as the United States successfully managed to track an entire ballistic missile launch from "birth-to-death" with its prototype Space Tracking and Surveillance System. After a year and a half in orbit, two Northrop Grumman-built satellites managed the feat last week, in what the company's calling "the Holy Grail for missile defense." While we're not reading about any plans to mount any lasers on the satellite's... ahem... heads, Space News reports that the US Navy will attempt to relay the satellite tracking data to its Aegis ships with interceptor missiles on board, and hopefully obliterate incoming projectiles with the extra range and reaction time that satellite coordinates afford. The Navy has reportedly scheduled its first game of space-based Missile Command for next month.
Northrop Grumman's 100 kilowatt laser fired for six hours (update: ten minutes straight)
100 kilowatts of piercing light isn't something to sneeze at, even fired for just a few seconds, but Northrup Grumman's long-awaited weapons-grade laser recently ran for a full six hours. That milestone is the feather in the company's cap as it prepares to ship the hulking machine to the White Sands Missile Range in New Mexico, where it will presumably begin doing what it does best -- turning things into crispier, more exploded versions of themselves in no time flat. PR after the break. Update: Though we originally read this to mean that the potent ray fired for six hours straight, Northrup Grumman has since informed us that's not quite the case. "The correct info is that the 100kw solid-state laser has operated for a total of 60 minutes over a period of months as we continued refining it and preparing it for relocation to White Sands Missile Range," said a company rep, who promised to explain the nuances of military-grade lasing on Monday. We'll let you know what we hear. Update 2: Okay, we recently finished speaking to Northrup Grumman, and here's the final word: the longest period the laser ever ran without stopping was ten minutes straight. Six hours is the total amount of time the laser has operated at 100 kilowatts, period, since the first time the firm turned it on in March of last year, and "60 minutes" is the made-up amount of time that inadvertently skipped into Northrup Grumman's email to us when it was originally trying to correct our mistake.
Northrop Grumman's CaMEL 'bot features one .50 caliber gun, loads of class
When the dream factory that is Northrop Grumman needed to up the "wow factor" at its Association of the U.S. Army's Washington conference booth, it did what plenty of CES exhibitors wished they could do: it weaponized. Hence, the deadliest CaMEL yet. The acronym stands for Carry-all Mechanized Equipment Landrover -- think of the BigDog robot, but with treads instead of legs. The motorized platform will hump up to 1,200 pounds of gear at seven miles per hour, and as Spencer Ackerman at Wired points out, over sixty of them have been sold to the Israeli military. But the above pictured CaMEL is the only one floating around with armaments: in this case, a .50-caliber M2 machine gun. The gun is fired remotely, via touchscreen controls, and the platform itself could support any number of weapons including the M249, the MK19 grenade launcher, or 30mm cannon. Which kind of proves a pet theory of ours: if you build it, eventually someone will mount a gun on it.
MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV resists its human oppressors, joyrides over Washington DC
A Northrop Grumman MQ-8 Fire Scout UAV strayed into restricted airspace above Washington DC after departing Patuxent River Naval Air Station in Maryland on August 2, the result of a software logic flaw that caused the operator to momentarily lose contact with the drone. Programmed to circle when communications are severed, the chopper failed to follow its failure protocol, instead heading twenty-three miles on a north/northwest trajectory -- which could have had serious consequences had it been equipped with 70mm Hydra rocket pods or Hellfire tankbuster missiles. Although this type of incident is rare, it is not unheard of: last September the Air Force had to take down an MQ-9 Reaper in Afghanistan when it failed to adhere to failure protocols after dropping communications with the ground. At least, that's what we'd like to believe... the alternative scenario is too frightening to consider.
Northrop Grumman wins contract to build US Army's long-endurance hybrid airship
Northrop Grumman's announced that it's won a contract from the United States Army to build its LEMV surveillance ship. The Army is building the ship specifically to assist troops in Afghanistan, and they are expected to go into use sometime in 2011. Northrop Grumman has been commissioned to build three of the ships, which can carry up to 2,500 pounds and hover 20,000 feet above sea-level with a top speed of about 34 miles per hour. The Army will pay NG 517 million dollars for the project.
Boeing 747 destroys ballistic missile with laser (update: photos!)
No, this isn't a call to arms (yet), the US is simply evaluating its airborne laser weapon again. Now listen in because this latest test was a doozy. Last night at 8:44pm Cali time, the Airborne Laser Testbed (ALTB) successfully "destroyed" a liquid-fueled ballistic missile from an airborne platform, according to the Missile Defense Agency. A first for the directed energy weapon that we've been following since 2006. The dirty work was achieve by a modified Boeing 747-400F airframe fitted with a Northrop Grumman higher-energy laser and Lockheed Martin beam and fire control system. After an at-sea launch, the ALTB used a low-energy laser to track the target. A second, low-energy laser was used to measure and compensate for atmospheric disturbances before the megawatt-class laser was fired, "heating the boosting ballistic missile to critical structural failure." The entire episode was over just two minutes after missile launch. Good work generals, but let's see you fit that laser to a shark if you really want to impress us. Update: Infrared images of the ALTB destroying the short-range ballistic missile after the break.