Insitu Pacific announced on 1 April that it successfully completed test flights of a ScanEagle tactical unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) fitted with the vision-based ‘Detect and Avoid' (DAA) autonomous technology it developed jointly with Boein.
Debate on Australia’s future submarines is understandably focused on the information that floats out of the Defence Department about France’s Naval Group and the $80 billion program to design and build the boats.
It’s very sensible to be concerned about the program because of the contrast between the assurances Defence officials provide to parliament that everything is proceeding according to plan and the episodic need for high-level political intervention to resolve fundamental issues between Defence and its French industrial partner.
We saw this with the tortured, delayed effort to resolve the ‘strategic partnering agreement’ that took almost three years to sign. We saw it again this year when Naval Group and Defence were unable to resolve the issue of the Australian industry share in the program, a year after apparently agreeing to do so, without the intervention of various ministers during Naval Group boss Pierre Eric Pommellet’s recent visit to Australia.
Northrop Grumman to power Mars sample return
NASA has awarded the Mars Ascent Propulsion System (MAPS) contract to
Northrop Grumman Systems Corp. of Elkton, Maryland, to provide propulsion support and products for spaceflight missions at the agency’s Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Alabama. Coupled with the successful touchdown of the Mars Perseverance rover, this award moves NASA and ESA (European Space Agency) one step closer to realizing Mars Sample Return (MSR), a highly ambitious planetary exploration program that will build upon decades of science, knowledge, and experience of Mars exploration.
The cost-plus, fixed-fee contract has a potential mission services value of $60.2 million and a maximum potential value of $84.5 million. Work on MAPS begins immediately with a 14-month base period, followed by two option periods that may be exercised at NASA’s discretion.
Boeing Loyal Wingman uncrewed aircraft completes first flight compositesworld.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from compositesworld.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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