Latest news with #Boeing-built
Yahoo
15-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Defense officials advocate for diverse target-tracking architecture
Amid reports that the White House may scrap the Air Force's plans to replace its fleet of air moving target indicator aircraft, defense officials in recent weeks have emphasized the key role the platform plays in the Defense Department's broader target-tracking architecture. The Pentagon in recent years has been exploring options for shifting some moving target indicator, or MTI, missions traditionally performed by aircraft to satellites. The Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office have been leading studies and launching prototypes to consider the viability and value of space-based options. As those demonstrations get off the ground, the Air Force is on a parallel path to replace the aircraft currently used to track air-moving targets — its aging E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System — with the more capable, Boeing-built E-7 Wedgetail. The E-7 has been viewed as a near-term bridge to whatever future architecture the department develops, and the service's plan is to buy the first two Wedgetail prototypes as soon as 2028. But as the White House and the Pentagon finalize a budget plan for fiscal 2026, President Donald Trump's administration is reportedly considering canceling the E-7 buy, according to Aviation Week. The Air Force wouldn't confirm the report, but a spokesperson told Defense News the service is 'continuing to work with OSD on the E-7A Wedgetail program throughout the development of the FY26 budget request.' In recent testimony and at events through the Washington, D.C., region, defense officials have emphasized the importance of an air moving target indicator capability that includes both air and space assets — especially as Space Force and NRO analysis is ongoing. Lt. Gen. Shawn Bratton, deputy chief of space operations for strategy, plans, programs and requirements, said Thursday that while the space-based demonstrations haven't yet delivered clear data to inform program decisions, early indicators support a mixed architecture. 'We think there are kind of synergies of having both flavors of this capability right now, but we're really waiting for some just hard engineering data to understand what we can see from space, and how good is that going to be,' Bratton said during a virtual Mitchell Institute event. Air Force Chief of Staff Gen. David Allvin told House appropriators May 6 that while satellites can provide key sensing capabilities, they're not ready to take over the full AMTI mission. As a result, aircraft like the E-7 Wedgetail and E-3 Airborne Warning and Control System are still needed. In a May 13 hearing, U.S. Northern Command Commander Gen. Gregory Guillot told the Senate Armed Services Committee the department needs a layered approach to tracking advanced threats that includes everything from undersea sensors to detect enemy submarines, standoff weapons, aircraft and satellites. 'I think it's a seabed-to-space approach,' Guillot said. Tracking ground and air moving targets will play a key role in what Guillot called the 'domain awareness layer' of a future Golden Dome capability — an advanced missile defense and defeat architecture championed by Trump. The Space Force and the National Reconnaissance Office have been working closely on the MTI studies and have been largely tight-lipped about what satellites and other prototypes have been launched to demonstrate the space-based capability. NRO director Chris Scolese has acknowledged in the past that his agency launched some GMTI prototype satellites, and Guillot noted in the hearing this week there are 'a number of' AMTI prototypes on orbit today. The service expects to have an operational space-based MTI capability by the early 2030s. Bratton declined to offer more details on the AMTI demonstrations but said the results of all of the analysis will help answer key questions like, 'How good is this capability from space?' and 'How is it compatible with existing AMTI capabilities that the Navy and the Air Force fly?' Former Air Force Secretary Frank Kendall told Defense News there are looming technical challenges surrounding the switch to satellites for MTI missions. Those include questions around power systems and whether a satellite sensor can penetrate cloud cover, he said. The satellites would also need to be more survivable and able to withstand an attack. A fully space-based MTI architecture is likely years away, Kendall said, and those systems would not be ready in time to retire the E-3 without risking a capability gap. 'We're trying to get a lot of that functionality into space, but that's going to take a while, and there's some technical challenges with that,' Kendall said, adding that the Wedgetail has been a crucial component of the Air Force's near-term planning. 'There's a pretty high sense of urgency about getting [the E-7] fielded,' he said.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Elon Musk's mission to take over NASA—and Mars
After spending months and more than $250 million campaigning to elect President Trump, Elon Musk made a call late last year to help roll out his plan for humanity's path beyond Earth. He reached his friend Jared Isaacman with a request: Would Isaacman become the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration? He told Isaacman, the payments entrepreneur who has flown to orbit with SpaceX and invested in the company, that they could make NASA great again and work toward their shared ambition of getting humans to Mars, according to people briefed on the conversation. Selling Your House This Spring? You Might Need to Cut the Price A Billionaire and an Oscar Winner Have Made a Hit Movie. It's About Investing. How the Reversal of the 'American Exceptionalism' Trade Is Rippling Around the Globe Trump Orders GOP Donor's Oil Company to Leave Venezuela Soon after the call, Trump announced Isaacman's appointment. Musk, the world's richest man and now a top adviser to the president, has extraordinary influence on budgets, personnel and technology systems across federal agencies, including the Federal Aviation Administration, which regulates commercial spaceflights at SpaceX, Musk's rocket and satellite-internet company. Through the new Department of Government Efficiency, Musk has cut budgets, laid off staff and ditched programs. He also has DOGE employees reviewing the operations and personnel of agencies that have investigated Musk's companies, including the Federal Trade Commission and Environmental Protection Agency. It is at NASA, though, where Musk is making the biggest shift in an agency's priorities to align them with his own—both financially and personally. He is working to recast its programs, reallocate federal spending and install loyalists to aid his decadeslong goal of sending people to Mars. He has also worked to win backing from Trump by telling the president that getting people to Mars would shine his legacy as a 'president of firsts,' according to people briefed on the conversations. The ambition could have a potentially huge impact on SpaceX, which has emerged as the dominant space technology and operations company globally and is already one of NASA's biggest contractors. The White House plans to propose killing a powerful Boeing-built rocket designed for NASA to launch astronauts to the moon and beyond in a coming budget plan, according to people briefed on the plans. Canceling the vehicle, called the Space Launch System or SLS, would potentially free up billions for Mars efforts and set up a clash with members of Congress who support it. SpaceX officials have told people outside the company in recent weeks that NASA's resources will be reallocated toward Mars efforts. SpaceX President Gwynne Shotwell has told industry and government peers that her work is increasingly focused on getting to Mars. Inside SpaceX, employees have been told to prioritize Mars-related work on its deep-space rocket over NASA's moon program when those efforts conflict. A longtime SpaceX executive recently moved to NASA to shadow the agency's acting administrator ahead of Isaacman's confirmation. He's in position to monitor the highest levels of decision-making, and is known to some as 'Elon's conduit,' people familiar with the arrangement said. And NASA's program known as Artemis, its long-range plan to explore the moon and eventually Mars, is being rethought to make Mars a priority. One idea: Musk and government officials have discussed a scenario in which SpaceX would give up its moon-focused Artemis contracts worth more than $4 billion to free up funds for Mars-related projects, a person briefed on the discussions said. 'We are going to be able to take astronauts to Mars,' Musk said in a Fox News interview in mid-March. 'And ultimately build a self-sustaining civilization on Mars. That is the long-term goal of the company: make life multi-planetary.' On Thursday, he posted about the pressure to move quickly on the Mars endeavor, writing 'Will we make Mars self-sustaining before civilization loses the ability to do so? That is the critical question.' Trump in an interview in October called on the entrepreneur to launch a Mars mission during his next term. And in his inauguration speech—in a line the president himself added—Trump said he would launch Americans to 'plant the Stars and Stripes on the planet Mars.' The White House said the president advanced American leadership in space in his first term and will do so in his second term. 'As for concerns regarding conflicts of interest between Elon Musk and DOGE, President Trump has stated he will not allow conflicts, and Elon himself has committed to recusing himself from potential conflicts,' White House spokeswoman Karoline Leavitt said. Musk and his representatives didn't respond to requests for comment. A NASA spokeswoman said it looks forward to its incoming administrator 'setting an agenda that aligns with the bold vision President Trump outlined in his inaugural address.' She added: 'In that spirit, we remain committed to advancing an ambitious strategy to return Americans to the lunar surface, reach Mars, and push the boundaries of exploration even further.' This article is based on interviews with nearly three dozen people close to Musk and the Trump administration, NASA, lawmakers and SpaceX. For decades, colonizing Mars has been the stuff of science fiction, and the obsession of a band of devotees scattered across the country. Musk has emerged as a leader in the movement for humans traveling deeper into space. At his companies, employees have spent years conducting research and working on Mars-related initiatives. Past U.S. presidents have called for human exploration of Mars, but launching crewed missions has been more of a stretch goal, given the immense technical hurdles and enormous risks to astronauts. It can take roughly a week to get to the moon and back, versus an estimated two to three years for a round trip between Earth and Mars. To accomplish a plan to move up a Mars mission would likely mean a massive reordering of NASA's programs—many of which take place over years—and staff. The nearly 70-year-old agency has about 18,000 employees and an annual budget of around $25 billion. Along with space exploration, staffers study climate change, research pilotless aircraft, carry out scientific experiments in the atmosphere and help operate the International Space Station, among other activities. NASA staff on Jan. 31 received an email, reviewed by The Wall Street Journal, from the agency's acting administrator to welcome a new senior adviser: longtime SpaceX executive Michael Altenhofen. In his role at SpaceX, he became close to Isaacman and talks to him frequently. He took up his position right away, ahead of the confirmation hearing for Isaacman. 'I recognize we're dealing with a lot of change that may be uncomfortable,' wrote Janet Petro, the acting administrator, referring to multiple changes at the agency. She noted an employee assistance program for those who need it. Days later, NASA's top brass gathered on the ninth floor of the agency's Washington headquarters. Present were DOGE staffers, there to analyze the agency's work. It started off on an awkward note: As people around the conference room shared their names and titles, one person whom others knew to be a DOGE staffer described themselves as a staffer at the Treasury Department—instead of as part of DOGE. Even before the meeting, some NASA officials had been concerned about how transparent DOGE staffers would be about what they were doing at the agency. Many NASA employees are rattled by changes leaders have made since the inauguration and are worried that a potentially large number of layoffs will upend the agency's work. NASA is committed to optimizing its workforce and resources in alignment with DOGE initiatives, the NASA spokeswoman said, adding that it ensures taxpayer dollars are directed toward the highest-impact projects while maintaining NASA's essential functions. NASA's long-range plan to explore the moon and eventually Mars is under the microscope. NASA has been working on the Artemis program and its predecessors for years. The cost from the government's fiscal years 2012 through 2025 is estimated at $93 billion, according to the agency's inspector general. In January, Musk called the moon program a distraction in a post on X. Days earlier he had criticized Artemis, saying 'Something entirely new is needed.' SpaceX, Boeing and others have billions in contracts to build rockets, ships and lunar landing vehicles, among other technologies, for the program. Musk has discussed with officials the idea that SpaceX's moon-focused contracts, valued at more than $4 billion, could be dropped in favor of Mars plans. SpaceX's current Artemis contracts call for it to conduct an uncrewed test landing on the moon with a version of its Starship vehicle, ahead of two missions where the spacecraft would transfer astronauts from an orbit around the moon to the lunar surface. Current and former NASA officials have said they are worried that a major overhaul of Artemis would end up stalling U.S. progress after years of effort on hardware and infrastructure for the program. Getting rid of the SLS rocket carries its own risks, those officials say, because new private-sector vehicles, including SpaceX's Starship, aren't operational or are still ramping up. Starship needs to reach important milestones—including work related to fuel transfers and operations with Orion, a Lockheed Martin-built craft that would ferry astronauts to the moon—before it could transport crew. SpaceX has conducted eight test launches of Starship, but the last two ended in explosions, highlighting the technical challenges the company faces with the vehicle. NASA has flown one mission with SLS, an uncrewed test flight in 2022 that launched an Orion spacecraft around the moon and returned it to Earth. It has additional flights scheduled in the years ahead. Officials from Trump's Office of Management and Budget have told people about discussions under way to move U.S. government dollars toward Mars initiatives and away from programs focused on the moon and science missions. Killing or dramatically remaking the program would unravel years of development work, but some proponents say much of the hardware for Artemis, from the SLS rocket to ground infrastructure, is too expensive, slow to produce and behind schedule. Any changes to the Artemis program could also affect Blue Origin, the space company founded by Jeff Bezos, which has a contract under Artemis to develop a lander for a future moon mission. Artemis has powerful supporters in Congress. A bipartisan group of senators recently introduced legislation requiring the space agency and its leaders to continue supporting the existing plans and hardware for Artemis, including the SLS rocket. An overarching goal is to return NASA astronauts to the moon before Chinese astronauts, called taikonauts, arrive there, and some see Boeing's SLS as the best option to do that. 'Starship? I want success out of it. But for us to beat the Chinese…it's going to have to be SLS that does it,' Rep. Brian Babin (R., Texas) said in February. Other lawmakers hold views that clash with Musk on NASA priorities outside of Artemis. The International Space Station, the orbiting research lab that NASA helps operate, generates work at NASA's facility in Houston and is important to Sen. Ted Cruz (R., Texas). NASA plans to decommission the station around 2030, although it could be extended, and wants private companies to develop stations to replace it. But Musk in February said the ISS had served its purpose and should be brought down sooner than NASA has been planning to better focus on Mars. SpaceX aims to test Starship aggressively with multiple test flights. Those must be approved by the FAA, the federal air-safety regulator. Shotwell, SpaceX's president, late last year said she wouldn't be surprised if the company flies Starship as many as 400 times over the next four years, a sharp increase from its launch rate so far. Shotwell said she has called for simplified launch rules from regulators. Following a test flight of Starship earlier this year, Musk suggested to a group of people gathered at the company's Starbase complex in Texas that he saw space-related regulation as antithetical to achieving what SpaceX wants. SpaceX said the FAA has at times slowed progress on its Starship rocket, and Musk last year accused the agency of overreach after it said SpaceX violated rocket-launch regulations. Staffers from Musk's DOGE group have been active at the FAA, focusing in part on air-traffic-control technology. Musk said in early February that DOGE could make 'rapid safety upgrades' to air-traffic-control systems. Trump has also sought input on FAA changes with some business leaders, including Musk. The president announced he was nominating longtime airline executive Bryan Bedford to lead the agency. Isaacman, Trump's nominee for NASA chief, has told people that he and Musk share a vision for making it possible for humans to live on other planets. When asked by an X user if he thought humans could fly to Mars as soon as 2028, Isaacman said it is worth investing in big-picture goals. The billionaire founded payments-technology firm Shift4 Payments and has been interested in space since childhood. A spokeswoman for Isaacman didn't respond to requests for comment. Part of his challenge, should he be confirmed to run NASA, will be figuring out how to chase after difficult, frontier projects, such as sending people to Mars, amid budget pressure and competing priorities that may upset members of Congress. Sen. Cruz, who as a Texan has a strong interest in NASA jobs and operations there, will oversee Isaacman's confirmation hearing as Chairman of the Senate Commerce Committee. Isaacman has spoken about the promise of private companies doing more in space, touching on efforts at Blue Origin and Rocket Lab USA, a California-based rocket launcher and satellite systems company. Musk and his associates have discussed other potential NASA administrator candidates in case Isaacman isn't confirmed, according to a person briefed on the deliberations. Part of Isaacman's preparation ahead of the confirmation hearing, which hasn't been scheduled yet, includes questions about Musk's role in setting government policy and Isaacman's ties to Musk and SpaceX. In a recent filing, Isaacman reported more than $5 million in capital gains related to SpaceX shares, indicating he sold company stock. He valued agreements with Musk's company, including a space flight deal, at more than $50 million, and said one of his business ventures would terminate them if he is confirmed to run NASA, filings show. His payments company also does business with SpaceX's Starlink division. Musk founded SpaceX in 2002 with the mission of taking humanity to other planets. The company infused its culture with that long-term goal and completed a successful launch of its first rocket in 2008. It eventually developed the Falcon 9 rocket, which could be partially reused, lowering the cost of launches and taking market share from incumbent rocket operators. Musk's other businesses have contributed to the Mars goal. Musk has described Starlink, a SpaceX division that uses thousands of satellites to provide high-speed internet connections, as a cash machine for a future Mars mission. After Tesla, his electric-car company, gave Musk a stock award in 2018 valued at up to $55.8 billion, he later said it would be used for his space project. 'It's a way to get humanity to Mars,' he said in court in 2022. Engineers at SpaceX have, at times, worked on unresolved questions about how humans might live off the land on Mars, such as by turning materials on the planet into usable resources. And senior technical leaders include an employee whose job it is to focus on landing a future Starship spacecraft on the Martian surface. Write to Emily Glazer at and Micah Maidenberg at The Drone-Delivery Service Beating Amazon to Your Front Door Americans Feel Bad About the Economy. Whether They Act on It Is What Really Matters. The Auto Union Boss Who Went From Trump Foe to Tariff Cheerleader Emboldened Trump Squeezes Traditional Media Sign in to access your portfolio
WIRED
25-03-2025
- Science
- WIRED
It's Looking More Likely NASA Will Fly the Artemis II Mission
Late Saturday night, technicians at Kennedy Space Center in Florida moved the core stage for NASA's second Space Launch System rocket into position between the vehicle's two solid-fueled boosters. Working inside the iconic 52-story-tall Vehicle Assembly Building, ground teams used heavy-duty cranes to first lift the butterscotch-orange core stage from its cradle in the VAB's cavernous transfer aisle, the central passageway between the building's four rocket assembly bays. The cranes then rotated the structure vertically, allowing workers to disconnect one of the cranes from the bottom of the rocket. That left the rocket hanging on a 325-ton overhead crane, which would lift it over the transom into the building's northeast high bay. The Boeing-built core stage weighs about 94 tons (85 metric tons), measures about 212 feet (65 meters) tall, and will contain 730,000 gallons of cryogenic propellant at liftoff. It is the single largest element for NASA's Artemis II mission, slated to ferry a crew of astronauts around the far side of the moon as soon as next year. Finally, ground crews lowered the rocket between the Space Launch System's twin solid rocket boosters already stacked on a mobile launch platform inside High Bay 3, where NASA assembled Space Shuttles and Saturn V rockets for Apollo lunar missions. Ars Technica This story originally appeared on Ars Technica, a trusted source for technology news, tech policy analysis, reviews, and more. Ars is owned by WIRED's parent company, Condé Nast. On Sunday, teams inside the VAB connected the core stage to each booster at forward and aft load-bearing attach points. After completing electrical and data connections, engineers will stack a cone-shaped adapter on top of the core stage, followed by the rocket's upper stage, another adapter ring, and finally the Orion spacecraft that will be home to the four-person Artemis II crew for their 10-day journey through deep space.
Yahoo
26-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Former Trump Adviser Calls on Revising NASA's Moon Program
(Bloomberg) -- A former space policy adviser during President Donald Trump's first administration called on NASA to revise its plans for sending humans back to the moon, suggesting the agency 'off-ramp' its reliance on Boeing Co.'s giant moon rocket. NYC's Congestion Pricing Pulls In $48.6 Million in First Month The Trump Administration Takes Aim at Transportation Research Shelters Await Billions in Federal Money for Homelessness Providers NYC to Shut Migrant Center in Former Hotel as Crisis Eases New York's Congestion Pricing Plan Faces Another Legal Showdown Scott Pace, the former executive secretary of the National Space Council during Trump's first term, said it is time that NASA start considering alternative commercial rockets to the Boeing-built Space Launch System that can send people to the vicinity of the moon and Mars. 'A primary concern is Space Launch System, which is expensive and not reusable,' Pace said during a US House of Representatives subcommittee hearing about NASA's moon plans. 'It's had one flight but has trouble meeting the congressional target of two cores per year.' The recommendation marks a dramatic shift for Pace, who has long been a supporter of SLS. Though Pace is not directly involved with the second Trump administration, his comments represent some insight into what the incoming NASA leadership might propose for the agency's plans. President Trump and his close adviser, SpaceX chief executive officer Elon Musk, have made repeated comments about sending humans to Mars, heightening speculation that the administration might rework NASA's Artemis program, which aims to send humans back to the moon. Questions have also swirled about the future of NASA's SLS rocket, which is the primary rocket tapped to send humans to the vicinity of the moon for Artemis. The rocket has received significant criticism for its delayed development and costly price tag, which is expected to be nearly $24 billion through 2025. So far, SLS has only flown once without people on board, and is only expected to fly once every one to two years. Boeing, NASA's main contractor on SLS, recently signaled concern for the future of the rocket by announcing layoffs on the program. However, Boeing reduced the amount of jobs it planned to shed after having 'daily' talks with NASA. Pace called on making changes to the current Artemis plan to make it more consistent and sustainable. 'A revised Artemis campaign plan should be a high priority for the new administrator,' Pace said. 'There may be some painful adjustments with industry and our international partners, but it's better to do so now than to continue on an unsustainable and unaffordable path.' Trump's SALT Tax Promise Hinges on an Obscure Loophole Walmart Wants to Be Something for Everyone in a Divided America Meet Seven of America's Top Personal Finance Influencers China Learned to Embrace What the US Forgot: The Virtues of Creative Destruction Why Private Equity Is Eyeing Your Nest Egg ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Bloomberg
26-02-2025
- Politics
- Bloomberg
Former Trump Adviser Calls on Revising NASA's Moon Program
By and Sana Pashankar Save A former space policy adviser during President Donald Trump's first administration called on NASA to revise its plans for sending humans back to the moon, suggesting the agency 'off-ramp' its reliance on Boeing Co. 's giant moon rocket. Scott Pace, the former executive secretary of the National Space Council during Trump's first term, said it is time that NASA start considering alternative commercial rockets to the Boeing-built Space Launch System that can send people to the vicinity of the moon and Mars.
