Lockheed Martin has been awarded a US$2.5 million contract by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) to execute an End-to-End Architecture Study of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES-R) program.

The Architecture Study covers work in four task areas: Space & Launch, C3, Product Generation & Distribution, and End-to-End Integration. Its purpose is to assist NOAA in identifying system architecture alternatives, refining known designs, uncovering innovative, integrated architectures, and leveraging potential opportunistic technologies that may provide increased weather and environmental forecasting capabilities at increased mission cost savings.

At the conclusion of these studies, NOAA will modify its requirement for the GOES-R space, launch, command and control, and data production segments to help reduce future design, development, cost and schedule risks. The study results will ensure that viable architectural options are available to integrate the meteorological data acquired from space remote sensors, with the ground acquisition systems, and link it to the ultimate products delivered to the users.

Data from NOAA's GOES spacecraft provide short-term advance weather warning products to the commercial, educational, and public sectors to protect lives, property and the environment, and to foster economic growth and promote educational research. The future GOES-R mission is expected to improve the quality and timeliness of its forecasts, expanding the safety and economic security of the public.

Along with the Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) and Defense Meteorological Satellite Program (DMSP) polar orbiting weather satellites currently built by Lockheed Martin, GOES is a critical part of the U.S. satellite constellation for weather observations. GOES is the weather satellite most familiar to the American public, as GOES images and time-lapse sequences are the primary visual material of television weather forecasts. The GOES system, which has been operational since 1975, plays a critical role in weather and environmental forecasting. In orbit, high above the equator, GOES satellites are uniquely positioned to observe the development of hazardous weather, such as hurricanes and severe thunderstorms, and to track their movement and intensity so that major losses of life and property can be reduced or avoided.

The GOES satellites, by definition, operate in a geostationary Earth orbit (GEO). A satellite at GEO, flying from west to east at an altitude of 22,241 miles above the equator, circles the Earth once each day at the same speed at which the Earth is turning. Thus, to an observer on the surface, the satellite would appear to hover in the same spot in the sky.

(Article information from the Dallas Business Journal)

A $2.3 million pediatric congenital heart program will open Nov. 11 at North Texas Hospital for Children at Medical City in Dallas. Dr. Eric N. Mendeloff has been named program director.

The first surgery is scheduled for Nov. 13. Hospital officials expect at least 200 cases in 2004.

The unit includes four cardiothoracic intensive-care beds and perfusion equipment.

About one in 125 to 150 infants is born with heart defects each year in the United States, according to the March of Dimes.

"We have the expertise and technology available today that allows us to treat children with congenital defects right away so they can grow up and live active, healthier lives," Mendeloff said. "Medical City and North Texas Hospital for Children are acquiring all of the necessary resources to make this expertise available to pediatric patients from across Texas and around the world."

Representatives of ACS, a provider of business process and information technology outsourcing solutions, announced that the company was selected by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors and the Los Angeles County Child Support Services Department to continue operating the county's centralized disbursement unit for child support payments.

ACS is the prime contractor providing child support receipt processing services and overall project management for payment processing, employer relations, balance and reconciliation, information technology, and mail opening services. Over the course of ACS' contract with Los Angeles County, ACS has processed more than 20 million payments and distributed more than US$3.7 billion in child support payments. Los Angeles County's caseload represents approximately 25 percent of California's total child support caseload.

Representatives of Zyvex Corporation announced the Phase II award of a NASA SBIR program entitled, "Hierarchical composites comprising continuous carbon nanotube composite fibers in a nanotube-reinforced matrix." The program's objective is to develop develop ultra-high-strength low-weight composites for aerospace applications. Specifically, this work will enable the combination of continuous CNT fibers with a CNT-reinforced host polymer.

The two-year program builds on a carbon nanotube functionalization approach that increases carbon nanotube solubility without damaging or degrading nanotube properties, and on continuous carbon nanotube composite fibers with high specific strength and toughness. This program combines these approaches for the first time and is expected to result in mechanical properties exceeding those of any current carbon fiber/polymer composites.

"The fact that our SBIR award has been extended into Phase II is extremely gratifying and a clear indication of the importance of nanocomposite materials to NASA," said John Randall, Ph.D., Chief Technology Officer at Zyvex. "Zyvex's functionalization technology is a real breakthrough in the ability to produce excellent dispersions and CNT interaction with the composite matrix."

The original program was started with the Phase I award in February 2003. The Zyvex team will continue their work on an innovative nanotube surface chemistry and demonstrate the fabrication of hierarchical composites with enhanced performance.

The current materials research industry needs to be able to effectively process CNTs in order to take advantage of their extraordinary material properties for commercial applications. The NASA award on nanocomposites is just one application of Zyvex's rational engineering of CNT surfaces.

This project is an integral part of Zyvex's mission of providing flexible, automated manufacturing at ever decreasing size scales.

Zyvex Corporation, based in Richardson, Texas, is the first molecular nanotechnology company.

Workers in Texas and California have begun fabricating the first major airframe components for the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter.

On Monday, Nov. 10, milling machines at Progressive Inc., in Arlington, Texas, and at H.M. Dunn Co. Inc., in Euless, Texas, began cutting "big-bone" structural components for the supersonic stealth fighter. Simultaneously, Northrop Grumman Corp., a principal teammate on the F-35 program, started the milling process for other major parts of the F-35 JSF's airframe with its subcontractor Brek Manufacturing in Gardena, Calif.

Progressive's first part was a major bulkhead for the F-35's wing section. H.M. Dunn kicked off F-35 manufacturing with a forward fuselage radar bulkhead, while Brek milled a center fuselage canopy shelf.

The partnering relationships that led to the initiation of F-35 manufacturing activities exemplify Lockheed Martin's commitment to help its customers meet their defining moments.

Lockheed Martin Aeronautics Co. will assemble the F-35 at its mile-long factory in Fort Worth. Major subassemblies will be completed by Northrop Grumman Integrated Systems in El Segundo and Palmdale, Calif., and by BAE SYSTEMS in Salmesbury, England. The finished subassembly modules will then be shipped to Fort Worth for final assembly.

The first F-35 is scheduled for completion in mid-2005, with first flight planned for late that year.

Veteran-owned Progressive Inc., specializes in profile milling of complex aluminum and titanium parts used in the manufacture of military and commercial aircraft. The company was founded in 1971 with the purchase of equipment from a small two-man shop in Arlington. In 1983, Progressive purchased the assets of a competing company and created a single corporation with 100 employees.

H.M. Dunn Co. Inc., is a privately held engineering and manufacturing company with an advanced machine shop featuring a diverse assortment of three-, four- and five-axis computer numerically control machines specializing in serving the commercial and military aerospace industry. Over the past 29 years, the company has grown from a 4,800-square-foot building to the current 62,000-square-foot facility.

The F-35 is a stealthy, supersonic multirole fighter designed to replace a wide range of aging fighter and strike aircraft. Three variants derived from a common design will ensure F-35 meets the performance needs of the U.S. Air Force, Marine Corps, Navy and allied defense forces worldwide, while staying within strict affordability targets.

The F-35 will offer capability that is superior to all current-generation fighter aircraft. It will enable unprecedented levels of interoperability and international cooperation. Among the aircraft that the F-35 will replace are the AV-8B Harrier, A-10, F-16, F/A-18 and the United Kingdom's Harrier GR.7 and Sea Harrier.

Nine nations are partnering in the F-35's System Development and Demonstration phase: The United States, United Kingdom, Italy, the Netherlands, Turkey, Canada, Denmark, Norway and Australia. Additionally, Israel has agreed to join the program as a Security Cooperation Participant.