May 2000 Space News

Army tests missile-tracking system (Army News Service, May 31, 2000) Joint National Test Facility personnel tracked the launch of a modified U.S. Air Force Minuteman II missile launched from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif.
ORBITAL WINS $16 MILLION CONTRACT FROM NAVAL RESEARCH LABORATORY FOR SPACECRAFT RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT Orbital Sciences Corp. 31 May 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced that it was selected by the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, D.C. for a spacecraft systems support services contract, valued at $16 million for the first year.
DoD News Briefing May 30, 2000 -- We have always realized that there is a possibility that there could be a sea-based supplement to, or element in, a national missile defense system.
MISSILE DEFENSE-THREE Voice of America 30 May 2000 -- Whether or not it works as intended, critics worry that a proposed U-S ballistic missile defense system could prompt a nuclear arms race.
MISSILE DEFENSE-TWO Voice of America 30 May 2000 -- The debate in the United States over ballistic missile defense concerns both its technology and its strategic impact. Supporters are sure it will work; critics say it will not.
MISSILE DEFENSE-ONE Voice of America 30 May 2000 -- Ballistic missile defense is expected to be a major topic at the upcoming summit between President Clinton and Russian President Vladimir Putin. But analysts say that is all it will be: talk.
Lockheed Martin, Hughes and TRW combine strengths to form Advanced EHF National Team for U.S. Air Force Lockheed Martin 30 May 2000 -- Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Hughes Space and Communications and TRW formed a National Team to build the Department of Defense's next generation of highly secure communication satellites known as the Advanced Extremely High Frequency (Advanced EHF) system.
ORBITAL SUCCESSFULLY LAUNCHES SUBORBITAL VERSION OF U.S. AIR FORCE'S OSP ROCKET Orbital Sciences Corp. 30 May 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) successfully conducted the first of a series of suborbital rocket launches in support of the U. S. National Missile Defense effort on Sunday, May 28, 2000, the company announced.
Governor Bush, Clinton Administration Spar Over Missile Defense CNN SUNDAY May 28, 2000 -- JOHN PIKE, FEDERATION OF AMERICAN SCIENTISTS: When they look at these plans, they're going to think that this would disarm them. They're going to wind up building a lot more missiles pointed at America.
Army Space and Missile Defense Command demonstrates new ballistic missile target On May 28, 2000, the U.S. Army Space and Missile Defense Command (SMDC) successfully conducted the demonstration flight of the Orbital/Suborbital Program, or OSP, Target Launch Vehicle, or TVL.
HUNGARY - NATO PARLIAMENT Voice of America 27 May 2000 -- European NATO member nations accused the United States of working on its own to develop a system known as the National Missile Defense system, or N-M-D.
Missile Defense Now By George W. Bush Washington Times May 25, 2000 -- America must build effective missile defenses, based on the best available options, at the earliest possible date.
MISSILE FRAUD Voice of America 25 May 2000 -- A prominent weapons expert says the planned U-S missile defense system will not work, and charges that officials have lied to cover up the program's flaws.
Lockheed Martin's New Atlas III Debuts in Spectacular Launch from Cape Canaveral Lockheed Martin 24 May 2000 -- Atlas III, the newest rocket to fly from the historic Complex 36 launch site at Cape Canaveral, made its debut this afternoon in a dramatic liftoff powered by the new Russian RD-180 engine. The liftoff occurred at 7:10 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time, followed by successful separation of the W4 spacecraft and insertion into geosynchronous transfer orbit just under 29 minutes later.
Bush Vows To Beef Up Star Wars By RICHARD SISK [New York] Daily News 24 May 2000 -- "Basically, this is just the missile defense plan his [Bush's] daddy inherited from Ronald Reagan," said John Pike of the Federation of American Scientists.
Bush Seeks Deployment of Missile Defense and Reduction of Missiles May 24, 2000 - George W. Bush today called for a national security policy focused on creating a missile defense system to protect all 50 states and U.S. friends and allies, combined with reductions in the number of nuclear missiles consistent with America's national security.
Statement By Douglas Hattaway Regarding George W. Bush's Press Conference on Nuclear Weapons - Al Gore proposes a more responsible approach to protecting America that is realistic, feasible and likely to ensure real security.
New Leadership on National Security Governor George W. Bush, Washington, D.C. May 23, 2000 -- Now the approach it proposes is flawed - a system initially based on a single site, when experts say that more is needed. The administration is driving toward a hasty decision, on a political timetable. No decision would be better than a flawed agreement that ties the hands of the next President and prevents America from defending itself.
BUSH-NUCLEAR Voice of America 23 May 2000 -- Republican presidential candidate George W-Bush would build a national missile defense network - which, he says, the Clinton administration should not prevent.
ORBITAL'S ROBOTIC 'CANADARM' HELPS SPACE SHUTTLE CREW PERFORM CRITICAL WORK ON THE INTERNATIONAL SPACE STATION Orbital Sciences Corp. 22 May 2000 -- Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced that its Shuttle Remote Manipulator System (SRMS), also known as the 'Canadarm,' is playing a key role on NASA's current Space Shuttle Atlantis supply mission to the International Space Station (ISS).
DOD supports nationwide crisis management exercise (AFPN) 22 May 2000 -- Top Off -- an acronym for "Top Officials," which unites the Federal Emergency Management Agency, FBI, DOD and other agencies -- is a 10-day, multi-agency crisis management and consequence management exercise.
Boeing Awarded Air Force Contract For Maui Operations Boeing 20 May 2000 -- The Air Force has awarded a five-year contract valued at up to $86 million to The Boeing Company for research, development, operations, and maintenance work at the Maui Space Surveillance System (MSSS) facility on Haleakala, Maui, Hawaii. The work will be performed by Rocketdyne Technical Services (RTS), a subsidiary of the Laser & Electro Optical Systems (LEOS) unit of Boeing.
Postol Complains of Improper Classification, letter to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta from MIT Professor Theodore Postol, May 19, 2000 -- I therefore conclude that Mr. Englander is most likely attempting to illegally use the security and classification system to hide waste, fraud, and abuse by his agency, the BMDO.
DoD News Briefing Thursday, May 18, 2000 -- Now, let me just say one thing directed at Dr. Postol's letter. He focused primarily on one test, so-called the Integrated Flight Test 1A. That test occurred several years ago, and it involved an interceptor made by Boeing TRW. When Boeing came to make the choice of the kill vehicle, the interceptor vehicle, it did not choose its own kill vehicle. It chose instead one made by Raytheon.
MISSILE DEFENSE Voice of America 18 May 2000 -- A prominent critic of Washington's efforts to build a system to shoot down attacking ballistic missiles says a key part of the scheme does not work and never will.
ANTHRAX Voice of America 17 May 2000 -- Defense Secretary William Cohen says the U-S Military will continue vaccinating troops against the deadly anthrax virus -- even though dozens of members of Congress are demanding a halt to the controversial program.
ATK Completes First Test Firing of Rocket Motor for New Oriole Sub-Orbital Launch System ATK 16 May 2000 -- ATK (NYSE: ATK) (Alliant Techsystems), said Alliant Missile Products Company, Rocket Center, W. Va., has successfully completed the first of two planned test firings of a solid rocket motor for the new Oriole sub-orbital launch system.
Boeing Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Confirm Expanded Relationship Boeing 15 May 2000 -- The Boeing Company and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, Ltd. (MHI) confirmed the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding to expand their broad cooperative relationship covering aerospace and other business areas. Boeing and MHI have been working closely together for more than 30 years, and this agreement extends that long and mutually beneficial relationship.
ATK Solid Rocket Boosters Successfully Launch U.S. Air Force Satellite Aboard Titan IV B Rocket ATK 11 May 2000 -- ATK (Alliant Techsystems, NYSE: ATK) said a Lockheed Martin Titan IV B rocket powered by two Solid Rocket Motor Upgrade (SRMU) boosters designed and manufactured by Alliant Aerospace Propulsion Company successfully launched a Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla. on May 8.
Air Force successfully launches Global Positioning System satellite built by Lockheed Martin Lockheed Martin 11 May 2000 -- A Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Sunnyvale, CA, was successfully launched yesterday evening from Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL. This was the third successful launch of the new-generation replenishment spacecraft, designated GPS IIR.
Postol Analysis of BMDO Integrated Flight Test - 1A, letter to White House Chief of Staff John Podesta from MIT Professor Theodore Postol, May 11, 2000 -- The BMDO's own data shows that the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle will be defeated by the simplest of balloon decoys. I also have documentation that shows that the BMDO... attempted to hide this fact....

Attachment A:Explanation of Why the Sensor in the Exoatmospheric Kill Vehicle (EKV) Cannot Reliably Discriminate Decoys from Warheads -- Even under the highly orchestrated conditions of the IFT-1A experiment, the sensor flyby data showed that for at least some of the objects, there were no features in the data to indicate that they were not the warhead.
Attachment B: Technical Discussion of the Misinterpreted Results of theIFT-1A Experiment Due to Tampering With the Data and Analysis and Errors in the Interpretation of the Data -- "These meaningless figures, and the associated meaningless conclusions reached by the BMDO and POET, simply illustrate that complex mathematical procedures, of any kind, applied mindlessly to data that contains no information, will inevitably lead to a meaningless result."
Attachment C: Collected and Annotated Defense Criminal Investigation Service Documents Associated With the Investigation of Tampering With the Scientific and Technical Data and Analysis from the IFT-1A National Missile Defense Experiment
Attachment D: Independent Review of TRW Discrimination Techniques, Final Report, POET Study 1998-5, M-J. Tsai, MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Larry Ng, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Glenn Light, Aerospace Corporation, Frank Handler, POET/Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, Charles Meins, MIT Lincoln Laboratory -- "Reliable prior knowledge on many of the threat types included in the TRD [Technical Requirements Document] cannot be obtained."

Boeing Delta II Launches Global Positioning Satellite for U.S. Air Force Boeing 10 May 2000 -- A Boeing [NYSE: BA] Delta II rocket successfully replaced one of the first U.S. Air Force navigational satellites launched aboard another Delta 11 years ago.
AssureSat and Sea Launch Partner to Mitigate Launch Risk Boeing 09 May 2000 -- AssureSatTM, Inc., announced it has signed an agreement, through Space Systems/Loral (SS/L), a subsidiary of Loral Space & Communications, for two launches on Sea Launch.
International Space Station: Teaming Agreement Signed between Boeing and Alenia Spazio Boeing 09 May 2000 -- Representatives of The Boeing Company and Alenia Spazio signed a teaming agreement to reinforce their ongoing commitment to the future of the International Space Station (ISS).
Boeing Inertial Upper Stage Places U.S. Air Force DSP Satellite into Orbit Boeing 08 May 2000 -- A Defense Support Program (DSP) satellite for the U.S. Air Force and Department of Defense was successfully deployed into orbit by a Boeing [NYSE: BA] Inertial Upper Stage (IUS) following launch aboard a Titan IV rocket.
Boeing Delta II with AF GPS satellite to launch May 10 Boeing 08 May 2000 -- A Boeing [NYSE: BA] Delta II rocket is scheduled to launch a U.S. Air Force Global Positioning System (GPS) satellite into a nearly 11,000-mile circular orbit on May 10.
Key Missile Defense Radar Planned for Remote Island By Roberto Suro Washington Post Sunday, May 7, 2000; Page A06 -- The difficulty of erecting a radar dome on Shemya is driving the tight decision-making schedule that requires President Clinton to give a go-ahead by this fall for the system to be ready within five years.
ISRAEL / U-S / RADAR Voice of America 04 May 2000 -- Trials are now being conducted for laser technology to be used by Israel along its northern border to block rocket attacks by Lebanese guerrilla fighters.
Boeing Delta II Program Receives NASA's George M. Low Award Boeing 02 May 2000 -- Commitment to innovative management, quality and customer service earned the Boeing Delta II launch team NASA's George M. Low award. This award is NASA's highest honor for quality and technical performance.
ORBITAL COMPLETES NEW SATELLITE MANUFACTURING FACILITY AT COMPANY'S DULLES, VIRGINIA CAMPUS Orbital Sciences Corp. 02 May 2000 -- The largest U.S. satellite manufacturing facility (SMF) east of the Mississippi River is now ready for occupancy, Orbital Sciences Corporation (NYSE: ORB) announced.
Deputy Secretary of Defense Rudy de Leon Media availability May 1, 2000 -- This is a system that is designed really to deal with the rogue threat. In the discussions, and it's very clear in some of the briefings, this is not a system that is designed to deal with the Russian strategic deterrence.

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