Dafna Linzer reports the IAEA empaneled an international group of scientists to confirm that traces of highly enriched uranium in Iran originated with contaminated centrifuge components obtained through the AQ Khan network: Scientists from the United States, France, Japan, Britain and Russia met in secret during the past nine months to pore over data collected …
NFIRE Kill Vehicle Finally Dead. Really.
by | 2005-08-23 | 2 Comments
How do you do, Joe? Find the room comfortable, do you? No complaints? In May, the Washington AeroSpace Briefing reported that MDA Director Trey Obering “appeared to imply that a controversial kill vehicle payload [for the Near Field Infra Red Experiment] that was canceled last summer due to technical risk could be reinstated.” I don’t …
FIA joins Misty on SpySat Budget Scaffold
by | 2005-08-22 | 2 Comments
During last year’s budget process, Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) objected to “a particular major funding acquisition program that I believe is totally unjustified and very wasteful and dangerous to national security.” Rockefeller was criticizing a “stealth” satellite named Misty, which I had previously noted wasn’t particularly stealthy. In fact, Misty 1 and Misty 2 were …
DIY ASAT
by | 2005-08-22 | 3 Comments
Iowa State students taking Aerospace Engineering 462: Design of Aerospace Systems had a novel idea for a course project: Design an air launched anti-satellite weapon. What is needed by the Air Force is a new and inexpensive design that improves upon the capabilities of the previously designed missile and re-extends the United States’ grasp on …
