March 28, 2024

Private Spacecraft Heads to the Moon

moon

Morning Coffee is a robust blend of links to news around the internet concerning the Naval Air Station Patuxent River  Morning Coffee logoeconomic community. The opinions expressed here do not reflect opinions of the Leader’s owners or staff.

The first privately funded spacecraft to the moon launches Thursday, reports The Telegraph. An Israeli space project backed by American billionaire casino mogul Sheldon Adelson is set to launch from Florida, propelled by a Falcon rocket from Elon Musk’s space company SpaceX.

Forbes offers the last image NASA’s Opportunity rover sent home. Opportunity landed on Mars on 25 January 2004, NASA reports on the wrap-up of the mission last week. It was supposed to last just 90 Martian days (sols), or 87 Earth days, but ended up surviving 5,111 sols, until 10 June 2018.

The Air Force wants eight upgraded Boeing fighters along with F-35s, reports Bloomberg, and five-year plans call for 80 more as rival Lockheed talks down plane’s capability versus F-35.

Google explains how it is fighting fake news, reports Engadget.

China’s antics in South China Sea could forward-deploy some US troops and equipment, reports Military.com.

When a Triton UAV experienced an engine problem, it flew itself home, reports C4ISRNET. The autonomous vehicle recognized a problem and returned safely to Naval Base Ventura County Point Mugu, a sign of unexpected, long-term benefits.

For the past seven years, three Air Force civilians at Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA, have focused on the mantra of “reduce, reuse and recycle.” Military.com reports they have saved the base $1 billion by reusing old equipment.

Acting DefSec Patrick Shanahan says military housing dollars unlikely to be diverted to border wall, reports Military Times.

CNO defends hiding scathing internal report on Fitzgerald collision from public, reports Navy Times.

Speaking to a cheering crowd mostly of Venezuelan and Cuban immigrants in Miami, President Donald Trump urges Venezuelan military to abandon Maduro or “lose everything,” reports Reuters.

Air Force C-17s bring tons of humanitarian aid for Venezuela, reports Air Force Times.

US lawmakers meet President Ashaf Ghani who warns against big Afghanistan troop pullout, reports Defense News.

Pentagon chief asks allies to expand ISIS fight as US withdraws in Syria, reports Defense News.

Contracts:

Marine Systems Corp., Boston, Massachusetts, is awarded a $29,111,774 indefinite-delivery/indefinite-quantity, cost-plus-fixed-fee, firm-fixed-price hybrid single award contract for engineering, logistical, and information technology services to support the Navy Habitability Projects. The contract will include a five-year base ordering period with a six-month ordering period option pursuant of Federal Acquisition Regulation 52.212-8 – option to extend services, which if exercised, will bring the total ceiling value to $32,191,928. Work will be performed in Norfolk, Virginia (84 percent); San Diego, California (5 percent); Pearl Harbor, Hawaii (5 percent); Mayport, Florida (2 percent); Washington, District of Columbia (1 percent); Bahrain (1 percent); Japan (1 percent); and Rota, Spain (1 percent). The base ordering period is expected to be completed by March 2024; if the option is exercised, the ordering period will be completed by August 2024. Fiscal 2019 operations and maintenance (Navy) funds in the amount of $25,000 will be obligated to fund the contract’s minimum amount and funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. This contract was competitively procured with the solicitation posted to the Federal Business Opportunities and Navy Electronic Commerce Online websites, with five offers received. Naval Supply Systems Command Fleet Logistics Center Norfolk, Contracting Department Norfolk Office, Norfolk, Virginia, is the contracting activity (N0018919D0004).

Lockheed Martin, Rotary and Mission Systems, Moorestown, New Jersey, is awarded an $8,242,834 cost-plus-incentive-fee modification to previously awarded contract (N00024-15-C-5151) to exercise options for ship integration and test of the Aegis Weapon System (AWS) for AWS Baselines through Advanced Capability Build 16. Work will be performed in Camden, New Jersey (43 percent); Pascagoula, Mississippi (25 percent); Norfolk, Virginia (12 percent); Everett, Washington (10 percent); Virginia Beach, Virginia (6 percent); San Diego, California (3 percent); and Washington, District of Columbia (1 percent), and is expected to be completed by September 2024. Fiscal 2015 shipbuilding and conversion (Navy); and 2019 other procurement (Navy) funding in the amount of $8,242,834 will be obligated at the time of award. No contract funds will expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The Naval Sea Systems Command, Washington, District of Columbia, is the contracting activity.

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