Daily Report posted items Friday on Thursday’s two launches: 1) the Boeing-built reusable X-37B orbital test vehicle aboard a United Launch Alliance Atlas V in its trimmed down 501 configuration (see X-37B Boosted into Space); and 2) first launch of an Orbital Sciences Corp. suborbital Minotaur IV Lite, boosting DARPA’s HTV-2 into the upper atmosphere for its planned 30-minute, 13,000 mph streak over the Pacific (see Minotaur IV Lite Boosts Hypersonic Vehicle).
A new report from the Government Accountability Office calls for the Pentagon’s Chief Technology Officer to have budget certification authority over the military services’ research and development accounts—a move the services say would add a burdensome and unnecessary layer of bureaucracy.
