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Former NASA Admin Jim Bridenstine Joins Firefly Aerospace Advisory Board; CEO Bill Weber Quoted
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Former NASA Admin Jim Bridenstine Joins Firefly Aerospace Advisory Board; CEO Bill Weber Quoted

Former NASA Administrator Jim Bridenstine, a previous winner of the prestigious Wash100 Award, has been appointed to the advisory board of emerging space technology company Firefly Aerospace, effective immediately.

Following the completion of Firefly’s recent Alpha FLTA endeavor and expansion through a variety of new contracts, Bridenstine will guide the company into a new phase of growth, the Austin, Texas-based organization announced on Monday.

“We’re honored to welcome Jim, a visionary leader in aeronautics and space exploration, to the Firefly Advisory Board,” stated Bill Weber, who was named Firefly CEO in Sept. 2022. Weber continued, emphasizing the benefit of Bridenstine’s expertise.

During Bridenstine’s time at NASA, the agency’s scientific portfolio broadened to include the Mars Perseverance Rover, an updated fleet of Earth-observing satellites and a finalized James Webb Space Telescope.

Under his leadership, NASA also finalized its Artemis program and created the Commercial Lunar Payload services program, which supported NASA in collaborating with commercial enterprises to land rovers on the moon’s surface.

Bridenstine also oversaw the continuation of the International Space Station’s commercial resupply and drove the agency’s goal of connecting with U.S. businesses on the Commercial Crew Program, which aims to launch U.S. rockets from domestic launch sites.

Before working with NASA, Bridenstine served in the U.S. House of Representatives, during which he was a member of the Armed Services Committee and the Science, Space and Technology Committee. Prior to his political career, he served as an active duty pilot in the U.S. Navy for nine years with combat missions in Iraq and Afghanistan.

“I look forward to advising Firefly on how they can better position the company to take advantage of the tremendous opportunities available in today’s fast-evolving space economy,” Bridenstine said.

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AFRL Equips Rocket Propulsion Division With New Equipment to Advance Fabrication Capabilities
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AFRL Equips Rocket Propulsion Division With New Equipment to Advance Fabrication Capabilities

The Rocket Propulsion Division within the Air Force Research Laboratory’s Aerospace Systems Directorate has upgraded its fabrication capabilities with new equipment designed to advance the production of rocket components.

AFRL said Friday the division received new devices, including five computer numerical control milling machines, three CNC lathes, a wire electrical discharge machining machine, a sinker EDM machine, a small hole EDM, a waterjet cutter and several manually operated machines.

These machines will work to enable engineers and scientists to speed up production and increase the accuracy of liquid rocket engine parts and solid rocket motor components.

“The machines are equipped with similar CNC control units to lessen operator training. More accurate spindles and electronic part probing reduce setup time and increase precision,” said Ben Gleason, lead fabrication technician.

AFRL noted that the new machines are equipped with automation capabilities to meet test schedules and create consistency in production.

“The new machines support highly precise cuts which eliminate waste and save money on material and human error in the fabrication process,” Gleason said.

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DOE Announces Funding Opportunities to Support Hydropower Technology Development; Jennifer Granholm Quoted
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DOE Announces Funding Opportunities to Support Hydropower Technology Development; Jennifer Granholm Quoted

The Department of Energy has released three funding opportunity announcements to support research and development projects that aim to advance the development of hydropower technology.

DOE said Friday the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law has allocated a total of $28 million in funding to expand the hydropower industry in the U.S. and promote engagements with stakeholders on key issues related to the sector.

Most of the funding, or $14.5 million, will be used to retrofit dams that do not produce power and develop new technologies designed to advance pumped storage hydropower deployment.

The Biden administration is also investing $10 million in the construction and commissioning of new pumped storage hydropower facilities to enable long-duration storage of intermittent renewable energy.

The remaining $4 million will be used to encourage discussions on the modernization of the U.S. hydropower fleet and the sustainability and environmental impact of hydropower facilities.

“Hydropower has long provided Americans with significant, reliable energy, which will now play a crucial role in achieving energy independence and protecting the climate,” said Energy Secretary Jennifer Granholm.

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Pete Buttigieg Announces Members of Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee
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Pete Buttigieg Announces Members of Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee

Pete Buttigieg, secretary of the Department of Transportation, has named the new members of an advisory committee that provides advice and recommendations to the Federal Aviation Administration on matters related to the commercial space transportation industry.

Buttigieg approved the appointment of 21 new members and the reappointment of seven members to the Commercial Space Transportation Advisory Committee to guide the development of technology and business policies governing the sector.

The new members consist of senior executives from academia, space advocacy organizations and commercial aerospace companies including SpaceX, United Launch Alliance, Spaceflight, Astra and Airbus.

The reappointed members include Ann Zulkosky, vice president of commercial civil space at Lockheed Martin, and Kate Kronmiller, VP of government relations at Jacobs.

The FAA is updating its recommended practices for commercial human spaceflight occupant safety to reflect input from COMSTAC.

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GovCon Expert Dana Barnes Discusses Cybersecurity History & Evolution
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GovCon Expert Dana Barnes Discusses Cybersecurity History & Evolution

Dana Barnes, president of Government with Dataminr and an influential member of Executive Mosaic’s GovCon Expert program, recently participated as a guest on SecurePod, a  weekly podcast from SecurityToday to discuss the evolution of how data software benefits businesses in the federal marketplace.

The two-time recipient of the prestigious Wash100 Award also explored the company’s history and how the innovative platform from Dataminr works to serve its customers as well as his own history and background in cybersecurity over the course of his career.

Here’s an excerpt from the feature from GovCon Expert Dana Barnes.

“The initial introduction I had to cybersecurity was during my time at Microsoft. In the old days, people thought Microsoft wasn’t secure,” Barnes explained. “Bill Gates actually shut the company down for a few days and said, ‘We are going to change this and become the most secure platform in the world’…I came in shortly after that and cybersecurity was a constant conversation and I learned a ton.”

In addition, the conversation between GovCon Expert Dana Barnes and host Ralph C. Jensen continued to explore how the cybersecurity space is constantly evolving and the ways that Dataminr continues to learn more and continue to grow its solution set to protect its customers.

“What I love about our first-to-learn set as well as our pulse capabilities on the commercial and corporate risk side of the house is that all of this can continue to evolve and become adaptable to the situation at hand,” Dana Barnes explained.

He continued, “As I bring my experience from those other companies along with everything that I’m learning here at Dataminr from some incredible engineers, that balance will allow us to make a great impact in cyberspace and physical security as both those aspects merger together.”

You can listen to the full podcast episode on SecurityToday.com and read all the exclusive content from GovCon Expert Dana Barnes through Executive Mosaic on GovCon Wire.com.

About GovCon Expert Dana Barnes

With more than 22 years of IT and business development experience, including a Master of Science in Information Technology, Dana Barnes has spent his career helping customers and partners solve problems and improve their infrastructure and operational capabilities.

His overall focus has remained on managing effective teams and delivering technology when and where it can be used to solve business problems.

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Treasury, OMB Report 50% Drop in FY 2022 Deficit; Janet Yellen, Shalanda Young Quoted
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Treasury, OMB Report 50% Drop in FY 2022 Deficit; Janet Yellen, Shalanda Young Quoted

The Department of the Treasury and the Office of Management and Budget reported that the deficit dropped by $1.4 trillion, or 50 percent, to $1.37 trillion in fiscal year 2022 and that government receipts reached $4.89 trillion, reflecting an increase of 21 percent from FY 2021.

The rise in FY 2022 receipts can be attributed to higher corporate and individual income tax collections and retirement and social insurance receipts, according to OMB and the Treasury.

Outlays declined by 8.1 percent, or approximately $550 billion, to $6.27 trillion in FY 2022 due to reductions in spending related to the COVID-19 pandemic, including Small Business Administration programs and unemployment insurance initiatives.

Federal borrowing from the public totaled $24.3 trillion in FY 2022, showing an increase of $2 trillion. The two agencies linked the rise to borrowing needed to finance the deficit and net borrowing associated with other transactions.

“Today’s joint budget statement provides further evidence of our historic economic recovery, driven by our vaccination effort and the American Rescue Plan. It also demonstrates President Biden’s commitment to strengthening our nation’s fiscal health,” Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said.

Under President Biden’s leadership, “more Americans are working today than at any point in our country’s history, our economy has added more than 10 million jobs, manufacturing is booming, and we cut last year’s deficit in half,” OMB Director Shalanda Young said.

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James Dickinson: Space Command Should Invest in Space Domain Awareness
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James Dickinson: Space Command Should Invest in Space Domain Awareness

U.S. Space Command is tracking over 47,000 space objects and Army Gen. James Dickinson, head of Spacecom, said the command intends to hand over that responsibility to the Department of Commerce in order for it to focus on space domain awareness, DOD News said Friday.

“My current priority is to invest in space domain awareness. To … gain a better understanding of the activities in space,” Dickinson said Thursday during a conference. 

“Our challenges center on ensuring the warfighter has relevant and timely data to execute missions in a very complex and changing environment,” he added.

Dickinson highlighted the role of industry in advancing the command’s priorities and the need for an integrated network of sensors that could support warfighters on a global scale.

“Our sensor network must better enable battle management of increasingly dynamic and changing environments,” he said.

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Navy Officials Say Contractors Outsource Work on Aircraft Carriers, Submarines
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Navy Officials Say Contractors Outsource Work on Aircraft Carriers, Submarines

Two U.S. Navy officials said some prime contractors are outsourcing construction work on nuclear-powered submarines and aircraft carriers as they face difficulty in hiring enough workers, Defense News reported Friday.

Rear Adm. Jon Rucker, the program executive officer for attack submarines, said General Dynamics Electric Boat and HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division outsource 1.1 million hours and 900,000 hours of work, respectively, each year as they develop new Columbia- and Virginia-class submarines. 

Rucker said the combined work hours of 2 million will increase to 5 million by 2025.

Rear Adm. James Downey, the service’s PEO for aircraft carriers, said he thinks outsourcing work will surge over time amid the labor shortage facing the sole shipbuilder for aircraft carriers.

Downey noted that companies like Virginia-based Fairlead Structures and South Carolina-based W International are constructing about 189 hull units for the future aircraft carrier Enterprise.

“Two dozen-ish have come in so far from various suppliers: so far, quality is OK,” he added.

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Army Acquisition Exec Douglas Bush Talks Rapid Prototyping, Software Reform
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Army Acquisition Exec Douglas Bush Talks Rapid Prototyping, Software Reform

Douglas Bush, assistant secretary for acquisition, logistics and technology at the U.S. Army, said he is prioritizing “acquisition at speed” to shorten purchasing timelines especially for small businesses waiting for funding.

He told Government Matters in an interview aired Wednesday that his team is using Congress-approved authority to start programs much faster and digital engineering to kickstart prototype construction earlier.

Bush noted the Army was able to develop new firearms in 27 months under the Next-generation Squad Weapon program, and is testing the same rapid prototyping approach to replace old artillery and ammunition across the service.

The acquisition official added he would initiate software reform and biotechnology projects that take advantage of existing private sector accomplishments to expedite how the government purchases, develops, fields and sustains its technologies while supporting personnel.

When asked about Project Convergence, Bush said his team is testing robotics and network technologies to solve operational problems in joint all-domain command and control.

Bush made his remarks at the annual Association of the U.S. Army meeting, where he also talked about working with allies to secure the supply chain despite donating arms to countries like Ukraine.

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Report: Cyber Executive Order Drives Federal Zero Trust Adoption, Data Protection Tech Investment
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Report: Cyber Executive Order Drives Federal Zero Trust Adoption, Data Protection Tech Investment

Federal cybersecurity leaders have moved to adopt zero trust principles and pursued investments in data protection technology after the release of Executive Order 14028, according to the findings of a joint Zettaset-MeriTalk survey.

Fifty-seven percent of the 150 survey respondents said they experienced information security leaks in the last two years and 63 percent believed that over half of such incidents could be prevented through end-to-end encryption, Zettaset said Wednesday.

The EO prompted 67 percent of the respondents to invest in factor authentication, 57 percent in end-to-end encryption and 49 percent in data loss prevention tools.

In May 2021, President Biden ordered federal agencies to improve the protection of networks across the government in response to hacks involving SolarWinds, Microsoft Exchange and Colonial Pipeline.

“Zero trust is no longer a nice to have, but a necessary mindset in today’s evolving threat landscape,” said Zettaset CEO Tim Reilly.

“Borrowing a few of the core tenets from the Cyber EO’s zero trust blueprint can lead to an increasingly more secure and responsive security framework.”

The company helped conduct the survey in September.

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