Raytheon working on a system letting one UAV refuel another

Drones that stay airborne forever

Rikki Mitchell Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Sunday, February 27, 2011 12:00 am

Unmanned aircraft are flying every day on missions that call for them to collect data and images for hours on end.

Soon, they may never have to come down.

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems is part of a larger effort to develop technology to keep these drones in the air indefinitely. A U.S. patent was issued to Raytheon recently for a system that would allow one unmanned aerial vehicle to communicate in order to safely refuel another drone in flight.

The patent says a typical flight for unmanned aircraft includes being launched from its base, flying to the area of operation, “loitering” in that area to perform its mission and then flying back to the base and landing, all while carrying spare fuel in case of weather delays.

February 25, 2011

Arizona Daily Star

Local HTG Inc. receives $15.7M from investors

Tucson-based HTG Inc. said Thursday that it received $15.7 million in venture capital financing, led by new investor Novo A/S. Fletcher Spaght Ventures is also a new investor, joining existing investors Merck Capital Ventures, Solstice Capital and Valley Ventures.

“The new financing will be used to fuel the growth and adoption of HTG’s multiplex gene expression testing platform for validation and clinical applications across different therapeutic areas,” the company’s news release said. “HTG’s qNPA platform is in use at major academic and cancer research centers as well as big pharma.” HTG had a breakthrough year in 2010, CEO TJ Johnson said.

Solar system on carport parking will help power VA hospital here

David Wichner Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Saturday, February 19, 2011 12:00 am

Sunshine that can quickly turn a parked car into a solar oven will soon be put to more beneficial use at Southern Arizona’s main veterans’ hospital.

The Southern Arizona VA Health Care System is busy building a 2.9-megawatt photovoltaic power system on carports covering about 1,100 of the 1,700 parking spaces on its sprawling, 116-acre campus on Tucson’s south side.

When finished this spring, the system will be one of the biggest carport-mounted photovoltaic systems in the U.S., and the second-largest commercial-size solar power array connected to Tucson Electric Power Co.’s grid. The VA hospital already boasts the sixth-largest solar system on TEP’s system, a 302-kilowatt, ground-mounted array installed last year.

Paragon Space completes work air revitalization system

TECHNOLOGY

Posted: Friday, Inside Tucson Business, February 11, 2011 11:00 am | Updated: 1:32 pm, Fri Feb 11, 2011.

Paragon Space Development Corporation, 3481 E. Michigan St., has finished its work as part of a NASA development contract for a life support for crews of commercial transport systems.

Paragon’s portion of the system addressed life support functions in seven areas: carbon dioxide removal, humidity removal, trace contaminant removal, post-fire atmospheric recovery, air filtration, cabin air circulation and air temperature control.

The company said it will expand on the program this year building out other parts of the system.

International effort to study dark energy lights on 4M Mayall

Kitt Peak scope to get $100M shot in the arm

Tom Beal Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Friday, February 18, 2011 12:00 am

A $100 million international project called Big BOSS could breathe new life into an aging telescope on light-challenged Kitt Peak southwest of Tucson.

A consortium led by Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory wants to outfit the 4-meter Mayall Telescope with the world’s most sophisticated spectrographs and use it to answer one of astronomy’s grand challenges: explaining why the expansion of the universe is accelerating rather than slowing.

For the fields of astronomy and physics, it is an opportunity to test theories and challenge long-held beliefs – even Einstein’s gravitational mathematics.

For Kitt Peak, it is redemptive – a chance to transform its largest telescope from outdated behemoth to high-tech wonder, with an international cast.

Raytheon, Aerojet finish important test

Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Wednesday, February 9, 2011 12:00 am

Tucson-based Raytheon Missile Systems and development partner Aerojet completed a key test of a new warhead for the next-generation Standard Missile-3 missile interceptor.

The ground test of the kinetic, or non-explosive, warhead system for Raytheon’s Standard Missile-3 Block IB verified the ability of the warhead to detect, track and intercept a moving ballistic missile target in a zero-gravity environment, Raytheon said.

The test results keep the program on track for the first SM-3 Block IB intercept in space this year, with initial deliveries in 2012, said Frank Wyatt, vice president of Raytheon’s air and missile defense systems product line.

The next-generation SM-3 Block IB has an advanced, two-color infrared seeker, an advanced signal processor and the new warhead flight-control system. The new missile will be deployed in sea-based and land-based modes.

Existing labs, talent pool called a recipe for growth

Rosy future seen for Tucson biotech

Rikki Mitchell Arizona Daily Star | Posted: Saturday, February 5, 2011 12:00 am

Arizona Daily Star

Tucson’s biosciences sector is expected to grow as companies like Ventana Medical Systems/Roche add jobs and boost the industry overall, says the latest industry update by the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.

Commissioned by the Phoenix-based Flinn Foundation, Battelle’s study found that during the recessionary years of 2008-2009, bioscience jobs in Arizona increased by 7 percent, while Arizona overall lost 11 percent of its jobs.

In Tucson, job growth in research, testing and medical laboratories grew by 33 percent from 2002 to 2009. Tucson‘s hospital jobs grew by 20 percent.

Arizona is moving toward getting more respect nationally for its bioscience firms, and Tucson is a big part of that with companies like Ventana Medical Systems/Roche, said Walter Plosila, senior adviser to the Battelle Technology Partnership Practice.