Jeff has been involved in aerospace journalism since the mid 1990s. Prior to joining Aviation Week, Jeff served as managing editor of Launchspace magazine and the International Space Industry Report. He has been the editor and chief of Aviation Week's Aerospace Daily & Defense Report since 2007 and has been a regular contributor to Aviation Week magazine. He received his B.A. from the College of William & Mary in Williamsburg, Va.
FOURTH ESTATE: Making good on promises to trim the “fourth estate” of offices, staff and services outside the three branches of the military, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel has announced a 20% reduction in funding for the Office of the Secretary of Defense, the Joint Staff and the Military Service Headquarters over fiscal 2015-19, amounting to an estimated $1.5-2 billion in savings.
Astronauts aboard the International Space Station have kicked off a four-year study of vision problems that surfaced among crewmembers several years ago and now rank among the top health concerns facing those selected for future deep-space missions. Nineteen ISS astronauts have developed symptoms of impaired vision since the ailment was first recognized in 2005, according to Dr. Christian Otto, principal investigator for the NASA-sponsored Prospective Observational Study of Ocular Health.
NASA's long-lived Opportunity rover is rolling toward a new destination at Endeavour Crater on Mars, following one of the nine-year mission's most striking discoveries, a rock rich in clay minerals that points to an early, biologically friendly era dominated by water with a neutral chemistry. Opportunity's internal examination of the rock Esperance in a region known as Cape York on the crater's rim has produced findings strikingly similar to those from rock analysis by NASA's Curiosity rover at the Yellowknife Bay region of distant Gale Crater.
