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.
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has found evidence that a body of hydrocarbon on Saturn’s moon Titan is liquid, based on its reflectivity in infrared wavelengths. “Ontario Lacus” is larger than its namesake, Lake Ontario in North America, and absorbs 99.9% of the light that hits it at the 5-micron wavelength, according to Robert Brown of the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He is principal investigator on Cassini’s Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS). “For it to be that dark, the surface has to be extremely quiescent, mirror smooth,” he says.
Iridium Satellite has tapped Lockheed Martin and Thales Alenia Space for the final phase of the procurement process for the company’s replacement satellite constellation, Iridium NEXT. During this last nine-month phase, the two companies will vie for the prime contract, slated to be awarded by mid-2009. The current generation of Iridium satellites is expected to begin reaching the end of its operational life around 2014. Iridium NEXT will replace the company’s current system of low-Earth orbiting satellites with 66 new spacecraft covering the entire globe.
In a campaign speech Aug. 2 in Titusville, Fla., near Kennedy Space Center, presumptive Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) expressed support for the addition of an extra space shuttle mission beyond the currently planned shuttle phaseout in 2010 to carry the Alpha Magnetic Spectrometer instrument to the International Space Station.
