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.
A coalition of researchers is partnering with NASA to perform research aboard the International Space Station (ISS) that they hope will lead to a vaccine against salmonella poisoning. A leading cause of food poisoning and diarrhea, salmonella is not just an inconvenience but “a major killer of children” worldwide, according to Timothy Hammond, associate chief of staff for research and development at the Durham Veterans Administration (VA) Medical Center in North Carolina.
The Terminal High-Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) program is gearing up for an intercept test against a separating missile target next month at the Pacific Missile Range Facility in Kauai, Hawaii. Since 2005, eight of 14 total planned THAAD flight-tests have been conducted, according to Col. Bill Lamb, U.S. Army THAAD project manager. The four prior targets used in the current flight-test program were all unitary targets, although an earlier incarnation of the program in the late ’90s included a successful test against a separating target, Lamb said.
SMEX FINALISTS: NASA has selected six finalists in its Small Explorer (SMEX) Program. The agency will pick two of the mission proposals in the spring of 2009 for full development, and the first could launch by 2012. The selected proposals are the Coronal Physics Explorer (CPEX), the Gravity and Extreme Magnetism SMEX (GEMS), the Interface Region Imaging Spectrograph (IRIS), the Joint Astrophysics Nascent Universe Satellite (JANUS), the Neutral Ion Coupling Explorer (NICE), and the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS).
