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.
The launch of the HEO-2 second Space Based Infrared System (Sbirs) High test payload is likely to occur from Vandenberg AFB, Calif., on board a Lockheed Martin Atlas V currently scheduled for early April 2007. This will be the first launch of an Atlas V Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle from Vandenberg. The mission is designated National Reconnaissance Office 28 (NRO-28), since the HEO-2 sensor will be carried aloft with an NRO host satellite, most likely an NRO data-relay satellite, as with the HEO-1 mission.
After much negotiation and fine-tuning, the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded Boeing a two-year, $674-million launch-capabilities contract for the company's Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The contract is to sustain the company's EELV launch operations at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. "This was extraordinarily complicated to get through, and so we're very pleased to have reached agreement with Boeing," SMC Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel says.
NASA plans to use the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover (MER) to listen for any signals from the silent Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) satellite, but hopes are dimming for regaining contact with the decade-old orbiter. "We believe that the prospect of recovery of MGS is not looking very good at all," said Fuk Li, Mars program manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "But ... MGS has been a good friend. The data it's collected has taught us a lot about Mars."
