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.
Congressional auditors still see a bevy of issues clouding the future of the U.S. Navy’s Littoral Combat Ship (LCS), including potential production hiccups as designs continue to evolve, uncertain cost estimates and development problems with the vessel’s crucial mission packages.
A new program is using the 66-spacecraft Iridium constellation to provide continuous, global monitoring of space weather. Known as the Active Magnetosphere and Planetary Electrodynamics Response Experiment (Ampere), it is a collaboration between the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL), Iridium and Boeing. Ampere provides real-time measurements of Earth’s magnetic field, with up to 100 times greater sampling density than previously possible.
The National Academies decadal survey panel on astronomy and astrophysics recommends that NASA seek collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA) in developing a space-based wide-field infrared survey telescope (Wfirst) to be launched in 2020—the survey’s top large-scale mission priority. ESA is considering a satellite called Euclid that would perform many of the same functions as Wfirst. “We would encourage NASA to see if the Europeans are interested, now that they know what we’re thinking of,” says Martha Haynes, vice chair of the survey panel.
