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 on Sept. 20 announced new discoveries about surface changes on Mars detected by the agency's Mars Global Surveyor spacecraft, which has been orbiting the red planet since 1997 and is now the longest-lived Mars explorer. MGS has operated around Mars longer than any other spacecraft and sent back more images than all previous Mars missions combined, according to NASA. Its primary instrument, the Mars Orbiter Camera, is the most powerful camera currently orbiting the planet and has imaged nearly 4.5% of Mars' surface in high resolution.
NASA's newly unveiled exploration architecture could allow for crews of astronauts to remain on the lunar surface up to six months at a time, should such stays be deemed necessary, according to Administrator Michael Griffin. NASA's first mission back to the moon, targeted for 2018, would have a crew of four astronauts staying no more than a week on the surface (DAILY, Sept. 20). After NASA gains more experience, "we could take crew to the moon, let them work for six months, and then return them," Griffin said in Washington Sept. 19.
NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center is requesting information from industry about lightweight spacecraft buses that could carry a proposed solar sail mission vying for the chance to launch in 2010. Goddard's ST-9 Solar Sail mission is a candidate for the New Millennium Program's Space Technology 9 (ST-9) flight opportunity. The mission would validate solar sail technology through the orbital deployment of a steerable solar sail that provides predictable and measurable acceleration.
