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.
Thales Alenia Space executives say they see limited commercial interest to date in active telecom antennas such as one being developed for Hispasat AG1, planned to go into orbit in 2012 as the first application of the European Space Agency’s SmallGeo telecom satellite program. However, they anticipate considerable demand from military users, for whom heightened flexibility and security can largely offset lower antenna efficiency.
NASA scientists are still analyzing data from the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensor Satellite (Lcross) impact at the Moon’s south pole on Oct. 9, but it turns out that the European Space Agency’s Smart-1 lunar orbiter apparently produced a bigger plume than its larger NASA cousin when it plowed into the lunar surface. The angle of incidence seems to be the reason, says Bernard Foing, ESA’s Smart-1 project scientist. While Lcross hit the bottom of the Cabeus crater at the Moon’s south pole at a relatively steep angle, Smart-1 came in at a shallow angle and bounced.
IN MEMORIAM: Dr. Rodger Doxsey, head of the Hubble Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md., died Oct. 13 in a local hospice after a prolonged bout with cancer. The New York native was 62. Doxsey oversaw Hubble Space Telescope science operations at the institute, working closely with the scientists operating the telescope, its designers at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, and the astronomers around the world who relied on the observatory for their research. Doxsey first came to the institute in 1981, nine years before Hubble’s launch.
