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.
Mission managers for NASA's Mars Exploration Rover Opportunity have decided that a proposed route out of Endurance crater is too treacherous and instead favor having the rover retrace its steps to leave the same way it came in. Opportunity has been exploring the stadium-sized crater in Mars' Meridiani Planum region since June. Within Endurance, Opportunity has found evidence of a wet environment in the area's distant past.
NASA's X-43A "Hyper-X" team is poised to break its own airspeed record Nov. 15 during the third and final flight of the hypersonic demonstrator, which will shoot for Mach 10. The X-43A program achieved the fastest flight of an air-breathing aircraft March 27 during a successful Mach 6.83 (5,000 mph) flight off the coast of California (DAILY, March 30). The Mach 10 (7,000 mph) flight attempt will follow a flight path roughly similar to the March flight.
A new study by Futron Corp. ranks Lockheed Martin's Atlas V rocket first in overall customer satisfaction among launch vehicles capable of putting payloads in geostationary orbit, with chief launch services competitor Arianespace's Ariane 5 vehicle coming in third.
