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.
Northrop Grumman and Boeing have agreed to join forces to pursue NASA's Crew Exploration Vehicle (CEV) program as well as the other human and robotic space systems that will make up Project Constellation, the companies announced Nov. 9.
A panel of analysts on Nov. 9 agreed that the presidential helicopter decision should be based on technical merit, although some expressed concern that the competition could be tainted by political sparring over which team's aircraft is more "American." "We've argued very strongly on the grounds that this should be a fair competition based on the merits," said Charles Pena, a senior defense analyst at the Cato Institute in Washington. "And I think it will be, but the question will be how politicized that decision becomes once a decision is made."
NASA is planning follow-on tests of an experimental unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) designed to fly on Mars. Known as the Mars Advanced Technology Airplane for Deployment, Operations, and Recovery (MATADOR), the vehicle follows the Aerial Regional-scale Environmental Survey (ARES) project, which was a finalist in NASA's 2007 Mars Scout competition (DAILY, April 25, 2003).
