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's Jet Propulsion Laboratory is evaluating industry proposals for the preliminary design of the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (JIMO) spacecraft, in anticipation of awarding a contract by October. Teams led by Lockheed Martin, Boeing and Northrop Grumman submitted their final proposals last month, according to Ray Taylor, acting director for Project Prometheus at NASA's Office of Exploration Systems. In collaboration with JPL, the winning team will create a preliminary design for the spacecraft, which NASA plans to launch sometime in the next decade.
Given the disappointing number of orders placed with satellite manufacturers so far this year, European launch provider Arianespace is bracing itself for a smaller launch market next year, according to CEO Jean-Yves Le Gall. The market leader, Arianespace won eight of 17 competed launch contracts in 2003, managing to post a modest profit for that year after three straight years of losses.
Competing industry teams led by Raytheon and Lockheed Martin have submitted updated proposals for the Defense Department's Mobile User Objective System (MUOS) program to reflect a schedule slip and a $100 million cut in the program's fiscal year 2005 budget. MUOS would replace the Navy's Ultra High Frequency Follow-on (UFO) communication satellites, providing mobile communications capability for troops across the services. The program's total potential value is estimated at $6.4 billion.
