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.
Citing concern over the technical risks and uncertainties inherent in NASA's proposed robotic servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), a National Academies panel recommended that NASA "take no actions that would preclude" another servicing visit by the space shuttle.
NASA has organized a series of internal and external analyses of the future of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) in anticipation of presenting a full range of options to Administrator Sean O'Keefe next month. NASA predicts that without servicing, Hubble could become inoperative in as little as three years, after its batteries or stabilizing gyroscopes fail. Under pressure from Congress to keep the observatory operating for as long as possible, NASA has chosen to begin pursuing a robotic servicing mission that would launch in 2007.
Nearly 60 representatives from the Space Exploration Alliance (SEA) are expected to conduct more than 200 briefings to members of Congress on the importance of NASA's space exploration vision during a "media blitz" July 12 and 13, according to National Space Society (NSS) Executive Director George Whitesides. "As of yesterday, we had ... 120 [briefings scheduled], but these things all get done at the last minute, so we'll probably have over 200 by the end of the day," Whitesides told The DAILY July 9.
