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.
Under a $2 million contract from the FAA, General Dynamics plans to use Iridium satellite links to help fill coverage gaps in the FAA's Capstone Communications Control System in Alaska. Installed in selected aircraft, the experimental Capstone system regularly broadcasts GPS-based position information about the aircraft to ground terminals through line-of-sight communications links. The system was credited with saving the life of a downed pilot in November 2002 when rescuers used Capstone data to find the last known location of his plane.
SpaceDev of Poway, Calif., has completed the first phase of a privately funded study to design a low-cost robotic mission that would land a radio astronomy dish near the moon's south pole.
The U.S. has proposed a compromise to the European Union (EU) on the civil signal structure for Europe's planned Galileo constellation that American officials say will preserve the integrity of the U.S. Global Positioning System (GPS) for military users. Galileo is a constellation of 30 positioning satellites intended to free European users from exclusive dependence on GPS. Like GPS, Galileo would broadcast an open signal to civil users and an encrypted signal for government use. Galileo is scheduled to be operational by 2008.
