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.
The House Science Committee's space subcommittee approved a bill designed to give NASA greater hiring flexibility June 26, over Democratic protests that any markup should be deferred until after the Columbia investigation delivers its final report. Sponsored by House Science committee Chairman Sherwood Boehlert (R-N.Y.), the "NASA Flexibility Act of 2003" (H.R. 1085) is intended to give the agency more flexibility to recruit and retain highly skilled employees (DAILY, March 7).
The U.S. Air Force soon will begin the third in a series of major live exercises to test the vulnerability of GPS-dependent military systems to jamming, according to Charles South, vulnerabilities test manager with the 746th Test Squadron at Holloman Air Force Base, N.M. Because of the low power of the GPS signal, a one- or two-watt jammer can jam an "unsophisticated" GPS receiver within a few hundred feet, South said. According to press reports, several attempts to jam GPS took place during Operation Iraqi Freedom.
The Columbia Accident Investigation Board's (CAIB) final report will contain a section in which board members will express "a sense of urgency" over NASA's need to develop a replacement for the space shuttle, according to CAIB Chairman Adm. Hal Gehman. "We have a section which we are writing right now, and I think the board is near agreement on this, in which we will express some concern about the stop/start, stop/start [nature] of replacement vehicles in the past," Gehman told The DAILY.
