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 Air Force is studying methods of disposing of spent upper stages from Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles (EELVs), which will remain in orbit around the Earth after the vehicles directly inject satellites into medium Earth orbit (MEO). The first scheduled direct injections by an EELV will be the launch of Block IIF Global Positioning System (GPS) satellites, starting in 2005.
Engine firings to raise the orbit of Boeing's troubled Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS) should resume by the third week of April, according to Boeing spokesman George Torres. In the interim, engineers at Boeing Satellite Systems (BSS) are continuing their analysis of a workaround solution for propellant tank problems on TDRS-I that could jeopardize its operational life.
An electromagnetic pulse (EMP), which would result from a single, crude nuclear weapon detonated in space above America, represents a very real and potentially disastrous asymmetric threat, according to Rep. Roscoe G. Bartlett (R-Md.) EMP effects can result from any nuclear blast occurring more than 31 miles (50 kilometers) above the surface of the Earth. EMPs have no effects on the human body, but can wipe out microelectronics systems at distances of hundreds of miles.
