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 ISTAR engine that could power NASA's X-43B hypersonic demonstrator by decade's end is actually three engines integrated into one, according to Project Manager Craig McArthur. "We're taking three propulsion systems - a rocket, a ramjet, and a scramjet - and we're coming up with one flowpath which answers the jobs for all three," said McArthur, who manages the ISTAR program at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala.
NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has awarded the first design contract for the Integrated System Test of an Air-breathing Rocket (ISTAR) - the hybrid engine that could power the X-43B hypersonic demonstrator by decade's end. The $16.6 million contract, awarded Jan. 4, is expected to lead to the development by 2006 of a ground test version of ISTAR, with a flight demonstration by 2010.
Wireless local area network [LAN] technology being developed by the Boeing Co. could one day allow both manned and unmanned aircraft to "log on" to an airborne network to share highly accurate position and flight control data. This data sharing ability is a critical component of the autonomous formation flight (AFF) program - a joint effort between NASA, Boeing, and UCLA.
