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.
Later this decade, NASA plans to launch a Mars rover mission that will use a previously untried technique known as aeromaneuvering to provide guidance as the spacecraft enters the Martian atmosphere. The entry vehicle will build on designs dating back to the Viking lander missions of the 1970s, according to Richard Powell, senior research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and head of NASA's Aero-Assist Working Group.
As part of the ongoing National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into American Airlines Flight 587, NASA Langley Research Center will be examining key portions of the tail section of the Airbus A300 aircraft, which crashed 103 seconds after takeoff. The tail parts are due to arrive at Langley in Hampton, Va. on Dec. 3. Flight 587 crashed in Belle Harbor, N.Y. Nov. 12, killing all 260 people onboard as well as five more on the ground.
NASA scientists are ready to demonstrate aerocapture - using a planet's atmosphere to slow a spacecraft and "capture" it into orbit - before the end of the decade. Aerospace agency scientists have been ready to try it for years, according to Richard Powell, senior research engineer at NASA Langley Research Center and head of NASA's Aero-Assist Working Group. "I think if you talk to anybody in the aerocapture community, they'll tell you all they really need is the chance," Powell told The DAILY.
