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 propellantless thrust of a solar sail could be humanity's best bet for sending spacecraft beyond the edge of the solar system, according to NASA scientist Les Johnson. The gentle but insistent push of solar photons could accelerate a solar-sail powered vehicle to speeds as high as 40-50 kilometers per second by the time it reached Jupiter, Johnson told the DAILY.
NASA is partnering with engineers at Boeing and UCLA to help aircraft mimic a practice migratory birds have perfected over millions of years - flying in formation to reduce drag and conserve energy. Autonomous Formation Flight (AFF), if proven, could eventually enable fuel savings as high as $2 million per large commercial transport aircraft per year, according to AFF Project Manager Gerard Schkolnik of NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center.
An independent NASA panel concluded that there are "no known aeromechanics phenomena" that would prevent the safe development and deployment of the V-22 Osprey tiltrotor aircraft, and recommended flight testing be resumed without delay. The 12-member panel, made up of experts from government, academia, and industry, was formed in response to a May 24 request by Rear Adm. Jeffrey Cook, vice commander of Naval Air Systems Command (NAVAIR), to assess tiltrotor aeromechanics phenomena that might adversely affect the safety or performance of the V-22.
