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.
With a flat satellite launch market predicted for the foreseeable future, multinational launch providers are attempting to create growth by diversifying their capabilities across multiple vehicles and launch sites. Following the collapse of the low-earth orbit satellite market, the economic downturn in 2001 - along with the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks - has further curtailed the launch business, forcing providers to come up with creative solutions for assuring reliability to wary customers.
B/E Aerospace is marketing a reinforced cockpit door for commercial aircraft that the company says will comply with all current and future FAA regulations regarding security, crew escape, and rapid decompression. By April 2002, all airlines must submit a plan to the FAA on how they plan to retrofit their entire fleets to comply with new security regulations. That retrofit must be complete by April 2003.
Although NASA's third-generation reusable launch vehicle (RLV) isn't scheduled to come online until 2025, engineers in the Advanced Space Transportation Program (ASTP) at Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala. are already developing the technologies that could make efficient, aircraft-like single-stage-to-orbit flight a reality.
