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.
Orbital checkout is underway for the U.S. Air Force’s second Wideband Global Satcom (WGS) spacecraft. Built by Boeing at its factory in El Segundo, Calif., WGS-2 lifted off at 8:31 p.m. EDT Apr. 3 on board a United Launch Alliance Atlas V 421 rocket. A ground station in Dongara, Australia, received the military communication satellite’s first signals 44 min. later, and Boeing confirmed that the satellite is functioning normally. After a series of in-orbit maneuvers and tests, WGS-2 will be turned over to the Air Force.
NASA has chosen the Avcoat ablator system, which was used to protect Apollo capsules during reentry, as the thermal protection system for the Orion crew exploration vehicle. Made of silica fibers with an epoxy-novalic resin filled in a fiberglass-phenolic honeycomb, Avcoat was used both on Apollo and on select regions of the space shuttle in its earliest flights. It was put back into production for NASA to reevaluate.
A Sun shield being developed to shade the upper-stage fuel tanks on the Atlas V rocket and prevent fuel boil-off should be ready for testing by April 2011, according to United Launch Alliance (ULA). The test deployment will take place after the primary payload separates, during a flight that does not require the shield. Normally, it will inflate and deploy after the payload fairing is jettisoned. ULA, ILC Dover and NASA are collaborating on the inflatable shield, which ULA says could be adapted to other rockets or used for orbiting fuel depots.
