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 backshell for the Mars Science Laboratory (MSL) has arrived at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., as NASA scrambles to get the troubled rover mission ready for its launch next fall. The backshell is half of the two-part Lockheed Martin-built aeroshell that will encapsulate the golf cart-sized rover and protect it from atmospheric friction when it makes its descent to the surface of Mars. The aeroshell is 15 feet in diameter, which is nearly twice the size of the aeroshells that protected the Mars Exploration Rovers.
NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer mission (IBEX) was launched successfully from Kwajalein Atoll in the Pacific Ocean Oct. 19, kicking off its planned two-year mission to map the outer edge of the solar system. Equatorial launch via Orbital Sciences’ Pegasus booster took place at 1:47 p.m. EDT, and the spacecraft separated from the third stage of the rocket at 1:53 p.m. The operations team is continuing to check out spacecraft subsystems, according to NASA. Heliosphere
