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.
NUCLEAR NAVY: U.S. Naval Sea Systems Command has awarded Bechtel Plant Machinery Inc. a $349 million cost plus fixed fee contract for Naval nuclear propulsion components. Work will be performed in Pittsburgh, Pa., (77 percent) and Schenectady, N.Y., (23 percent). Contract funds will not expire at the end of the current fiscal year. The service is mum on completion dates or any other info concerning nuclear propulsion contracts.
TWISTED SATURN: New images from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft have revealed enormous cyclones at both of Saturn’s poles. The cyclone at the gas giant’s north pole is only visible in the near-infrared wavelengths because the pole is in winter. The whirlpool-like cyclone there is rotating at 530 kilometers per hour (325 miles per hour), according to NASA, which is more than twice as fast as the highest winds measured in cyclones on Earth. The images can be found at www.nasa.gov/cassini.
HAWK SUPPORT: NASA’s Dryden Flight Research Center has awarded a multi-year contract to L-3 Communications for support of the center’s pending operation of two Global Hawk aircraft. The contract is worth up to $15 million and covers through Sept. 4, 2013. Dryden inherited the unmanned aircraft from the U.S. Air Force, and will use them for science missions that need high-altitude, long-endurance airborne capability. The first mission is tentatively scheduled for the spring of 2009.
