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.
Space Exploration Technologies (SpaceX) plans the fourth launch attempt of its Falcon 1 rocket during a window running Sept. 28 to Oct. 1. Although Flight 4 was originally to carry a Malaysian Space Agency payload, it has been redesignated as a demonstration test. The low-cost commercial rocket has been launched three times but so far failed to make it to orbit. The third attempt in early August failed due to residual thrust in the Merlin 1C first-stage engine (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 8).
NASA’s Kepler planet-finding mission has successfully completed thermal-vacuum testing in preparation for its launch next year, NASA announced Sept. 23. The test took place at manufacturer Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.’s facility in Boulder, Colo. The spacecraft functioned “extremely well,” NASA Kepler Project Manager James Fanson said in a statement.
NASA’s Mars Phoenix lander is using its robotic arm to try to move a rock and allow examination of the soil underneath. Dubbed “Headless,” the rock is on the lander’s north side and is about the size and shape of a videotape, according to NASA. “We don’t know whether we can do this until we try,” said Ashitey Trebi Ollennu, a robotics engineer at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
