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.
Boeing envisions a mix of two medium Earth orbit (MEO) and two geostationary (GEO) spacecraft for the U.S. Air Force's Space Based Surveillance System (SBSS), which the service is developing to keep watch over events in orbit. Boeing and Ball Aerospace are leading the team developing the SBSS Block 10 satellite, which will be a GEO spacecraft. The follow-on Block 20 system originally was envisioned as four LEO satellites that would be developed and procured separately.
NASA should more consistently follow its own guidance on the payment of award fees to contractors to ensure that such fees are better tied to program outcomes, according to the Government Accountability Office (GAO). At the request of the House Science & Technology Committee, GAO reviewed $31 billion in cost-plus-award-fee (CPAF) contracts at NASA during fiscal years 2002-2004. CPAF contracts accounted for almost half of NASA's contracting dollars over that time, GAO said in a report released Feb. 16.
The final NASA fiscal 2007 spending bill passed by the U.S. Senate Feb. 14 shifts $460 million in space shuttle and earmark funding over to exploration, which Sen. Barbara Mikulski thinks should be enough to keep the Orion Crew Exploration Vehicle and Ares I rocket programs on schedule. The continuing budget resolution essentially freezes FY '07 spending at FY '06 levels, which for NASA amounts to a $544 million cut to the agency's topline request. This led to concern that the Orion and Ares might miss their scheduled 2014 debut.
