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.
Europe's Ulysses spacecraft is once again passing over the Sun's south polar area as it continues tracking sunspots and other cyclical solar activity. Previous solar probes stayed near the plane of the Sun's equator, the European Space Agency says. From its highly inclined orbit, Ulysses has twice before orbited over the Sun's polar areas, first during a lull in sunspot activity and then during a period of frequent sunspots. This third pass is during a sunspot minimum, after a reversal in the Sun's magnetic poles.
After much negotiation and fine-tuning, the U.S. Air Force's Space and Missile Systems Center (SMC) has awarded Boeing a two-year, $674-million launch-capabilities contract for the company's Delta IV Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle (EELV) program. The contract is to sustain the company's EELV launch operations at Vandenberg AFB, Calif., and Cape Canaveral AFS, Fla. "This was extraordinarily complicated to get through, and so we're very pleased to have reached agreement with Boeing," SMC Commander Lt. Gen. Michael Hamel says.
SES Global has split awards for two new spacecraft, contracting NSS-9, intended for its New Skies affiliate, to Orbital Sciences Corp. and Astra 3b to EADS Astrium. NSS-9, a 2.2-metric-ton, 2.3-kw. spacecraft with 28 active C-band transponders, will be launched to 183 deg. E. Long. in 2008, permitting NSS-5 to be moved to an as-yet undisclosed orbital slot. The satellite will have three flexible beams serving the Western and Eastern Hemispheres and the entire visible planet, in line with New Skies' role as SES's third pillar, alongside Astra and Americom.
