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.
ProtoStar, a Bermuda-based startup planning to offer direct-to-home broadcasting coverage across Asia, says it has completed financing needed to acquire and launch the first of three spacecraft to provide the service. The $210-million financing package, consisting of $160 million in senior secured convertible notes and $50 million in equity from venture capital and private-equity funds, will complement initial funding raised in 2005 from New Enterprise Associates and SpaceVest.
NASA plans to use the Opportunity Mars Exploration Rover (MER) to listen for any signals from the silent Mars Global Surveyor (MGS) satellite, but hopes are dimming for regaining contact with the decade-old orbiter. "We believe that the prospect of recovery of MGS is not looking very good at all," said Fuk Li, Mars program manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, Calif. "But ... MGS has been a good friend. The data it's collected has taught us a lot about Mars."
NATO member countries are likely to agree to common funding of more and more aspects of alliance operations in the future, according to Daniel Freed, assistant secretary of state for European and Eurasian affairs. The push toward common funding has been led primarily by Poland and Spain, Freed said during a Defense Writers Group breakfast in Washington Nov. 21.
