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.
The U.S. space industry charges too much for the services it provides and must learn to do more with less, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said during a speech in Washington April 25. "We, the country, don't get enough back for what we spend" on space, Griffin told attendees of the Inside Aerospace symposium sponsored by the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics and the Space Foundation. "That means we don't get enough product for the amount of people's time invested in these activities. We have too many people doing every job we do."
The U.S. government plans to launch the standalone replacement satellite for Landsat by 2009 or 2010, while offering incentives to industry that might get the spacecraft up even sooner and reduce the chance of a data gap, according to an official with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP). "The [request for proposals] is scheduled to be released in the third quarter of calendar year 2006," said OSTP's Gene Whitney during the Inside Aerospace symposium in Washington April 25. "There are incentives being offered for early launch."
Government officials working on the congressionally mandated U.S. national policy on aeronautics say they expect it to be publicly released in December following signing by President Bush. NASA and the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) co-chair the committee that has been working on the policy since last fall. The group also includes participation from the Defense, Transportation and Commerce Departments.
