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.
In light of the estimated $5 billion budget shortfall facing the space shuttle program over the next few years, Boeing is considering merging elements of its shuttle and space station engineering work forces to save money and free personnel to work on new exploration-related systems. The total engineering work force for both programs numbers roughly 800 people, according to John Elbon, Boeing's International Space Station program manager.
Lockheed Martin officials met with Army acquisition chief Claude Bolton Nov. 14 to present three options the company has come up with for salvaging the $8 billion Aerial Common Sensor program. The Army issued a 90-day stop-work order to Lockheed Martin in mid-September after learning that the company's chosen platform for ACS, the Embraer ERJ-145 business jet, was too small to carry the multiple intelligence-gathering payloads intended for it. The company was given 60 days to come up with alternatives.
NASA's Ames Research Center in California is considering two mission architectures for the first lander mission in the upcoming Robotic Lunar Exploration Program, according to RLEP Program Architect Sylvia Cox. Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has primary responsibility for executing the 2010 lander mission, informally dubbed "RLEP 2" because it is the second in the proposed series of robotic lunar explorers that will precede the return of astronauts in 2018. The first RLEP mission is the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, scheduled for 2008.
