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 Department of Defense is making progress in tackling problems of manned/unmanned aircraft integration that have been uncovered by recent operations in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Dyke Weatherington, deputy in charge of the Unmanned Aerial System Planning Task Force.
A battery problem with the spacecraft's Delta IV rocket discovered in the last five minutes of the countdown scuttled NASA's latest attempt to launch the GOES-N weather satellite on Aug. 16. As the rocket's onboard power systems were being brought online, technicians became concerned with voltage readings on a battery in the rocket's second stage that powers the self-destruct system, according to Boeing spokesman Robert Villanueva. The team was unable to diagnose the problem in time to make the launch window, which closed at 7:06 p.m. EDT.
Liftoff of GOES-N has slipped to the evening of Aug. 16, the last available day at Cape Canaveral, Fla., before the team will have to renegotiate a new launch date with range officials. If the launch is scrubbed again, "we're going to have to work with the Air Force range to see what other launches the delays may have affected," Boeing spokesman Robert Villanueva told The DAILY Aug. 16.
