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 technical performance of NASA’s Kepler planet-finding spacecraft is so positive that its mission span could be stretched beyond a nominal 3.5 years to 6 years, says John Troeltzsch, program manager for prime contractor Ball Aerospace. “It really looks [like] we are poised for a long-duration experiment, which is the whole idea of Kepler,” he says. The 15-ft.-tall, 9-ft.-dia.
The space shuttle program sees no difficulties if the Obama administration decides to extend flights into early 2011, as the Augustine human spaceflight panel plans to recommend. The panel, which held its final public meeting Aug. 12 and is due to deliver its final recommendations to NASA and the White House by the end of the month, thinks NASA should at minimum extend the shuttle into March 2011 to ensure sufficient margin for its remaining scheduled flights to finish assembly of the International Space Station (Aerospace DAILY, Aug. 13).
In the run up to the planned launch of space shuttle Discovery later this month on STS-128, NASA is still analyzing the surprising foam debris shedding on the previous mission, with some engineers calling for the shuttle to be rolled back from the launch pad for more in-depth analysis. STS-127 saw worrisome foam losses from three areas of the big external fuel tank — the forward bipod area, an ice/frost ramp on the liquid oxygen tank, and the intertank area.
