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.
DELTA DENOUEMENT: The last U.S. Air Force launch on a Delta II rocket is slated for Aug. 17, when the United Launch Alliance-built rocket will deliver the last of eight modernized Global Positioning System (GPS) IIR-M satellites to orbit. The launch window at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., opens at 6:35 a.m. EDT, and closes 14 minutes later. The mission will mark the second GPS launch of 2009. Built by Lockheed Martin, the IIR-M satellite offers improved position accuracy, enhanced encryption, anti-jamming capabilities and a second civil signal.
STIMULUS FUNDS: DOD has awarded 28 grants totaling $14.1 million as part of the fiscal 2009 Defense Experimental Program to Stimulate Competitive Research (DEPSCoR). The grants will enhance research and engineering capabilities at 20 academic institutions in 14 states, in scientific disciplines critical to national security, according to DOD. The list of projects selected for DEPSCoR funding is available online at http://www.defenselink.mil/news/Aug 2009/DEPSCOR.pdf. The fiscal 2009 program solicitation received 131 proposals.
The STS-127 crew aboard the space shuttle Endeavour performed their final inspection of the orbiter’s thermal protection system (TPS) on the morning of July 29 in preparation for returning home July 31. The crew used the Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS) extension to the shuttle’s robotic arm to ensure no micrometeoroid impacts or other damage occurred while the shuttle was docked to the International Space Station (ISS). The crew departed from the ISS July 28, following a busy assembly mission that completed Japan’s Kibo laboratory.
