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.
Inmarsat has unveiled the specifications for a handheld phone that could allow it to go head to head with Iridium and other global satphone operators (AW&ST March 15, p. 37). To be rolled out in June, the handheld, dubbed IsatPhone Pro, will be resistant to dust, splash and shock; will work in temperatures from -20 to 55C; and will have an 8-hr. talk time, with up to 100 hr. of standby battery life. It will be introduced at $699—or as little as $500-600 through special promotions—and calls will cost around $1 a minute.
NASA has awarded a contract to build a testbed for optically guided rendezvous and docking in Mars orbit—a key technique that will be required for a Mars sample return. Such a mission will have to gather a sample from the Martian surface, then launch it into Mars orbit, where it will dock autonomously with the spacecraft that will bring it back to Earth. The Mars Orbiting Sample Retrieval Rendezvous and Docking Testbed will be developed by Aurora Flight Sciences and Massachusetts Institute of Technology’s Space Systems Laboratory.
The Discovery astronauts touched down at Kennedy Space Center early April 20, ending a weather-delayed, 15-day mission to the International Space Station that now has shuttle program managers reevaluating how they intend to conduct the three remaining missions before the shuttle’s retirement, and whether there may be time and resources for an additional flight.
