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.
Some Republican members of the Senate Appropriations Committee are questioning whether NASA has violated stipulations of its Fiscal 2010 appropriation language by moving to terminate elements of the Constellation program early. Their questions echo concerns raised in March by a group of House lawmakers who sent a letter to the U.S. Government Accountability Office asking for an investigation of NASA’s actions.
NASA’s abandonment of the Constellation program represents a “change in approach and philosophy,” but not a change to the ultimate goal of sending human explorers into the Solar System, according to the agency’s number two exploration official. The Obama administration plans to terminate the Constellation program, including the Ares launch vehicles and Orion spacecraft being developed for a lunar return, in favor of a multipronged effort aimed at enabling technologies for future deep-space exploration.
