Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting 26 Mar 2001
The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on March 26, 2001. Mr. Goldin did not attend the
meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.
1. AA Reports
P/Cleggett: NASA’s first Earth Science Update will feature the first
continuous global observations of the biological engine that drives life on
our planet. The update will be held at 2 p.m. EST, Wednesday, March 28, at
NASA Headquarters. It will be moderated by Dr. Mary Cleave, Deputy
Associate Administrator for Earth Science.
W/Gross: 1) Three individuals each pled guilty in U.S. District Count in
New Jersey for their role in a Government kickback scheme. One manager in
the graphics department at Ebasco, a large Government contractor, received
approximately $817,000 in kickback monies associated with Government
contracts from various vendors in return for awarding them subcontracts for
printing and moving services. A co-conspirator shared a portion of this
money. At the time the kickbacks were being paid, the Ebasco Co. had
approximately $39 million worth of contracts with NASA. The two
co-conspirators also pled to subscribing to a false tax return. The
accountant pled guilty for preparing the false tax return. The
investigation was conducted by Special Agents of the NASA Office of
Inspector General, Office of Criminal Investigations, the Defense Criminal
Investigative Service, the Environmental Protection Agency, Office of the
Inspector General, and the Internal Revenue Service Criminal Investigative
Division. 2) In a criminal complaint, Federal agents charged an
individual for defrauding NASA out of nearly $139,000 through a bogus
contract for “training” NASA of using a laser trimming system. He was
convicted of doing the same thing to the U.S. Air Force 7 years
ago. Prosecutors said that the individual is a flight risk and should stay
in jail throughout the trial.
S/Weiler: Regarding the Deep Space 1 mission, attitude knowledge has been
recovered after a new set of software was uploaded to the spacecraft.
L/Kerwin: 1) Last Thursday and Friday, March 22 and 23, staff members of
the House Science Committee visited JSC for a series of International Space
Station budget briefings. 2) Today, the STS-98 crew will visit the
Maryland Science Center in Baltimore. Expected attendees include Senators
Mikulski and Sarbanes (D-MD), Maryland Governor Parris Glendening and the
Mayor of Baltimore, Martin O’Malley. 3) Also today, Congressman Dave
Weldon (R-FL) will be visiting GSFC. 4) The House is preparing to take up
the FY 2002 Budget resolution later this week; levels for NASA in the
resolution are at the President’s budget request levels.
B/Varholy: 1) Budget materials, including the narrative justification,
have been sent to OMB for review. 2) The budget rollout will be April 9.
E/White: 1) Ms. White thanked the DFRC for hosting the Equal Opportunity
Board meeting. 2) On Friday evening, March 23, Mr. Goldin received The
Federal Leadership award from The National Association for Equal
Opportunity in Higher Education.
M/Rothenberg: Space Shuttle mission STS-102 brought home the first
resident International Space Station crew and delivered a new team of
researchers to the orbiting outpost.
2. AI/Dr. Mulville
1) The Senior Management Council (SMC) will meet this Thursday, March
29. 2) Due to the SMC meeting being held this Thursday, the Center
Directors’ Telecon is cancelled for this week. 3) The Independent Annual
Reviews for the Space Operations Management Office and Cassini will be
presented to the Program Management Council on Wednesday, March 28. 4) The
NASA Security Council will meet this Friday, March 30. 5) Dr. Mulville
urged everyone to close out actions in a timely fashion.
3. Center Reports
GRC/Campbell: 1) Ground testing of the Deep Space 1 Flight Spare Ion
Engine at JPL has exceeded 15,000 hours. The ion engine has processed more
than 134 kilograms of xenon, and that breaks all records for ion engine
xenon throughput. 2) On February 28, the world’s first integrated test of
a dynamic power system with electric propulsion was achieved at the Center
when a Hall-effect thruster was successfully operated with a free-piston
Stirling power source. 3) In May 2000, Mr. Rothenberg asked GRC to
investigate extending the Advanced Communications Technology Satellite
(ACTS) operations by transferring operational control to universities that
might be interested in using the system for educational and research
activities. After determining that extending operations was feasible, a
Commerce Business Daily was released seeking the formation of a
university-led consortium to operate the ACTS spacecraft. Subsequently,
the Ohio Board of Regents and Ohio University expressed interest. A Space
Act agreement between these organizations and GRC was signed on March 21,
2001. The national university-based consortium being formed will be
responsible for usage of the communications payload on the satellite. 4)
The world’s first 500-degree Celsius operable chip level electronic package
for harsh environment microsystems has been designed, fabricated,
assembled, and thermally tested at GRC.
JSC/Estess: 1) There was a ceremony for the return of the STS-102 crew and
the Expedition 1 crew. 2) The Expedition 2 crew on orbit report that all
is going well. 3) The NQA auditors came in with the recommendation for ISO
9000 recertification under the new standard which was approved in December
2000. This may be the first certification of a Federal Government
installation under the new standard, and JSC is just the 4th NQA customer
of 2000 to be certified to the new standard.
SSC/Craig: 1) Last week, SSC tested an engine for a commercial customer
and, the very next day, tested a Space Shuttle Main Engine Block II. This
set a milestone for total use of liquid hydrogen for a 2-day period. 2)
There was a highly successful briefing to local community leaders on
Thursday, March 22.
NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO JILL HOOVER AT (202) 358-0905.
