Minutes of Senior Staff and Center Directors’ Meeting April 17, 2000

The following documents the discussions addressed at the Senior Staff and
Center Directors’ Meeting on April 17, 2000. Mr. Goldin did not attend the
meeting. Action assignments have been placed in brackets [ ] for easy
identification.

1. AA Reports

I/Cline: Ms. Cline reported that a French Parliamentarian, Senator Henri
Revol, is visiting NASA this week as part of a fact-finding trip related to
a report he is writing on the French space program. Senator Revol will
visit Headquarters on April 17, and then visit GSFC, JSC, and JPL during
the rest of the week.

P/Wilhide: Ms. Wilhide reported that Earth Day is Saturday, April 22.
Public Affairs is undertaking a series of activities this week to highlight
NASA’s role on Earth Day. On Monday, NASA’s home page begins a week of
Earth science-related stories and links. On Tuesday, NASA TV airs footage
of the best views of Earth from space. On Wednesday, there will be a press
conference featuring first images from the Terra spacecraft. On Thursday,
there will be Goddard live shots on the Terra press conference. And
concluding on Saturday, NASA will have an exhibit at the Earth Day on the
Mall festivities.

Y/Cleave: Dr. Cleave reported that the GOES-L is on target for launch from
KSC on May 3.

Q/Gregory: Mr. Gregory reported that, based on the Safety and Mission
assurance independent assessments and pending the Power Distribution Unit
(PDU) resolution, STS-101 is ready for flight.

K/Thomas: Mr. Thomas reported that on April 18-19, 2000, he will be
participating in Congressman Alan B. Mollohan’s (D-WV) “Teaming to Win”
Small Business Conference which will be held near Wheeling, West Virginia.
Mr. Thomas stated that representatives from several NASA Centers will also
be accompanying him.

C/Christensen: Mr. Christensen reminded everyone about the
cancer-detection skin exams that are offered at the NASA Headquarters
Health Unit. So far, 97 people have been examined, 67 have been referred
to a doctor for followup, and 21 have been referred to a doctor for biopsy.
In light of these high numbers of referrals, Mr. Christensen stressed the
importance of everyone getting their skin screened by a licensed
dermatologist. The American Academy of Dermatology will kick off Skin
Cancer and Detection Month and will be here at Headquarters on May 1 to
participate in the screening of employees. Dr. Nicogossian and Mr.
Rothenberg will also participate in this event. This is a free service.

W/Gross: Ms. Gross reported that during a recent inspection activity, the
Office of Inspector General (OIG) discovered that Privacy Act-protected and
sensitive documents were stored on a Centerwide-shared Local Area Network
(LAN) drive and were accessible by all Center network users. This network
drive was established to facilitate file transfer within the Center. In
this case, however, employees and contractor staff were saving work files
to the shared drive not knowing that the drive was accessible by all Center
employees. The IG recommended that each Center make personnel aware that
sensitive, Privacy Act-, and other administratively controlled information
should not be saved or stored on network drives or folders that are
accessible by all Center network users. Also, office, division, or
directorate management should review the contents of network drives or
folders that are shared within offices, divisions, directorates, or the
entire Center to ensure that sensitive information is available only (e.g.,
via password or other privileged access) to Center personnel with a
legitimate need.

U/Nicogossian: Dr. Nicogossian reported that the Wisconsin Center for
Space Automation and Robotics (WCSAR), a NASA Commercial Space Center (CSC)
located at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has received the Space
Technology Hall of Fame 2000 Award from The U.S. Space Foundation and NASA
for the innovation of Light Emitting Diodes (LED’s) for Medical
Applications. This award is for products from space that benefit the
Earth. The WCSAR, as a CSC, is primarily involved in commercial
agribusiness research, and uses this LED technology, developed by their
partner Quantum Devises, in their space-flight hardware to provide lighting
in their controlled-environment plant growth chambers.

2. AI/Mulville

Dr. Mulville reported that the Capital Investment Council (CIC) will meet
on Thursday, April 20, from 8 to 11 a.m. The topics will be Functional
Leadership Plans and actions from the last CIC meeting.

3. Center Reports

GSFC/Diaz: Mr. Diaz thanked everyone for their support of the Hubble Space
Telescope event. Messrs. Goldin and Rothenberg and JSC participated.

JSC/Abbey: Mr. Abbey reported on the following items: 1) Replacing the PDU
on the Space Shuttle on the pad went well over the weekend. The Program
Office has analyzed the cause of the PDU problem and is working toward its
resolution. Efforts are underway to clear the vehicle for flight. 2) The
Space Station is doing well on orbit. The Shuttle will be supporting the
Station with logistics resupplying batteries. 3) Sixty-seven Iridium
satellites will be degrading from the low Earth orbit over the next 18
months. With extremely limited maneuverability, there is increased risk to
NASA spacecraft. This concern will be discussed with Headquarters.

KSC/Bridges: Mr. Bridges reported that the PDU replacement went well.

LaRC/Creedon: Dr. Creedon reported on the following items: 1) A 1-day
workshop to review progress on the Computational AeroSciences Project
grants and contracts was held at LaRC. The participants were Carnegie
Mellon University, Renssalaer Polytechnic Institute, University of Florida,
VMA Engineering, and ADOPTECH, Inc. The review revealed excellent progress
across the board. Some of the interim results were truly revolutionary,
e.g., demonstration of the cellular automata to perform structural
optimization for minimum weight on a multiprocessor computer in 1/100 of
the time that would be required on a conventional, single processor machine
while achieving a significant reduction of the minimum weight. Moreover,
the solution of nonlinear analysis and optimization was obtained in elapsed
times significantly shorter than those required for just the linear
analysis alone-an intriguing reversal of what was a norm in numerical
methods. 2) The stitched graphite-epoxy semi-span wing fabricated by
Boeing has completed all testing in the undamaged condition. Test loads
simulating braking, a 1G down maneuver, and a 2.5G up maneuver were applied
to 100 percent of Design Limit Load. Test has also been completed for the
severe, discrete source damage condition. Two, 7-inch long saw cuts
through span-wise stiffness were used to simulate this damage condition
(one cut on the upper cover, one cut on the lower cover). Per
certification practice, the damaged wing box was tested to 70 percent of
design limit load with this damage for the 2.5G up maneuver load case. All
results from the tests to date have agreed well with analytical models.
Airline maintenance personnel will repair the two saw cuts using standard
repair practices. Subsequent to completion of the repairs, the wing will
be tested to failure using the 2.5G up maneuver load case.

MSFC/Stephenson: Mr. Stephenson reported that Carolyn Griner will be the
MSFC official at the STS-101 launch. Mr. Stephenson will be on vacation
for 2 weeks.

SSC/Craig: Mr. Craig reported on this week’s Block II Pratt & Whitney
high-pressure fuel turbopump tests. He thanked Mr. W. Brian Keegan for his
visit to SSC last week. Mr. Craig also provided an update on Mr. Estess’
improving condition.

NOTE: ACTION ASSIGNMENTS WILL BE TRANSMITTED UNDER SEPARATE COVER AND
TRACKED BY THE HEADQUARTERS CORRESPONDENCE MANAGEMENT OFFICE. SPECIFIC
QUESTIONS MAY BE ADDRESSED TO VANESSA COATES @ (202) 358-0906.

Officials-in-Charge of NASA Headquarters Offices:

AI/Dr. Mulville

AB/Ms. Tagg

AC/Gen. Armstrong

AE/Mr. Keegan

AJ/Mr. Tam

AF/Mr. Venneri

AS/Dr. Olsen

B/Mr. Holz

C/Mr. Christensen

E/Mr. Reese

F/Ms. Novak

G/Mr. Frankle

H/Mr. Luedtke (Acting)

I/Mr. Schumacher

J/Mr. Sutton

K/Mr. Thomas

L/Mr. Heffernan

M/Mr. Rothenberg

P/Ms. Wilhide

Q/Mr. Gregory

R/Mr. Venneri

S/Dr. Weiler

U/Dr. Nicogossian

W/Ms. Gross

Y/Dr. Asrar

Z/Ms. Garver

Directors, NASA Centers:

ARC/Dr. McDonald

DFRC/Mr. Petersen

GRC/Mr. Campbell

GSFC/Mr. Diaz

JSC/Mr. Abbey

KSC/Mr. Bridges

LaRC/Dr. Creedon

MSFC/Mr. Stephenson

SSC/Mr. Estess

Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory:

Dr. Stone

cc:

A/Ms. Roberts

AB/Ms. Saldana

AE/Ms. Moore

AI/Ms. Shaeffer

AI/Ms. Bloxon

AI/Ms. Soper

AO/Ms. Wissinger

AS/Ms. Simms

AC/Ms. Landrus

CIC/Ms. Grimes

CIC/Ms. Hoover

CIC/Ms. Coates

CIC/Ms. Fenner

CIC/Ms. Maynor