NASA has announced that the agency will host media teams at its Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium, a workshop held by Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, on Feb. 28th, NASA reported on Friday.

APL operates the Lunar Surface Innovation Consortium in collaboration with NASA’s Space Technology Mission Directorate under the Lunar Surface Innovation Initiative. The initiative complements NASA science and technology payloads being developed to fly aboard commercial lunar landers.

At the consortium, experts from academia, industry and government will discuss how technologies and systems are necessary to further explore the Moon’s surface in innovative ways.

Universities and businesses will collaborate with NASA to make recommendations for a cohesive, executable strategy to efficiently develop and deploy technologies required for successful lunar surface exploration.

The workshop opens with an address by NASA Associate Administrator Steve Jurczyk at 9:15 a.m. The event will also feature discussions among NASA leaders and the university, laboratory and commercial space communities on the path ahead for technologies for long-term exploration of the Moon.

NASA’s Goddard Space Flight will utilize the information from the consortium to manage lunar missions, including the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, the longest running lunar mission, and the Artemis Program, which is the agency’s next step in human exploration: sending astronauts to Mars.

The agency has also opened its doors to the media in early Feb. 2020 at the Johnson Space Center to promote upcoming missions.  Johnson director, Mark Geyer, and NASA associate administrator for Human Exploration and Operations, Doug Loverro served as speakers at the event.

Johnson will continue to transform human exploration of the solar system with new initiatives that include managing development and operation of key components in the agency’s Artemis program. The program expects to land the first woman and the next man on the Moon by 2024.

Naval Surface Warfare Center Crane held a three-day event that sought to foster collaborative activities and optimize shipbuilding processes for undersea vehicles.

Jointly facilitated by the University of Rhode Island, General Dynamics' Electric Boat subsidiary and the University of Connecticut, the National Institute for Undersea Vehicle Technology effort focused on technology transition, research and workforce development activities, the Naval Sea Systems Command said Wednesday.

Efforts under the event are intended to build the workforce and capabilities required to speed up research initiatives in undersea vehicle systems. Representatives from various U.S. Navy organizations such as the Naval Undersea Warfare Center and NavalX Tech Bridges attended the three-day activity.

“At NSWC Crane we are very fortunate to have incredible support for our mission through an expansive network of external partner organizations that contribute to workforce development and attraction, cutting edge defense research, technology transfer, and defense-oriented economic development," said Kyle Werner, director of engagement at NSWC Crane.

The National Institute of Standards and Technology has issued a draft framework for ensuring compliance with ethical standards for data privacy, Federal News Network reported Wednesday.

NIST aims to use the draft data privacy guidance to support the implementation of emerging technologies such as artificial intelligence, quantum computing, internet-of-things and biometrics. The agency also wants to establish standards for privacy techniques and other risk assessment procedures.

In addition, NIST will work with its National Initiative for Cybersecurity Education component to establish skills requirements for positions involving privacy assessment.

Walter Copan, director of NIST and undersecretary of commerce for standards and technology, told attendees at a Center for Strategic and International Studies event that NIST also plans to work with small businesses for the initiative.

“Over the next few months, we’ll be reaching out to these innovative smaller companies with their resource constraints understood to better have a sense of how the privacy framework can help enhance their work and their operations,” he said.

The Transportation Security Administration is working to implement new policies and capabilities to ensure the seucrity of airport systems such as screening platforms, FCW reported Wednesday.

Previously, the TSA launched an effort called the Capability Acceptance Process intended to help the aviation sector streamline its procurement of technologies like boarding pass scanners, explosives detection systems, X-ray machines and other advanced imaging capabilities.

"What this means is we qualify the equipment, we say this equipment meets our detection standards and our operational testing standards," said Patricia Cogswell, acting deputy administrator of TSA, at an  Armed Forces and Communications Electronics Association event. "If it meets both of those, you may buy it and gift it to us."

Cogswell noted that TSA should incorporate the mindset of U.S. intelligence agencies when it comes to stringent background checks that also cover trusted employees.

In 2018, TSA established an executive steering committee that oversees programs focused on insider threats.