NASA Re-Establishes Contact With Sun-Watching Spacecraft
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NASA Re-Establishes Contact With Sun-Watching Spacecraft


STEREO-BNASA has re-established contact with one of its sun-watching spacecraft after 22 months of communication attempts.

The space agency said Sunday its Deep Space Network was able to connect with the Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatories spacecraft’s downlink signal during a monthly recovery operation.

The connection allowed the mission operations team to determine STEREO-B’s attitude and power down the transmitter high voltage in an effort to conserve battery, NASA added.

The team plans to continue the recovery process to evaluate the sun observatory’s health, subsystems and instruments as well as reset attitude control.

NASA said it lost communications with STEREO-B on Oct. 1, 2014, during a trial of its command loss timer, which works to perform a hard reset when the spacecraft loses communications for 72 hours, as part of preparation for solar conjunction.

The test aimed to prepare STEREO-B for when its line of sight to Earth gets blocked by the sun and it loses communication functions.

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Air Force Eyes 2018 Completion Date of DoD-Mandated Windows 10 Migration
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Air Force Eyes 2018 Completion Date of DoD-Mandated Windows 10 Migration


Air Force logoThe U.S. Air Force plans to start its two-year migration to Windows 10 later this year as part of efforts to meet a Defense Department directive.

The service branch said Tuesday all Microsoft users in the Air Force Network will have Windows 10 as the standard operating system by Jan. 31, 2018 while users of non-Windows devices such as iPads will not be affected by the migration.

DoD Chief Information Officer Terry Halvorsen said April all military and DoD agencies agreed they could meet DoD Deputy Secretary Bob Work’s directive to migrate to Windows 10 within the next 12 months.

The Air Force added its users are authorized to transition existing devices or buy new tablets and laptops through the AFWay information technology purchasing platform.

The service branch expects to provide replacement mobile computers with pre-installed Windows 10 for most personnel while other users will be required to upgrade to the new operating system.

Current Windows 10 users will adopt the standard desktop configuration that features cybersecurity updates, the Air Force said.

The service branch noted Windows 10’s security features can accommodate software patches that will help the Air Force and DoD counter attackers that might access remote servers through a stored hash of a user’s password.

NASA, Texas A&M Branch Forge UAS Flight Data Agreement; Melanie Neely Willis Comments
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NASA, Texas A&M Branch Forge UAS Flight Data Agreement; Melanie Neely Willis Comments


IkhanaUASThe Lone Star UAS Center of Excellence and Innovation at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and NASA have inked an agreement to develop opportunities for Texas A&M researchers to access NASA’s information network and exchange unmanned aerial system flight data.

Under the new agreement with the NASA Ames Research Center, LSUASC will have the authority to monitor a space agency UAS flight in real time on a live map in LSUASC’s Mission Control Center, Texas A&M-UCC said Aug. 11.

NASA awarded LSUASC a contract to document and update information security practices and complete an Interconnection Security Agreement that sets the guidelines for links of information technology systems operated by two separate organizations.

“This new connection gives us the capability to pass live and simulated UAS data within NASA’s secure information network,” said Melanie Neely Willis, LSUASC assistant director.

The Island University’s Division of Information Technology assisted in the network updates and Lionel Cassin, information security officer, led the development of secure procedures for LSUASC.

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DISA Seeks to Facilitate Cloud Adoption for Mission Owners Via DoD Provisional Authorization Process
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DISA Seeks to Facilitate Cloud Adoption for Mission Owners Via DoD Provisional Authorization Process


cloudThe Defense Information Systems Agency has implemented a provisional authorization process for commercial cloud platforms in an effort to help Defense Department mission owners determine whether to leverage DISA’s assessment or subject a provisionally authorized cloud service to additional tests.

DISA said Monday the Pentagon’s cloud assessment process usually runs for three months and uses the Federal Risk and Authorization Program to evaluate and authorize cloud services as well as impact levels to assess a cloud service provider’s platform.

A PA for cloud platforms at impact level 2 covers non-mission critical unclassified data, while a PA at impact levels 4 through 6 covers cloud services designed to manage unclassified controlled data.

“Subsequently obtaining a DoD cloud provisional authorization at impact level 4 requires meeting about 10 percent more controls than the 325 FedRAMP controls,” said Gordon Bass, chief of the assessment and certification branch at DISA.

DISA noted that CSPs could leverage a PA to compete for cloud contracts across DoD, which has issued PAs to 59 commercial cloud services.

Mission owners can use the DoD PA as a basis on whether to issue an authority to operate or interim authority to test to a cloud service, according to DISA.

“This is how mission partners gain economies – by not having to start at the beginning every time they assess a cloud service offering,” Bass added.

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DARPA Seeks On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Through New Consortium; Brad Tousley Comments
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DARPA Seeks On-Orbit Satellite Servicing Through New Consortium; Brad Tousley Comments


satelliteThe Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency wants to review on-orbit satellite servicing standards through a consortium it plans to create in connection with the Robotic Servicing of Geostationary Satellites program, Space News reported Monday.

Debra Werner writes the Consortium For Execution of Rendezvous and Servicing Operations is intended to fill regulatory gaps for commercial-on-commercial rendezvous and proximity missions.

“Our fear was that we would create a robotic servicing capability through RSGS and when our industry partner went to Lloyds of London for insurance, someone would say, ‘You have no authority to conduct that mission,’” Brad Tousley, director of DARPA’s Tactical Technology Office, told the Space Foundation’s Space Technology and Investment Forum.

DARPA said in March that RSGS aims to consolidate a commercially-owned and operated robotic servicing vehicle into a privately-made spacecraft.

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GSA Highlights USSM’s Govt Shared Services Efforts at Industry Day
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GSA Highlights USSM’s Govt Shared Services Efforts at Industry Day


shared servicesThe General Services Administration has facilitated an industry day to underscore the GSA Unified Shared Services Management office’s efforts to deliver government-wide shared services across agencies.

GSA said Monday government participants gave industry partners an overview of the federal shared services ecosystem during the event.

“Shared Services is about delivering mission support functions – acquisition, human resources, financial management – better, faster and more efficiently,” said USSM Executive Director Beth Angerman.

“If agencies can’t do these things well, they will have challenges meeting missions – building the nation’s infrastructure, protecting public health, and ensuring our security, as just a few examples,” Angerman added.

USSM partnered with federal payroll providers assigned by the Office of Personnel Management to seek industry information on platforms that could aid the government’s payroll delivery.

USSM developed the Modernization and Migration Management Framework to assist government agencies in their efforts to migrate and modernize financial management, human resources and acquisition functions.

USSM also capped off the inaugural year of its ProviderStat performance framework for shared service providers that works to help executives review data, assess performance, discuss progress and determine corrective action, GSA said.

Data from ProviderStat will help establish the first government-wide shared services catalog, GSA noted.

USSM was formed within GSA’s Office of Government-wide Policy to oversee shared services delivery across the government.

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GAO: Navy Should Fully Implement DoD Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Guidance
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GAO: Navy Should Fully Implement DoD Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness Guidance


budget analysis reviewThe Government Accountability Office has recommended the U.S. Navy fully implement the Defense Department‘s Financial Improvement and Audit Readiness guidance for the service branch’s Fund Balance With Treasury plan.

GAO said Friday implementation of the FIAR in areas of process analysis, prioritization, internal control assessment, testing and supporting documentation evaluation can help support the Navy’s audit readiness.

Auditor discovered the Navy has not fully implemented four tasks under the Discovery phase of the FIAR guidance that include to report identity document processes, prioritize of audit readiness efforts, assess and test controls and evaluate supporting documentation.

GAO noted the gaps included audit readiness prioritization and strategy implementation, as well as documentation of FBWT processes and information technology general computer controls for significant systems in system narratives and flowcharts.

GAO conducted the study in an effort to determine the extent of the Navy’s efforts towards the Discovery phase of the general fund FBWT financial improvement plan as part of a mandate to audit the government’s consolidated financial statements including activities and balances of executive branch agencies.

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Merri Sanchez: Air Force Wants On-Board Defense, Resiliency for Space & Cyberspace Tech
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Merri Sanchez: Air Force Wants On-Board Defense, Resiliency for Space & Cyberspace Tech


cyberMerri Sanchez, Air Force Space Command chief scientist, has said the U.S. Air Force wants to develop technologies that could support the on-board defense and resiliency of space and cyberspace assets, C4ISR & Networks reported Monday.

Mark Pomerleau writes Sanchez told the Space and Missile Defense Symposium in Huntsville, Alabama that the Air Force is looking into technologies such as self-healing satellites, human-machine interface, cognitive electronic warfare and big data.

Sanchez added human-machine interface and big data platforms will support the battle management functions of the Joint Space Operations Center and the Joint Interagency Combined Space Operations Center, Pomerleau reported.

Sanchez noted the Air Force also needs tools that could identify whether natural occurrences or man-made threats cause disruptions in space and cyber domain assets, the publication stated.

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NASA Schedules Launch of Lockheed’s Asteroid Sampling Spacecraft on Sept. 8
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NASA Schedules Launch of Lockheed’s Asteroid Sampling Spacecraft on Sept. 8


OSIRIS-RExNASA is set to launch a spacecraft on Sept. 8 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida in an effort to gather samples from asteroid Bennu and return the samples to Earth for scientific study.

The space agency said Thursday the Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security-Regolith Explorer is the third mission under its New Frontiers Program and will work to collect asteroid material that could help advance studies on the formation of planets, how life began and the potential impact of asteroids to the Earth.

NASA will launch the 4,650-pound OSIRIS-REx spacecraft onboard an Atlas V 411 rocket to begin a 34-day launch period that will eventually bring it to the asteroid within two years.

OSIRIS-REx will survey Bennu to determine promising sample sites upon arrival, collect between two to 70 ounces of surface material then return the samples to Earth in 2023 using a detachable capsule, NASA said.

Dante Lauretta, OSIRIS-REx principal investigator from the University of Arizona, said the launch of OSIRIS-REx will mark the beginning of a seven-year mission that seeks to collect samples from asteroid Bennu.

The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft is equipped with five instruments designed for exploring the asteroid.

The instruments are the OSIRIS-REx Camera Suite imaging system; OSIRIS-REx Laser Altimeter distance, surface and shape scanning Light Detection and Ranging technology; OSIRIS-REx Thermal Emission Spectrometer mineral and temperature information system; OSIRIS-REx Visible and Infrared Spectrometer mineral and organic identification tool; and Regolith X-ray Imaging Spectrometer chemical element detection technology.

NASA noted that the OSIRIS-REx’s Touch-And-Go Sample Acquisition Mechanism and OSIRIS-REx Sample Return Capsule will support the collection and return of the asteroid samples.

The agency’s Goddard Space Flight Center will provide mission management, systems engineering as well as safety and mission assurance for the spacecraft.

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DeCA to Seek More Customer Savings Calculations Under New Approach
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DeCA to Seek More Customer Savings Calculations Under New Approach


BudgetThe Defense Commissary Agency plans to establish a new approach for commissaries to calculate and monitor customer savings more frequently than what the current system requires.

The Defense Department said Friday DeCA also aims to compare commissaries’ prices with those of the private sector through a “market basket of products” that consumers usually buy.

“We hear from our military families that they sometimes find lower prices on selected items outside the gate,” said Joseph Jeu, DeCA director and CEO.

“For the first time through this new approach, we will compare our prices with local grocers on a more frequent basis to better inform our customers of potential cost savings over stores in their nearby community,” he added.

Jeu noted the new approach will not affect patrons’ out-of-pocket expenses.

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