Right Around the Corner
A Publication for the Baltimore/Washington Area
from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
June 2001

Goddard will host its third annual Technology Showcase on June 14, 15 and 16. This event is open to the scientific community, academia, industry, and other federal, state, and local government organizations. Technology Showcase 2001 "Expanding Scientific Discovery Through Innovation" will provide you an opportunity to:

• See some of GSFC’s newest technologies
• Explore opportunities with Goddard technology leaders
• Learn how GSFC research and technology can be leveraged
• Discuss how innovations move from research base to new technologies

For more information and to register online, visit the website at http://techshowcase.gsfc.nasa.gov

This year, a third day has been added to the Showcase to coincide with the Center’s Open House, which is open to the public, on Saturday, June 16. By doing so, the community will get a chance to view the wealth of technology resources at Goddard, and to:

• Participate in special guided tours of facilities, including largest cleanroom in the world, and over 100 technology exhibits!

• Listen to a Space Weather presentation describing eruptions from the Sun, the disturbances in the solar wind, and the twisting and stretching of Earth's magnetic field: collectively, we call it space weather
• Hear about what we are learning at the North and South Poles

The Open House is a great opportunity to bring your family and friends. For more information visit:

http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/vc/openhouse.htm

Goddard is preparing for formal community review of our draft Facilities Master Plan, a proposal for its land, buildings, utilities, roads, and fences for the next 20 years. As part of this process, we will submit comprehensive documents to our regulators, the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) in July. The NCPC oversees the community review, however GSFC will continue informal discussions with our neighbors and community based organizations.

The proposal documents will be available at local public libraries, the GSFC Library, and the GSFC Visitor Center for review. The public will have 90 days to submit comments to the NCPC and/or GSFC.

For further information, please contact the Office of Public Affairs at 301-286-8141.

Dr. Jonathan Ormes has been named the new Director of Space Sciences at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. In his new position, Ormes will be responsible for planning, organizing and evaluating a broad program of scientific research, both theoretical and experimental, in the study of Space sciences. The program ranges from basic research to flight experiment development, to mission operations and data analysis.

Ormes has extensive experience in science management. He was Head of the Nuclear Astrophysics Branch at Goddard from 1982 until 1990. In 1983, he took a year away from these duties to be the Acting Head of High Energy Astrophysics at NASA Headquarters from 1983-1984 and was awarded the NASA Exceptional Service Award for his efforts in that capacity. In 1990, he was appointed to the Senior Executive Service and assumed the job of Chief of the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics serving in that capacity for 10 years.

Goddard is initiating the 2001 GSFC Contractor Excellence Award process and the identification of candidates for the 2001/2002 George M. Low Award. The Contractor Excellence Award represents Goddard's recognition of those companies among its cadre of contractors that make a substantial contribution to the mission of the Center and are dedicated to the philosophy of Continuous Improvement which has achieved demonstrable and measurable accomplishments. Applications are due to GSFC by June 9, 2001.

Applications are available online at: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/GSFC_CEA.PDF

NASA's highest honor for quality and technical performance, the George M. Low Award, was presented May 10 to three U.S. companies for outstanding commitment to innovative management, quality and customer service.

NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin presented the 2001 George M. Low Award, the nation's oldest award for organizational quality, at this year's 16th Annual NASA Continual Improvement and Reinvention Conference on Quality Management in Alexandria, VA.

Goddard had two contractor winners of the Low Award - Raytheon ITT in Large Business- Services and Swales Engineering in small business - product. This is the second year in a row that Goddard took two out of three Low trophies. Also, ManTech International won a runner-up finalist plaque.

Porfirio Beltrán Tubéns, an Electronics Engineer at Goddard is a 2001 recipient of the NASA Administrator's Fellowship Award. The NASA Fellowship Program is an incentive program that encourages Goddard employees to enter academia. The foremost objective of the Fellowship program is to encourage and support professional development for NASA employees. While meeting this objective, the program also serves as a springboard to enhance minority-serving institutions' efforts to aid NASA in its research and development, while simultaneously providing NASA employees with opportunities to conduct research and teach at minority colleges and universities.

Goddard has added three new spacecraft busses and three new spacecraft vendors to its Rapid Spacecraft Acquisition Contract that provides multiple contracts for satellite core-systems to support NASA's space science, earth science and technology needs.

In addition to the new spacecraft added to the catalog from existing vendors, Goddard selected the following new company for "On-ramp" contracts, whose spacecraft bus will be added to the catalog:

• Swales Aerospace, Beltsville, Md. - 1 new spacecraft (EO-SB)

For more information on the RSDO program, go to: http://rsdo.gsfc.nasa.gov/

Two employees in Goddard’s Earth Sciences Directorate are the recipients of the Center's 2001 Excellence in Information Science and Technology (IS&T) Award. The award is presented annually to the Goddard employee(s) who best exhibit(s) broad, significant contributions to the center's programs or projects in the areas of information science and technology.

James R. Fischer in the Earth & Space Data Computing Division and Dr. Christopher S. Lynnes in the Data and Information Services Center each received their award at the Information Science and Technology Colloquium held recently at Goddard.

NASA has selected 27 research proposals for negotiation of Phase 2 contract awards for its Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Program. The selected projects, which have a total value of approximately $16 million, will be conducted by 25 small, high-technology firms located in 13 states.

The goals of this NASA program are to stimulate technological innovation, increase the use of small business, including women-owned and disadvantaged firms in meeting federal research and development needs, and increase private-sector commercialization of innovations derived from federally funded research.

The NASA SBIR Program Management Office is located at the Goddard with executive oversight by NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology, NASA Headquarters, Washington, DC. Individual SBIR projects are managed by NASA's ten field centers. A list of the selected companies is available on the internet at: http://sbir.nasa.gov

NASA has awarded three $8 million contracts to Ball Aerospace and Technologies, Boulder, Co., ITT Industries, Fort Wayne, Ind., and Raytheon Santa Barbara Remote Sensing, Goleta, Calif., for formulation phase work on an advanced imager for the next generation of geostationary weather satellites operated by the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The new advanced sensor, called the Advanced Baseline Imager, will be the primary instrument on NOAA's future Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellites (GOES) beginning with the GOES-R mission which will be ready to fly in 2008. The ABI will provide the core data that the National Weather Service uses for routine weather forecasting and severe storm forecasting. For more information on the GOES satellites, go to: http://www.osd.noaa.gov/sats/goes.htm