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

The public is invited to attend a facilitated community workshop to participate in follow-on discussions about Goddard Space Flight Center's proposed Facilities Master Plan. The workshop will be held Thursday, October 18 at 7 p.m. at Duval High School on Goodluck Road in Lanham, Md. The multi-purpose room will open one hour early for the public to view displayed maps, drawings and information.

The workshop objective is to clarify the community's issues regarding GSFC's draft Facilities Master Plan and Environmental Assessment. In addition, GSFC management hopes to establish a follow-on process for community involvement as they prepare to submit information to the National Capital Planning Commission.

In order to assure appropriate space and have a productive workshop environment, we ask that you register in advance. Individuals interested in attending the workshop should contact Ms. Shannon Powell of Westover Consultants on or before October 15, 2001, at 301-345-3211 extension 112 (or send an email at spowell@westover-gb.com). Anyone that has a special need such as a sign interpreter or other accommodations should include that information as part of their request to Westover Consultants. For additional information visit the web site at: http://gsfc-facilities.gsfc.nasa.gov/plans.html

Diaz Names Vanek and Denoon to New Management Positions at Goddard

Goddard Center Director, A. V. Diaz, has announced two key personnel actions, naming Charles Vanek to a newly created post as Assistant Director for Safety and Security and Wentworth O. Denoon as the Director, Office of Systems Safety and Mission Assurance.

Diaz said Vanek will serve as the focal point at Goddard for improving Center-wide integration and coordination for safety, security, health and environmental initiatives and related activities. He will work with safety and security officials across various NASA Headquarters organizations, external agencies, academia and industry and will represent a coordinated Goddard view at national and interagency meetings and to senior NASA management.

As Director of the Systems Safety and Mission Assurance Office, Denoon will be responsible for the management of flight assurance, flight safety, reliability, quality control and material engineering for all GSFC flight projects and is responsible for institutional conduct of all major reviews of flight and ground systems at Goddard.

Upcoming Goddard Missions in November

HESSI

The High Energy Solar Spectroscopic Imager (HESSI), currently scheduled to launch no earlier than Nov. 19, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, will study gigantic explosions in the atmosphere of the Sun with a unique kind of X-ray vision, and produce the first high-fidelity color movies of solar flares in their highest energy emissions. Visit the HESSI web site at: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/spacesci/hessi/hessi.htm

TDRS-I

The Tracking and Data Relay Satellite (TDRS-I), currently scheduled to launch no earlier than Nov. 13, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida, is the second of three replenishment spacecraft that will work in harmony with the current F1-7 fleet to provide enhanced communications and tracking services to low-Earth orbiting user satellites and manned space missions. It follows TDRS-H, which launched in June 2000. Visit the TDRS web site at: http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/earth/tdrs/tdrs_h.htm

NASA Sponsors Odyssey of the Mind Creative Problem-Solving Program

NASA is partnering with Odyssey of the Mind to develop an Earth science problem for the 2001-2002 program year. Founded in 1978, Odyssey of the Mind is an international creative problem solving program for students from kindergarten through college, attracting students from 49 states, the District of Columbia and over 30 countries. Odyssey of the Mind competitions involve creative exercises in which teamwork, cooperation and ingenuity are applied to complete various tasks.

Students choose from one of six long-term "problems" and form teams to develop solutions. The problems range in nature from the technical to the artistic, and solutions are judged for creativity, originality, and other criteria. In the spring, teams take their solutions to official competitions at the regional, state/country and world level.

The NASA-sponsored problem, named OMER's Earthly Adventures after the raccoon-like Odyssey of the Mind mascot OMER, is a technical problem based on environmental preservation that also incorporates elements of theatrical performance. Students will attempt to correct hypothetical environmental problems, and create the illusion of OMER traveling.

For more on the problem-solving program, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/news-release/releases/2001/01-94.htm

Technology Commercialization Office Announces Call for Proposals for the Commercial Technology Development (CTD) Program

The Goddard Technology Commercialization Office announces a call for proposals for the second annual Commercial Technology Development (CTD) program. The principal focus of the CTD program is the funding and development of Goddard owned technologies that exhibit commercial potential. Primary civil servant involvement, functional prototypes, commercial industry involvement, and aggressive technology development schedules are hallmarks of the CTD program. The proposal solicitation commenced Monday, September 24, 2001 and proposals are due by 4 p.m. on Friday, October 19, 2001. For detailed information please visit the CTD program web site at: http://tco.gsfc.nasa.gov/ctd/

NASA Selects 325 Innovative Small Business Projects

NASA has selected 325 research proposals for negotiation of Phase I contract awards for its 2001 Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) and Small Business Technology Transfer (STTR) Programs. The expected value of the awards is approximately $21 million for SBIR and $2 million for STTR.

SBIR and STTR goals 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 results of federally funded research.

The NASA SBIR Program Management Office is located at Goddard Space Flight Center with executive oversight by NASA's Office of Aerospace Technology, NASA Headquarters, Washington. Individual SBIR and STTR projects are managed by the NASA field centers. For more information visit: http://nctn.oact.hq.nasa.gov/sbir/

Taurus Rocket Fails to Deliver QuikTOMS to Orbit

The NASA QuikTOMS ozone monitoring satellite launched Sept. 21 was lost due to the failure of the commercial launch vehicle purchased by the Agency to deliver the payload into orbit. QuikTOMS was a secondary payload on board a Taurus rocket launched by Orbital Sciences Corporation from Vandenberg Air Force Base, California.

Everything appeared to go as planned with the launch until approximately 83 seconds into the flight when there was an apparent problem between the first and second stage separation. For reasons yet unknown, the rocket appeared to briefly veer off course before correction motors restored the vehicle to its proper flight path.

"Obviously we are disappointed at the loss of the QuikTOMS satellite," said Dr. Ghassem Asrar, Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Science at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "This loss of QuikTOMS does not mean a loss in our ozone monitoring capability. We have the current TOMS Earth Probe satellite in orbit which will continue its observations and we plan to launch the EOS-Aura satellite in 2003 to assure the continuity of these critical ozone measurements."

NASA Satellite, University of Maryland and U.S. Forest Service Provide Rapid Response to Wildfires

U.S. firefighters and land managers are using the most modern NASA satellite data to combat wildfires. NASA's Terra satellite is providing a view of fires across the entire United States, helping local officials manage fires more effectively, both during and after wildfires. The effort is a collaboration between NASA, the University of Maryland, College Park, and the U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service.

The Terra satellite beams daily images of western U.S. wildfires to NASA within a few hours of the time that it passes over the region. These images and active fire detections are transmitted to the Forest Service. The images will become a regular part of the Forest Service's fire monitoring toolkit.

"NASA remains deeply committed to working cooperatively with its sister agencies to monitor and combat wildfires across the nation," said Ghassem Asrar, NASA's Associate Administrator for the Office of Earth Science. "Our investment in the Terra Earth Observing System is starting to pay tremendous dividends to the American taxpayer." For more information visit: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/topstory/20010810modisfiremonitor.html