NASA Ranks In the Top 5 Best Places to Work In The Federal Government/ Goddard Best In NASA
Posted by Jim in Continuing Education and Seminar Marketing, Satellites, Space and Satellites, Systems Engineering and Project Management, Uncategorized on September 1, 2010
The Partnership for Public Service 2010 ratings for the “Best Places to Work in the Federal Government placed NASA as number 5.
NASA’s workforce continues to score well on the survey among the 32 large federal agencies. The best places to work index is based on employee responses to questions about whether they are satisfied with their jobs and organization. A key factor is also whether employees would recommend their organization to others as a good place to work.
In addition to this overall index, agencies and subcomponents also were scored in workplace environment categories such as effective leadership, employee skills/mission match and work/life balance. NASA was among the leaders in several categories, including effective leadership, support for diversity, teamwork, training and performance based rewards. The complete listing of the rankings and scores for federal components is available at:
The Best Places to Work rankings are the most comprehensive and authoritative rating and analysis of employee satisfaction and commitment in the federal government. The 2010 rankings are the fifth edition of this ongoing series, following the 2003, 2005, 2007, and 2009 versions.
2010 Overall Index Scores
Rank Agency 2010 2009 % Change
1 Nuclear Regulatory Commission 81.8 80.7 1.30
2 Government Accountability Office 81.6 76.6 6.60
3 Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation 79.2 0.00
4 Smithsonian Institution 76.2 0.00
5 National Aeronautics and Space Administration 74.2 71.7 3.50
6 Social Security Administration 71.6 67.0 6.80
7 Department of State 70.8 69.1 2.40
8 General Services Administration 69.8 67.5 3.40
9 Department of Justice 69.3 68.0 1.90
10 Intelligence Community 69.0 70.9 -2.60
Of the subagency rankings NASA Goddard ranked highest for NASA
7 7 Goddard Space Flight Center (NASA) 79.5 74.5 6.80
11 11 John C. Stennis Space Center (NASA) 77.0 72.0 7.00
12 12 Lyndon B. Johnson Space Center (NASA) 76.7 78.7 -2.50
Chinese DF 21 Ballistic Missile. Is it a significant threat to US carrier groups?
Posted by Jim in Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW on August 28, 2010
I have been reading in my LinkedIn Defense group about the Chinese DF 21 Ballistic Missile. Is it a significant threat to US carrier groups?
DongFeng 21 (CSS-5) Medium-Range Ballistic Missile
DF-21 (CSS-5) Medium-Range Ballistic Missile
DF-21A MRBM System in service with the PLA Second Artillery Corps (Chinese Internet)
The DongFeng 21 (DF-21, NATO code name: CSS-5) is a two-stage, solid-propellant, single-warhead medium-range ballistic missile (MRBM) system developed by China Changfeng Mechanics and Electronics Technology Academy (also known as 2nd Space Academy). Developed from the JuLang 1 (JL-1) submarine-launched ballistic missile (SLBM), the DF-21 was originally intended for strategic missions but its later variants were designed for both nuclear and conventional missions. The latest DF-21D was said to be the world’s first and only anti-ship ballistic missile (ASBM) system. The DF-21 has also been developed into space launcher and anti-satellite/anti-missile weapon carrier.
http://www.sinodefence.com/strategic/missile/df21.asp
Applied Oceanography & Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) Funding
Posted by Jim in Underwater Acoustics and Sonar on August 11, 2010
ATIcourses offer courses in Applied Oceanography and Underwater Acoustics. This announcement should interest some of our readers.
Resources
The U.S. Integrated Ocean Observing System (IOOS) has begun establishing a Catalog that will help people find ocean data. The IOOS vision is that users will be able to find the information they want, for the location and time period of interest, from all available IOOS partners without having to know in advance what partners operate the actual observing systems and data servers. The functionality is still somewhat basic, and not every IOOS observing platform is presently included. IOOS welcomes comments and problem reports; please send them to ioos.catalog@noaa.gov
NOAA will solicit proposals for competitive funding for Regional Ocean Partnership activities that include or emphasize regional Coastal and Marine Spatial Planning efforts. This competition will focus on advancing effective coastal and ocean management through regional ocean governance and the goals for national ocean policy set out in the July 2010 Final Recommendations of the Interagency Ocean Policy Task Force. Total anticipated funding is approximately $20,000,000 and is subject to the availability of FY 2011 appropriations. Details on eligibility, deadlines and proposal requirements are available at http://www.csc.noaa.gov/funding/. The anticipated number of awards ranges from twelve (12) to thirty (30), and will be adjusted based on available funding. The document can be read here.
Source info@macoora.org
Model and Pattern Based Systems Engineering
Posted by Jim in Systems Engineering and Project Management on August 10, 2010
ATIcourses offers a number of professional development courses in Systems Engineering and CSEP exam preparation. This may interest you.
Joe Jenney has sent a message.
Date: 8/10/2010
Subject: New Book On Sys. Engineering
Scott Armstrong, Mike Gangl, Rick Kwolek and I are writing a book on model and pattern based systems engineering. We are posting articles on a blog (http://themanagersguide.blogspot.com/2010/08/evolution-of-engineering-methods-ii.html ) Later the posts will be grouped into chapters and posted for download on my web site at ( https://sites.google.com/site/themanagersguide/system-engineering ) I also plan to add MP3 versions if it works ok without figures. The blogs and chapters will enable readers to study and learn about modern methods of systems engineering that save enormous amounts of time and money during the systems engineering phase of the development of systems and products. At the completion of posting all the blogs we intend to publish the collection in a book that will be a companion handbook to the DoD’s Sys. Eng. Fundamentals, IEEE 1220 standards for sys. eng. and the INCOSE Systems Engineering Handbook. Alert engineers and managers you know that will benefit from learning modern methods that save time and money.
Follow Navy Football - Schedule
Posted by Jim in Navy Football on August 9, 2010
Captain Buddy Wellborn is an ATIcourses instructor, a dedicated fan of Navy Football, and a former Navy football player. He has offer us news articles that track the progress of the 2010 Navy football program.
See the notes from his course Submarines and Their Combat Systems.
http://www.aticourses.com/sampler/Submarines%20&%20their%20Combat%20Systems.pdf
Key game: Sept. 6 vs. Maryland. It’s a neutral site game at M&T Bank
Stadium in Baltimore, and it’s going to be an opening weekend statement for
each. Maryland is trying to put the miserable 2009 season, and the controversy
around the Ralph Friedgen hot seat, in the past, while Navy needs to keep
showing it can beat the average BCS teams to prove that it’s for real. To go
cliché, the Maryland game will be a tone-setter.
2010 Schedule:
Sept. 6 vs. Maryland (in B-more).
Sept. 11 Georgia Southern.
Sept. 18 at Louisiana Tech.
Sept. 25 OPEN DATE.
Oct. 2 at Air Force.
Oct. 9 at Wake Forest.
Oct. 16 SMU.
Oct. 23 vs. Notre Dame (in NJ).
Oct. 30 Duke.
Nov. 6 at East Carolina.
Nov. 13 Central Michigan.
Nov. 20 Arkansas St.
Nov. 27 OPEN DATE.
Dec. 4 OPEN DATE.
Dec. 11 vs. Army (in Philly).
Ten Best Navy Players:
1. QB Ricky Dobbs, Sr.
2. DE Jabaree Tuani, Jr.
3. SS Wyatt Middleton, Sr.
4. FB Vince Murray, Sr.
5. CB Kevin Edwards, Sr.
6. OT Jeff Battipaglia, Sr.
7. P Kyle Delahooke, Sr.
8. FS Emmett Merchant, Sr.
9. FB/KR Alexander Teic
Follow Navy Football - Expect A Winning Season
Posted by Jim in Navy Football on August 9, 2010
Captain Buddy Wellborn, N* ‘59. (ATIcourses Instructor) is a great fan of navy Football and a former Navy football player. He has offered to write news articles about Navy football and generate summaries of each game. We will post them on our blog.
EXPECT TO WIN!
No Cell Phones
By Bill Wagner
Navy football captains Ricky Dobbs and Wyatt Middleton have come up with a symbolic way for the entire team to show solidarity as the 2010 season gets underway. Dobbs asked every member of the team to turn in their cell phone for the initial three days of preseason camp. All complied and the cell phones will be returned following the Saturday practice.
“I had an idea over the summer that I thought would embody the sacrifice that is necessary to success and involved giving up something in order to develop a close environment,” Dobbs explained.
“Those first three days are a lot of learning. Everyone turned in their phones this morning. It’s supposed to make us depend on each other more as opposed to calling a family member or someone we’re used to getting comfort from. Now we’ll have to lean on our roommate or teammate.”
Defensive captain Wyatt Middleton liked the idea and wanted to take it a step further. Navy football players have military responsibilities within Bancroft Hall and their respective companies along with academic responsibilities. When the players venture over to Ricketts Hall, it’s all about football. Therefore, Middleton felt it made no sense for players to bring their cell phones to the building in which football should be the sole focus.
“Ricketts is where we get the job done. Once we get our phones back, we’re going to leave them in the dorm. Whenever we come over to Ricketts, it’s about working on football. That’s all we’re going to focus on,” he said.
His Biography
Buddy Wellborn is a native Texan and graduated from USNA with the
Class of 1959 winning the Thompson Trophy for Athletics.
For all three of his varsity years, he played on Navy football teams with
winning seasons: 1956 (6-1-2); 1957 (9-1-1); and, 1958 (6-3). He was on
the Navy’s 1956 team that beat Notre Dame (and Heisman Trophy winner
Paul Hornung) 33-7 in Baltimore, and then the next year he was AP’s Back
of the Week for scoring all three touchdowns in Navy’s victory over Notre
Dame in South Bend. He shared the rushing honors for the Navy team that
shutout Army (Anderson and Dawkins) 14-0 in 1957, and then beat Rice
20-7 for the Cotton Bowl Championship in 1958. The next season he
scored the winning touchdown in Navy’s 20-14 victory over Michigan in
the “Big House.”
Do you think there is enough Interest for a Special Short Course on CubeSats?
Posted by Jim in Space and Satellites on August 9, 2010
CubeSats opportunities are growing. Do you think there is enough Interest for a Special Short Course on CubeSats?
ATIcourses is a leading provider of Sapace and Satellite professional development courses. We are considering develping a CubeSat course. Would you be interested in attending a three-day short course?
WASHINGTON — NASA has announced a second opportunity for small satellite payloads to fly on rockets planned to launch in 2011 and 2012. These CubeSats could be auxiliary cargo on previously planned missions.
CubeSats are a class of research spacecraft called nanosatellites. The cube-shaped satellites are approximately four inches long, have a volume of about one quart and weigh less than 2.2 pounds.
CubeSat investigations should be consistent with NASA’s Strategic Plan or the Education Strategic Coordination Framework. The research should address aspects of science, exploration, technology development, education or operations.
Applicants must submit proposals electronically by 4:30 p.m. EST, Nov.
15. NASA will select the payloads by Jan. 31, 2011, but selection does not guarantee a launch opportunity. Collaborators may be required to provide partial reimbursement of approximately $30,000 per CubeSat. NASA will not provide funding for the development of the small satellites.
NASA recently announced the results from the first round of the CubeSat Launch Initiative. Twelve payloads have made the short-list for launch opportunities in 2011 and 2012. They are eligible for launch pending an appropriate opportunity and final negotiations. The satellites come from 10 states: Alabama, Alaska, California, Colorado, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, New York, Utah and Vermont.
For additional information on NASA’s CubeSat Launch Initiative program, visit:
http://www.nasa.gov/directorates/somd/home/CubeSats_initiative.html
For more information on NASA’s Strategic Plan, visit:
Ocean Surveillance Ships - T-AGOS
Posted by Jim in Underwater Acoustics and Sonar on August 3, 2010
Ocean Surveillance Ships - T-AGOS
Description
Ocean surveillance ships gather underwater acoustical data. The T-AGOS ships are operated by Military Sealift Command to support the anti-submarine warfare mission of the commanders of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.
Description: Ocean surveillance ships have a single mission to gather underwater acoustical data. The T-AGOS ships operate to support the anti-submarine warfare mission of the Commanders in chief of the Atlantic and Pacific Fleets.
Features: The ship is designed to tow an array of underwater listening devices to collect acoustical data. The ship also carries electronic equipment to process and transmit that data via satellite to shore stations for evaluation. The ship, the listening devices and electronic equipment are all part of a system called the Surveillance Towed Array System, or SURTASS.
Victorious class ocean surveillance ships are built on a Small Waterplane Twin Hull, or SWATH, design for greater stability at slow speeds in high latitudes under adverse weather conditions.
Impeccable class ships have a hull form based on that of Victorious. Acoustic systems should include an active low frequency towed array, which has a series of modules each of which houses two high-powered active transducers. These can be used with either mono or bistatic receivers.
http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/navyfacts/blsurveillanceships.htm
Ocean Observing Systems Offer Real-Time Data
Posted by Jim in Underwater Acoustics and Sonar on July 29, 2010
In December 2009 the Canadian North-East Pacific Time-series Undersea Networked Experiments (NEPTUNE) system went live at four ocean sites on the Juan de Fuca plate.
Ocean observing systems offers unprecedented opportunities for all researchers involved in the ocean and earth sciences. The real-time interactive design of NEPTUNE Canada will give scientists the ability to respond to rare oceanic events, observe ocean change over decades, and adjust experiments and sampling over time, all via the Internet.
Many ocean observing systems are being commissioned in Europe, Asia and in the Americas.
This web page offers a good review of the Ocean Observing Systems
http://ocean-news.com/home/338-special-feature
NEPTUNE Canada
Last December, the first data transmissions were observed on the NEPTUNE Canada observatory. Four months later, over 267,000 data files occupying more than 4.4 Terabytes contain raw data, complex data and recordings from streaming instruments. The Bottom Pressure Recorder (BPR) at Barkley Canyon was the most prolific, recording over 10 million samples. In addition to the growing data, the total number of registered users rose from 220 in January to 5,781 at the end of March.
VENUS
While NEPTUNE Canada is “putting the pedal to the metal” in its opening lap, VENUS has shown steady performance over the past 4 years in Saainch Inlet and 2 years in the Strait of Georgia. Two successful maintenance cruises were accomplished over the past year (Figure 4). VENUS is now looking to extend its research footprint to the water surface and encompass greater experimentation capacity to a wider region without the installation of additional cables.
OOI Regional Scale Node (RSN)
The concept of a regional cabled ocean observatory – a system that would provide continuous high power and interactive real-time high-bandwidth data transfer to and from shore – began to be seriously explored by scientists at the University of Washington (UW) in the mid 1990s. The original NEPTUNE concept was nurtured and developed at UW, a vision based upon decades of experience in at-sea research in the Northeast Pacific Ocean. Subsequently, this past year, through its Ocean Observatories Initiative (OOI), the NSF awarded the implementation of the deepwater Regional Scale Nodes (RSN) to UW. The shallow-water, cabled coastal sites off the Oregon coast will be shared by the UW and Oregon State University.
KILROY
The Ocean Research & Conservation Association (ORCA), based in Fort Pierce, Florida, installed a beta test array of 9 Kilroy Water Monitoring Units (http://www.teamorca.org/cfiles/kilroy.cfm) on the Eastern shore of the Chesapeake Bay in April. ORCA’s Kilroys are a wireless network of remote semi-autonomous aquatic sensor systems. A central supervisory system directs operations of the remote systems, collects data and relays that via the Internet to a geospatial database.
ANTARES France
First results from ANTARES (Astronomy with a Neutrino Telescope and Abyss environmental RESearch project), a neutrino telescope residing in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of Toulon, France (Figure 1), have recently been published (http://iopscience.iop.org /1742-6596/203/1/012122).
CYCOFOS – TWERC Cyprus
Last year’s ON&T update reported on CYCOFOS (Cyprus Coastal Forecasting and Observing System), the buoy-powered ocean observatory that has been operating off the southern coast of Cyprus for the past five years. This observatory is currently undergoing an extensive expansion which, when complete, will result in the prototype Tsunami Warning and Early Response System for Cyprus (TWERC).
DONET – Japan
As forecasted in last year’s ON&T update, NEC Corporation deployed the Dense Oceanfloor Network System for Earthquakes and Tsunamis (DONET) for Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology (JAMSTEC) in April this year. DONET measurements are delivered in real-time, 24/7 via the submarine cable’s optical fiber. Data is first sent to a ground-based station in Mie where it is then relayed for analysis to institutions that include the Japan Meteorological Agency, the National Research Institute for Earth Science and Disaster Prevention (NIED) and a range of universities. These observations are expected to make valuable contributions to the speed and accuracy of earthquake and tsunami warnings as well as the improvement of earthquake prediction models.
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Standard Missile Pushes Forward
Posted by Jim in Defense, Including Radar, Missiles and EW on July 28, 2010
ATIcourses offers several courses on missile defense and combat systems. This defense news should be of interest to ATI course students.
STANDARD MISSILE NAVAL DEFENSE FAMILY (SM-1 TO SM-6): Variants of the SM-2 Standard missile are the USA’s primary fleet defense anti-air weapon, and serve with 13 navies worldwide. The most common variant is the RIM-66K-L/ SM-2 Standard Block IIIB, which entered service in 1998. The Standard family extends far beyond the SM-2 missile, however; several nations still use the SM-1, the SM-3 is rising to international prominence as a missile defense weapon, and the SM-6 program is on track to supplement the SM-2. These missiles are designed to be paired with the AEGIS radar and combat system, but can be employed independently by ships with older or newer radar systems. AEGIS is the primary anti-air warfare defensive weapons system on board American Ticonderoga Class Cruisers (CG-47) and Arleigh Burke Class Destroyers (DDG-51), as well as foreign air defense ships including Japan’s Kongo Class destroyers, Korea’s KDX-III Class destroyers, Norway’s Fridtjof Nansen Class frigates, Spain’s F-100 Alvaro de Bazan Class frigates, and Australia’s Air Warfare Destroyers
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