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Summer Final Report

The summer of 2012 has been filled with many memorable events and activities. As an intern, I had responsibilities that had to be fulfilled. My tour of duty was completed as an administrative student trainee in the Information Technology and Communications Services Business Office (IT-A). In accordance with the Business Objectives and Agreement of the Business Office and my performance plan, I was to provide business office support, improve business, project management, and technical work processes. With this being stated, I supported a project called "The Big Move Project" (TBMP), which will take course over the next several years. The Big Move Project is the planning of the Information Technology (IT) Directorate's relocation to various buildings in the course of upcoming years, when designs and the building of Central Campus have been completed. Working directly with my supervisor and the project manager, I was responsible for gathering both administrative and operational area requirements for the Information Technology (IT) Directorate, along with its outsourced support and contractors, such as IMCS, NICS, and ACES. My first action was to create rubrics that will serve as a guideline for the information that should be given by each branch of IT. After receiving that information via a few KAITS actions, I was able to start the consolidation process, and begin working on a presentation. A SharePoint was created shortly after for others to view the progression of the project, which I managed. During the consolidation ofthis information, I would occasionally present to the IT Deputy Director and IT Chiefs. The draft of this presentation was shown to employees of Center Operations (T A) and stakeholders-IT Chief Officers and contractor managers-in the relocation of IT to make them aware of what requirements must be met that will enable IT to be accommodated appropriately in the design of Central Campus Phase 11-the time in which IT and its contractors are scheduled to be relocated. Besides supporting TBMP, I also supported the Section 508 Policy Compliance Coordinator, R. Liang. Section 508 is a policy that requires employers to implement accessibility assurance of information and technology to disabled communities. On Thursday, July 19, 2012, I was able to go to Camp Boggy Creek-a camp for disabled children-for an education outreach, in collaboration with the Education Office. We shared with them information about how astronauts live and work in space, they were able to ride hovercrafts, build paper rockets, and then launch them outside. Although this outreach was quite fun with the kids at the camp, this was a learning opportunity to gain some insight to those with cognitive and physical disabilities, the problems they typically face, and in tum, how to accommodate those with disabilities in the work environment. In the process of implementing accessibility and Section 508 compliance, I attended various teleconferences, did field runs to supply closed-caption call phones to employees with limited hearing, and helped with the development of the charter ofthe Section 508 Compliance Working Group.

Makidi, Nitou↗

Moving from Information Assurance to Functional Assurance with Engineered Controls

Cyber threats to operational technology demand more than traditional IT defenses—they require full-spectrum mission assurance. Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) is an approach that embeds engineered controls into system design to ensure critical functions remain safe and reliable, even under attack. Unlike conventional cybersecurity tools, engineered controls act directly on physical processes to prevent unacceptable outcomes such as equipment damage or mission failure. This session will outline the CIE framework and share examples of consequence-based design that deliver true resilience, not just fail-safe behaviors. Attendees will learn how to integrate these principles into the engineering lifecycle to support resilient-by-design architectures and inform emerging standards. This talk sets the stage for the panel discussion on advancing CIE across sectors as digital and physical systems converge.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

Modernization of Technical Requirements for Licensing of Advanced Non-Light Water Reactors: Risk-Informed and Performance-Based Evaluation of Defense-in-Depth Adequacy

This document supports the work contained in Nuclear Energy Institute (NEI) 18-04 “Risk-Informed Performance-Based Technology Inclusive Guidance for Advanced Reactor Licensing Basis Development” Revision 0. NEI 18-04 presents a modern, technology-inclusive, risk-informed, and performance-based (TI-RIPB) process for selection of Licensing Basis Events (LBEs); safety classification of structures, systems, and components (SSCs) and associated risk-informed special treatments; and determination of defense-in-depth (DID) adequacy for non-LWRs. The NEI guidance document provides one acceptable means for addressing the aforementioned topics as part of demonstrating a specific design provides reasonable assurance of adequate radiological protection. This report provides the framework and associated methodology guidelines and discussion for establishing, then evaluating, confirming, and documenting the adequacy of defense-in-depth (DID) for advanced non-light-water reactor technologies. It was developed as part of the Licensing Modernization Project led by Southern Company and cost-shared by the United States Department of Energy and has benefited from considerable NRC formal reviews and public workshops. The methodology converts the DID philosophy into a structured process that is implementable, embraces existing United States and international definitions and philosophies of DID that set the foundation for the process. It builds on the DID framework developed in the Department of Energy Next Generation Nuclear Plant Project and earlier works on this subject. The approach to establishing DID adequacy involves the incorporation of DID attributes into the plant capabilities and programmatic elements of DID. The integrated evaluation of DID adequacy includes both quantitative elements to incorporate risk-informed and performance-based (RIPB) considerations and qualitative elements that address uncertainties and limitations in the quantitative models and supporting data. Demonstration of DID adequacy ensures that there are multiple layers of defense for risk-significant challenges to the design and that the plant capabilities and programs that support each layer are provided in a manner that minimizes dependencies among these layers. The focus of this report is assurance of DID adequacy with respect to protection of the public from radiological exposures resulting from accidental releases of radioactive material. While other hazards are not specifically addressed, this methodology is expected to be beneficial for determining DID adequacy for them as well. Risk-informed evaluation of DID considers the integrated performance of all plant SSCs and associated programs to manage daily operational activities, transients, and accidents, including the evaluation of strategies for accident prevention and mitigation. The RIPB LBE scenario methodology used in this evaluation defines the challenges to the plant safety features included in the plant design basis and beyond, and the scope of all deterministic and probabilistic safety evaluations. By examining event sequences across the whole spectrum of LBEs, a systematic assessment of DID can be accomplished.

42 ENGINEERING↗

The Effects of Shared Information on Pilot-Controller Situation Awareness And Re-Route Negotiation

The effect of shared information is assessed in terms of pilot-controller negotiating behavior and shared situation awareness. Pilot goals and situation awareness requirements are developed and compared against those of air traffic controllers to identify areas of common and competing interest. An exploratory, part-task simulator experiment is described which evaluates the extent to which shared information may lead pilots and controllers to cooperate or compete when negotiating route amendments. Results are presented which indicate that shared information enhances situation awareness and can engender more collaborative interaction between pilots and air traffic controllers. Furthermore, the value of providing controllers with a good-quality weather overlay on their plan view displays is demonstrated. Observed improvements in situation awareness and separation assurance are discussed.

Farley, Todd C.↗

Responsible Exploration Preserving the Cosmos for Tomorrow

This submittal encompasses NASA presentations to be shared at the forthcoming Trilateral S&MA Summit at ESRIN in Frascati, Italy. This event is an annual meeting comprised of SMA leadership and supporting staff from NASA, ESA, and JAXA. The Trilateral Parties discuss current and future areas of cooperation in areas of Safety & Mission Assurance.

trilateral↗

Energy Emergency and Preparedness Data: Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) and Quick Guidance on Crisis Communications

State Energy Offices and Public Utility Commissions rely on timely, accurate, and actionable information to perform their energy emergency response duties and execute their roles as state energy security planners. In support of this need, the National Association of State Energy Officials (NASEO) and the National Association of Regulatory Utility Commissions (NARUC) hosted an Energy Security and Data Analysis Workshop in Washington, DC to identify energy security response and planning data sources; and to share successful methods of data use and integration in state, federal, and private sector tools. Following the workshop, NASEO and NARUC hosted two topical data-centric webinars based on state priorities to identify best practices in Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and Crisis Communications programs leveraged in energy assurance planning and response. The Crisis Communications webinar covered best practice tactics for how states can respond during energy emergencies and other crises. Based on the workshop and webinars, this document summarizes commonly used data sources and includes frequently asked questions which may be used by state energy officials (i.e., consisting of staff from Public Utility Commissions and Governor-designated State Energy Offices) to help guide them in developing or improving their Crisis Communications capabilities. A strong public information program is a key crisis management tool. Timely and accurate information helps prevent confusion and uncertainty and encourages public support and cooperation. As energy subject matter experts, state energy officials are vital in the distilling, clarifying, and conveying energy sector information and implications to decision-makers and the public. Other participants in an effective public information program include the Governor’s Office, other state agencies, local governments, energy providers, local businesses, state legislature, and the federal government. It is essential to provide stakeholders and the public with information about the nature, severity, and duration of an emergency because inadequate understanding and awareness can lead to undesirable actions that could further exacerbate the situation. Before a state government can provide information to the public, it must gather information, describe the emergency accurately, and develop recommendations to manage the situation.

29 ENERGY PLANNING, POLICY, AND ECONOMY↗

A Cognitive-System Model for En Route Air Traffic Management

NASA Ames Research Center has been engaged in the development of advanced air traffic management technologies whose basic form is cognitive aiding systems for air traffic controller and flight deck operations. In the design and evaluation of such systems the dynamic interaction between the airborne aiding system and the ground-based aiding systems forms a critical coupling for control. The human operator is an integral control element in the system and the optimal integration of human decision and performance parameters with those of the automation aiding systems offers a significant challenge to cognitive engineering. This paper presents a study in full mission simulation and the development of a predictive computational model of human performance. We have found that this combination of methodologies provide a powerful design-aiding process. We have extended the computational model Man Machine Integrated Design and Analysis System (N13DAS) to include representation of multiple cognitive agents (both human operators and intelligent aiding systems), operating aircraft airline operations centers and air traffic control centers in the evolving airspace. The demands of this application require the representation of many intelligent agents sharing world-models, and coordinating action/intention with cooperative scheduling of goals and actions in a potentially unpredictable world of operations. The operator's activity structures have been developed to include prioritization and interruption of multiple parallel activities among multiple operators, to provide for anticipation (knowledge of the intention and action of remote operators), and to respond to failures of the system and other operators in the system in situation-specific paradigms. We have exercised this model in a multi-air traffic sector scenario with potential conflict among aircraft at and across sector boundaries. We have modeled the control situation as a multiple closed loop system. The inner and outer loop alerting structure of air traffic management has many implications that need to be investigated to assure adequate design. First, there are control and stability factors implicit in the design. As the inner loop response time approaches that of the outer loop, system stability may be compromised in that controllers may be solving a problem the nature of which has already been changed by pilot action. Second, information exchange and information presentation for both air and ground must be designed to complement as opposed to compete with each other. Third, the level of individual and shared awareness in trajectory modification and flight conformance needs to be defined. Fourth, the level of required awareness and performance impact of mixed fleet operations and failed-mode recovery must be explored.

Corker, Kevin M.↗

Advanced Transmission Technologies –GETs and HPCs Session 3: HPCs and Building Actions Plans to Digital Assurance Risks

The third session of the Idaho National Laboratory’s (INL) Technical Assistance for Digital Assurance (TADA) program, held on November 11, 2025, centered on High Performance Conductors (HPCs) and the formulation of action plans to address digital assurance risks associated with Grid-Enhancing Technologies (GETs). This session convened experts from utilities, vendors, and government agencies to examine the technical, operational, and cybersecurity aspects of HPC deployment. Discussions highlighted the benefits of HPCs, such as their ability to rapidly increase transmission capacity using existing corridors, improve grid resilience, reduce system losses, and align with FERC Orders 2023 and 1920. Participants evaluated supply chain and digital assurance risks, including reliance on imported materials, limited domestic manufacturing capacity, workforce shortages, and traceability issues. The session also emphasized the importance of digital trust, integration-layer cybersecurity, and unified risk frameworks, introducing tools like intrusion detection systems, encryption, zero trust networking, and firmware integrity. Recaps of earlier workshops on Dynamic Line Ratings (DLRs), Advanced Power Flow Control (APFC), and Transmission Topology Optimization (TTO) underscored institutional barriers and integration challenges. Action plans were proposed to mitigate issues such as inconsistent cybersecurity practices, SBOM usage, supply chain visibility, operator trust, and misaligned incentives. Additionally, INL presented its supply chain risk management tools and Cyber-Informed Engineering (CIE) principles to support secure procurement and system design. The session concluded with a commitment to share key takeaways, incorporate cohort feedback into future policy development, and continue collaborative engagement through upcoming pilot activities. Session 3 of 3.

24 - POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION↗

An Approach for Defining IASMS Services, Functions, and Capabilities

Assuring safety in the NAS with the inclusion of new entrants, such as Advanced Air Mobility (AAM), will require overcoming unique safety challenges that result from combining innovative technologies with novel airspace concepts for moving people and cargo using autonomous vehicles. The focus of the In-time Aviation Safety Management System (IASMS) is to overcome AAM’s safety assurance challenges. The IASMS Concept of Operations (ConOps) describes an interconnected set of services, functions, and capabilities (SFCs) designed to manage operational risks, identify unknown risks, and inform system designs. This paper describes an approach for defining SFCs based on technology trends in research, assessment of known and unknown risks in voluntary safety reports, and causal and contributing factors in aviation accidents and incidents. This approach would identify potential SFCs that further expand the Monitor, Assess, and Mitigate (M-A-M) functionality that represents the enabling framework of the IASMS. Safety implications that will result from integration of AAM in the transformation of the National Airspace System (NAS) were addressed in National Academies committees reports on AAM and IASMS. Development of a ConOps for IASMS was a top recommendation and can be represented as a reframing of safety assurance that builds on real-time alerting such as the Traffic Alert and Collision Avoidance System, and adds the more encompassing in-time temporal parameter in recognition of the different timelines for collecting and assessing safety data for risk mitigations. For example, mining for safety trends from data sources such as the Aviation Safety Information Analysis and Sharing system occurs over a longer time period. Research on AAM operations poses that SFCs can be designed to monitor the safety margin appropriate for AAM including with regards to the distance between current flight parameters and nominal ideal conditions. These in-time comparisons will become more complex as the density of operations increases at least in certain areas and can include planned and actual 4D trajectory, and in-time comparisons having implications on conflict modeling and prediction including expected and actual departure time, fix/waypoint crossing times, and arrival time. These comparisons would be integrated as part of SFCs that redefine and inform new safety margin. An increased safety margin improves management of operational risks while reducing the potential for anomalies. An increased safety margin also has implications for operator confidence in the certainty of its operations and trust in automation. Technology trends in research could be used to refine existing SFCs and define needs for additional SFCs that provide safety improvements to the design and operation of vehicles, airspace design, and operator performance requirements. NASA is developing innovative approaches to safeguard against major accidents and incidents that have occurred in the NAS and those anticipated with the inclusion of envisioned AAM operations. The innovations use operational performance data to monitor, detect, and predict flight variations exceeding safe nominal patterns, such as would be caused by navigational error, severe weather complications, or hijacking of UAS controls. These innovative approaches have high potential to prevent accidents and incidents in the new AAM era. It is anticipated that elements of the innovations will evolve into SFCs for the IASMS. Voluntary safety reports can be monitored to identify anomalies related to design or operational performance risks. Reports could be periodically monitored and assessed for specific topics. Reports might serve as weak signals or precursors indicative of emergent risk such as when combined with other safety information. The architecture could include SFCs that are based on voluntary safety reports recognizing the periodic temporal nature of data analysis. As previously mentioned, aviation accidents with their causal and contributing precursors can inform the need for SFCs in the IASMS. Accidents and incidents at San Francisco International Airport such as Asiana 214 and Air Canada 759 illustrate how combinations of different factors lead to increased risk. These types of precursors and different factors have implications on the types of SFCs that could be needed to monitor and manage different sources and types of design and operational risk. Continuing to assure the safety of AAM as designs and operations gain in complexity can be accompanied by defining SFCs that also increase in complexity. These SFCs can leverage information from findings and recommendations synthesized across on-going research, voluntary safety reports, and accident and incident reports. These SFCs can serve to refine accuracy of algorithms and resolve limitations with current practices. The IASMS architecture represents the framework for the SFCs and their critical role in safety assurance.

In-Time Aviation Safety Management System↗

Academy Sharing Knowledge (ASK). The NASA Source for Project Management Magazine, Volume 11, March 2003

APPL is a research-based organization that serves NASA program and project managers, as well as project teams, at every level of development. In 1997, APPL was created from an earlier program to underscore the importance that NASA places on project management and project teams through a wide variety of products and services, including knowledge sharing, classroom and online courses, career development guidance, performance support, university partnerships, and advanced technology tools. ASK Magazine grew out of APPL's Knowledge Sharing Initiative. The stories that appear in ASK are written by the 'best of the best' project managers, primarily from NASA, but also from other government agencies and industry. Contributors to this issue include: Teresa Bailey, a librarian at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Roy Malone, Deputy Director in the Safety and Mission Assurance (S&MA) Office at the NASA Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC), W. Scott Cameron, Capital Systems Manager for the Food and Beverage Global Business Unit of Procter and Gamble, Ray Morgan, recent retiree as Vice President of AeroVironment, Inc., Marty Davis, Program Manager of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) at the NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) in Greenbelt, Maryland, Todd Post, editor of ASK Magazine, and works for EduTech Ltd. in Silver Spring, Maryland, Dr. Owen Gadeken, professor of Engineering Management at the Defense Acquisition University, Ken Schwer, currently the Project Manager of Solar Dynamics Observatory, Dr. Edward Hoffmwan, Director of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership, Frank Snow, a member of the NASA Explorer Program at Goddard Space Flight Center since 1992, Dr. Alexander Laufer, Editor-in-Chief of ASK Magazine and a member of the Advisory Board of the NASA Academy of Program and Project Leadership, Judy Stokley, presently Air Force Program Executive Officer for Weapons in Washington, D.C. and Terry Little, Director of the Kinetic Energy Boost Office of the Missile Defense Agency.

Source record↗

Status of SPCA-ANL Software Development, Software Quality Assurance, and Application (FY2025)

SPCA-ANL is a simulation tool used to perform deterministic analyses of sodium spray and pool fires. Development of the SPCA-II (Spray Pool Combustion Analysis) code began in the mid- 1980s as part of the Clinch River Breeder Reactor (CRBR) Project. At that time, development of SPCA-II, which was led by Rockwell International, was focused on treatment of large-scale sodium spray, stream, and pool fires that were anticipated to be prototypic of the steam generator building cells in CRBR. Under more recent DOE NE programmatic activities, the SPCA-II code was recovered from existing literature and underwent minor modifications to generate a stable executable. This recovered version of the code was not formally released. As part of the Versatile Test Reactor (VTR) Project in the 2010s, the SPCA-II code underwent key modifications to improve stability, address modeling deficiencies, improve consistency between the code manual and software, and address numerous bugs. At this point, SPCA-II was renamed SPCA-ANL. Given that SPCA-II served as the original basis for SPCA-ANL, both codes share an integrated history. Following termination of the VTR Project, the DOE NE Fast Reactor Program resumed support of the software with the goal of building and maintaining software infrastructure that can enable commercial-grade dedication of SPCA-ANL by an end user. Version 1.0, the first external release of SPCA-ANL, was generated in June 2024. This report summarizes the development and maintenance activities completed for SPCAANL in FY2025. This year’s work was focused on improving quality and usability of the code. The provisional Software Quality Assurance (SQA) program has been established and was used to test the procedures for infrastructure improvements, code development, bug fixes, and code releases, as described in the following sections of this report. A code Version 1.0.1 was released in FY25, as described in Chapter 4.

97 MATHEMATICS AND COMPUTING↗

Worms on the International Space Station

C. elegans was proposed as a model system for space biology studies in 1991 and has since flown on STS-42, STS-76, and STS-95. Data obtained from these flights have confirmed that C. elegans requires adequate in flight oxygenation and displays an increased rate of mutation, much like other organisms in space. Unlike vertebrates, C. elegans has been observed to successfully complete two continuous full life cycles in space without gross developmental abnormalities. These observations, could with the utility of C. elegans as a terrestrial, fully sequenced, model system make C. elegans a good candidate for long term research onboard the International Space Station (ISS). We are currently working on technology to support biological studies aboard the ISS. A component of this effort is in the development of the Space Station Biological Research Program (SSBRP) Incubator which will be able to house organisms at a constant temperature setpoint ranging from 4deg C to 45deg C. The SSBRP Incubator provides air exchange, power, data and video ports and, when placed in the collaborative NASA/NASDA 2.5M centrifuge rotor, will be capable of providing a lg gravity control. Current plans for validation of the Incubator include video monitoring and periodic sampling of C. elegans in the Incubator onboard the ISS. Once returned to earth, samples will be distributed for analysis via a specimen sharing plan and analyzed for gene expression and other parameters of growth and development in space flight. These data should provide the C. elegans research community with a baseline from which to propose studies for future flights. We have also been developing an appropriate method of culturing C. elegans in liquid media in order to remove the need for the crew to assure that strains are properly fed. Currently, we are growing strains in the chemically defined, axenic, media developed by Dr. Nancy Lu. Wild-type animals complete multiple generations and appear generally healthy after being grown in unchanged media for a minimum of three to four weeks. To assure proper oxygenation we have chosen to grow animals in ten milliliter OptiCells(TradeMark). The choice of the OptiCell(TradeMark) also allows for automation of culturing as demonstrated for cell cultures grown in the OptiCell(TradeMark). Arrangements have been made for the liquid media to be commercially produced by Mediatech, Inc. and OptiCells(TradeMark) are available from BioCrystal Ltd.

Szewczyk, Nate↗

Investigating the Complexity of Transitioning Separation Assurance Tools into NextGen Air Traffic Control

In a study, that introduced ground-based separation assurance automation through a series of envisioned transitional phases of concept maturity, it was found that subjective responses to scales of workload, situation awareness, and acceptability in a post run questionnaire revealed as-predicted results for three of the four study conditions but not for the third, Moderate condition. The trend continued for losses of separation (LOS) where the number of LOS events were far greater than expected in the Moderate condition. To offer an account of why the Moderate condition was perceived to be more difficult to manage than predicted, researchers examined the increase in amount and complexity of traffic, increase in communication load, and increased complexities as a result of the simulation's mix of aircraft equipage. Further analysis compared the tools presented through the phases, finding that controllers took advantage of the informational properties of the tools presented but shied away from using their decision support capabilities. Taking into account similar findings from other studies, it is suggested that the Moderate condition represented the first step into a "shared control" environment, which requires the controller to use the automation as a decision making partner rather than just a provider of information. Viewed in this light, the combination of tools offered in the Moderate condition was reviewed and some tradeoffs that may offset the identified complexities were suggested.

separation assurance↗

An Experimental Study of the Effect of Shared Information on Pilot/Controller Re-Route Negotiation

Air-ground data link systems are being developed to enable pilots and air traffic controllers to share information more fully. The sharing of information is generally expected to enhance their shared situation awareness and foster more collaborative decision making. An exploratory, part-task simulator experiment is described which evaluates the extent to which shared information may lead pilots and controllers to cooperate or compete when negotiating route amendments. The results indicate an improvement in situation awareness for pilots and controllers and a willingness to work cooperatively. Independent of data link considerations, the experiment also demonstrates the value of providing controllers with a good-quality weather representation on their plan view displays. Observed improvements in situation awareness and separation assurance are discussed. It is argued that deployment of this relatively simple, low-risk addition to the plan view displays be accelerated.

Farley, Todd C.↗

Acoustic Emission Health Monitoring of Fill Purge COPV's Used in Aerospace and Automotive Applications and Designed for Long Cycle Life

Cumulative composite damage in composite pressure vessels (CPVs) currently is not monitored on-orbit. Consequently, hazards due to catastrophic burst before leak (BBL) or compromised CPV reliability cannot be ascertained or mitigated, posing a risk to crew and mission assurance. The energy associated with CPV rupture can be significant, especially with high pressure gases are under containment, and the energy releases can be severe enough to cause injury, death, loss of assets or mission. Dual-Use Rationale: CPVs similar to those used by NASA on ISS, for example, are finding increasing use in automotive and transportation industry applications. These CPVs generally have a nonload sharing liner and are repeatedly filled over their service lifetime, typically with hydrogen or compressed natural gas (CNG). The same structural health monitoring equipment and software developed by NASA WSTF for evaluating, in real-time, the health of NASA CPVs on ISS will be used to evaluate the health of automotive CPVs, the only differences being the type and design of the CPV, and the in-service lifetime pressure histories. HSF Need(s)/Performance Characteristic(s) Supported: 1) Enable on-board vehicle systems management for mission critical functions at destinations with > 3 second time delay 2) Enable autonomous nominal operations and FDIR for crewed and un-crewed systems 3) Reduce on-board crew time to sustain and manage vehicle by factor of 2x at destinations with > 6 second time delay (see Crew Autonomy sheet) 4) Reduce earth-based mission ops "back room engineering" requirements for distant mission support delay (see Mission Autonomy sheet)

Waller, Jess↗

National Solar Thermal Test Facility: Operations & Maintenance Report

The NSTTF O&M Project continues the operation and maintenance activities of the existing critical capabilities and infrastructure at the NSTTF. This project is to support and assure the success of Solar Heat for Industrial Process in the United States and the larger global community by ensuring the NSTTF is a safe and operational facility. The primary goal of this project will be to maintain the solar tower and heliostat field while also allowing NSTTF staff to improve processes for operations and maintenance. This includes expanding our preventative maintenance program, inventory systems, and our data sharing capabilities. Additionally, this will support an outreach program with regular seminars, sharing of data, and the release of open-source software to support heliostat metrology

14 SOLAR ENERGY↗

New challenges for Life Sciences flight project management

Scientists have conducted studies involving human spaceflight crews for over three decades. These studies have progressed from simple observations before and after each flight to sophisticated experiments during flights of several weeks up to several months. The findings from these experiments are available in the scientific literature. Management of these flight experiments has grown into a system fashioned from the Apollo Program style, focusing on budgeting, scheduling and allocation of human and material resources. While these areas remain important to the future, the International Space Station (ISS) requires that the Life Sciences spaceflight experiments expand the existing project management methodology. The use of telescience with state-the-art information technology and the multi-national crews and investigators challenges the former management processes. Actually conducting experiments on board the ISS will be an enormous undertaking and International Agreements and Working Groups will be essential in giving guidance to the flight project management Teams forged in this matrix environment must be competent to make decisions and qualified to work with the array of engineers, scientists, and the spaceflight crews. In order to undertake this complex task, data systems not previously used for these purposes must be adapted so that the investigators and the project management personnel can all share in important information as soon as it is available. The utilization of telescience and distributed experiment operations will allow the investigator to remain involved in their experiment as well as to understand the numerous issues faced by other elements of the program The complexity in formation and management of project teams will be a new kind of challenge for international science programs. Meeting that challenge is essential to assure success of the International Space Station as a laboratory in space.

NASA Discipline General Space Life Sciences↗

Licensing, Regulations and Developing Guidance for Nuclear Technology Deployment for Embarking countries in Africa

The African region is witnessing an increased number of countries at different stages of implementing or considering the introduction of peaceful nuclear power programs to meet the demand of their rapidly growing economies as well as clean energy needs. Grid size, cost, licensing, and regulations will be some of the challenges to deploying larger power reactors. A key element of the regulatory framework will be the inclusion of nuclear security information and assurance that security is integrated into the license review process.As each country continue to implement and consider different reactor designs from several vendors, the significance of customer knowledge of licensing, Regulations, and guidance document to facilitate the deployment and operational needs for nuclear technology cannot be over-emphasized. This special session will bring together a selected panel of key stakeholders and policymakers from embarking countries in Africa to participate in a panel discussion to share their experience in the licensing, regulations, and development of guidance for power plant deployment. The session will also consider and identify potential gaps that may affect the licensing and regulatory applications for the future nuclear infrastructure. As well, the panel will promote regional networking and communication to increase capacities in readiness for the potential deployment of additional technology, such as Small Modular Reactors.

Dahunsi, Stephen↗