NewSpace 2012 Conference
NASA Leadership Roundtable

• Rebecca Keiser (Moderator) — Associate Deputy Administrator for Strategy and Policy, NASA
• Robert Cabana — Director, NASA Kennedy Space Center
• Ramon Lugo — Director, NASA Glenn Research Center
• Ellen Ochoa — Deputy Director, NASA Johnson Space Center
• Pete Worden — Director, NASA Ames Research Center

Bob Cabana (KSC)

• Have a lot of excess capacity at KSC
• Boeing deal for one of shuttle processing facilities for CST-100
• Company using and maintaining tooling
• trying to make it a 21^st century spaceport
• Wants KSC to have NASA and commercial missions and suborbital flights out of the shuttle landing facility
• 21^st century spaceport upgrades are beneficial to NASA and to commercial partners
• NASA in negotiations with Stratolaunch to fly out of KSC
• Centers are learning how to use Space Act Agreements better and are learning from each other
• Need to take it to the next step – not just about a few people going to space on a big govt. program but more people
• commercial suborbital similar to biplane rides in 20′s
• early aviation only for the very rich at the beginning
• in  the last part of the curve before it goes exponential
• form partnerships in which there is clear communication and not in an adversarial but partnership – we’re all in it together

Pete Worden (Ames)

• Ames working on quantum computers – want to have one of the first quantum computers
• Ames partners on synthetic biology with J. Craig Venter – crucial to being able to live in space
• if you want to go to space, talk to JSC and KSC – to get back, talk to Ames
• Ames and the other field centers do research work and develop crucial technologies
• Ames provides a location for people to do work – plane – fuel cell – turned into multi- billion business
• The technology of this century is biotech
• Gene expression is fundamentally different in space – will tell us a lot about how life works and how to make new products
• Will be a major breath through area – space biology, specifically fundamental development
• NASA needs to succeed in mid-wiving new commercial space industry
• NASA can’t afford to do the things it wants to do – moon, Mars, etc. – without building up a more competitive commercial sector

Ramon Lugo (NASA Glenn)

• 2 year process in which center looked at how to do commercial space better
• used to think business development was easy — learned otherwise
• about 16 projects ongoing
• aerospace is a key areas where we have a positive balance of trade
• need to get technology out there to help transform the way we live
• bring in the staff attorneys on Space Act Agreements at very early in the process – a lot of deals run into trouble if they are brought in late

Ellen Ochoa (NASA JSC)

• Momentum has started to grow
• Enormous amount of progress just in the last few months

Q. What has been the biggest obstacle to these commercial efforts?

Pete Worden: 

• “Headquarters. Congress. The White House.”
•  A lot of bureaucracy, a lot of laws and some good reasons for it
• Space Act Agreement is an incredibly powerful tool
• Space Act Agreement: If it’s not prohibited by law, you can do it
• Space Act Agreement: Given holes you can drive a lot of trucks through
• Now a set of rules at HQ called the Worden Rules – more oversight of SAAs
• “Ames in particular, We’re in Silicon Valley and Silicon Valley is in us.”
• Go from “no, because…” to “yes, if….”

“In collaboration with our partners, we are working on alternatives to the typical solar array approach,” said Jim Munger, solar electric propulsion program manager, Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. “Our concept will be scalable to 300 kilowatts and beyond and have the potential for reducing the cost and complexity of high-power requirements.”

The company is partnered with Sandia National Laboratories and the University of Michigan’s Department of Aerospace Engineering to create a technology road map for near-term NASA space missions.

NASA’s goal is to develop a high-power solar electric propulsion system for a “space tugboat” that can ferry satellites from Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to Geosynchronous Earth Orbit (GEO), saving fuel and secondary booster costs. The availability of a solar-powered vehicle would make it possible to launch spacecraft to LEO, then ferry them to GEO, allowing much heavier payloads to reach GEO while still using existing launch vehicles.

The study is designed to develop mission concepts that will be using technology at NASA Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 5 or greater, which means that a basic prototype has been validated in a relevant environment (simulating space) and includes initial integration at some level with other operational systems.

Sandia National Laboratories is a multiprogram laboratory operated by Sandia Corporation for the U.S. Department of Energy’s National Nuclear Security Administration. With facilities in Albuquerque, N.M., and Livermore, Calif., Sandia has major research and development responsibilities in national security, energy and environmental technologies, and economic competitiveness.

The Department of Aerospace Engineering at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich., has been recognized as one of the leading departments of its kind in the country. Professor Alec D. Gallimore will lead the department’s effort for Northrop Grumman.

NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, will manage the project. In addition to other numerous technology development activities, the Center designs game-changing technology for spaceflight that enables further exploration of the universe.

Northrop Grumman is a leading global security company providing innovative systems, products and solutions in aerospace, electronics, information systems, and technical services to government and commercial customers worldwide. Please visit www.northropgrumman.com for more information.

In an editorial, the Cleveland Plain Dealer looks at the confusion and uncertainty that NASA’s new human spaceflight policy is causing at the Glenn Research Center:

In the span of 48 hours, NASA Glenn had lost its big-ticket mission, the next-generation manned spaceflight program called Constellation, and its director, Woodrow Whitlow, who will soon be off to NASA headquarters in Washington, D.C., where he will be NASA’s associate administrator for mission support.

These two big changes — leadership and mission — come to NASA Glenn with distressing regularity. And lately the mission changes haven’t been tweaks. They’ve been sharp turns…

So now NASA will find something else for Glenn to do, and under new management. Glenn’s history of leadership in power and propulsion systems and the proximity of the Plum Brook Station — an ideal test site for anything from big rockets to next-generation satellites — would seem to suggest a move in that direction. But that’s for NASA to decide….

Finally, a word about Woodrow Whitlow: Quietly — very quietly — he put Glenn on firmer ground than it had been on in years. He had help, of course, from business leaders and especially from Ohio’s congressional delegation. But the job Whitlow did in leading Glenn, day to day, has been commendable. He’ll be a hard man to replace.

You can read the full editorial. The official NASA press release announcing Whitlow’s appointment is below.

NASA PRESS RELEASE
February 3, 2010

On Wednesday, NASA Administrator Charles Bolden named Dr. Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., the associate administrator for Mission Support at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Whitlow will continue to serve as the director of NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland until a successor is named.

In this new position, Whitlow will be responsible for most NASA management operations, including human capital, budget and systems support as well as a variety of other vital cross agency business, institutional and contract support functions.

“Woodrow is a dedicated and valued member of my senior leadership team, and I am pleased he agreed to accept this new challenge,” Bolden said. “As the agency moves forward, we need to streamline the way we do business with a fresh approach and an eye for strategic management and investments. I know the people of Glenn will miss Woodrow, but the entire agency will again have the opportunity to benefit from his insight and experience.”

As the Glenn director since Dec. 25, 2005, Whitlow has led a workforce of more than 3,400 civil service and support service contractors. The center is distinguished by its unique blend of aeronautics and spaceflight research and development experience.

Before being named director of Glenn, Whitlow served as the deputy director of NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Florida. He assisted the director in determining and implementing center policy and managing and implementing the center’s missions and agency program responsibilities. Areas of responsibility included processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles, processing of spacecraft and acquisition of launch services.

Prior to his appointment as deputy director at Kennedy, Whitlow was the director of Research and Technology at Glenn.

Whitlow began his NASA career in 1979 as a research scientist at the agency’s Langley Research Center in Hampton, Va. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to Glenn in 1998. In 1994, he served as director of the Critical Technologies Division in the Office of Aeronautics at NASA Headquarters.

Whitlow earned his bachelor’s degree, master’s degree, and doctorate in aeronautics and astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

WOODROW WHITLOW, JR.
Official NASA Biography

Dr. Woodrow Whitlow Jr. is Director of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) John H. Glenn Research Center at Lewis Field in Cleveland, Ohio. Appointed to this position effective December 25, 2005, he is responsible for planning, organizing and directing the activities required to accomplish the missions assigned to the center.

While managing an annual budget of approximately $500 million, he oversees a workforce of approximately 1,680 civil service employees that is supported by approximately 1,580 contractors. The center has 24 major facilities and over 500 specialized research facilities located at the 350-acre Cleveland site and the 6,400-acre Plum Brook Station site in Sandusky, Ohio.

From September 2003 through December 2005, Dr. Whitlow served as the Deputy Director of the NASA John F. Kennedy Space Center. There his duties included assisting the director in determining and implementing center policy and in managing and implementing the center’s missions and agency program responsibilities in the areas of processing, launch, and recovery of launch vehicles; processing of spacecraft; and acquisition of launch services. Prior to this appointment as Deputy Director, he served as the Director of Research and Technology at the Glenn Research Center.

Dr. Whitlow began his professional career in 1979 as a research scientist at the NASA Langley Research Center, Hampton, Virginia. He assumed various positions of increasing responsibility before moving to the Glenn Research Center in 1998. In 1994, he served as Director of the Critical Technologies Division, Office of Aeronautics, at NASA Headquarters.

Dr. Whitlow earned his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees in Aeronautics and Astronautics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He has written nearly 40 technical papers, most in the areas of unsteady transonic flow and aeroelasticity.

Dr. Whitlow has received numerous awards, including U.S. Black Engineer of the Year in Government, NASA Exceptional Service Honor Medal, NASA Equal Opportunity Honor Medal, the (British) Institution of Mechanical Engineers William Sweet Smith Prize and the Presidential Rank of Meritorious Executive. The American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics named him an associate fellow in 1993.

Dr. Whitlow and his wife have two daughters and two granddaughters.

“NASA Glenn Director Woodrow Whitlow said the agency has no data that supports the union’s claim. He spoke at a news conference Friday on the third floor of the Development Engineering Building, which the union says is unsafe for workers.”

Alleged NASA Cancer Problem May Have Existed For Years
April 15

“The retirees are telling me — and these are even some management officials — that there were concerns way back to the 80′s and there were never any answers provided,” said Virginia Cantwell, president of IFPTE Local 28.

The union says about 40 of 100 workers on the Developmental Engineering Building’s third floor have been diagnosed with cancer over the last three to four years. Officials are worried about mold, asbestos, a dirty air filter, and other problems at the 44-year-old building.

However, the Ohio Department of Health and the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health say that cancer rates are within the normal ranges. The Plain Dealer reports that they based their findings on a survey of workers, but it also quotes a union official as saying some employees skipped the survey out of fear of being identified.

Glenn officials say that tests show safe working conditions in the building. U.S. Rep. Dennis Kucinich, who represents the district, has instructed his staffers to question Glenn officials and examine relevant documents.

Only 51 percent of the 5,408 employees who responded to the survey answered “Yes” to the statement: “I can rely on management to be honest.” When broken down by field center, only 36 percent of employees surveyed at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, Calif., found management to be honest. This was followed by NASA Glenn in Cleveland (39 percent) and NASA Headquarters in Washington (46 percent). The highest figure was at Johnson Space Flight Center in Houston (62 percent).

NASA Ames under Center Director S. Pete Worden consistently scored at or near the bottom of a number of questions, including whether management encourages innovation, communicates on a timely basis, develops leaders effectively, and fosters an environment where employees feel free to raise dissenting opinions without fear that their careers will suffer. NASA Headquarters and NASA Glenn also had low scores in these areas.

Johnson Space Flight Center, which runs the agency’s human space program, had fairly high marks for many of these same questions. Communications within the center were ranked relatively high, and management was given good marks for encouraging and rewarding innovation in most areas.

The report indicates that approximately 30% (5,408) of the agency’s 18,152 employees responded to the web-based survey between September 4 and October 30, 2007. Employees were sent an e-mail invitation with a log-in ID and password.

Griffin’s “Ask the Administrator” feature on NASA’s website fared poorly. A mere 26 percent of respondents found the feature to be “quite useful.” Only the NASA Strategic Management and Governance Handbook ranked lower at 21 percent.

The report includes a two-page appendix consisting of Griffin’s January 28th message to NASA employees titled A Day of Remembrance in which the administrator “articulated everyone’s responsibility for building trust and open communication.”

CLEVELAND – Reporters are invited to NASA’s Glenn Research Center in Cleveland on Thursday, March 13 at 11 a.m. EDT to view a full-scale element of NASA’s Ares I-X rocket. The test launch and flight of the Ares I-X in April 2009 is a critical milestone in the development of NASA’s Constellation Program that will send astronauts back to the moon.

Reporters will be able to see and climb inside the 18-foot wide, 45-foot tall simulation of the Ares I upper stage, which was designed and manufactured at Glenn. The simulated element represents the size, outer shape and mass of the second stage of the Ares I rocket. Media also will receive an update of NASA’s Ares I-X Project and a tour of Glenn’s Fabrication Shop.

The full scale upper stage element will be tested and have instrumentation installed before it is integrated with the other parts of the Ares I-X vehicle for the test flight. The finished elements also represent the completion of the first manufacturing activity at Glenn of a full-scale launch vehicle demonstrator in two decades.

Glenn’s director, Woodrow Whitlow, Jr., will participate in the briefing and be joined by Vince Bilardo, project manager for the Ares I-X elements at Glenn and Therese Griebel, chief of Glenn’s Manufacturing Technologies Division.

Media wishing to attend this event should contact Katherine Martin at 216-433-2901 by 4:30 p.m. on March 12.