National Aeronautics and Space Administration … Hinkle... · National Aeronautics and Space Administration ... •Project management must be viewed as a 3 axis ... •Demands for

National Aeronautics and Space Administration

www.nasa.gov

Instrument Development at NASA GSFC

Ken

Hinkle

Code 550

January 10, 2012

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center

Instrument Systems and Technology Division

AETD Overview 3-30-10

Agenda

• Instrument Systems and Technology Division (ISTD/Code 550)

overview (Brief) - Ken

• ISTD Support Service Contract - Ken

• Instrument Management changes within AETD – Ken

• AETD/ISTD Instrument Collaboration w/ Code 600 – Carl

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NASA Goddard Space Flight Center Applied Engineering and Technology Directorate—

Enabling the “Reality of Tomorrow”


Why We Build Instruments Sciences and Exploration at Goddard

Earth Sciences: Develop better knowledge of the distribution and

characteristics of Earth's natural resources and how they are

changing. Develop a better understanding of the processes

affecting global change.

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Astrophysics Science: How do galaxies, stars, and planetary systems form

and evolve? What is the diversity of worlds beyond our solar system? Which

planets might harbor life? What powered the big bang? What is Dark

Energy? What happens to space, time and matter at the edge of a black

hole? What are the cycles of matter & energy in the evolving universe?

Heliophysics Science: Mission development and research in solar physics,

heliospheric physics, geospace physics and space weather. Research into solar

structure and magnetic activity, the origins and acceleration of the solar wind, the

effects of solar outbursts on the heliosphere, the response of the coupled

magnetosphere-ionosphere system at the Earth and other planets to solar variability

including solar irradiance.

Solar System Exploration: Explore the Solar System and study the formation and

evolution of planetary systems.


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Instrument Systems & Technology Division

We provide optical engineering expertise in

the design, development and testing of state-

of-the-art optical instruments, subsystems,

and components.

Majors: Physics

We provide space flight cryogenic

Cooling systems from room temperature

to as close as possible to absolute zero.

Majors: Aerospace, Mechanical, Physics

We research, develop, design, build,

integrate, & test laser & electro-optic

components & systems for present & future

space flight deployment or ground/air

validation.

Majors: Physics, Electrical

We build a wide range of products, from

custom detectors to entire turn-key systems

that span the electromagnetic spectrum.

Majors: Electrical, Physics,

Chemistry/Materials

We provide engineering and technology

expertise enabling end-to-end

conceptualization and development of

microwave instrument systems.

Majors:

Physics, Electrical

We provide technical leadership for the

full life cycle of instrument development.

The Instrument Systems and Technology Division enables scientific discovery

and exploration by developing state-of-the-art technologies and world-class

flight instruments.


Instrument Systems & Technology Division

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Division Chief Ken Hinkle

Division Chief Secretary: Denise Tarrance Associate Secretary: Carole Rehm

Admin Officer: Shelly Standiford Admin. Officer: Julie Hosford

Assistant Division Chief

Howard Branch

Associate Division Chiefs Peter Maymon

Cathy Long

Senior Staff New Business Lead: Carl Stahle ISTD Chief Engineer: Jay Smith Chief Engineer: Murzy Jhabvala

Senior Staff: Lee Feinberg

Assoc. Chief (501) In-House Instruments Robert Wright

Institution Resource Analyst Tara Lausch Arthur Chan

Optics Head: David Vaughnn

Assoc. Head: Rene A Boucarut Assoc. Head: Gerry Wright Assoc. Head: Ross Henry

Assoc. Head: Maria Nowak Secretary: Vacant

Cryogenic and Fluids Head: Susan Breon

Assoc. Head: Eric Silk Secretary: Karen Baron

Detector Systems Head: Laddawan Miko

Assoc. Head: David Franz Assoc. Head: Wen-Ting Hsieh

Secretary: Vacant

Lasers and Elector-Optics Head: Mike Krainak

Assoc. Head: Branimir Blagojevic Secretary: Elizabeth Trammell

Microwave Instruments & Technology Head: Diep Nguyen

Assoc. Head: Vacant Secretary: Mary Ellen Verceles

Information Technology Engineering

Manager

Monisha Dawson

Assistant Chief for Technology

Terry Doiron


Instrument Systems & Technology Division Demographics

• Civil servants: ~185

• Facilities: Code 550: B23

Code 551: B5, 7 [OCL, ODL]

Code 552: B7 [CRIF]

Code 553: B11, 30 [DDL, DCL]

Code 554:B33 [Laser Labs]

Code 555: B19

Code 505: B23

• Support Service Contractors: MSES, ESES

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Instrument Measurement: Direct vs. Remote Sensing Instruments

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• Direct Sensing Instruments (In-situ) • High-energy Particle Detectors

• Low-Energy Charged-Particle Detectors

• Plasma Instruments – [FPI/DIS, DES]

• Dust Detectors

• Magnetometers

• Plasma Wave Detector

• Mass Spectrometers – [SAM, Maven NGIMS, LADEE NMS, MOMA]

• Passive Remote Sensing • Planetary Radio Astronomy Instruments

• Imaging Instruments – [Coronographs, Telescopes]

• Imaging Spectrometers – [CIRS, DIRBE, FIRAS, XRS-2, CosMIR, NIRSpec]

• Active Remote Sensing • Radar/Radiometers – [Aquarius, SMAP] • Scatterometer • LIDAR/Altimeter (Light Detection and Ranging) – [MOLA, MLA, LOLA, GLAS/Icesat-1,

ATLAS/Icesat-2], Atmospheric composition


Solar System Exploration: GSFC has flown more instruments to other planets than any other institution!

Mars Global Surveyor

Mars Orbiter Laser Altimeter

Messenger – Mercury Laser

Altimeter

Cassini - Saturn,

it’s rings and Huygens

probe

first color image of

Titan


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Cosmic Background Explorer

This the first Nobel Prize ever

by a NASA civil servant scientist.

COBE was built entirely in-house

by NASA, including all

instruments.

The Nobel Prize in Physics is the

biggest prize in Science


ISTD Support Service Contract (New!)

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• AETD issues with overrunning 540, 560, 580, and 590 support service

contracts necessitated separate procurement for future Code 550 support

services

• Completed in-house cost estimate and SOW to cover all 5 engineering

Branches and Code 505

• RFI Issued on 12/30/2011

• Engineering Support: Optics, Cryogenics, Detectors, Lasers,

Microwave

• Instrument Systems Engineering, Configuration Management,

Scheduling, Financial Management

• Plan to issue RFP by 4/2012


Instrument Management within AETD

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• Historically:

• Technical Performance – Excellent

• Risk – Very adverse

• Cost - High

• Managing in-house instrument development is totally different than

managing out-of-house missions.

• Goal of being competitive during the proposal phase needs to be

balanced with meeting our commitments, which should be the ―driving

force‖ for all of us!

• Project management must be viewed as a 3 axis management trade:

Cost, Risk, and Performance

The issue: ―We’re living in a new world‖ wrt Cost and Schedule


Instrument Management within AETD Observations

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• Today’s flight instrument projects receive significantly more scrutiny and reporting

from and to Center and HQ management

• Number of instruments under simultaneous development and total cost of

instruments have increased dramatically over the past several years

• Demands for IM’s/ISE’s does not allow for training…management experience and

infrastructure has not keep pace with growth

• Programmatic demands require increased business management support

Resulting in… • Scrutiny from HQ and Center management due to continuous programmatic issues

reported on several instruments

• Action issued from Center management for Codes 400, 500, and 600 to define

future course for instrument management--500 to lead effort.


Instrument Management Themes

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1. The reporting structure with respect to Instrument Managers (IM), AETD

line managers, and the PI is flawed w/ IM in Code 556.

2. AETD's instrument management approach is more suited to facility-class

directed instruments, rather than for competitive (cost constrained)

instrument builds.

3. Some IM’s are not always experienced or well qualified for the particular

assignment.

4. Instrument TRL at the time of the bid for competitive instruments is often

not mature enough.

5. Science and engineering teams don't often work as closely together as

needed at an early stage

6. Many review teams do not have the necessary experience to identify

flaws and pitfalls in the design at an early stage.


Recommendations & Implementations

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• Reorganization of the Instrument Systems Branch (Code 556) to the

Instrument Systems Management Office (Code 505) to provide clear lines

of authority and reporting for IM’s Complete (Chief: Cathy Richardson)

• Restructure Champion Teams - Restructured assessing impact

• Focus on programmatic and technical issues

• Restructure AETD Project Monthly (APM) - Complete

• Center requiring higher confidence cost levels for instrument builds (i.e.

RAO 60% or higher)

• Implementation of training program for Instrument Managers, Instrument

Systems Engineers, and PDL’s ! – In Development


Recommendations & Implementations (Con’t)

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• Project manager certification for IM’s - In Discussion

• Evaluate changes to NPR 7120.5 to accept select risk that will directly

help control development costs - (Discussions w/ OCE)

• TRL assessed and agreed by both AETD and Code 600

• Additional ARD needed to minimize risk

• Implement Financial Technical Authority (Similar to Engineering

Technical Authority)

• PDL Training – Curriculum rolled out – Spring start


GCA Support

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• Proactively manage and control cost to better than +/- 10%

• Work closely with subcontractors to uncover hidden costs

and avoid late or lost invoices

• Late, unplanned invoices create planning nightmares for

projects nearing completion or projects with low reserves

• Assistance with providing senior/experienced engineering

support (Center CS FTE ceiling stable or decreasing)

• Instrument Systems Engineering

• Configuration Management, Scheduling

Documents

National Aeronautics and Space Administration … Hinkle... · National Aeronautics and Space Administration ... •Project management must be viewed as a 3 axis ... •Demands for