NASA Human Exploration Framework Team Industry Affordability Meetings “A few members of HEFT and its designees (Exploration Systems and/or Space Operations Mission Directorate employees) will meet with company representatives individually on October 21 and Nov. 3-5, 2010 and listen to the company inputs. Industry representatives are encouraged to bring hard-copy materials of their input to accompany their discussion/briefing. We will meet with as many companies as possible during the stated […]

Keith’s note: NASA ESMD is holding a participatory exploration meeting in Boulder, Colorado this week. Alas, this event is closed and attendance is by invitation only for NASA employees with a few speakers from outside the agency. Nothing is being webcast for taxpayers to see. No media advisories or press releases have been issued. Another stealth meeting. Abundant irony is in evidence: no one outside of the attendees can “participate” […]

Human Exploration Framework Team (HEFT) DRM Review – Phase 1 Closeout – Steering Council September 2 2010 (download 6.6 mb PDF) “Summary of Phase I – Developed an investment portfolio that strikes a balance of new developments, technology, and operational programs with an eye towards a new way of exploring. – Created a point of departure DRM that is flexible and can evolve over time to support multiple destinations with […]

Keith’s note: Word has it that Andrew Hunter is moving from ESMD to become the second Deputy CFO.

Keith’s note: I feel compelled to feature this masterful video by Karen Lau and David Sanders at least once a year. This was done when Craig Steidle ran ESMD. For a brief moment, they “got it”. So folks, drop the petty internal and external politics, and think big picture – just for a moment. I don’t see this sort of thinking at NASA any more. NASA will go nowhere unless […]

NASA OIG Review of Constellation Program Manager Jeffrey Hanley’s Reassignment “The OIG found that Hanley’s reassignment was a management decision made by Douglas Cooke, Associate Administrator for Exploration Systems, with the concurrence of NASA Administrator Charles Bolden, and was taken in response to actions by Hanley that led senior NASA leadership to believe he could no longer effectively lead Constellation during a period when the President was seeking to cancel […]

NASA Announces Posting of Space Exploration Workshop Charts “Presentation charts for the opening-day briefings of NASA’s Exploration Enterprise Workshop in Galveston, Texas, will be posted online at noon EDT, Monday, May 24. The two-day workshop brings together a broad community of space exploration stakeholders from government, industry and academia. The Exploration Systems Mission Directorate’s plans for human and robotic space exploration and the administration’s fiscal year 2011 budget request for […]

NASA Request for Information: Enabling Technology Development and Demonstration Program “In Fiscal Year 2011, NASA plans to begin the Enabling Technology Development and Demonstrations (ETDD) Program. The primary goal of the ETDD Program is to develop and demonstrate the technologies needed to reduce cost and expand the capability of future space exploration activities. A secondary goal is to create opportunities for engineers and scientists from NASA, private industry, and academia […]

Keith’s note: Now that NASA has been directed by the White House to cancel Constellation, and with it, all of NASA’s big time lunar ambitions, I wonder when they will start to yank things like this sad dancing Moon walker animation offline. Seriously – this is not an insignificant task since there is an immense amount of VSE-related material that NASA has put online since 2004 that will now need […]

NASA Names New Deputy Associate Administrator for Exploration “Laurie Leshin has been named the new deputy associate administrator of the Exploration Systems Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters, effective in January. Leshin previously served as the deputy center director for science and technology at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md. She has led the formulation of strategy and the start of new missions since 2008 as Goddard’s senior scientist, […]