STATUS/ACCOMPLISHMENTS
We had a great internal Systems Requirements Retreat (SRR) and I thank the 
entire team, especially the systems group & project support staff, for an 
outstanding effort.  For the SRR, the entire SDO team including our 
customers met off-site for two days to review and discuss the SDO Level 1 
and Level 2 mission requirements.  This detailed scrutiny of mission 
requirements was necessary to provide an understanding & agreement on all 
SDO fundamental requirements.  This clears the path for further refinement 
& concept development in preparation for the upcoming System Concept Review 
(SCR) in April.  In addition to the requirements review, a number of 
specific technical splinter sessions were organized and held as part of the 
SRR to discuss and further develop various design and implementation 
concepts.  Finally, we are making good progress with the development of the 
Observatory concept in response to the EELV launch vehicle.  A preliminary 
concept of the new Observatory architecture was presented to and agreed 
upon by the spacecraft and instrument teams during one of the SRR splinter 
meetings.  Our next mission level milestone will be the SRR/SCR where we go 
"prime time " with the Independent Review Team.

We are finalizing our risk identification procedure which will be 
distributed to all SDO leads on 2/18 with direction for them to update 
their risks in preparation for the SCR.  In conjunction with our grassroots 
process, we met with EVE and HMI to provide guidance & discuss details 
associated with their instrument cost estimates needed for the Initial 
Confirmation Review (ICR) process.  In addition, we are within a week of 
submitting the survey responses to the GSFC Resource Analysis Office so 
they can start their SDO cost assessment.

The NRL management team visited CSL (Belgium Space Agency) to go over 
implementation plans for SDO.  CSL has received funding and are ready to 
begin issuing contracts for work.  NRL continued on to Italy and met with 
the SPECTRE team where their funding looks promising.  NRL added a 
mechanical lead to their SHARPP team.  On Feb 25, NRL will present/discuss 
results of their electrical system trade study.  NRL and the HMI teams met 
on detector status and will present results of their survey and procurement 
approach within a week.  The instrument SRRs for EVE & HMI will be the week 
of March 10th.

The Ground System team hosted three splinter meetings during the SRR.  The 
splinter with the most spirited discussions was associated with our 
commanding philosophy.  There is still some apprehension on how we will 
provide and check the commanding pipe from the instrument SOCs.  To enhance 
resolution, the Ground System team is generating a paper which will 
describe SDO's command philosophy, pre and post launch command validation 
process, and suggested ways of mitigating hazardous commands from reaching 
the spacecraft.  The Ground team also sent a questionnaire to the 
instrument teams regarding S-band communications concepts.  Their responses 
will assist us in the development of the S-band communications 
concept.  The Ground team met with various subsystems to discuss the 
resources needed (personnel/equipment) to support board level testing thru 
Observatory level testing.  In support of the grassroots process, the 
Ground team is generating a white paper that will describe the options for 
distributing data from the White Sands Complex to the instrument SOCs.

The Systems Assurance manager has been diligently working with his team, 
project management, and the instrument developers to consolidate all 
feedback received regarding the draft SDO Mission Assurance Requirements 
(MAR) document.  Separate meetings have been held (and will continue 
through next week) with each of the instrument development teams to address 
their concerns and resolve misunderstandings of scope and 
intent.  Agreements with each team will be documented and some areas of the 
MAR will be updated in order to more accurately reflect the original 
intent.  Each instrument team will develop a Performance Assurance 
Implementation Plan (PAIP) which provides the details on how they intend to 
meet the MAR requirements.

The Configuration Management (CM) team distributed draft versions of CM 
procedures, SDO Document Template, and SDO Documentation Style Guide to 
team members for review and comment.  They also requested and received a 
large block of drawing numbers to be used for SDO.  Next week the CM team 
will start organizing & incorporating the actions received from the SRR.

Thanks,
Ken

"It takes three weeks to prepare a good ad-lib speech."
Mark Twain
American Writer

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