We received our Initial Confirmation Review (ICR) letter from Code S which 
confirms the SDO Project to transition from Phase A to Phase B.  However, 
the SHARPP investigation did not pass the ICR.  Therefore, SDO will proceed 
without the SHARPP investigation.  The Project & NRL are in the process of 
working closeout activities.  In order to preserve the SDO science, HQ has 
tasked us to issue a formulation contract to Lockheed Martin Advanced 
Technology Center for their AIA investigation.  Lockheed was the other AIA 
bidder during the SDO Announcement of Opportunity process.  The SDO Project 
wishes to express our appreciation for the efforts that NRL and their team 
members have made towards the SHARPP investigation.  We wish them success 
in their future endeavors.

We completed this month's round of Project Monthlys which were postponed 
due to the storm last week. The subsystem leads presented schedules based 
on the new launch date (4/08).  We'll continue to fine tune and make sure 
all the schedules are linked properly over the next few weeks.  We also 
began preparations for a late October kick-off meeting with KSC in order to 
understand/start the SDO Launch vehicle procurement process.

As the subsystem PDR season approaches, the systems team has spent the last 
couple of weeks involved in several efforts to prepare for the upcoming 
PDRs.  Last week's presentation of a PDR checklist for all of the 
subsystems was complemented by this week's systems meeting, during which 
the reliability team discussed their ongoing reliability prediction efforts 
in order to educate the team on subject matter that PDLs (Product 
Development Leads) will be presenting in the upcoming months.  In addition 
to describing the results of previous analyses, the reliability team tasked 
the PDLs with data deliveries so that our reliability picture can be as 
complete as possible by the subsystem PDRs.  In other news, circuit-level 
Peer Reviews have started, and are being supported by the systems team, 
subsystems, and independent chair people whom are determined by the 
responsible PDL and concurred by the Observatory Manager.  A series of C&DH 
reviews are underway, with the DC/DC Converter Board and Downlink ASIC 
reviews recently completed and the PSE SDN, S Comm Card, Ka Comm Card, and 
Bulk Memory Card reviews scheduled for the next two weeks.  The peer review 
process includes a long list of reviews that go thru December, leading to 
the Mission PDR in February.

For the Instruments, e2v is 60% complete with the first run of the 
thin-gate batch for the 4k x 4k CCDs.  A run of the e2v standard process 
thick gate batch is also in process and trails the thin-gate process by 
approximately two weeks.  The thin-gate has more favorable radiation 
immunity and drive voltage characteristics and is the preferred 
process.  However, to reduce risk, a separate run employing e2v's standard 
process was undertaken.  We expect initially probe test results of the 
first batch in the late October early November time frame.  The instrument 
ICD development process remains well underway.  A final draft review and 
update of the 1553 requirements document was completed and should be ready 
for configuration baselining.  We are coordinating an ICD review session 
with the EVE instrument team for mid-October (--AT-- GSFC).  On the instrument 
contracts front, a no-cost extension to the HMI contract was 
completed.  This gives us a little more room to complete the contract 
documentation work for the extension of the Phase A/Bridge contact to 
accommodate early Phase B work.  We expect to complete the tech. eval. and 
pre-neg. plan this week and enter negotiations next week.  Following this, 
we will finalize the technical evaluation and associated contract 
documentation for the remaining B,C, D, E phases of the HMI 
contract.  Similarly, a letter contract has been executed for the EVE 
extension which allows us to complete the tech. eval. and associated 
pre-negotiation documentation for the EVE Phase B,C,D,E contract.  We also 
completed the final internal reviews for the execution of the MIT Lincoln 
Labs Phase B contract for the EVE CCD detector.  As usual, Carlos McKenzie 
& Kathy Tennant are doing an outstanding job with SDO contracts.

The CM team: worked action items; updated the SDO document tree; 
prioritized intranet/database module work; & distributed 6 mechanical 
drawing files for review.


Thanks,
Ken

"They conquer who believe they can."
Virgil
Roman Poet

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