Observatory design and development activities continue to progress which 
included several subsystem peer reviews this week.  Propulsion engineers 
checked out their process for performing titanium tubing welds by 
completing the first of trial titanium welds ever performed at 
GSFC.  Mechanical engineers resized the optical bench to accommodate 
AIA.  The Electrical & Mechanical teams held an SDO Observatory grounding 
meeting where a number of issues involving Observatory grounding were 
addressed, including the grounding philosophy for static charge bleed-off 
and RF grounding for ESD discharge mitigation. The SDO Gimbal Control Team 
used the weekly SDO Systems meeting to present and discuss the results of 
the gimbal electronics commonality trade commissioned at the SDO/GPM 
architecture meeting of last month.  After reviewing and discussing the 
various trade options presented, the SDO project elected to continue with 
the current gimbal control electronics approach which consists of a Gimbal 
Control Electronics box that contains a GSFC-provided Gimbal Interface 
Card, switch services, and housekeeping functions.  In the Power area, the 
AEA and JSB batteries are now both operating in solstice period and the 
team expects battery/cell buy off of the SAFT test cells at the end of this 
month.  The Software team used the forum of the weekly instrument telecon 
to present their plans for the use of Spacecraft Telemetry Statistics 
Monitors (TSMs) and event notification messages.  A number of requirements 
oriented meeting and activities were also held this week as Level 3 
requirements are being honed and documented as part of the preliminary 
design process and preparation for PDR.  The PCC/LPSC (Power Converter 
Card/Low Power Switching Card) requirements review was held, with the 
various user subsystems walking through the updated requirements.  In 
addition, the systems team met to review recent subsystem level 3 
requirements submissions and plan the process for requirements entry into 
the DOORS requirements tracking database.

The SDO financial staff completed the Full Cost training this week which 
was very informative and made us even more aware that additional SDO staff 
is needed to support full cost.  We continue to work the SHARPP 
closeout/funding process with NRL.  In addition, we completed/submitted the 
Acquisition forecast for FY04 and started to receive budget updates from 
our Subsystem leads based on the 4/08 launch.  The Single Board Computer 
package is in legal review.

For the instrument, Carlos & Tom are doing an excellent job working and 
handling all the contractual activities associated with the 
instruments.  We expect to have a letter contract to LMSAL AIA early next week.

The Reliability team is evaluating the Propulsion System pressurization 
configuration presented at the Systems Engineering Meeting last week and 
assessing the potential reliability gain from cross-strapping the normally 
closed pyrotechnic valves to Attitude Control Electronics (ACE) A and ACE B 
versus the current design in which these valves are not cross-strapped.  In 
addition, the Reliability team met with the Software Systems Engineer and 
Software Quality Engineer to understand the various software modules and 
the functions of each module.  The Software Systems Engineer provided an 
overview of the various tasks that are performed within the Spacecraft Main 
Processor and within the Subsystem Processors.  The goal is to identify all 
mission critical software modules and postulate all the potential ways 
those modules could fail, thereby taking steps to eliminate or minimize the 
impact to the mission from those potential failures.

The CM team: attended a seminar on Section 508 Accessible Web (US & 
International Impact); worked the intranet/database CCR module screens & 
CCR flow; distributed & receiving comments on various documents including 
the SDO Parts Control Plan (464-SA-PLAN-0009) which is the first document 
to use our new on-line system for review & submittal of comments; 
updated/released Single Board Computer (SBC) Specification & SOW for the 
SBC procurement; & conducted a CCB for approval of SDO-CCR-018 (SDO 
Structural Test and Analysis Requirements Document).

Thanks,
Ken

"Loyalty cannot be blueprinted.  It cannot be produced on an assembly 
line.  In fact, it cannot be manufactured at all, for its origin is the 
human heart - the center of self-respect and human dignity.  It is a force 
which leaps into being only when conditions are exactly right for it - and 
it is a force very sensitive to betrayal."
Maurice R. Franks
Associate Professor, Southern University Law Center

[ Attachment (text/x-html): 4867 bytes
  Character set: iso-8859-1
  Encoded with "quoted-printable" ]