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I. BACKGROUND
Charge to the Committee. This report covers a brief study requested
by the Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications,
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). The original charge
to the Committee on NASA Information Systems is contained in the Statement
of Task on page vi of this report. The following sentence from that
Statement summarizes the basic assignment of the Committee:
The Committee's initial task will be to identify critical
issues on which NASA must act to ensure that its informa-
tion systems activities lead to interoperabJe systems with
a minimum of standardization, while providing for adapta-
bility and growth.*
The Associate Administrator for Space Science and Applications pro-
vided further guidance on April 2, 1986, during the Committee's inaugural
meeting. From this a corollary tasking emerged, which the Committee
interpreted and applied as follows:
The Committee should look beyond the technical aspects of
this study and identify the critical issues affecting how
the Office of Space Science and Applications (OSSA) should
organize its information systems functions and programs to
support space science and applications.
Due to the relatively short time period of the study, the Committee's
analysis could not be of sufficient depth to enable it to offer solutions.
Thus, the objective of this report is to identify the critical issues that
need to be examined in greater depth to enable OSSA to prepare its data
* The Statement of Task, p. viii, indicates that NASA is working on a
Global Resources Information Database (GRID). However, NASA represen-
tatives have indicated that the GRID and its companion program, the
Global Resources Information System (GRIS), have been superseded by
other NASA initiatives, such as the "pilot" data systems and the Earth
Observing System (EOS) that are mentioned herein. Therefore, there is
no further reference to GRID or GRIS in this report.
1
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management organization and activities for the anticipated challenges of
the future. The Committee has also suggested possible approaches to the
resolution of each issue, recognizing that OSSA will have to select
approaches that best support NASA's and OSSA's mission goals and
objectives.
The Fundamental Issue. While attempting to fulfill its charge, the
_ .
Committee often raised the question, "how important is information manage-
ment to the OSSA mission?" From this prime question a host of corollary
questions can be derived, such as:
. , .
"should the Associate Administrator devote more time (personally)
to information systems management,"
"should the management of information systems be centralized to
some greater degree," and
"c-an OSSA objectives be met through existing information
management proecesses or would change be beneficial."
While it may-choose to seek advice in answering such questions (and
many others, OSSA must answer them itself. The prime question is
considered to be the fundamental issue.
OSSA's Charter and Organization. The Committee gained an insight
into, and was immensely impressed by the enormous scope of OSSA's rode and
responsibilities. OSSA derives its responsibilities from those assigned
to NASA in the Space Act of 195S, as amended: the law that established
NASA. Section 203(a) of the Act includes the foil owing functions:
-- "Plan, direct, and conduct aeronautical and space activities;
-- "Arrange for participation by the scientific community in planning
scientific measurements and observations to be made through the
use of aeronautical and space vehicles, and conduct or arrange for
the conduct of such measurements and observations; and
-- "Provide for the widest practicable and appropriate dissemination
of information concerning its activities and results thereof."
The Act also establishes objectives such as the following: (~) expan-
sion of human knowledge; (2) identification of benefits from aeronautical
and space science technology; (3) preservation of the U.S. rode in aero-
nautical and space science and technology; and (4) cooperation with other
nations in peaceful applications of space.
The organizational structure with which NASA addresses these charges
is depicted in Figure l. At the top management levels, OSSA and the other
four functional offices are headed by Associate Administrators reporting
to the Administrator. Each major office has functions particular to its
mission, and each manages its own information systems programs.
2
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Within OSSA, the organization of which is displayed in Figure 2, there
are six science discipline directorates, each reporting to the Associate
Administrator, that have line authority and responsibility for the
management of their discipline programs. Section I T ] of NASA's 1986 Long
Range Program Plan, dated August 1985, describes six major programs within
OSSA, summarized as follows:
l. Study of the distant universe attempts to answer questions about
the size, scope, and structure of the universe; the origin and.
future of the universe; and the physical Jaws that govern
celestial phenomena. tOffice of Primary Responsibility (OPR):
Astrophysics Directorate]
2. Exploration of the near universe is aimed at determining the
origin, evolution, and present state of the solar system, and
comparing Earth with the other planets. FOUR: Solar System
Exploration Directorate]
Characterization of Earth ~~d its environment is a global,
interdisciplinary program, with emphasis on understanding
processes that affect Earth's habitability, particularly its
biological productivity and air and water quality. LOPE: Earth
Sciences and Applications Directorate] .
The life sciences program seeks to understand how life forms are
affected- by the environmental conditions encountered in space and
to find out how life originated and evolved in the universe.
LOPE: Life Sciences Directorate]
5. The communications satellite program is aimed at developing and
demonstrating technology that will relieve geostationary orbit
congestion and frequency allocation shortages, and permit new
communications, navigation, and search and rescue services;
developing and supporting national interests in the regulatory
aspects of satellite communications; and developing and promoting
communications satellite interconnectivity. FOUR: Communications
Directorate]
The microgravity science and applications program investigates the
behavior of material in a fluid state, the effects on that
behavior of carrying out various processes in space, and the
effects of gravity on processes carried out on Earth, and it seeks
to exploit the unique characteristics of space by developing
processes superior to those employed in the gravity environment of
Earth. FOUR: Microgravity Science and Applications Directorate]
6.
Prior to 197S, information management was entirely decentralized among
the science directorates. Under this arrangement numerous successful
missions, such as the.Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite
System (GOES), were launched, and their data systems generally met the
needs of their own missions at the time. However, each data system was
4
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designed uniquely for its own project, an approach that has led to
incompatibility among the different systems a This has presented operating
difficulties to users accessing data from several different projects'
systems for their research analyses.
The science directorates shill have the primary responsibility for
planning and managing the information systems portions of their assigned
projects, but they now receive assistance and support from the small
Information Systems Office (ISO) that OSSA established in 1978. The ISO
but it performs various advisory functions and a growing array of other
responsibilities. The ISO provides advice to the Associate Administrator,
supports the science directorates, conducts studies on information systems
applications and technology, operates the NASA Space Science Data Center
(NSSDC) at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC), and is responsible for
coordinating information systems program activities across the NASA
organizational structure with offices that are involved in OSSA mission
flight programs. The ISO is also involved in numerous cross-discip~inary
activities and it has taken the lead in exploring technological solutions
to OSSA's requirements.
The ISO has no line authority, since it was initially established to
be a consulting and advisory office. In recent years, however, it has
become more heavily involved in the planning and execution of information
systems. For example, the ISO was given the responsibility for providing
"pilot" data systems to the ocean, climate, land, and planetary explora-
tion programs. Each pilot program is a systems-engineered testbed for
applying new and evolving technologies to address the information systems
needs of a discipline. When the pilot demonstrates successful improve-
ments in data access and manipulation, it becomes operational and it is
turned over to the client discipline for subsequent funding and support.
At least one of the four pilot programs mentioned above, the Pilot Ocean
Data System (PODS), is now considered operational. The Committee was
quite impressed with the scope of the ISO's activities, considering the
fact that only three professionals and two secretaries are assigned. As
presently constituted, the ISO must rely heavily on support from GSFC,
JPL, and various contractors to fulfill its present responsibilities.
In mid-1986 the Earth Science and Applications Directorate agreed to
assign to the ISO the program management responsibility for the Earth
Observing System's (EOS) information system--clearly a formidable task.
The EOS Data Pane] considers EOS to be essentially a very large, Jong-term
program involving multi-disciplinary data collection, and processing, and
analysis. However, unlike the data processing in most other projects,
where value resides in the fine] product, the value in EOS is seen to be
distributed over many stages of data processing, since its data are meant
to serve as a dynamic resource for research on global phenomena.* This
will require an information system capable of retaining al] of the EOS
* Report of the Eos Data Pane] (Robert R. P. Chase, et al.), NASA
Technical Memorandum 87777, Volume ITa, 1986, pp. 24-25.
6
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data. The EOS Data Pane] further indicated that the unique characteris-
tics of EOS will necessitate the establishment of new principles for data
composition, arrangement, storage, archiving, and catalog documentation.
Even when EOS is not taken into consideration, there is a great dead
of integration and interaction among offices within NASA that involves the
six OSSA science directorates and OSSA's ISO. Examples:
Each of the science directorates depends on the Space
Transportation System, managed by the Office of Space Flight,
to carry its satellites and other instruments aloft.
Each of the science directorates has planned experiments or
operational activities involving the Space Station, and al]
NASA program offices are involved in Space Station planning.
Space research missions conducted by the Office of Aeronautics
and Space Technology support the missions of the science
directorates, and are influenced by them.
The Office of Space Tracking and Data Systems supports the
science directorates' missions through the space and ground
network that includes the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite
System (TDRSS).
Quantification of OSSA's Data Management Problem. The four major
-
issues identified by the Committee ·~e s~mmar~zed th Chapter I] and a more
detailed discussion of each is preseted in Chapters Ill through VI. Refer-
ence is made in those chapters to the large increases in data with which
OSSA, its components, and its researchers will have to cope, particularly
in the land, ocean, and atmospheric sciences. However, some quantifica-
tion is required early on, to enable the reader to calibrate the scope of
the data management problem. Figure 3 and Table I, on the next two pages,
summarize anticipated data growth and rates during the next TO to iS
years. Further information on data volumes and rates is presented in
Figures 5 through 7 and Table 2, at the end of Chapter VI.
Reference is also made throughout this report to the increasing
interdependence among the various science disciplines and their component
parts. This is displayed graphically for the Earth System Science disci-
plines in Figure 4, on page 27 (Chapter IV).
After the Committee had completed its data-gathering phase and began
to draft this report, it encountered an innate tendency among its members
to recommend solutions to NASA's problems as perceived by the Committee.
On reflection, however, it was decided that the report should stress the
identification of issues, as NASA had requested, and limit its recommenda-
tions to those that might assist NASA in determining how to approach the
issues. These recommendations generally are couched in terms of suggested
approaches to the issues, and thus are not accorded any particular degree
of emphasis.
7
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Projected Growth Rates for Space Science Data.
Bone
In
a,
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cat ~
lot 5
_
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1nl4
DATA GROWTH
Etch trio=" __-
___—
Solar and
Space Physics..
.~e
_~
~ Sciences
-
~ . ~
loll Let 1 1 1 1
1984 1986 1988 1990 1992 1994 1996
YEAR
· ~
__—
Agronomy
Note: Earth orbital missions assumed to last for 5 years, except
for operational satellites and the space telescope, which
are projected as continuing data producers.
Source: Issues and Recommendations Associated with Distributed
Computation and Data Management Systems for the Space Sciences;
Committee on Data Management and Computation, Space Science
Board, NRC, National Academy Press, Washington, D.C.; 1987.
Figure 3
8
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Table i. Data Expected From a Number of Missions in
the Land, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences
..
MISSION
STATUS
Geostationary
Operational
Environmental
Satellite G. H
NOAA F-J
Earth Radiation
Budget
Experiment
LANDSAT D, D'
Topography
Experiment for
Ocean
Circulation
Geopotential
Research Mission
Shuttle Imaging
Radar B. C, D
Shuttle Imaging
Spectrometer
EOS
YEAR
DATA VOLUME EXPECTED
On-going
On-going
Approved
On-going
Planned
Planned
B=Funded
C/D=Planned
Planned
Planned
On-going
On-going
1984
On-going
1988
1991
1984, TED
1989
l990s
1.5 x 1013 bits/year
1013 bits/year
1O12 bits/year
1014 bits/year
loi2 bits/year
loi2 bits/year
6 x 10~4 bits
10~3 bits
loi2 bits/day
Note: Current volume of Landsat data is approximately 10~4
bits, while 2 x 10~3 bits of other data exist.
Current volume at NSSDC is approximately 7 x loi2 bits.
Similar tables are available from other discipline areas.
1
Source: Issues and Recommendations Associated with Distributed
~-
ComPutation and Data Management SYstems for the Space
Sciences; Committee on Data Management and Computation,
Space Science Board, NRC; National Academy Press,
Washington, D.C.; i987.
9
Representative terms from entire chapter:
science directorates
