NASA's International Space Station Science control center updates information technology while cutting costs

For release: 10/01/03
Release #: 03-176

NASA's International Space Station Science control center updates
information technology while cutting costs


Modernizing information technology at its control center for all science
experiments on board the International Space Station is saving NASA millions
of dollars. At the Marshall Center's Payload Operations Center, scientists
and engineers are using newer, less expensive systems that incorporate the
best 21st century technology to monitor science activities.


The National Aeronautics and Space Administration's (NASA's) control center
for all science experiments on board the International Space Station is
modernizing its information technology while saving the agency millions of
dollars.

From the Payload Operations Center at NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in
Huntsville, Ala., scientists and engineers operate all the U.S. experiments
located 240 miles above Earth on the Space Station. For more than two years,
they have used complex computer systems and software to communicate with
experiments and other equipment - 24 hours a day, seven days a week.

The Ground Systems Department - part of the Flight Projects Directorate at
the Marshall Center - is replacing outdated computer platforms, servers,
networks and software with less expensive, more robust systems that
incorporate the best 21st century technology. Every day these systems
monitor and store several billion bits of data from the Space Station, while
simultaneously handling many time-critical commands to Space Station
equipment, and serving a diverse community of research scientists located
around the globe.

"We are well along on a two-year series of cost-saving initiatives," said
Ann McNair, manager of the Ground Systems Department. "Our controllers, who
watch over Space Station science experiments on a daily basis, don't really
see these behind-the-scenes changes, which is as it should be. But the
system today is more reliable, more maintainable and more economical."

The Ground Systems Department is making many of these changes through the
Utilization and Mission Support contract with Lockheed Martin Space
Operations Co., Huntsville, Ala. According to McNair, the team is about
halfway through a series of planned upgrades that include:

Migrating server platforms from high-priced servers to inexpensive servers
running an open-source operating system;

Migrating client platforms from expensive workstations to low-price personal
computers;

Replacing a physically scattered, difficult-to-manage data storage system
with a centralized Network Attached Storage/Storage Area Network approach;

Replacing expensive 48-channel custom voice sets with Voice over Internet
Protocol, available directly from a remote user's personal computer;

Creating a mature, efficient software baseline through close interaction
with the users and system administrators;

Migrating from end-of-life Fiber Distributed Data Interface Local Area
Networks to high-speed switched networks;

Increasing system availability by using high availability clusters that are
virtually unaffected by individual equipment failures;

Using multiple layers of rigorous security measures, including Virtual
Private Networks, for all outside users to minimize system vulnerability;
and

Establishing a funding plan based on continuous technology updates rather
than large, wholesale technology replacements.

The result of these changes will be a robust, secure, high-performance
information technology system that is fully supported by industry vendors,
takes advantage of modern computing technologies, and costs a fraction of
the current system. This new system will improve NASA's ability to collect
and disseminate the scientific information from the International Space
Station.



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Jacques :-)

Editor: www.spacepatches.info