What is OODT?
" If you've been scratching your head with questions like "Middleware for metadata? What the heck does that mean? Can you just give me an example?" you're in luck. Read on for a quick and dirty example of what OODT is and what it can do.

An Example
OK, suppose Fred Farnham at Farnsworth Technical College records the speed of a prototype particle in a vacuum in furlongs per day. He's got an entire table of results tabulated from his testbed and stored in a flat file on an EBCDIC system. And suppose Peggy Portoluca at the Proboscis Institute records the speed of the prototype particle in a vacuum in miles per hour. She's got a disk full of data stored in a dynamic database.
And you want do some research on the speeds of prototype particles, preferably in meters per second. No databases. No EBCDIC. Just a nice standard format of all the results. OODT lets you do just that.
OODT's profile service describes the locations of available information... " more

"The Planetary Data System (PDS) archives and distributes scientific data from NASA planetary missions, astronomical observations, and laboratory measurements. The PDS is sponsored by NASA's Office of Space Science. Its purpose is to ensure the long-term usability of NASA data and to stimulate advanced research. PDS is continually upgrading and updating its archives, to better serve the needs of its user communities. " more

"The Intelligent Systems Division, or Code TI, provides leadership in Information Sciences for NASA by conducting world-class computational sciences research, developing and demonstrating innovative technologies, and transferring these new capabilities for utilization in support of NASA missions and national needs.
Located at Ames Research Center, in the heart of Silicon Valley, the division is comprised of four concentrated areas of computer science and information technology research and development: Robust Software Engineering, Autonomous Systems and Robotics, Discovery and Health Management and Collaborative Assistant Systems.
Some 265 people work at the division including NASA civil servant employees, contractors and interns. The division aims to enable a new era of autonomous spacecraft and autonomous robotic exploration, and to extend human capabilities through developments in human-computer interactions and data analysis." ... more

" The Software Assurance Technology Center (SATC) was established in 1992 in the Systems Reliability and Safety Office at NASA Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The SATC was founded to become a NASA center of excellence in software assurance, dedicated to making measurable improvement in the quality and reliability of software developed for GSFC and NASA. Funding for the SATC comes from the NASA Software IV&V Facility in Fairmont, WV for technical and research tasks, and from NASA software development projects for direct technical support.
The SATC has programs in the primary technical areas shown on the left. If you use or find the items on these pages to be of interest, please let us know. We especially appreciate recommendations for new items that are needed and suggestions for improvement of the existing ones... " more

INDEPENDENT VERIFICATION AND VALIDATION FACILITY

" Located in the heart of West Virginia's emerging technology sector, the NASA Independent Verification and Validation (IV&V) Facility was established in 1993 as part of an agency-wide strategy to provide the highest achievable levels of safety and cost-effectiveness for mission critical software. The IV&V Facility was founded under the NASA Office of Safety and Mission Assurance as a direct result of recommendations made by the National Research Council (NRC) and the Report of the Presidential Commission on the Space Shuttle Challenger Accident. Since then, the IV&V Facility has experienced continual growth in personnel, projects, capabilities, and accomplishments. The IV&V Facility's efforts have contributed to the improved safety record of NASA since its inception. Today, the IV&V Facility is governed by the Goddard Space Flight Center and houses over 150 full-time employees and leverages the expertise of over 20 in-house partners and contractors. "
Nelson H. Keeler Director, IV&V Facility. more

" The technical, flight and safety aspects of all Goddard's flight projects, including spacecraft, launch vehicle, operational ground systems, and scientific instruments, must be reviewed before, during and after launches. This ensures that they meet Center goals for mission success and reliability.
The Office of Systems Safety and Mission Assurance conducts those reviews and provides independent technical support, including risk assessment and guidance to all flight programs. We develop general policy requirements for quality assurance, parts and material control, environmental testing, verification, reliability, flight-system safety, and software assurance.
Office activities include: Ensure flight readiness through identification and correction of anomalies.
Work closely with flight projects to establish and implement policy and requirements for test verification, system safety, reliability, product and software assurance, and reliable parts, electronic packaging and materials. " ... more

"The Systems Management Office, acting as an agent for the KSC Center Director, KSC's CFO and the NASA Chief Engineer (Code D), assures that development efforts and mission operations are being planned and conducted on a sound engineering and project management basis with appropriate controls and management of technical risks. The Systems Management Office also houses KSC'S Chief Engineer who ensures engineering excellence in the execution of Programs and Projects.

The approach in our functional areas of Project Management, Systems Engineering, Cost Estimating/Analysis, Risk Management, Software Engineering, Human Factors and Reliability, the Systems Management Office provides consultation services, tools, and independent evaluations of the Center's Programs and Projects." more