The MDI-T team, led by the Stanford University Solar Physics group in collaboration with the Lockheed Martin Solar and Astrophysics Laboratory (LMSAL), is committed to the following objectives. The team will:
We have assembled a strong management team led by Prof. P. Scherrer; he is the lead Co-Investigator for MDI-T and the Stanford Principal Investigator. The Stanford program management, ground data systems and mission operations is under the direction of Dr. R. Bush with the assistance of Dr. T. Hoeksema and Dr. R. Bogart. The instrument and spacecraft development program is under the direction of Dr. A. Title at LMSAL with the assistance of Mr. M. Levay and Dr. T. Tarbell. The MDI-T team has worked together for many years on successful NASA, ESA, and ISAS scientific space programs. Personnel within Stanford and LMSAL are key members of the MDI, and TRACE teams. This affords additional, practical, and readily available in-house expertise to design and plan a mission that uses all the capabilities of MDI-T.
Our university Co-Investigators furnish unique expertise in instrument design, mission operations, data analyses, numerical simulation, and theoretical modeling. Our Co-Investigator team is sufficiently large to assure that there will be team members available for support of instrument and mission definition activities and staffing science operations. Meaningful educational opportunities for graduate students are available both at Stanford University and through our university partners. We anticipate that the extensive Co-Investigator support will provide a continuous base of knowledgeable personnel through extended operations of the MDI-T mission.
LMSAL has been producing PI-class space and ground based instrument for decades. The department is organized like a small vertically integrated company, in that it has its own science, engineering, test, software, administrative and management personnel. The people in these disciplines have worked together for years on various NASA, ESA, and ISAS projects and on company funded independent research. The group has developed a project management style that is based not only on well understood and maintained processes, but also on the talents and experience of individuals. Lockheed Martin provides access to the extensive facilities, infrastructure and technical capabilities of a large aerospace company that can, for example, be used to oversee quality control.
MDI-T must be designed to obtain the measurements required to accomplish the science objectives discussed in the Science Investigation portion of this proposal. These objectives flow down to an instrument specification, the first draft of which has been developed during meetings at Stanford and LMSAL under the leadership of the lead Co-Investigator for MDI-T. This specification, along with its supporting scientific rationale, will be kept current in an Instrument Performance Specification document that will be initiated during Phase B of the program. We have demonstrated on the MDI and TRACE programs that a living Instrument Performance Specification document familiar to all members of the team is crucial to assuring that optimal tradeoff decisions are made throughout the development of the instrument. We have already begun to develop subsystem descriptions that will be amplified into detailed requirements for the major subsystems. These system and subsystem requirements will be called out in a matrix format in the Phase A final report. This matrix will allow each aspect of the design to be traced back to an underlying mission, instrument, or derived requirement.
During Phase B, the engineering staff under the direction of the Lead Engineer will flow these requirements down to assemblies and subassemblies. With the oversight of the Mission Assurance organization, we will develop verification plans for various levels of assembly, flowing up from the responsible engineers to the Lead Engineer and the Instrument Scientists for review. The requirements traceability matrix will evolve to include the verification criteria for all requirements. An overall Verification Plan covering all levels of hardware and software will result from this process.
The MDI-T team will conduct weekly all hands meetings at LMSAL with Stanford participation. There each lead engineer reports any status problems and the next week's plans for his/her particular area of responsibility. Interface details often surface so that solutions can be developed before serious problems arise. The all hands meeting is not to solve problems, rather it is to identify them. We will prepare a summary of each meeting on the day of the meeting and post the summary on a project Web site.
We propose to hold bi-weekly technical status telecons with the Triana PI and with NASA project management. We also hold routine teleconferences with all major subcontractors. Visits to and by subcontractors are made as needed. During the SOHO/MDI and TRACE programs we also had weekly telecons with the project at GSFC.
As with previous programs, we will provide a narrative monthly report to the Triana PI, NASA and all team members. The monthly reports highlight progress, problem areas, possible solutions to problems, and planned activities for the next month. We will post the monthly report on a project Web page. These reports and meetings give the program exposure to experienced senior people not otherwise involved. Periodic financial and schedule status reviews will be held with NASA participation.
During the various phases of the program, we will participate in the normal set of reviews. Data packages will be distributed a week before each major review. In addition, we will conduct Co-Investigator meetings to address scientific questions that pertain to the MDI-T investigation approximately every six months.
Our e-mail communications, both internal and external, often use mailing lists. We have incorporated an archiving capability into our mailing list system which allows access via a web browser. We will set up mailing lists and archives that are related to particular aspects of the program, i.e., general, test, science, etc. Team members can easily get messages routed to all interested parties. Mail archives are password protected whenever appropriate.
The MDI-T program will make extensive use of interactive tools to monitor program status, and schedule. On SOHO/MDI and TRACE we developed a Web form for reporting anomalies. The applications associated with this form include e-mail distribution and archiving, form archiving, sorting, status update and closure. We will further enhance our use of these technologies to track development status, shop orders, schedules, and action items.
Keys to controlling cost and schedule include: clearly defined sets of tasks, accurate original resource estimates, continual review of all requirements and interfaces, early and optimal decisions based on these reviews, replanning as necessary, and use of management tools that provide clear visibility into the status of the program. These features, which are all part of the MDI-T program, have been fine tuned on previous successful scientific spacecraft programs. During the preparation of this proposal, the project was well defined by the scientists and engineers in a coordinated manner and documented by adding detail to the WBS and schedule supplied in the AO. The required resources were derived by the persons who will be responsible for these tasks during the program. Each task plan was then reviewed by the proposal leaders. Duplication of effort was eliminated and efforts that had been overlooked were identified and added to the program. The entire effort will be reviewed again during Phase B, revised as necessary, and kept current thereafter. All MDI-T team members are committed to performing the program within the allocated resources.
Financial summaries and schedule information will be provided to NASA in a format to be agreed upon during Phase B.
The MDI-T organizational responsibilities are described below. As the program activities flow from design to development, to integration and test, and finally to operations, responsibilities migrate from the systems engineers to the operations team, but all personnel in the program are involved at all stages of the program. This organizational structure insures that mission operations are given consideration during development and that engineering support is available after launch.
The MDI-T Program is under the direction of Prof. Philip Scherrer who is the lead Co-Investigator for MDI-T (MDI-T PI). He is the formal interface to NASA and is responsible for scientific leadership, management, hardware and software development, ground and flight operations, and data analysis. Prof. Scherrer is the PI for the MDI instrument on SOHO.
Dr. A. Title is the lead for the MDI-T instrument development at LMSAL, and the contact to Lockheed-Martin management. He is a Consulting Scientist at LMSAL, a Consulting Professor of Physics at Stanford University, and is the PI for the TRACE SMEX program.
The Stanford program manager is Dr. R. Bush who handled the SOHO/MDI project management for Stanford. He is responsible for the prime contract from NASA and for the interface with LMSAL and the outside Co-Investigators. After the spacecraft and instruments are integrated, he will shift his efforts to MDI-T mission operations.
The LMSAL Instrument Development Manager, Mr. M. Levay, is the primary person for day-to-day activities for the MDI-T instrument during the development phase of the program. He will work with system engineers to insure that MDI-T meets performance specifications, has undergone appropriate testing, and that cost and schedule goals are maintained.
The MDI-T Instrument Scientist, Dr. T. Hoeksema, in conjunction with the MDI-T Science team, will establish the performance requirements for the MDI-T Instrument. He will have oversight for the development, testing and calibration of the flight MDI-T instrument. Dr. Hoeksema was involved in similar activities during the S0I-MDI program. He will be assisted by Dr. T. Tarbell who had a key role in the testing, calibration, and operation of both MDI and TRACE.
The MDI-T Data Scientist, Dr. R. Bogart, in conjunction with the MDI-T Science team, will establish the performance requirements for MDI-T data processing system. He will have oversight for the development, testing, and verification of the data processing system that handles data flow from receipt of telemetry through to calibrated science data products.
The LMSAL Resources Manager, Mr. C. Feinstein, will plan the budgets, monitor the program expenditures, and manage LMSAL subcontracts. He will provide regular financial status information to the MDI-T PI, the LMSAL management team, the Triana PI, and to NASA.
The LMSAL Lead Engineers will be responsible for producing the detailed design, fabricating the instrument, performing all testing, and supporting the integration effort. The Lead Engineers direct the task leaders for the hardware, software, and integration, test and calibration functions.
The table below shows the top-level program schedule. It includes all major program milestones, reviews, and hardware deliveries. This schedule is consistent with the time requirement of previous programs such as MDI and TRACE. Appropriate funding levels at the start of Phase B will be crucial to meeting this aspect of the program plan.
MDI-T - Major Project Milestones
24 Aug 1998 Submit proposal 25 Sep 1998 NASA selection 2 Oct 1998 Award of letter contract 13 Nov 1998 Final contract 1 Dec 1998 Mission Configuration Review 2 Dec 1998 Start MDI-T instrument development 1 Jan 1999 Long lead items ordered and major subcontracts signed 5 Oct 1999 Begin subsystem testing 4 Feb 2000 Deliver MDI-T for integration and environmental testing 6 Apr 2000 Begin science payload and spacecraft integration 4 May 2000 Begin integrated spacecraft environmental tests and alignment 3 Aug 2000 Deliver Triana spacecraft to Kennedy Space Center 1 Nov 2000 Launch Readiness Review 1 Dec 2000 Launch Triana 1 Jan 2001 Phase E - MO&DA begins 1 Mar 2001 Arrive at L1 Lagrange point