**[GENERAL]{.underline}**

**[EDUCATION and OUTREACH]{.underline}**

**[ON-GOING FLIGHT PROGRAM]{.underline}**

**[FUTURE FLIGHT PROGRAM - ISSA PHASE I/II/III]{.underline}**

**[Common Flight Hardware for ISS Payloads Will Reduce
Costs:]{.underline}**

The Low Temperature Microgravity Physics Facility (LTMPF) project at
JPL, the Optical Communication Demonstration project (OCD) at JPL, and
the Fluids Combustion Facility (FCF) project at GRC are working jointly
to qualify a common flight computer with interfaces (1553B and Ethernet)
suited for the ISS command and data handling requirements.

After a few months of research and investigations, both the OCD and the
FCF projects agreed with the LTMPF project to further evaluate the
products of two vendors - DY4 and Aitech Defense Systems. All three
projects agree to proceed with board-level proton irradiation tests. The
tests will identify any initial reliability issues and risks in
qualifying a flight computer for the environment of low Earth orbit.

With assistance from the LTMPF project, the FCF project procured a DY4
computer board for proton testing. Subsequently, the LTMPF project
hosted a face-to-face meeting with Aitech at JPL. At this meeting,
Aitech agreed to support a proton test by providing a flight-quality
computer board and by supplying technical expertise at no cost for
testing in November at the Indiana University proton facility.

After the proton tests of both boards are completed, the three projects
will then proceed to selection of a board vendor and a qualification
plan. It is expected that all three projects can procure common flight
boards and that, if this cooperative effort will expand to more payloads
funded by the ISS Payload Office, there will be additional savings in
logistics costs across all payloads that participate.

**[Use of LabView for Flight Software has Moved a Step
Closer]{.underline}**

The Low-Temperature Physics Group and the Measurement Technology Center
at JPL have joined forces to develop and successfully demonstrate a
JPL-specific version of the National Instruments software package
LabView. This demonstration is the first instance of LabView software
running on a flight-qualifiable CPU on a real-time operating system.
This version of LabView is the result of a Technology Cooperative
Agreement between JPL and National Instruments.

The demonstration is significant as a first step to using LabView
software as elements of flight software. This application of commercial
software has the potential to significantly reduce the development of
flight software by using LabView\'s graphical programming instead of the
traditional text-based programming. This development has potential to
other missions and NASA Centers.

**[ISSUES AND CONCERNS]{.underline}**

**[SCIENCE HIGHLIGHTS]{.underline}**

**Fundamental Physics**

**[Fundamental Physics Investigator Receives IEEE Award]{.underline}**

Dr. Thomas E. Parker, a co-investigator for the Fundamental Physics
flight program PARCS (Primary Atomic Reference Clock in Space), recently
received the 1999 Achievement Award of the IEEE Ultrasonics,
Ferroelectrics, and Frequency Control Society. This award is the highest
honor conferred by the UFFC Society, and is in recognition of
outstanding professional achievement in areas of interest to the
Society. The plaque citation for the award reads: \"For his original
contributions to high-stability SAW oscillators and his leadership of
the professional community worldwide for increasingly more precise time
standards and time transfer.\" The award was presented on October 18,
1999 during the IEEE International Ultrasonics Symposium in Lake Tahoe,
Nevada.

**[UPCOMING EVENTS]{.underline}**