At PA&E Pace was responsible for providing objective studies and analyses in support of policy, program, and budget decisions by the NASA Administrator. Prior to working at NASA, Pace was the Assistant Director for Space and Aeronautics in the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP).

"JPL has an inventory of about 19,000 computers, ranging from Windows and Macintosh desktops, to 1,000 node compute clusters. Of these 19,000 computers, about 5,600 are computer servers performing a wide variety of computing tasks. The space requirements of this diverse server population are exceeding JPL's capacity, and plans to add many new computing capabilities over the next few years means that the Lab needs to consolidate its computing footprint both through hardware consolidation, as well as the use of virtualization tools."

[Video below]

"NASA has scheduled a media briefing Tuesday, May 13, at 11 a.m. EDT, to discuss the challenges, risks and science opportunities of the scheduled May 25 landing of the Phoenix Mars Lander."

Editor's note: Phoenix once had another name: "2001 Mars Surveyor Lander". After NASA crashed two spacecraft into Mars in 1999 (Mars Climate Orbiter and Mars Polar Lander) it was mothballed. Then some imaginative people found a way to use NASA's investment and create a new mission using existing hardware - with lessons learned from the Mars crashes applied.

Alas, when NASA talks about Phoenix they really don't want to remind people of those sad days in 1999. In so doing they go out of their way not to remind people that a lot of money went into this spacecraft before the name change. How much? They can never really provide a straight answer. Instead, they try and pass it off as an inexpensive mission.

What follows [below] is a chronology of sorts as I thave tried to find out just what this mission costs: so far I have found official NASA statements that it is $325 million, $386 million, and $420 million. I am sure NASA can come up with several more if they try. I wonder what their answer will be at next week's press event.

Small wonder no one can figure out exactly what MSL is going to cost, eh?

Cost chronology below:

"This week at the Operations Management Council (OMC) meeting, a significant portion was dedicated to the work we are doing to improve information technology (IT). In 2007, the Strategic Management Council, approved strategic initiatives to:

2) realign the NASA IT organization to reflect the role of the CIO and better connect with customers;

"We have gone galactic," crowed Colbert. "I should say something really profound. Eat it, Jon Stewart! I'm talking to space."

NASA ISS On-Orbit Status 8 May 2008

"At ~10:50am EDT, Garrett Reisman participated in a live interactive PAO TV interview with Stephen Colbert of Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report". [Stephen Colbert is the host and executive producer of the Emmy-nominated series "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central. The "Colbert Report" has garnered huge ratings and critical success as one of the top shows on television. This interview was live-to-tape to be aired on Comedy Central tonight at 11:30pm EDT.]"

"National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA): $200 million: In the aftermath of the Columbia tragedy, however, NASA was not given any additional funding to repair the remaining shuttles. To date, NASA has already spent $2.7 billion to make safety modifications to the remaining shuttle fleet. The emergency supplemental includes $200 million for NASA to help pay back the costs and restore cuts to science, aeronautics and exploration programs that were cut in order to pay for the return to flight."

"When we finally made it to base camp we were greeted by a very happy and active Scott Parazynski. He was bounding across the rocks as we were barely catching our breath. To see him so positive gave us all a lot of energy. We took a lot of pictures around base camp, and the Khumbu ice fall."

"In April Richard Garriott, the next civilian to visit the International Space Station in October, 2008, joined Founding Chairman of Challenger Center for Space Science Education, Dr. June Scobee Rogers, for the first in a series of monthly audio blog podcasts. Dr. Rodgers and Richard discussed various topics from his childhood to the motivation that brought him to where he is today."

Students to Create YouTube Videos for Live Webcast by Private Space Explorer Richard Garriott

Blending Art and Science: Challenger Center Invites Students to Create Art for Space Flight

"By day, NASA aerospace engineer Mark Branch supervises electromagnetic compatibility and susceptibility tests on instruments for the Hubble Space Telescope. At night and on weekends, he becomes DJ Scientific, trading in his spectrum analyzers and oscilloscopes for a microphone, turntables and a mixer as he cranks hip-hop tunes at some of the Washington area's hottest clubs as well as at NFL and NBA events."

More from Mark's website, ScientificBeats (below):

"Four contractors working to shut down a nuclear reactor at a NASA facility in northern Ohio have been charged with fraudulently billing the government, a federal prosecutor said Thursday. Acting U.S. Attorney Bill Edwards said the four men were accused in an indictment of overbilling a total of $347,664 by falsely claiming they were entitled to per-diem mileage reimbursements."

Editor's note: According to ESMD PAO: "NASA is internally assessing moving Orion's preliminary design review to November. The Orion Project has been doing systems review and key architecture trades based on November's point of departure architecture. NASA believes it may be of value to give the team additional time to mature the products and complete the systems integration in advance of Orion's preliminary design review."

NASA to Update Media About Constellation Program Progress

"NASA will host a media teleconference on Thursday, May 15, at 2 p.m. EDT, to provide an overview of progress made in the last few months and work ahead for NASA's Constellation Program."

Integrated Problem Reporting and Corrective Action (iPRACA)

"Issue Title: Tile inadvertently damaged by inelastic collision with terra firma following uncontrolled descent"

"With the breakup of the Soviet Union, the concern is less about national security and proving which country's worldview is correct than it is with more terrestrial worries like money and jobs. With some irony, lobbyists note in meetings on Capitol Hill that America's former communist foe would have monopolistic powers to charge what it likes to take astronauts to the International Space Station (ISS), a program led by the United States and Russia that is scheduled to be completed in 2010. ... Meanwhile, the United Space Alliance added the Breaux-Lott Leadership Group to its roster of outside lobbyists, which already included Van Scoyoc Associates."

"In thinking about the how and the why of the economic development of space, mental frameworks are of crucial importance. A mental framework governs everything in terms of how any particular engineering project evolves from concept to implementation. Over time in the space arena our mental framework has evolved, in ways not all together positive from the perspective of those of us who believe that the economic development of space is practical and indeed crucial to the continuing development of our planetary civilization. This missive will explore the mental framework of economic development (the level zero requirement in government speak) and then explore how that would unfold."