SPAWAR Inspires Girls to Explore STEM Careers

By Holly Quick, Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic Public Affairs

CHARLESTON, S.C. (NNS) -- Space and Naval Warfare Systems Center Atlantic (SSC Atlantic) partnered with the College of Charleston and Trident Technical College to get girls excited about Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) at a Girls Day Out Summer Camp July 25-26.

More than 60 Charleston-area students participated in the two-day event, which included a technology expo, interactive computer science and cybersecurity activities, business etiquette training, a tour of the College of Charleston campus, and meetings with college admissions.

The Honorable LaDoris Harris, U.S. Department of Energy, Director of the Office of Economic Impact and Diversity, kicked off day two of the camp with her inspirational keynote speech.

"You are amazing," Harris said to the girls. "It's important for you to know that as we take our journey - dreaming big makes it happen."

Students said their favorite part of the event was the technology expo, which included hands-on activities and science experiments with representatives from six colleges and nine local businesses. Students spent 8-10 minutes at each booth participating in interactive technology activities over a two-hour period.

While the girls participated in the expo, parents learned about admissions requirements from colleges and universities and the importance of taking the proper courses in middle school and high school to prepare for STEM majors in college.

"This event is a wonderful opportunity for the girls," said Barbara Grigsby, high school teacher and grandmother of two students who participated in the camp. "I especially liked the cybersecurity activity because children today really don't realize the impact that social networking has on their future."

Throughout the year, SSC Atlantic deploys volunteers from its technical workforce to serve as role models, mentors, content experts, competition judges and other roles that show students the value of a STEM career.

"We devote ourselves to increasing the interest in, and participation of women and young ladies - and other under-represented groups - in STEM fields," said SSC Atlantic Commanding Officer Capt. Amy Burin. "Our outreach program engages students directly with STEM subjects through robotics tournaments, cybersecurity competitions, building remotely operated underwater vehicles in the SeaPerch program, learning through video games, mentoring in schools, judging science fairs and IT Shadow Days."

Female engineers from SSC Atlantic and local industry partners shared their backgrounds, explained their work, and encouraged the girls to think about STEM careers.

"I have the great honor and privilege of leading some of the most prominent computer scientists, electrical engineers and other STEM professionals in the Navy - and the world - today," said Burin. "The solutions we provide save warfighter lives."

SSC Atlantic's Executive Officer Cmdr. Marcia Ziemba participated on a Women In STEM panel with other female professionals in the STEM field.

"As you get into your curriculum in the computer science field, learn to understand the foundation of the technology," said Ziemba. "Learning to defend and secure your networks is absolutely critical. Focus on understanding how to use the technology in a safe and secure way so your information can remain secure."

A Girls Day Out Summer Camp was held simultaneously at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, Virginia July 26. Students toured the campus and participated in activities including a cyber awareness challenge, tower engineering design exercise, and bungee jump model.

DoD, Partners Share Mapping Technology for Disaster Relief

By Cheryl Pellerin

DoD News, Defense Media Activity

WASHINGTON, July 24, 2014 – The Defense Department is using geospatial, or mapping, technology in a tool that will soon be available to assist countries and organizations dealing with the deadly consequences of hurricanes, earthquakes and other disasters and humanitarian crises, experts from DoD and U.S. Southern Command said in a recent DoD News interview.

The open-source software is called GeoSHAPE, which stands for geospatial tool for security, humanitarian assistance and partnership engagement, Elmer L. Roman said.

Roman is oversight executive for efforts that include building partnerships and serves in the Office of the Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics, or AT&L.

"This tool is basically used to build capacity to help support humanitarian assistance and disaster relief situations, as well as enabling organizations and governments to enhance the security of their people and citizens," he explained. "That's what 'SHAPE' in the name GeoSHAPE stands for."

When it's ready for use worldwide, the GeoSHAPE software will be accessible in two ways: through an Internet portal using an application called DisasterAWARE hosted by the Pacific Disaster Center, or PDC, in Hawaii, and downloadable software openly available on the Internet.

The PDC has been managed since 2006 by the University of Hawaii under a cooperative agreement with the Office of the Undersecretary of Defense for Policy. The center's program office provides humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations and defense support to civil authorities.

GeoSHAPE integrates data from multiple sources and displays it in a dynamic Internet-based map to provide situational awareness and help decision-making.

GeoSHAPE software shows, for instance, the location and availability of hospitals, helicopter landing zones, food, water and medical supplies, the condition of roads and bridges, the deployment of rescue personnel to affected areas, and other key elements that are plotted in a map that authorized users can see from anywhere in the world.

The mobile application Arbiter, part of the GeoSHAPE capability, lets users capture data and photos in the field.

Organizations can use these tools to collaboratively create a dynamic picture of available resources and the extent of damage. This can be available in near real time when connectivity is present or synchronized as soon as a connection is established.

"GeoSHAPE is really about improving our mapping capabilities [with] maps of situations,” said Juan Hurtado, Southcom science advisor. “You're not only going to have a location, you're going to have a time that's uniquely associated with it."

A paper map is static, he noted. “But if you have a disaster you can say, ‘At 3 o’clock in this location, this is the situation.’ At 5 o’clock, you update the map based on the situation as it changes. That's what this map is -- so you can improve the response to a disaster."

The need for GeoSHAPE technology and the capability became apparent during the multi-organizational response to the magnitude 7.0 earthquake and tsunami surges in the Port-au-Prince, Haiti, region in January 2010.

Humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operations personnel reported gaps in ways to create and share geographic data on critical aspects of emergency response. At the time, government and nongovernmental organizations had no common, unclassified geospatial information exchange tool for coordinating relief efforts.

To fill the technology gap, DoD led a geospatial effort called the Rapid Open Geospatial User-Driven Enterprise, or ROGUE, joint capability technology demonstration, approved in 2012. JCTDs are DoD programs that quickly and cost effectively introduce new or modified technologies to address critical military needs.

"In 2012, OSD AT&L, in coordination with U.S. Southern Command and the U.S. Army Geospatial Center, started the effort to enable these multiple organizations to be able to share unclassified information across the Internet, especially geospatial information," Roman said.

Other organizations involved in the program are the U.S. Army Engineer Research and Development Center, the State Department's Humanitarian Information Unit, the Pacific Disaster Center and LMN Solutions, an information technology company.

By June 2014, the GeoSHAPE open-architecture mapping software was ready to be demonstrated in Honduras by representatives of Southcom's Science, Technology and Experimentation Division, the Honduran Permanent Contingency Commission or COPECO, Joint Task Force-Bravo or JTF-B, the U.S. Embassy Honduras, and other governmental and nongovernmental organizations.

From June 9 to June 13, the software was tested during a simulated response to a hurricane. According to a Southcom news release, Honduras provided a realistic setting for assessing the software's utility during a complex humanitarian assistance and disaster relief operation.

In addition to GeoSHAPE, Hurtado said, over the two years of development the team had developed or assessed other technologies that could be used for disaster response.

"For this demonstration event in Honduras," he added, "under [Roman's] leadership, … we brought together other things to see if those independently developed systems for disaster response could be integrated with GeoSHAPE and see if they made a difference."

Hurtado said they tested how GeoSHAPE and the other technologies improved disaster response. Here are the technologies they tested:

-- A portable unmanned aerial system with an on-board camera that allows for overhead visual assessments of damage, sponsored by DoD's Rapid Reaction Technology Office;

-- A wireless mesh network to provide Internet access to remote or disconnected areas;

-- A medical application developed in conjunction with U.S. Army Telemedicine and Advanced Technology Research Center, or TATRC, for speech translation system that allows doctors and patients to better communicate when language is a barrier;

-- The All Partners Access Network, or APAN, collaboration portal that provides a place for organizations to coordinate events across geographic barriers, among other technology tools.

In the testing, Hurtado said, "it came out that you can make decisions a lot faster, because the information comes so quickly that the analysts at the emergency operations center would quickly see how the situation was developing on the ground."

There was a point at which the analysts had so much data it was almost as though the situation was really happening and not a simulation, he added.

"With GeoSHAPE, Hurtado added, they can see immediately and can make decisions right there on the ground," he said.

For the past 12 or more years, Roman said, "we -- particularly Southcom, U.S. Africa Command, U.S. Pacific Command and other geographic commands -- have been engaged with our partners to deal with crises around the world."

One of the challenges that always arises, he said, is being able to fill gaps that occur when it comes to sharing information in a consistent and timely manner among multiple organizations that seek to help in disasters.

"In the past when we've started talking about joint interoperability, it was only within the Department of Defense,” Roman said. “But now imagine trying to do the same, having interoperability not only in the U.S. government interagency but also among international relief organizations and partner nations."

It was clear that a tool was needed to allow the sharing of geographic data on critical aspects of an emergency response across government and nongovernmental organizations, he added.

"Basically, we configured this tool so everybody can use it to collaborate and share information through a capability that is available at no cost, with no license fees to users, and readily available to other nations and governments,” Roman said.

AF satellites to contribute to space neighborhood watch

by Air Force News Service

7/22/2014 - WASHINGTON -- The Air Force plans to launch two operational satellites and one experimental satellite into near-geosynchronous Earth orbit July 23.

According to Secretary of the Air Force Deborah Lee James, "these operational and experimental systems will enhance the nation's ability to monitor and assess events regarding our military and commercial systems. In essence, they will create a space neighborhood watch capability."

The two operational satellites are part of the Air Force's Geosynchronous Space Situational Awareness Program, or GSSAP.

The GSSAP satellites will provide U.S. Strategic Command with space situational awareness data allowing for more accurate tracking and characterization of man-made orbiting objects.

The satellites will drift a safe distance away from the geosynchronous equatorial orbit, or GEO, belt while surveilling the area to further enable spaceflight safety.

As space becomes increasingly congested, contested and competitive, it is imperative to protect the systems in space on which the world depends.

Air Force Space Command commander, Gen. William Shelton said, "we support the peaceful use of space for all countries but we believe it is necessary to increase our ability to detect and attribute any threatening or disruptive actions."

The experimental satellite program, known as Automated Navigation and Guidance Experiment for Local Space, or ANGELS, is led by the Air Force Research Laboratory's Space Vehicles Directorate headquartered at Kirtland Air Force Base, New Mexico.

This science and technology satellite will conduct safe research activities around the upper stage of its Delta IV launch vehicle.

ANGELS will test new space situational awareness techniques and technologies while performing safe, automated spacecraft operations to support and enhance future U.S. missions.

AFRL commander Maj. Gen. Thomas Masiello said, "the experiments conducted with ANGELS will allow the United States to safely operate future space situational awareness satellites in a more efficient, effective and autonomous manner."

Although the two GSSAP spacecraft and the AFRL ANGELS experimental spacecraft will launch on the same United Launch Alliance Delta IV booster out of Cape Canaveral, Florida, the missions and objectives are distinctly different.

As the Air Force continues to develop cutting-edge and essential space programs, James said "this launch is a remarkable accomplishment in the Air Force development of technologies to ensure the safe and responsible use of space."

Vulnerabilities in LZO and LZ4 compression libraries

Original release date: July 21, 2014

Recently disclosed vulnerabilities in the LZO and LZ4 compression libraries could allow remote code execution under certain circumstances. While these libraries are used by a large number of platforms and applications, not all programs may be vulnerable to exploitation.

US-CERT recommends that all developers who either implement or import the LZO or LZ4 libraries into their software check for susceptibility to CVE-2014-4608, CVE-2014-4715, and CVE-2014-4611.

Users and administrators should apply software security updates as they become available.

Air Force will provide assured access to space

by Staff Sgt. Torri Ingalsbe
Air Force Public Affairs Agency, Operating Location - P

7/21/2014 - WASHINGTON -- Gen. William L. Shelton, Air Force Space Command commander, stressed the importance of maintaining assured access to space to the Senate Subcommittee on Strategic Forces and Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation during a hearing on the options for assuring domestic access to space, July 16.

"Space assets have been a key element of warfighting for over 30 years, providing a unique vantage to observe activity around the globe, relay terrestrial communications and provide precision position information," Shelton said.

He explained the challenge is ensuring space services continue to be available, even as the space domain continues to change and evolve. The first step in this process is to assure access to space for national security payloads.

"The loss of even one national security payload - both in terms of financial loss and operations impact - would make our mission assurance costs look like cheap insurance," he said. "We will continue to place emphasis on tough mission assurance principles to do all that is humanly possible to guard against launch failure."

Shelton was joined by Principal Deputy Under Secretary of Defense for Acquisition, Technology and Logistics the Honorable Alan F. Estevez; National Aeronautics and Space Administration Associate Administrator Robert M. Lightfoot Jr.; Acquisition and Sourcing Management, Government Accountability Office Director Cristina T. Chaplain; Aerospace Corporation Vice President of Program Assessments retired Air Force Maj. Gen. Howard J. Mitchell; Purdue University Department of Aeronautics and Aerospace Engineering Professor of Practice Daniel L. Dumbacher and RAND Corporation Senior Engineer Dr. Yool Kim.

"The nation requires robust, responsive and resilient space transportation capabilities that enable and advance our space operations," Estevez said. "The Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicle program has provided launch services for critical national security payloads since 2002 with an unprecedented record of success."

The growing costs of the EELV program caused the Air Force and the Office of the Secretary of Defense to look at restructuring options, to provide the best capabilities at the lowest cost to the American taxpayer.

"The Air Force devised a strategy that balances efficient procurement of launch services, maintains mission assurance and reintroduces competition into the EELV program," Estevez said. "Since restructuring the program, we have stopped the burgeoning cost of maintain a domestic launch capability, without sacrificing the rigor required to maintain mission success, then concurrently achieving the program's two most important goals."
The restructure allowed the Air Force to find savings within the program, without sacrificing quality.

"This year's budget reduces the (EELV) program by $1.2 ," Shelton said. "Combined with prior-year Air Force reductions and savings for the National Reconnaissance Office, we have reduced the total program by $4.4 billion from the baseline in the fiscal year '12 budget."

The strategy focuses on driving competition between private companies for the award of space launch contracts.

"The commercial space launch industry has made substantial progress over the last year," Shelton said. "As a result, we are managing change in the EELV program from a single-provider environment to a multi-provider environment through a certification process. The phased introduction of competition through deliberate certification is the approach chosen to help lower launch costs while maintain a laser-like focus on mission assurance."

One concern members of congress had for the panel of witnesses is the perceived reliance on the Russian RD-180 Rocket Engine, which fuels the Atlas V launch vehicle.
"The United States is not dependent or reliant on Russian technology to launch our critical space assets," Estevez said. "The Delta IV launch vehicle has a domestically produced propulsion system that is capable of lifting all national security payloads."
The alternative launch vehicle is more expensive, but the stockpile of RD-180 engines is expected to last up to two years in the event of supply disruption.

"While the RD-180 has served us well, current uncertainty highlights the need to consider other options for assured access to space," Shelton said. "A domestically produced new engine program would revitalize the liquid rocket propulsion industrial base, end reliance on a foreign supplier and aid the competitive outlook for the entire domestic launch industry."

The goal of the DoD remains assuring America's access to space, while still providing economical decisions and processes to provide savings to the taxpayers.

"Air Force payloads provide foundational space capabilities to the joint warfighter and the nation, who collectively rely on these systems across a range of civil and military operations," Shelton said. "We are committed to sustaining the highest levels of mission assurance, and our ultimate objective is to safely and reliably launch national security payloads on a schedule determined by the needs of the national security space enterprise. We look forward to continuing to provide resilient, capable and affordable space capabilities for the joint force and the nation."

Cyber Guard Exercise Tests People, Partnerships

From a U.S. Cyber Command News Release

FORT MEADE, Md., July 17, 2014 – Partners from across government, academia, industry and the international coalition recently completed Cyber Guard 14-1, a two-week exercise designed to test operational and interagency coordination as well as tactical-level operations in response to a domestic cyberspace incident.

Elements of the National Guard, reserves, National Security Agency and U.S. Cyber Command exercised their support to Department of Homeland Security and FBI responses to foreign-based attacks on simulated critical infrastructure networks, promoting collaboration and critical information sharing in support of a “whole-of-nation” effort.

“Citizens of our nation are counting on us to generate the necessary capacity and capability to meet the challenges of this problem set,” Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogers, Cybercom commander and NSA director, said in remarks to more than 70 distinguished visitors to the exercise. “We are continuing to learn and mature. We have to build a construct to work seamlessly and effectively with our partners, and not just within the government, but also with industry and academia – outside [the Defense Department].”

Building and ensuring partnerships, processes, and human and technical capabilities were common themes during the exercise.

“We talk all the time about physical networks connecting computers and communications,” said Robert Anderson, executive assistant director of the FBI’s criminal, cyber response and services branch, in remarks to exercise participants. “But we must remember that on both ends of that computer network, there is a network of people working toward a common goal: to defeat our adversaries. Cyber Guard helps us get better at using the network of warriors on the front lines — like you — to achieve our goal.”

The event, executed by Cybercom and hosted by the FBI at the National Academy in Quantico, Virginia, was the largest yet, hosting more than 550 participants, roughly double the number who participated last year. Continuing the event’s evolution into a holistic, whole-of-nation effort, observers from academia, private industry and state utilities were on hand to observe.

In the event of a domestic cyber incident, federal agencies have specific, complementary roles, officials said.

DHS is the lead for coordinating the protection, prevention, mitigation of, and recovery from a cyber incident. The Justice Department and the FBI are responsible for the investigation, attribution, disruption and prosecution of domestic cyber crimes, as well as the collection, analysis and dissemination of domestic cyber threat intelligence. DoD is responsible for defending the nation from attack, collecting, analyzing and distributing foreign threat intelligence, and supporting DHS in their protection, prevention and recovery role.

45th Space Wing launches 6 second-generation ORBCOMM satellites

by 45th Space Wing
Public Affairs Office

7/15/2014 - CAPE CANAVERAL AIR FORCE STATION, Fla. -- The 45th Space Wing supported Space Exploration Technologies' (SpaceX) successful launch of their Falcon 9 rocket carrying six second-generation ORBCOMM communications satellites from Space Launch Complex 40 here at 11 a.m. EDT July 14.

The rocket flew in the Falcon 9 v1.1 configuration with upgraded Merlin 1D engines, stretched fuel tanks, and a payload fairing.

A combined team of military members, government civilians and contractors from across the 45th Space Wing provided vital launch support to the SpaceX mission, including weather forecasts, launch and range operations, security, safety and public affairs.

"The 45th Space Wing is proud of what we do here on the Space Coast, and we couldn't do what we do without the support of our entire team," said Brig. Gen. Nina Armagno, 45th Space Wing commander, who also served as the Launch Decision Authority for the launch.

According to ORBCOMM, these next generation OG2 satellites have advanced communications technologies and are significantly larger with an "X Factor" that makes them even more powerful, efficient and cutting-edge.

Built by Sierra Nevada Corporation, the 170 kg satellites will provide a much needed boost in their service capacity. Another will be launched later this year.

Each OG2 satellite is the equivalent of six OG1 satellites, providing quicker service, enhancing coverage at higher latitudes and allowing for larger message sizes and increased data rates, they reported.