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NASA builds a cloud platform for planetary defense
To defend the Earth from potentially hazardous objects such as asteroids, comets and large meteoroids, NASA announced that it is working with George Mason University on a cloud- based platform to house data and tools for scientists working on planetary defense.
Research into mitigating the potential impact of near-Earth objects is being conducted in the U.S. and abroad, but the information is scattered across the internet partly because of a lack of a unified, structured architecture to house the data. The Planetary Defense Mitigation Gateway would consolidate the available research and allow scientists to make faster, data-driven decisions.
Beyond providing easy access to
research related to planetary defense, the gateway will enhance discovery, collaboration, innovation, education and ultimately decision support, researchers said in a paper published in March.
The gateway’s primary features are:
• A smart search discovery engine based on the planetary defense knowledge base, information mining and reasoning.
• A system for archiving and understanding documents that manages
the results produced by the planetary defense community.
• An evolving knowledge base compiled from existing literature using natural language processing and machine learning.
• A 3-D visualization tool that allows viewers to analyze near-Earth approaches using dynamic, adjustable parameters to simulate point-of-impact asteroid deflections via space vehicles and particle systems.
Future plans include incorporating 3-D models of near-Earth objects captured by satellites and building simulations of dynamic mitigation scenarios into the visualization tool based on rocket trajectory values and deflection variables.
— Susan Miller
CIO shop: a CTO, a chief data officer, a chief digital strategy officer and a chief information security officer.
Modly said the Navy hopes to attract talented professionals from the private sector to fill those slots. Congress has authorized special pay authority that puts potential compensation above $300,000. Although that salary might not entice a top cybersecurity professional to leave a job at a major company, Modly said he believes the Navy can find candidates motivated by “patriotism, fascinating elements of the mission itself and the complexity of the challenge.”
The funding and basic roles are already in place, he added, so officials do not plan to seek congressional authority or legislation to support the new organization. “We are not adding a huge staff here at the corporate headquarters,” he said. “We are moving pieces around on the chess board.”
— Adam Mazmanian
Navy elevates CIO role
After Congress blocked the Navy’s effort to establish a Senate-confirmed top technology position with the rank of assistant secretary, the service is taking a different approach to refining its technology leadership.
During a conference call with reporters in August, Navy Undersecretary Thomas Modly said the new plan is to establish a special assistant to the secretary for information management/CIO with broad authority over technology, data, digital strategy and cybersecurity.
For nearly two years, Modly has been serving as CIO in addition to his duties as undersecretary and chief management officer. He said a candidate was set to accept the position but declined to name the individual because the hiring paperwork was not complete.
The shift comes in part as a response to a scathing cybersecurity review released in March that recommended
the Navy improve top-down governance by naming a CIO who would report directly to the secretary of the Navy and oversee cybersecurity standards and IT acquisition.
“I don’t think anyone had any major arguments with the findings from the cyber study and the need to sort of develop a broader strategy, a more integrated strategy between the Navy and Marine Corps and across the department,” Modly said. “I sure hope that no one thinks this is just a refresh of what we’ve done before because it’s not.”
The old Department of the Navy CIO organization “was more of a compliance shop and less proactive in developing strategy for the department,” he said, adding that he expects the newly elevated CIO to be more strategic.
The new office will have a staff of 15 to 20, and four senior leaders will be hired to run directorates inside the new
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