waterline 091015

September 10, 2015

The WaterlineThe WaterlineVol. XXXII No. 36

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NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

www.cnic.navy.mil/nsaw

2 Thursday, September 10, 2015Waterline

The WaterlineCommander, Naval Support Activity Washington

Capt. Monte Ulmer

NSAW Public Affairs OfficerBrian Sutton

NSAW Deputy of Public AffairsPatrick Gordon

Waterline StaffWriter

Whitney Anderson

Copy Editor/Page DesignerComprint Military Publications

Lorraine Walker

All stories must be submitted by 4 p.m. theThursday prior to publication. E-mail stories to:

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By Whitney AndersonNSAW public affairs

The Washington Navy Yard got a cleansweep Sept. 1 with an installation-wideClean the Yard Day by local FY16 chief pettyofficer selectees, NSAW personnel and WNYtenant commands.

Those involved picked up loose cigarettebutts and other litter on the yard from 9 to11:30 a.m.

Naval Support Activity Washington Com-mand Master Chief Marilyn Kennard over-saw the clean up in an effort to ensure thehistorical grounds and operational navalbase remain a place that is well-maintainedand cared for.

Kennard said she facilitates a groundcleanup on a monthly basis as an essentialpart to maintaining the installation’s ap-pearance and prestige.

The invitation to clean the yard, while it

may seem like a taxing chore, comes as aninvitation for all Navy yard personnel to takepride in the grounds and think twice beforeflicking cigarette butts that a service mem-ber will later have to pick up.

Kennard said the process starts at Wil-lard Park and usually only takes a group ofvolunteers about 20 minutes to sweep theentire yard clean.

“We’ll get folks together from the com-

mands and work our way around the yardpicking up trash,” Kennard said.

Kennard said the yard cleanup is by nomeans restricted to the spring and summermonths, adding that in order to truly main-tain the integrity of this installation the yardrequires the same level of attention duringthe colder months as well.

“It is harder because it’s colder but wewill get out and if it needs to be twice amonth then we will do twice a month, asneeded,” said Kennard.

Yeoman 1st Class Lisa Simmons, a Navyyard FY16 CPO selectee, said that on amonth-to-month basis they have gone outand found a considerable amount of trashand debris on the installation grounds in-stead of in a trash receptacle, adding thatof all the trash found on the WashingtonNavy Yard, cigarette butts remain the big-gest nuisance.

“Especially around the smoking areas,dumpsters, and parking garages,” saidSimmons.

Personnel interested in participating inthe monthly yard clean up or who want tolearn more regarding the issue can followNaval Support Activity Washington Face-book page at www.facebook.com/Naval-SupportActivityWashington.

Dirty yard: Personnel do their part in keeping WNY clean

Photos by Whitney Anderson

Machinist’s Mate 1st Class Tristan Stulllends a hand to aid in yard cleanup.

FY16 CPO Selectees: Yeoman 1st Class Theresa Mendoza, left, and Boatswain’s Mate Denise Domingo work as ateam to tidy the yard.

Thursday, September 10, 2015 3Waterline


Broken elevators or faulty phone linescan be an annoyance for personnel, butNaval Support Activity Washington leader-ship is doing its part to make sure thingslike downed utilities don’t stay a nuisancefor long as zone inspections get underway.

Zone inspections are routine checks thatwill be conducted installation-wide in an ef-fort for command leadership and the publicworks team to effectively fix maintenanceissues that have gone unresolved in the pastor overlooked.

Lt. Cmdr. John Liddle, NSAW executiveofficer, said that the intent, however, is notto point fingers at individual commands re-garding poor upkeep of their facilities, butto raise awareness of any problem areas andhave them adequately documented to be re-solved.

“The intent of our zone inspection pro-gram is to identify problems around the

base with infrastructure, buildings, andenergy conservation issues. It really looksat a whole lot of different things,” saidLiddle. “The zone inspection is designedto take all the different functions that weperform at the installation in terms of firesafety, general safety, energy conserva-tion, and general appearance. We look atall those things and try to bring them intoone place,” said Liddle.

Liddle elaborated by saying the installa-tion already has fire department inspectors,safety inspectors, and public works employ-ees who stay abreast of hazard and mainte-nance issues around the base, but the pur-pose of the zone inspection as a whole is toconsolidate and localize the efforts.

“We bring them all together in one placeto make sure no one is saying, ‘no I thoughthe had it or I thought she had it’ but, in fact,that everyone is aware of the problem andit’s getting addressed in a methodical wayand not just by dumb luck,” Liddle said.

The zone inspections will require the in-volvement of the tenant commands as well

as installation leadership to get matters athand resolved in an efficient manner.

“We will require support from the ten-ants, we’ll put out the schedule for October,November, and December here in the nextweek or two, and then it’ll be up to the ten-ants to make sure they have all of their dif-ferent reports together on what they haveand where their issues are,” Liddle said.

This step allows NSAW CommandingOfficer Capt. Monte Ulmer, Liddle, and thepublic works team to work together and pri-oritize where they send limited funds andlimited resources, distinguishing which ar-eas should be resolved first.

Liddle said he hopes the zone inspec-tions will steer the installation in resolvingmatters in a much more efficient mannerand aid the public works team with its longlist of maintenance tickets. He added thatthe public works team has a lot on its platewith 19,000 employees and upwards of 100tenants across the fence lines to attend to.

“We want to make sure when people areputting in those work tickets that they are

being responded to in a timely fashion, andif they’re not then that issue is being pushedover to public works,” said Liddle.

Zone inspections will now be a programthe command is looking to make perma-nent, and not only restricted to the confinesof the Navy Yard but to all other fence linesunder Naval Support Activity Washington.

“We’ll be going out everyWednesday andit’ll be set up in accordance with a schedulewe put together, making sure we hit everysingle building on the Navy yard once ayear,” Liddle said.

Certain areas of higher volume and cus-tomer service, however, such as food servic-es and the gates and guard shacks, will beinspected on a monthly basis to assure sat-isfaction and safety standards are up to par.

Further updates on zone inspections andother command news can be found at www.dcmiltary.com/waterline, or on Facebook atwww.facebook.com/NavalSupportActivity-Washington.

Zone Inspections-No white glove treatment


As September rolls in, ushering the start ofa new season, an unpredictable weather fore-cast comes along with it. “Don’t Wait. Com-municate!” is this year’s Navy slogan to urgeall sailors, civilian personnel and their familiesto create an effective emergency prepared-ness plan now and not wait until faced withan emergency.

September serves as National Prepared-ness Month for the Navy. During this time,the Secretary of the Navy encourages all Navypersonnel to create a comprehensive com-munication plan to use at home and abroadin case families are separated during the onsetof an emergency.

Raymundo Villarreal, director of Fleet andFamily Support Center atNaval Support Activ-ityWashington said that his center specializesin providing resources and emergency sup-port services to all NSAW military personneland their families.

“September is National PreparednessMonth and each of the Fleet and Family Sup-port Centers within the CNIC are tasked tohelp raise awareness with that,” said Villar-real. “We try to bring service members aware-ness to theReadyNavy campaign and let themknow that that resource is out there.”

Villarreal said that in conjunction withthe Ready Navy campaign a program calledthe Navy Family Accountability System canbe used by service members as an online da-tabase to register their families. In case of anemergency contact information and locationcan easily be found within the database.

Villarreal said that the need for NFAS cameout of Hurricane Katrina, when the com-mands had a difficult time tracking down ser-vicemembers after the storm.

“The constant call to updateNFAS anduti-lize NFAS is a great tool to prepare for calam-ity,” said Villarreal.

Creating apersonal family emergencyplanat home is also part of the initiative. Navy offi-cials are challenging servicemembers to thinkahead andmakepreparations for disaster situ-ations such as a fire, flood, hurricane or tidalsurge in advance.

“What would happen if some of the infra-structure goes away, such as water and elec-tricity? What would you do to evacuate?” Vil-larreal asked.

Villarreal went on to say that things suchas water, food, a backup generator, and extramedication and medical supplies should al-ways be kept available in case a sudden disas-ter strikes.

“Hopefully you never have to use thesethings,” said Villarreal, “but the point is whenbad things happen they come pretty quick soyouwant to have these plans and resources inplace.”

Villarreal emphasized that the goal of thismonth-long initiative is to provide informa-tion and make emergency resources knownand available no matter what the emergencymay be.

“Any amount of time you spend in prepa-ration is better than no time at all, and that’swhat the focus is,” Villarreal said.

In cases where a natural disaster has oc-curred in relation to the installation, theNSAWemergencymanagement teamwill step

in to provide aid using the Emergency FamilyAssistance Center. Experts within the centerhave been formally trained to provide clinicalresponse in these situations.

“EFAC is a response team that Fleet andFamily stands up in order to make resourcesavailable, make information available,” Villar-real said.

Villarreal said the EFAC response is notlimited toNSAWand that if a regional disaster

should occur the emergency response wouldcome from not just the Washington NavyYard, but all other regional naval bases as wellin terms of providing aid.

The campaignwill endwithAmerica’s Pre-pareAthon! National Day of Action on Sept.30. To stay up to date on emergency resourcesoffered or register you and your family’s pre-paredness activities, be sure to go to theReadyNavy website at www.ready.navy.mil.

NSAW prepares for Navy National Preparedness Month

U.S. Navy photo by Chief Mass Communication Specialist Monique K. Hilley

Making an emergency kit is an effective way to prepare for unexpectedevents. Having the entire family prepare the kit will help children bettercope with emergencies and ensures everyone knows the emergency kitcontents. September serves as National Preparedness Month for the Navy.During this time the Secretary of the Navy encourages all Navy personnelto create a comprehensive communication plan to use at home as welland abroad in the case of an emergency.

For more news from other bases around the Washington, D.C. area,

visit www.dcmilitary.com.


From Chief of NavalPersonnel public affairs

The Navy’s General MilitaryTraining plan for fiscal year 2016outlines reduced annual require-ments and a redesigned programas detailed in Naval AdministrativeMessage 213/15 released Sept. 8.

GMT is now in two categories,Standardized Core Training, whichare annual training requirementsmandated by higher authority, andNavy Command-Assigned Readi-ness Enhancement training, whichwill empower commands to directspecific training.

A portion of the CARE training

will be tied to a specific platform’sdeployment cycle on a biennialbasis, while the remainder of theCARE topics will allow for thecommand to determine the mosteffective way to deliver the train-ing within the fiscal year.

The specific topics and whichcategories they fall under are out-lined in NAVADMIN 213/15.

The changes with this an-nouncement result in a more than40 percent reduction in the yearlymandatory GMT requirements.Navy continues to update trainingto allow for more effective and ef-ficient delivery options, which in-cludes the creation of mobile ap-plications. The first mobile apps

are expected to be available laterthis year and download informa-tion will be provided on the Navy’sGMT website.

Individually-completed web-based training is automatically re-

corded and tracked in the individu-al’s electronic training jacket. Com-mand-delivered training completionis recorded in the FleetManagementand Planning System via the learn-ing event completion form.

Navy Knowledge Online can bevisited at https://www.nko.navy.mil. Once logged into NKO, selectthe “GMT” option under the “Per-sonal Development” menu item toaccess the Navy’s GMT page.

Navy announces GMT program changes, updates

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Armando Gonzales

Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus speaks at the U.S. Naval Acad-emy May 13.

1.The revampedGMTprogramresults in amorethan 40 percent reduction in annual training re-quirements and is designed to empower commandleadership to tailor training topics to the needs oftheir Sailors.

2. The revamped GMT program begins Oct. 1,and is broken down into two components:

– Standardized Core Training– Navy Command-Assigned Readiness-En-

hancement Training

3. The below SCT topics must be conductedby all uniformed personnel during the upcomingfiscal year. SCT uses standardized training ma-terials; some will require in-person instructionwhile others can be completed on an individualbasis. Here are the topics that are mandated thisupcoming fiscal year: Sexual Assault Preventionand Response

– Equal Opportunity/Sexual Harassment/Grievance Procedures

– Suicide Prevention– Combatting Trafficking in Persons General

Awareness– Antiterrorism Level I Awareness–CounterintelligenceAwareness andReporting– Operations Security– Privacy and Personally Identifiable Infor-

mation

– Records Management– Cybersecurity Awareness

4. CARE is a flexible, locally-run training pro-gram that allows commanding officers to prioritizeandcustomize training for their units. The four top-ics that are required, once per deployment cycle orbiennially for those commands in which a deploy-ment is not applicable, are:

– Alcohol, Drugs and Tobacco Awareness– Stress Management– Domestic Violence Prevention and Reporting– Sexual Health and Responsibility

There are five additional CARE topics thatshould be delivered at the discretion of the com-mand and have no minimum periodicity:

– Physical Readiness– Hazing Policy and Prevention– Personal Financial Management– Operational Risk Management– Energy Policy

5. All Individually-completed web-basedtraining is automatically recorded and tracked inthe individual’s electronic training jacket. Com-mand-delivered training completion is docu-mented in Fleet Training Management PlanningSystem.

From Naval Research Lab public affairs

A team comprised of eleven research meteorologistsfrom the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory Marine Meteorol-ogy Division received the Dr. Arthur E. Bisson Prize for Na-val Technology Achievement at a ceremony hosted by theOffice of Naval Research Aug. 26.

The award honors the team for expertise and innovativescientific work resulting in the rapid development, from ba-sic research to transition to operations, of an innovative andversatile Numerical Weather Prediction system significantlyimproving the prediction of tropical cyclones - one of themost significant threats to Department of Defense opera-tions in the tropical and mid-latitude ocean areas aroundthe world.

The team consisting of Dr. James D. Doyle, team leadand Mesoscale Modeling Section Head at NRL, and meteo-rologists Drs. Sue Chen, Eric Hendricks, Richard Hodur,Teddy Holt, Hao Jin, Yi Jin, Jonathan Moskaitis, MelindaPeng, Patrick Reinecke, and Shouping Wang were namedfor their achievements in contributing to the improvedsafety of Navy personnel, DoD assets, and the broader ci-vilian population in coastal regions through their develop-ment of the Coupled Ocean/Atmosphere Mesoscale Predic-tion System for Tropical Cyclones.

Doyle and his entire COAMPS-TC team vigorously en-gaged the Navy’s Meteorology and Oceanography andwarfighting leadership, as well as the broader civilian me-teorological community to inform the development and ad-vancement of COAMPS-TC into a leading tropical cyclonemodel. Their coordination with a variety of Navy, DoD andinteragency collaborators, including National Oceanic andAtmospheric Administration, National Science Foundation,and NASA resulted in the expanded use of COAMPS-TC inthe research and operational forecasting communities.

Currently, the Joint Typhoon Warning Center and Na-

tional Hurricane Center use COAMPS-TC for forecast guid-ance for the wind speed intensity of tropical cyclones andto forecast their speed and direction of movement. BecauseCOAMPS-TC showed significant promise in predictive skill,both JTWC and NHC incorporated its products into theirofficial ‘Consensus’ forecasts in 2012, well before the officialmodel transition date. Improvements are continuing to bemade to COAMPS-TC that will ultimately provide more ac-curate guidance for DoD and U.S. government forecasters.

Increasingly-sophisticated developmental versions ofCOAMPS-TC will continue to be transitioned to Navy oper-ations in support of the Joint Typhoon Warning Center andthe National Hurricane Center. A key additional enhance-ment will be a fully coupled ocean-atmosphere version inwhich the NRL Costal Ocean Model and the Wave Watch IIImodel will provide the ocean circulation and wave compo-nents, respectively.

Rigorous testing using the DoD Supercomputer Re-source Center has demonstrated the modeling system to beamong the finest and most accurate tools available to DoDand U.S. civilian forecasters. COAMPS-TC has garnerednumerous awards and accolades for its predictive skill andtechnical features during its development and since itstransition to operations in June 2013.

In June 2011, COAMPS-TC was one of nine worldwidewinners of the inaugural High Performance Computing Ex-cellence Award presented at the ISC-11 International Super-computing Conference in Hamburg, Germany - an awardpresented annually to recognize noteworthy achievementsby users of HPC technologies. As a result, COAMPS-TC wasrecognized for achieving ‘a significantly improved modelfor tropical cyclone forecasting. COAMPS-TC developmentbenefited significantly from the Department of DefenseHPC Modernization Program Office computational assetsat the Navy Defense Supercomputing Resource Center atMississippi’s Stennis Space Center.

The COAMPS-TC project received numerous DoD High

Performance Computing Modernization Office ChallengeAwards during its development due to its innovative tech-nology and overwhelmingly potential benefit to the Navyand DoD. Real-time development of COAMPS-TC and itssupport of Navy exercises and operations was the impetusbehind the Marine Meteorology Division being awarded aCray XE6m supercomputer through a HPCMO DedicatedHPC Project Investment grant in 2012 and the inauguralHPCMO ‘Pathfinder Project’ in 2014.

The advancement in TC intensity forecasts withCOAMPS-TC are based on the long-term science and tech-nology investment in mesoscale processes and model de-velopment from the NRL base program and the ONR Ma-rine Meteorology Program. The understanding of tropicalcyclone dynamics has been accelerated in recent yearsthrough several ONR-supported field observation cam-paigns that include Coupled Boundary Layers Air-SeaTransfer, TCS-08, ITOP-10 and Tropical Cyclone Inten-sity. The final technical push of COAMPS-TC model de-velopment came from a Rapid Transition Program projectjointly supported by ONR and the Oceanographer of theNavy through PEO C4I&Space PMW-120. Advancements ofCOAMPS-TC and real-time demonstrations have also beensupported through NOAA’s Hurricane Forecast Improve-ment Project (HFIP).

The Bisson Prize is named in honor of the late Dr. ArthurE. Bisson (1940-1996), who provided a model of principled,effective leadership in transitioning S&T to naval capabili-ties. In his last assignment, Dr. Bisson was Director of Sci-ence and Technology for ONR. He was a primemover in theintegration of all naval S&T in a single command, capable ofmanaging new technology from earliest scientific conceptsthrough prototyping and manufacture. His integrated pro-gram provided the Navy with a wholly new paradigm forfaster, better coordinated, andmore predictable S&T transi-tion to acquisition and operations.

NRL researchers receive Office of Naval Research technology achievement award

GMT changes: 5 things you need to know


By Amaani LyleDOD News, Defense Media Activity

U.S. Office of Personnel Management officials recentlyawarded a contract to ID Experts encompassing a compre-hensive suite of identity theft and credit monitoring ser-vices for compromised victims, agency officials announcedSept. 1 during a media conference call.

Beth Cobert, OPM’s acting director, said the most recentdata breach was one of the largest cybercrimes ever carriedout against the U.S. government and she pledged to provideimpacted parties individualized notices about obtainingadditional credit monitoring services at no cost.

All 21.5 million impacted individuals and their minor de-pendent children “are now covered for identity theft insur-ance and identity restoration services,” she said.

ID Theft, Fraud Protection Services“Once notifications have been received,” Cobert added,”

I hope people will take advantage of the comprehensiveidentity theft and fraud protection services we are provid-ing to the victims of these crimes.”

These notifications, she said, will begin by the end ofSeptember and continue over the following weeks.

Navy Rear Adm. Allie Coetzee, DoD’s principal deputyfor defense procurement and acquisition, said the contractimmediately covers individuals with $1 million in insur-ance, as well as restoration services in cases following dis-covery of further compromise to information or identity.

“Individuals who elect to can sign up for three years ofcredit monitoring and identity theft protection throughcontractor services,” Coetzee said.

OPM has partnered with experts across government totake significant strides in securing IT systems and guardingagainst future attacks, the admiral explained.

“OPM is committed to helping those whose personal in-formation was stolen by providing them with high-qualityidentity theft and credit protection services free of charge,”she said.

Colbert noted that due to the nature of breached informa-tion, OPM offers individuals the option to enroll their minordependent children for credit monitoring and other services.

Commitment to Protect InformationOPM’s acting director noted that she has a personal stake

in thematter as part of OPM’s commitment to protecting the

security federal employees and contractors’ information.“As one of the millions of people who had their own

personal information stolen, I completely understand andshare the concern and frustration people are feeling,” shesaid. “I’m sorry about the concern this breach has causedand want to assure everyone impacted that we are doingall in our power to support those individuals victimized bythis cybercrime.”

Cobert praised the collaboration between the U.S. Gen-eral Services Administration and the Defense Departmentin the development and execution of the contract.

“DOD in particular is best positioned to deliver the qualityand volume of support to these cybercrime victims,” she said.

OPM awards contract to protect data theft victims

DoD photo

U.S. Office of Personnel Management officialsrecently awarded to ID Experts a contract encom-passing a comprehensive suite of identity theftand credit monitoring services for compromisedvictims, agency officials announced Sept. 1 dur-ing a media conference call.

From Program Executive Office LittoralCombat Ships Public Affairs

The Naval Sea Systems Command received a risk-reduc-tion decision approval Aug. 17, known as a Milestone A de-cision, for the Large Displacement Unmanned UnderwaterVehicle program.

Milestone A approval grants the program the authorityto move into the next phase of development, which will al-low the Navy to commit resources to mature technologyand reduce risks prior to production and fielding.

The LDUUV is a new class of large-displacement un-manned undersea vehicles that will provide increased en-

durance, range and payload capabilities. The system is be-ing designed for intelligence, surveillance and mine coun-termeasure missions, and is based on a modular, open ar-chitecture that will allow the Navy to incrementally developnew mission sets for the craft.

LDUUV will be capable of being stowed, launched andrecovered by multiple-host platforms, including littoralcombat ships, Virginia-class submarines and Ohio-classguided-missile submarines. The craft is being developed bythe Unmanned Maritime Systems Program Office, which ispart of the Program Executive Office Littoral Combat Ships.

Following the successful Milestone A decision, a draftLDUUV request-for-proposals was released on the Fed-eral Business Opportunities website. An industry day is

scheduled for Sept. 14 in Washington, D.C., at which theUnmanned Maritime Systems Program Office will host apresentation and discussion for the industry communityon LDUUV requirements.

PEO LCS is affiliated with Naval Sea Systems Command,and provides a single program executive responsible for ac-quiring and sustaining mission capabilities of the littoralcombat ship class, beginning with procurement and end-ing with fleet employment and sustainment. The combinedcapability of LCS and LCS mission systems is designed todominate the littoral battle space and provide U.S. forceswith assured access to coastal areas.

For more news from Naval Sea Systems Command, visitwww.navy.mil/local/navsea/.

NAVSEA receives Milestone A decision for LargeDisplacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle program

Photo by the Office of Naval Research

A photo of the Large Displacement Unmanned Underwater Vehicle - innovative naval prototype. LDUUV technologies will develop enhanced capabilitiesin endurance, energy, and autonomy. The Naval Sea Systems Command received a risk-reduction decision approval Aug. 17, known as a Milestone A de-cision, for the program.

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From Naval Research Labpublic affairs

Jeffery Cleveland is on a mission to savethe government a lot of money. The U.S.Naval Research Laborat uses a commonsoftware, called Neptune®, to fly all its sat-ellite missions and manage its antennas onthe ground. But Cleveland thinks Neptunecould be even bigger. “It’s a multi-missioncommand and control software, capable offlying virtually any satellite,” says Cleveland.Kirtland Air Force Base is just one placethat’s already realized how using Neptune,instead of writing all new software for eachmission, saves time and money on satelliteoperations.

Satellites aren’t mass-manufactured;each is built to be unique for its mission.With such variance in hardware and in thedata they collect, don’t we also need uniquesoftware to run each one?

It turns out no.“NRL was in satellites before anybody

was in satellites; what they quickly found isthat they can’t keep reinventing the wheel,”says Cleveland. NRL has been flying satel-lites out of the Blossom Point ground sta-tion inMaryland for over 50 years. “BlossomPoint has some serious antennas and someserious capability,” he says. “We can handlealmost any number of satellites, any kindsof satellites, any orbits; Neptune is the soft-ware that does that.”

NRL’s innovation was to realize that,while satellite payloads vary widely, theyalmost all ride on buses that do the samefew things. “The satellite bus is sort of theinfrastructure: it handles power, it handlesheating and cooling, it handles communica-tions,” says Cleveland.

The Neptune software uses a commonsoftware for the functions that everymissiondoes, and then engineers tailor it to the mis-sion. “There’s always mission-specific soft-ware, there’s always something that needsto be added,” says Cleveland, “so you haveinterfaces at the right places, well-managedinterfaces, that allow you to do that.”

This saves a lot of money in develop-ment and maintenance. “A lot of places, thegovernment buys a system from the spaceon down to the ground,” says Cleveland. “Iworked at one site where there’s a familyof four satellites; two are operated by oneground system and two are operated by acompletely different, incompatible groundsystem.” That means the government ismissing out on the efficiencies that wouldcome with a common approach.

In addition to operating satellites, theNeptune software also can also manage the

ground station antenna array. Traditionally,one antenna listens for one satellite, so it’snot in use most of the time. “Leomissions inparticular, you have a 10-15 minute contact,and then you go away for 90 minutes,” saysCleveland. “And just down the street, theremight be another antenna, same capability,sitting idle-why do we keep doing that?”

So in 2013, NRL demonstrated how anAir Force satellite operations center inNew Mexico could, by using the Neptunesoftware, use existing antennas at BlossomPoint. “We came up with a capability thatallows different SOCs to share resources,”says Cleveland.

Cleveland hopes the Neptune softwarewill help advance satellite research morequickly, and at less cost. “If you’re the gov-ernment,” he says, “the game is to take asmuch use of the common software as pos-sible, and minimize the mission-uniquesoftware as much as possible.”

Busting apart data: Neptune softwaretakes advantage of commonalities

Every satellite collects and sends down datathat needs to be decommutated out of binarycode. “That conversion is something that ev-erybody does,” says Cleveland, “so that’s in thecommon software: collecting, logging, storing,decommutating, and alarm checking.”

The Neptune software does need to beconfigured for each mission. “It gets downto, you have to tell us what your 1s and 0smean, and how we can make them into en-gineering values,” says Cleveland. “We havea way for [the user] to define, with a simpleExcel spreadsheet or database, this is whatmy telemetry looks like,” he says.

The initial setup can be intensive-”Butthat’s because this is rocket science,” he says.Once done, however, the Neptune softwaremakes it easy for onsite operators to makemodifications. “They’re the ones that know

the spacecraft, they’re the ones that knowwhat to do,” says Cleveland. As an example,“I know this heater is flaky and so I don’twant the temperature sensor to go off at 50degrees Celsius anymore, I want it to go offat 60 because the temperature’s creeping upand that’s okay, we’re watching that.”

This is very different from traditional,mission-unique software-where the SOChas to go back to the contractor for modi-fications, which is costly and time-consum-ing. Using traditional software is like want-ing to change your default page marginsfrom one inch to one-and-a-quarter-andthen having to hire a team of engineers tocome to your home and install a new oper-ating system.

“What we’re doing, by isolating thecommon stuff and some mission uniquesoftware, we’re giving the local engineersthe power to do their job themselves rightthere,” says Cleveland. “We just teach themhow to put that into a script or modify a da-tabase entry and they’re done; they nevercall us, they take care of it themselves.”

Better CubeSats with a standard busand common antennas?

Nowhere is cost savings more impor-tant than with CubeSats. CubeSats startedbecoming popular about ten years ago, as away for universities and labs to cheaply tryout innovative ideas. They’re often launchedwith much bigger satellite missions, packedinto the extra space in the rockets. “Cube-Sats are going to change the world for sure-but that’s the payload,” says Cleveland.

Cleveland sees people too readily accept-ing failure from CubeSat missions, becausethey’re perceived as inexpensive and high-risk. “I think the numbers would say we’renot contacting way more than we should becontacting,” he says.

He thinks that if sponsors worked withexperts to provide a standard bus, keepingthe innovation to the payload-”we’ll get youyour data, you do the cool payload”-moremissions would be successful and researchwould advance faster.

He’d also like for to sponsors combineground capabilities into one high-powerstation, like a Blossom Point, instead ofusing much lower-capability antenna net-works. “You can’t cheap out on the ground,”Cleveland says, “because once it’s up, it’sa satellite; the laws of physics don’t knowCubeSats from anything else. You’ve got tocommunicate, you’ve got to stay up in orbit,you’ve got to find them.”

The initial contact with a satellite right af-ter launch is hard; space is vast, and there’salways some cone of uncertainty. “Even onNRL missions, we’ve launched some verymassive things; and it’s hard to separate,that’s the spacecraft, that’s the launch ve-hicle,” he says. It’s even more difficult with

CubeSats, which are too small for much of aradar return and send only very low-powertransmissions. “There’s a lot of CubeSatsthat are never contacted, and they write thatoff as, ‘Oh, well the bus never turned on,’”says Cleveland; “when I think of a lot of it is,it was talking over here and you were listen-ing next door and just missing it.”

NRL could help significantly improve thesuccess of CubeSats. “What NRL brings tothe table is the ops experience and our inno-vative software to do command and control,so that you don’t have to worry about that,”says Cleveland.

Neptune software demonstrated SOC-2SOC and how to learn from failure

As an example, Kirtland Air Force Baseused the Neptune software for the SpaceEnvironmental NanoSatellite Experiment,the launch of two CubeSats in 2013. It wasNRL’s first demonstration of sharing anten-nas between two different SOCs, a capabilityCleveland calls SOC2SOC.

NRL was configuring the Neptune soft-ware for the SENSE mission and asked ifthey could also use it to just test out SOC-2SOC. “But it turned out that on launchday, the antenna the SENSE program had,it wasn’t able to command, it didn’t work,”says Cleveland. “And so they contactedBlossom Point.” Thanks to this resource-sharing “test,” the Air Force continued toget telemetry for the next 18 months (untilthe satellite deorbited). And even thoughthe satellites had problems, by being able tocontact the bus, “You get a lot more valuablefeedback, and so that can go into improvingthe next mission.”

Though NRL configured the Neptunesoftware for SENSE operations, it was agroup of Air Force lieutenants they taughtto run it. “These guys were fantastic to workwith, they got what we were trying to do andit was fun,” says Cleveland. “They came upwith the testing, they came up with the dis-plays, they did the ops.”

SENSE is also a good example of howBlossom Point can be used as a ground sta-tion by a SOC run remotely from computerssomewhere else. “[Kirtland] has been greatto work with, and I’d like to see more of thatcontinue,” says Cleveland.

He hopes the Neptune software willtransform the satellite industry. “I like get-ting to other places and saving other peoplemoney,” he says. “I’m happy when theychoose responsible solutions, and I thinkwe’re a part of that.”

Neptune® software from NRL saves moneyacross multiple rocket satellite missions

Photo by U.S. Naval Research Laboratory

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory has been flying satellites out of the Blossom Point ground station in Maryland forover 50 years, using a multi-mission software called NeptuneR.

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