NASA announces the upcoming Common Instrument Interface (CII) Guidelines Working Meeting, scheduled for December 13, 2012, from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, Washington, DC. The purpose of the Working Meeting is to discuss technical aspects of hosting NASA science instruments and technology demonstration payloads on civil and commercial spacecraft. The principal organizations participating in the Working Meeting are the Earth Science Division (ESD) of the NASA Science Mission Directorate (SMD) and the Technology Demonstration Missions (TDM) Program of NASA Space Technology Program Directorate. ESDs flight portfolio includes the Earth System Science Pathfinder Program (ESSP), which comprises a series of relatively low-to-moderate cost; small-to-medium sized; competitively selected; Principal Investigator-led missions that are built, tested, and launched in a short time interval that accommodate new and emergent scientific priorities. The Earth Venture Instrument (EVI) line of missions is ESSPs hosted payload component. The Common Instrument Interface (CII) Project supports ESSP by identifying a common set of technical guidelines for Earth Science instruments that will improve their success of becoming hosted payloads. The TDM Program bridges the gap between proof of concept and experimental testing stage and the final infusion of the technologies into NASA missions, providing needed flight demonstration in relevant environments to mature laboratory-proven technologies to flight-ready status. It focuses on technologies with strong customer interest that meet the needs of NASA and industry by enabling new missions or greatly enhancing existing missions. TDM is currently developing two hosted payload missions: the Deep Space Atomic Clock (DSAC) and the Laser Communications Relay Demonstration (LCRD). This Working Meeting focuses on the technical issues of NASA hosted payloads, specifically the CII deliverables as they apply to Low Earth Orbit and Geostationary Earth Orbit. This days agenda includes discussion of the CII Guidelines document, the Hosted Payload Opportunity database, and the Hosted Payload Operational Concept documents, and its objective is to obtain feedback on the CII deliverables from industry, science, and technology leaders. The Working Meeting is open to the public. One day before the Common Instrument Interface working meeting, on December 12, 2012, the Hosted Payload Alliance (HPA) is hosting a Working Meeting from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. at the James E. Webb Auditorium at NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street, SW, Washington, DC, the same location as the CII meeting. The Hosted Payload Alliance is a satellite industry alliance whose purpose is to increase awareness of the benefits of hosted government payloads on commercial satellites. This meeting focuses on the policy and business issues concerning the commercial hosting of government payloads. Organized as a series of moderator-led panel discussions, the agenda includes: the planning and decision process; mission-dependent architectural considerations; procurement practices, acquisition models, and contracting guidelines; policy enablers and inhibitors; and the path forward for hosted payloads. NASA is not affiliated with the HPA, but is providing the facilities for this meeting to facilitate this mutually beneficial and productive discussion. Requests for further information and questions may be addressed to: Mitra Dutta, Earth Science Division, Science Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546; Phone: 202-358-4579; E-mail:
[email protected]; Fax 202/358-3098. Prasun Desai, Program Management and Integration, Space Technology Program, NASA Headquarters, 300 E Street SW, Washington, DC 20546; Phone: 202-358-3755; E-mail:
[email protected]; Fax 202/358-4078.