| Date: | 2004-02-03 08:52:00 | |
| Sender: | David Carter/NASA GSFC <Carey Noll <noll@cddisa.gsfc.nasa.gov>> | |
| Subject: | [SLR-Mail] No. 1184: NASA SLR Program Plans | |
| Author: | David Carter | |
| Content: | ******************************************************************************** SLR Electronic Mail 2004-02-03 08:52:00 UTC Message No. 1184 ******************************************************************************** Author: David Carter/NASA GSFC Subject: NASA SLR Program Plans Reductions to NASA SLR Program: NASA is still committed to the support of International Satellite Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) programs and to the development, production, and deployment of the SLR2000 systems. However, the budget for the NASA Satellite Laser Ranging (SLR) program has been cut significantly. These cuts have forced NASA to reduce its SLR support in field operations, data operations, engineering, and for the International Laser Ranging Service (ILRS) Central Bureau and working group functions. Starting in February, operations at MOBLAS-7 (Greenbelt, Maryland), MLRS (Univ. of Texas), and HOLLAS (Univ. of Hawaii) will be reduced to one shift. MOBLAS-4 (Monument Peak) will operate on a three-shift basis for five days per week. NASA will continue to support its Partner stations at MOBLAS-5 (Australia), MOBLAS-6 (South Africa), and MOBLAS-8 (Tahiti), which will continue to operate at their normal shifts bases. Unfortunately, NASA will have to cease operations at TLRS-3 (Arequipa, Peru) in February. In addition, the University of Hawaii has decided not to renew the NASA SLR agreement for HOLLAS operations which ends in May 2004. We greatly appreciate the dedicated support the crews at TLRS-3 and HOLLAS have provided to the NASA SLR network and the ILRS over the years. Their contributions have been outstanding. NASA will also have to reduce its contractor support for ILRS functions. Some personnel will be leaving. We want to thank them for their hard work and diligent support through the years. Their contributions to SLR have been one of great distinction and we wish them well in their future endeavors. We are currently assessing the overall situation, and we are working with several organizations here and abroad to see how some of these functions previously supported by NASA can be shared. In the meantime, we are trying to avoid any drastic interruption to normal operations. We regret any inconvenience that these reductions have caused the ILRS and to the scientific community. Regards, David Carter NASA SLR Networks Manager David L. Carter NASA/GSFC Code 924 Greenbelt, MD 20771 301-614-5966 (phone) 301-614-5970 (fax) David.L.Carter@nasa.gov (E-MAIL ADDRESS) From: Carey Noll ******************************************************************************** |