The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) is an independent agency of the executive branch of the United States federal government responsible for the civilian space program, as well as aeronautics and aerospace research. It was formed on July 29, 1958. IT Governance provides a structured process for IT investment decisions and promotes accountability, due diligence, and efficient and economic delivery of enterprise IT services. IT Governance ensures that NASA IT supports and aligns to NASA’s overall strategies and objectives. NASA spends approximately $1.4 billion on a portfolio of IT assets annually that includes approximately 550 information systems with 140,000 components it uses to control spacecraft, collect and process …show more content…
The Information Technology Council (ITC) serves as the Agency’s senior decision-making body for information resources management. If the ITC cannot reach a decision, the board may elevate an issue to the MSC. The two other advisory boards are the Chief Information Officer Leadership Team (CLT) and the Information Technology Program Management Board (IT PMB). The CLT, chaired by the Agency CIO, is composed of the Deputy CIO, Associate CIOs (who oversee the OCIO’s four divisions), Center CIOs, Jet Propulsion Laboratory CIO, NASA Shared Services Center (NSSC) CIO, and Mission Directorate representatives. The CLT examines Mission Directorate and Center IT requirements, risk strategies, and other stakeholder issues. The IT PMB includes the Associate CIO for Capital Planning and Governance, officials from the Office of the Chief Engineer, the Enterprise Architecture Lead Representative, and staff from the Mission Directorates, Centers, and CLT. The group, chaired by the NASA Deputy CIO, serves as a forum for top-level oversight and evaluation of Agency IT programs and projects. Six Program Boards below the three high-level boards make operational decisions on a variety of issues including IT security and software applications. Historically, NASA has operated as a decentralized organization based on the philosophy that its Centers and project managers should be given as much freedom and autonomy as possible to accomplish …show more content…
The institutional systems support the day to day work of NASA employees and include networks, data centers, web services, desktop and laptop computers, enterprise business applications, and other end user tools such as email and calendaring. Mission systems include highly specialized IT assets that support the organization’s aeronautics, science, and space exploration programs, host IT systems that control spacecraft, collects and processes scientific data and perform other critical functions for the organization. NASA’s fiscal year (FY) 2017 IT budget was approximately $1.4 billion. Of this overall amount, the Agency CIO controlled only $338 million or 24
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), was booming in the late 1960 's because the U.S. invested over 4.5 percent of the Federal Budget (Bolden). Unfortunately, in the recent years the Government has slashed funding for many of NASA’s projects in an attempt to cut back on the deficit and boost the economy. Despite the plummet in NASA 's budget, the program has proved that it 's prominence in the U.S., space programs like NASA continue to face difficulty in increasing its funds. Although, NASA leads Evidently, the government doesn 't think NASA is worth more than 0.47 percent of the federal budget. NASA is being underfunded and its funding should be substantially increased to make ends meet. This trend needs
This is because if we let them, another country can one-up us which in the end can lead to major problems for the U.S. The NASA program also gives us a whole new insight to how we see things and how we live our lives daily. For example Google Maps, which is used by many people, uses satellite that we get from having this program. However, some of the money used for this category can be taken and put into another category such as the FBI. “The FBI is the Federal Bureau of Investigation which operates field offices in 58 cities to combat terrorism and crime” (Document E).
National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST): Risk Management Guide for Information Technology Systems. Special Publication 800-30, 2002.
The Mission Control Center has been a vital organ for all human spaceflight since the mid 1960’s. It is Christopher Columbus Kraft’s vision that ultimately has developed what we refer to today as Mission Control. He envisioned utilizing a room which would contain a talented caliber of people who would be responsible for troubleshooting problems and supporting general flight activities. Ultimately each of these people would work under the guidance of a Flight Director who was essentially responsible for the entire mission. Today we know MCC to be a “"world class" spacecraft command and control facility which is able to support multiple spaceflight programs while reducing long term operations and maintenance cost.” It prov...
NASA has faced many tragedies during their time; but one can question if two of the tragedies were preventable by changing some critical decisions made by the organization. The investigation board looking at the decisions made for the space shuttle tragedies of the Columbia and Challenger noted that the “loss resulted as much from organizational as from technical failures” (Bolman & Deal, 2008, p. 191). The two space shuttle tragedies were about twenty years apart, they both had technical failures but politics also played a factor in to these two tragedies.
Bill Nye, the “Science Guy,” asserts, “NASA is an engine of innovation and inspiration as well as the world's premier space exploration agency, and we are well served by politicians working to keep it that way, instead of turning it into a mere jobs program, or worse, cutting its budget.” The United States of America’s government is currently in an economic debt encompassing billions of US dollars. Unfortunately, the government has attempted to balance finances by cutting the funding for most programs, including NASA, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. NASA, in over half a century, has brought the most economic, technological, and social benefits than any other program held here in the USA, as well as any other extraterrestrial program in the world. The last thing this nation needs is the cutting of NASA finances. NASA should be receiving more funding because the Earth will not last forever and humans will need a place to live, there’s a curiosity within humans about the vast universe they live in, there is evidence to suggest life on other planets, the USA’s superpower status will be improved, and the economical income NASA brings is more efficient than any other governmental or educational program.
The US Government Accountability Office and its website GAO.gov shows that NASA also gets funding from the Department of Defense (DOD), National Oceanic and Atmospheric Agency (NOAA), and US Geologic Survey (USGS) totaling another $19 billion.
Security helps the organization meet its business objectives or mission by protecting its physical and financial resources, reputation, legal position, employees, and other tangible and intangible assets through the selection and application of appropriate safeguards. Businesses should establish roles and responsibilities of all personnel and staff members. However, a Chief Information Officer should be appointed to direct an organization’s day to day management of information assets. Supporting roles are performed by the service providers and include systems operations, whose personnel design and operate the computer systems. Each team member must be held accountable in ensuring all of the rules and policies are being followed, as well as, understanding their roles, responsibilities and functions. Organizations information processing systems are vulnerable to many threats that can inflict various types of damage that can result in significant losses (Harris, 2014). Losses can come from actions from trusted employees that defraud the system, outside hackers, or from careless data entry. The major threat to information protection is error and omissions that data entry personnel, users, system operators and programmers make. To better protect business information resources, organizations should conduct a risk analysis to see what
As a country we need to start investing more money and research into space technology. Programs currently exist for this effort, but the potential for research and progress is limited by a lack of funding; compared to other government funded programs, aerospace funding is pitiful. Continued research in space technology is a necessary step in our growth and development not just as a country but also as entire human race. If we are to achieve this goal, it is necessary to increase funding for space research and technology and consider the possibility of colonizing outer space. If we limit our existence to the planet Earth, and continue to drain the resources on this planet, we will destroy the only home we have.
Iskandar, M., & Salleh, N. A. M. (2010). IT Governance in Airline Industry: A Multiple Case Study. International Journal of Digital Society, 1(4), 308-314.
The National Academies Press (2012) NASA’s Strategic Direction and Need for a National Consensus retrieved from http//www.npa.edu/openbook.php?record_id=18248&
NASA’s research and innovation looked promising, but it came at a cost. Money, resources, and spacecraft accidents, most famously Apollo 13 all hindered NASA’s research. In the 21st century, the debate over funding for NASA is at its peak since the birth of the organization in 1958, especially when there are numerous problems throughout the world. Is the money spent on space exploration worth the advantages and advances it contributes to society? When considering this topic, one might ask themselves, why explore space?
The Chief Information Officer is also known by the title Information Technology Director. According to the US Department of Labor, “Chief Information Officers are responsible for the overall technological direction of their organizations.” (bls.gov). Contained within their various functions the Chief Information Officer has the ability to conduct the hiring of Information Technology professionals and other support personnel that can ably assist in accomplishing information technology related projects.
Human fascination with the stars is as ancient as Babylonians and has been suggested to be older than Stonehenge. From “be fruitful and multiply” to “live long and prosper,” the instinct to protect and propagate the species has manifested in religion, art, and the imaginations of countless individuals. As human understanding of space treks out of the fantastical and into the scientific, the realities of traveling through and living in space are becoming clearer. Exploring, investigating, and living in space pose an expansive series of problems. However, the solutions to the problems faced by mankind's desire to reach beyond the horizon, through the night sky, and into the stars are solutions that will help in all areas of life on Earth.
Aerospace engineers examine, analyze, design, produce, and occasionally install components that make up aircraft, spacecraft, high-altitude vehicles, and high-altitude delivery systems (missiles). Satisfaction with the romantic image of rocket building can buoy many engineers through the highly anonymous work environments that many of them face. Individuals don't assemble rockets; teams do, dozens of teams working in highly supervised coordination. An aerospace engineer plays some part on one of the teams, spending more of her time (roughly 70 percent) in a lab, at a computer, and assembling reports than doing anything else. Not being able to see the "big picture" frustrates some professionals. The path to becoming an aerospace engineer is a rigorous one, but those who manage to survive the difficult lift-off emerge with an above-average degree of career satisfaction.