What every good manager should know about Ada

The author discusses fears and fantasies about Ada that she has heard, directly or indirectly, each of them a number of times, from people holding a variety of management and nonmanagement positions, working for the government and for government contractors, and with a wide range of technical backgrounds. She examines them from three points of view: the US Department of Defense program office view; the contractor project management view; and the design and implementation team view. Her goal is to help project managers discriminate facts about Ada from fears and fantasies and thus ensure its successful use     

Power beaming providing a space power infrastructure

A study based on two levels of technology maturity, which applies to the power beaming concept to four planned satellite constellations, is described. The analysis shows that with currently available technology, power beaming can provide mass savings to constellations to orbits ranging from low-Earth orbit to geosynchronous orbit. Two constellations, a space surveillance and tracking system and space-based radar, can be supported with current technology. The other two constellations, a space-based laser array and a boost surveillance and tracking system, will require power and transmission system improvements before their break-even specific mass is achieved. A doubling of SP-100 conversion efficiency from 10 to 20% would meet or exceed break-even for these constellations