The Senate Commerce Committee’s hearing on implementation of the NASA authorization act has been postponed to December 1 according to the committee’s website.

Space shuttle Discovery’s final launch was postponed on November 5 because of a gas leak, but since then engineers have found four cracks in the External Tank’s foam. The fourth was discovered this weekend.

Spaceflightnow.com reports that engineers have replaced a misaligned fitting that caused the gas leak, but are still assessing the cracks:

“Engineers first spotted a large crack in the foam insulation near the top of the intertank section. When the foam in the area was cut away for repairs, engineers found two 9-inch cracks in the flat attachment plates on either side of an underlying stringer known as S-7-2. NASA managers then decided to cut away additional foam and a third crack was found Friday on the stringer to the immediate left of the one that was initially discovered.

“Over the weekend, a fourth crack was found in the left-side stringer, known as S-6-2, sources said. No cracks were found in stringers on the right side.”

The website adds that cracks are not unusual, but these are the “first to be found at the launch pad, where access is more difficult.”

NASA says that senior managers will meet on November 22 to review launch preparations. The earliest the shuttle can launch is November 30 because of sun angles at the International Space Station, with which it will dock. A launch date has not officially been set.

NASA’s Inspector General (IG), Paul Martin, has issued his office’s annual listing of the top management and performance challenges facing the agency. He also released this year’s independent financial audit of the agency. The latter is an improvement over the previous seven years of audits.

According to Martin’s Office of Inspector General (OIG), the key challenges are:

• Future of U.S. Spaceflight
• Acquisition and Project Management
• Infrastructure and Facilities Management
• Human Capital
• Information Technology Security
• Financial Management

In the last area, the report notes that for seven years NASA received “disclaimed” audits. The primary reason was that independent auditors could not obtain sufficient usable information from the agency to determine whether NASA was in compliance with relevant government financial standards or not.

At a House Science and Technology subcommittee hearing last year shortly after Mr. Martin became IG and Elizabeth (Beth) Robinson took the reins as NASA’s Chief Financial Officer, optimism was expressed that the agency would not get another disclaimed audit. In this report, Martin states that the auditors, Ernst & Young, gave the agency a “qualified” opinion this year. Though not as good as an unqualified opinion, he indicates it is a step in the right direction:

“Over the past several years, NASA financial managers – working with the OIG and the independent accounting firm – have continued to make steady progress resolving previously identified weaknesses and their efforts resulted in the auditors’ qualified opinion. While the ultimate goal for the Agency is an unqualified opinion, the FY 2010 results are a significant accomplishment and position NASA well for the future.”

Mr. Martin’s office posted the Ernst & Young audit today. As in other government agencies, the IG’s office is responsible for contracting with an independent auditor each year to determine if an agency is complying with financial accountability standards set by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) and the Office of Management and Budget (OMB). The one aspect of NASA’s financial management that continues to require improvement is accounting for property, plant and equipment (PP&E) and operating materials and supplies (OM&S) according to the Ernst & Young report.

UPDATE: The Senate Commerce hearing has been postponed to December 1.

The following events may be of interest in the coming week. Check our calendar on the right menu for more details or click the links below. Times and dates for congressional hearings and markups are subject to change; check with the relevant committee for up to date information.

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 16-17

• American Astronautical Society annual conference, ISS-The Next Decade, Port Canaveral, FL

Wednesday, November 17

• IAA Space Agencies Summit: Space for Humanity, Ronald Reagan Building, Washington, DC, 8:00 am – 5:00 pm
• House S&T Hearing on Climate Change, 10:30 am, 2325 Rayburn House Office Building, Washington, DC

Wednesday-Thursday, November 17-18

• NASA Advisory Council (NAC) Earth Science Subcommittee meeting, NASA Headquarters, Washington DC
  • Nov. 17, 9:00 am – 5:00 pm, room 3H46
  • Nov. 18, 9:00 am – 3:00 pm, room 6H46

Wednesday-Friday, November 17-19

• National Research Council Solar and Space Physics (Heliophysics) Decadal Survey Panel on Solar Wind -Magnetosphere Interactions, NCAR Center Green Campus, Boulder, CO. (Some sessions may be closed.)

Thursday, November 18

• Senate Armed Services Committee markup of nomination of Gen. C. Robert Kehler to be commander of U.S. Strategic Command, 9:30 am, 216 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington DC
• POSTP0NED TO DEC. 1: Senate Commerce Committee hearing on Implementing the 2010 NASA Authorization Act,
• Women in Aerospace (WIA) Future of Human Spaceflight Luncheon, 11:30 am – 1:30 pm, The Stevens Institute of Technology, 1300 Pennsylvania Ave., N.W., Suite G-17, Washington, DC

Friday, November 19

• Laura M. Delgado interviewed on The Space Show, 9:30 am PST (12:30 pm EST), on the Web

An independent review of NASA’s James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) demanded by Senator Barbara Mikulski (D-MD) has concluded that the program’s cost has grown to $6.5 billion and the earliest it can launch is September 2015. This compares to the current projected cost of $5.1 billion and launch date of 2014. The report was released by NASA today (November 10, 2010). The head of the review team, John Casani, summarized the findings in a letter to NASA Administrator Charlie Bolden, faulting the project’s “budgeting and program management, not technical performance.”

In response, Mr. Bolden issued a statement that he is reorganizing the management of the program both at NASA headquarters and at Goddard Space Flight Center:

“No one is more concerned about the situation we find ourselves in than I am, and that is why I am reorganizing the JWST Project at Headquarters and the Goddard Space Flight Center, and assigning a new senior manager at Headquarters to lead this important effort. The new JWST program director will have a staff of technical and cost personnel provided by the Science Mission Directorate and report to the NASA associate administrator. This will ensure more direct reporting to me and increase the project’s visibility within the agency’s management structure. Additionally, the Goddard Space Flight Center’s project office has been reorganized to report directly to the center director. That office is undergoing personnel changes to specifically address the issues identified in the report.”

The overruns and schedule slips are problematic not only in and of themselves, but because NASA’s Science Mission Directorate has made clear that there will be no new major astrophysics projects until this telescope is launched. The National Research Council recently issued its Decadal Survey for astronomy and astrophysics, recommending projects for the next decade based on the assumption that JWST would be launched in 2014 and that about $2 billion would be available for new projects in the next decade. The additional funds now needed to finish JWST could very well upset those plans.

Senator Mikulski represents Goddard Space Flight Center and chairs the Senate appropriations subcommittee that funds NASA. She has been a strong supporter of JWST, but was alarmed by reports of new cost growth this year, which led to her insistence that NASA create the independent review team.

Senator Bill Nelson (D-FL) will chair a hearing next week to look at how NASA can pay for the program outlined in the newly enacted 2010 NASA Authorization Act if the agency does not get more funding. The hearing before the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee’s subcommittee on Science and Space is on November 18, 2010 at 10:00 in 253 Russell Senate Office Building.

Florida Today quotes Senator Nelson as saying that he wants to find out from NASA’s Chief Financial Officer, Beth Robinson, what NASA will do if the agency is level-funded next year — “‘We want to know: Is she going to follow the law instead of them going off on their own making decisions that are contrary to the law?'” The newspaper reports that other witnesses will be Presidential science adviser John Holdren and someone from the Government Accountability Office. The committee’s website does not list the witnesses as of yet.