Hurricane Katrina Recovery Support

On August 29, 2005 Hurricane Katrina struck the gulf coast at New Orleans and Mississippi. In it's path of destruction were two of NASA’s Centers, Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) and Stennis Space Center (SSC). These Centers were greatly affected by Katrina and needed immediate help for the employees and their families along with getting the Centers operational again in support of NASA’s Space Shuttle launches.

Ames’s Disaster Assistance and Rescue Team provided support in four areas.

• Search and Rescue – As members of California Task Force 3 (CaTF3), DART members deployed to New Orleans to carry out Search and Rescue operations.
• Emergency Communications Support – The Ames Emergency Communications Center deployed a team and equipment to the Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) outside of New Orleans to set up a communications network enabling MAF to communicate with the rest of the world.
• Water Purification Support –Members of the DART Damage and Utility Control Team deployed to the Michoud Assembly Facility with a portable 3000 gallon per hour water treatment plant to provide potable water for the facility.
• Disaster Recovery Operations Support –Bob Dolci, Chief of Protective Services and DART, deployed to Stennis Space Center as the Agency’s subject mater expert to assist FEMA and Stennis management with disaster recovery operations.

In addition, the Ames Emergency Operations Center was activated on a part time basis to assist all of NASA's Centers in providing resources to the affected Centers and facilities.

Search and Rescue

Members of the NASA’s Ames DART team deployed from August 31st until September 20th with California Task Force 3 to conduct Search and Rescue operations. CATF3 drove in a caravan of buses and trucks from Menlo Park, CA directly to New Orleans. They were gone for 21 days.

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Emergency Communications Support

Ames’s DARTCOM Emergency Communications Support Team deployed to NASA’s Michoud Assembly Facility (MAF) September 3rd thru 21st, 2005 in response to the following problems and services needed.

• Problem
  • All terrestrial data, voice and video circuits were disabled  at the MAF as the result of the Hurricane
• Mission
  • Until normal services are restored, at the soonest possible time provide the MAF with temporary high-speed telecommunications services
• Services Provided
  • High-speed WAN/Internet
  • Voice Over IP (VoIP) phone services
  • Multiple node Video TELECON capabilities
  • Live TV re-broadcasted over the SAT link

Ames provided an 8 mbps duplex circuit to the MAF via the SAT link and 10 VOIP phones from September 3-13, then between September 14-21, supported a backup role to a commercial DS3 terrestrial circuit NISN implemented for the facility. The Ames SAT link also supported two U.S. Army units who deployed to the MAF to support the rescue efforts in New Orleans: 169th Field Artillery Brigade, Colorado National Guard, and the 7th Civil Support Team, Weapons of Mass Destruction, Missouri National Guard.

In addition to our data and voice services, and due to the fact that some of the local TV stations were disabled by the flooding in New Orleans, when the MAF discovered that we also had television (TV) capabilities via the SAT link and the Ames Video Control Center (VCC), we were also requested to provide them TV feed services. The most notable TV re-broadcast service to the MAF EOC came when we supported the Administrator’s live TV speech to the Agency shortly after he returned from a visit to the MAF and SSC.

Another service we provided to the MAF, in the capacity as a NASA RF Spectrum Manager, was spectrum management support for all the fore mentioned military units that were temporarily locating there. Several spectrum management issues were worked with the military units, appropriately including MSFC and SSC’s spectrum managers in all the coordination discussions. This service ensured no radio frequency interference would be experienced by #1) the MAF, #2) surrounding area licensed users, and #3) the requesting military units.

Lastly, the DARTCOM FCC licensed Amateur Radio operators supported the MAF EOC via communications on the Amateur and Louisiana Office of Emergency Services (OES) radio nets, with real-time updates on road conditions (access/closures), accessing a local Councilman to authorize passage of NASA employee shuttles, other law enforcement issues, etc.

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Water Purification Support

DART sent a team to MAF with a portable water treatment system to provide them with safe drinking water until their local treatment plant was operational again. The team drove from the Ames Research Center at Moffett Field, CA on September 6th to MAF just outside of New Orleans. They remained there until October 5th. The Team’s effort was a key element that allowed Michoud’s recovery team to restore the facility to operational status.

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Disaster Recovery Operations Support

Chief Dolci went to the Mississippi Gulf Coast to support the Stennis Space Center’s management team. Stennis was selected by FEMA and MEMA (Mississippi Emergency Management Agency) as the focal point for response and recovery operations for the six Gulf Coast counties. The support that NASA provided FEMA and MEMA was instrumental in allowing FEMA/MEMA to achieve their mission goals.

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