Phasing Unallocated Future Expenses: Juno and Grail (Jim Adams)
Performing to committed cost has forever been a space and Earth science goal, along with attaining technical and scientific goals. Emphasis on the cost element, however, has greatly increased over the past decade. This includes enhanced external oversight of NASA’s cost performance by the Government Accountability Office, Office of Management and Budget, and several Hill committees. It is clearly in our own best interest to understand the rationale for that emphasis and pay special attention to increasing our ability to perform to committed cost.
Jim Adams has more than thirty years of aerospace engineering and management experience, both in the private sector and as a civil servant at NASA. He has a broad background in acquisition, planning, implementation, and execution of space missions and is currently serving as a senior executive in the Science Mission Directorate.
Since 2007, Mr. Adams has been serving as the deputy director of the Planetary Science Division, encompassing planetary activities in development and numerous supporting activities ranging from operations systems to technology investments to international partnerships. He is also the program director for the Discovery, New Frontiers, and Lunar Quest programs.
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