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Mark Fortune |
Environmental Satellites—A New Generation is
on the Horizon
Mark Fortune
December 2006
With the launch of the world's first weather satellite in 1960,
a new era began—one where weather information from around
the world was readily available. For 30 years this system of satellites
expanded and incorporated new technologies as they became available.
Then in 1994 a major change in the weather satellite system occurred
when a Presidential directive ordered the development of an integrated
system of satellites—one that would meet the needs of both
the civil and national security communities. The National Polar-Orbiting
Operational Environmental Satellite System (NPOESS) was created.
NPOESS is a multi-agency effort among the Department of Commerce
(which includes the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration,
or NOAA), the Department of Defense, and the National Aeronautics
and Space Administration. These organizations formed an Integrated
Program Office (IPO) to develop, acquire, manage, and operate the
next generation of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites.
MITRE's site in Silver Spring, Maryland, supports the NPOESS IPO
in this effort. Mark Fortune, a MITRE employee since 1997, has spent
nearly a decade on the project.
MITRE's Silver Spring, Maryland site
MITRE has been working on-site at the National Oceanic
& Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) offices in Silver
Spring, Maryland since 1994. Six MITRE staff support
the National Polar-Orbiting Environmental Satellite
System Integrated Program Office in their effort to
develop, acquire, manage, and operate the next generation
of polar-orbiting operational environmental satellites.
Another staff member supports the National Environmental
Satellite Data and Information Service (NESDIS) Office
of System Development. |
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Fortune is a lead economic and business analyst in MITRE's Acquisition
and System Analysis Technical Center, which is committed to providing
multi-disciplinary acquisition and investment decisions analysis
for our government sponsors. "I started on the ground floor of NPOESS's
effort to develop the next generation of environmental satellites,"
explains Fortune. "I've helped with all the big picture items of
strategic mission, benefit analysis, and customer requirements.
I've also assisted in the review and selection of all the major
sensor contractors and the system prime contractors.
"Now I am an advisor for negotiation positions, which results in
billions of dollars in engineering change requests. I enjoy translating
what they say into what they meant into what needs to be done."
No stranger to the field of systems engineering, Fortune found
MITRE to be a good fit from the start. "I came to MITRE with 28
years experience in systems engineering and program management from
a major aerospace player with lots of proposal effort, red team
reviews, and greybeard experience," he says. "I think my previous
experience has served me well in the work I have done with NOAA."
Another thing his years in the for-profit sector taught him was
that the quickest and least expensive plan is not always the correct
one. As a result, working in the public interest is not something
Fortune takes lightly. "I believe as an FFRDC, I should tell my
sponsor what is right and correct, not just what is expedient."
On Site with NOAA
Fortune is one of six MITRE staff at the NOAA site. "I've been
with MITRE almost ten years with most of them offsite. Being offsite
is like most things, both good and not so good," says Fortune. "Much
of the overhead and infrastructure systems are the same, and we
have to comply with the same time-reporting and security requirements.
Since I am not at the McLean or Bedford campuses, I do feel like
I miss out on the brownbag seminars and a lot of face-to-face interaction
with colleagues. On the plus side however, I have access to all
sorts of environmental seminars from NOAA and I enjoy attending
those."
While Fortune was originally hired to work in Bedford, Massachusetts,
he quickly found that his weekly trips to Washington D.C. were taking
its toll on his family so he asked for an opportunity to move closer
to his work. Shortly thereafter, MITRE transferred him to the Silver
Spring site where he has been ever since. "I liked MITRE then and
I still do. It is no surprise to me that MITRE has been selected
for Fortune Magazine's '100 Best Companies to Work For.'"
Since his transfer to Silver Spring, Fortune's work-related travel
has declined and has allowed him more time to pursue his two life
passions: tennis and sailing. "I taught sailing at MIT for a couple
of semesters on the Charles River and raced around Long Island Sound
with a full spinnaker on a beam reach," he says. "My apogee of competitive
tennis was finishing runner-up in a regional mixed tournament with
the national finals in Puerto Rico for Wide World of Sports.
I'm also a big fan of professional tennis and have been going to
the U.S. Open for 30 years and taking my kids for the last five."
—by Kay M. Upham
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