The NASA Office of the Chief Information Officer (OCIO), the Agency-wide STI (Scientific and Technical Information) Program, and its contractor, the NASA Center for AeroSpace Information (CASI), recently hosted personnel from JAXA, the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency. The meeting took place at the CASI facility in Hanover, Maryland.

STI and JAXA have had an information exchange agreement for a number of years; this exchange has been extremely beneficial for both organizations to expand aerospace research and development information for their personnel.

Meeting participants included Deborah Diaz, NASA Deputy CIO, Karen Petraska, STI Service Executive at Headquarters, Lynn Heimerl, STI Program Manager, Gerald Steeman, STI Program Analyst, Laurie Johansen, STI COTR (Contracting Officer’s Technical Representative) and resources manager, Ann Dixon, CASI Program Manager, and Eric Kamenitzer, CASI Deputy Program Manager. JAXA participants included Akiko Fujii, Administrator, Information Systems Department, Knowledge Management System Expert, Nobuto Yoshioka, Associate Senior Engineer, Engineering Digital Innovation Center, Information/Aerospace System Specialist, and Norimitsu Kamimori, Director, JAXA Washington, DC Office. Also included were Tony Anania and Grant Stoddard of the NASA Data Center initiative. Michael Genuardi of CASI helped with day-to-day activities associated with fulfillment of the exchange agreement. 

Discussions centered on background information on the NASA STI Program and CASI, JAXA activities and organization, new developments in information management, and a discussion of possible improvements in the joint NASA/JAXA exchange agreement.

On October 1, 2003, the Institute of Space and Astronautical Science (ISAS), the National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan (NAL) and the National Space Development Agency of Japan (NASDA) were merged into one independent administrative institution to be able to perform all their activities in the aerospace field as one organization, from basic research and development to utilization. The independent administrative institution is the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA.) Per JAXA, space development and utilization and aviation research and development are steps to achieve their nation's policy objectives. A large portion of the JAXA Aerospace Information and Reports Exchange System (AIREX) is comprised of NASA STI information.

The NASA STI Program, which has been in existence since the 1960s, is chartered to collect, organize, disseminate, and preserve NASA’s published research and development information defined as STI. The STI Database (“Organize STI”) has the NASA Technical Reports Server (NTRS) for public use and the NASA Aeronautics and Space Database (NA&SD) for internal NASA use. The Program is also chartered to provide the Agency with technical publications policy and ensure that all STI is reviewed and approved for technical quality and restrictions and limitations prior to release. In addition, STI collects and makes available to NASA international STI from non-commercial exchange partners. STI also produces the Spinoff publication through the CASI contract for the NASA Office of the Chief Technologist.

For more information on NASA STI and CASI, see http://www.sti.nasa.gov. For information on JAXA, see http://www.jaxa.jp/index_e.html.

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