Updated

The headquarters office of a senior NASA manager was searched and computer equipment was seized in a child pornography investigation, according to court documents and an online report.

The NASA inspector general's office served a search warrant on the agency headquarters office of James R. Robinson, in-space propulsion technology program executive, on Wednesday.

A copy of the search warrant on The Smoking Gun Web site said a filter on NASA's computer system that searches for flesh-colored tones alerted technicians who found 189 images of underage child sexual activity on Robinson's work computer.

The search warrant also said Robinson's computer had been used to send movies of child pornography to an undercover postal inspector and used a private account to correspond about pictures.

Robinson, who was named in the warrant, has not been arrested.

Reached at his home in Sterling, Va., Robinson said he had no comment. Madeline Chulumovich, spokeswoman for the inspector general, also refused to comment.

NASA spokesman Dean Acosta confirmed that Robinson is a senior manager of the agency, reporting to the head of solar system exploration. Acosta declined to comment on the search of the agency headquarters.

"It's an ongoing investigation and inappropriate for a comment at this time," Acosta said Friday.

In his management job, Robinson runs programs on robotic probes sent around the solar system.