GRAA NEWSLETTER
P.O. Box 1184, Greenbelt, MD 20768-1184

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our September luncheon speaker was Dr. James Garvin, Goddard’s Chief Scientist. His presentation, entitled “The Engineering of Science at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center,” discussed where we are and where we are going. Goddard has flown more missions with more instruments than any other NASA center and is continuing to do so. He recently submitted a program plan for 21 new creative and innovative investigations for the next year. He views the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) as “an Apollo mission without astronauts, which does Astrophysics.” After it is launched in 2018, it will be the single largest astronomical tool built by humanity in space, with a light-gathering power 25 times greater than its predecessors. The discoveries from JWST, which will only be made possible by the incredible engineering capability of Goddard, will revolutionize our understanding of the universe. We will be able to detect and analyze atmospheres around Jupiter-size planets 40 light years away. After describing some of Goddard’s recent successes, Jim focused on plans to visits planets and moons in our solar system. The last NASA mission to send a probe to the surface of Venus was in 1978. Goddard’s proposal for the DAVINCI mission would penetrate the thick atmosphere of Venus with a chemistry laboratory to help understand where that atmosphere came from and how it evolved. He described the advances in laser technology, which have provided topographic maps of the surface of Venus, our moon, and other bodies in the solar system and which will greatly aid future manned and unmanned missions. Jim suggests that our first human visits to Mars may involve using an orbiting telepresence like we now do on the sea floor, before we land people and huge amounts of supporting equipment.

A major focus of Goddard future planning is discovering the presence or one time presence of large amounts of water on other bodies such as Mars, Ceres, and Europa. It is thought that 40% of Mars was once an ocean. These other ocean worlds in our solar system could harbor primitive microbial life. Goddard is also studying new advances in propulsion, such as Solar Electric Propulsion, which should enable us to return to Mars with more power so we could then use electromagnetic sensing to map the subsurface ice on Mars. Then, using a molecular analyzer, we would search for microbes, resulting from these ocean waters communicating with the surface and leaving organic residues. Dr. Garvin’s closing thought was that “it is not our job to predict the future, but rather to enable it.”

INVITATION TO ATTEND GRAA LUNCHEON: Five retirees (Steve Benner, Diane Booth, Jim Byrnes, Maria So and Warren Connley) attended the GRAA Luncheon for the first time. We cordially invite other recent retirees who have not yet attended a luncheon to join us and experience it on GRAA’s dime.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible contributions from the following members: John Degnan (in memory of Robert Coates), Charles Jackman, Joseph H. Rothenberg, and Thomas Underwood.

THOUGHT FOR OCTOBER: Studies indicate that we are apparently getting too old when we find out we have too much room in our houses and not enough in our medicine cabinets.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Thomas B. Dennis, Jr., of Pensacola, FL, passed away on August 8^th. When he first came to Goddard it was as an Engineer in the Mechanical Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and later essentially changed careers by moving to the Industry Assistance & Procurement Analysis Office of the Management Operations Directorate and later still became Head of the Operations Analysis Section in the Procurement Support Division of the same directorate.
• Richard A. Doeler, of Chester, MD, passed away on September 6^th. He came to Goddard in the early ‘60s as a Mechanical Engineer working in the Test & Evaluation Division of the Office of Technical Services (which later changed its title to the Systems Reliability Directorate). He later moved to the Applied Engineering Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• Albert (Ed) Fitch, of Davidsonville, MD, passed away on September 14^th. He came to Goddard in the early ‘60s as an Engineering Technician at Goddard in the Test & Evaluation Division of the Office of Technical Services. In later years he worked in the Engineering Services Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• Orland E. Howard, Jr., of Pocomoke City, MD, passed away on September 3^rd. He was a Scientific Photographer at Goddard’s Wallops Flight Facility assigned to the Operations Division and later moved to the Program & Mission Management Division of the Suborbital Projects & Operations Directorate.
• Emanuel A. (Manny) Karageorge, of Leesburg, FL, passed away on November 7, 2015. He was an Electronics Engineer who came to Goddard in the early -60s and worked in the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics of the Space & Earth Sciences (which later changed its title to the Sciences Directorate). Years later he moved to the Electrical Systems Center of the Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate.
• Victor L. Kerns, of Annapolis, MD, passed away on September 4^th. He came to Goddard in 2004 and worked as a Contracting Officer in the Procurement Operations Division of the Management Operations Directorate and later was responsible for managing center directives, forms, etc. in the Logistics Management Division of the same directorate. In about ‘08 he moved to the Management Systems Branch of the Mission Assurance Division in the Safety & Mission Assurance Directorate where he worked as Audit Manager.
• Charles (Ray) Somerlock, of Glenwood, MD, passed away on August 17^th. He was an Aerospace Communications Engineer at Goddard and in the ‘60s was assigned to the Spacecraft Technology Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications and in the ‘70s worked in the Electronics Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate.
• Jacob I. Trombka, of Rockville, MD, passed away on September 1^st. He was an Astrophysicist at Goddard who was assigned, over time, to several different laboratories in the Space Sciences Directorate, Space & Earth Sciences Directorate, and Sciences & Exploration Directorate. Among them was the Laboratory for Theoretical Studies, the Laboratory for Space Physics, the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics, the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics, and the Astrochemistry Laboratory.
• Robert W. Wessells, of Modest Town, VA, passed away on August 21^st. He was Head of the Telecommunications Section in the Operations Division of the Suborbital Projects & Operations Directorate at Goddard’s Wallops Flight Facility.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN OCTOBER: The Solar Terrestrial Relations Observatory (STEREO) satellites were launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on a Delta-II rocket on October 25, 2006. STEREO employed two nearly identical space-based observatories (STEREO-A and STEREO-B) – one ahead of Earth, the other trailing behind – to provide the first-ever stereoscopic measurements to study the Sun and the nature of its coronal mass ejections, which are massive bursts of solar wind, solar plasma, and magnetic field that are sometimes ejected into space. Such ejections can disrupt Earth’s communications, airlines, power grids, and satellites. More accurate forecasting of the ejections has the potential to provide greater warning to operators of such services. On August 21^st, contact was thankfully re-established with STEREO-B after communications were lost on October 1, 2014. Kudos are warranted and extended by GRAA for the dedicated efforts made by the STEREO team make re-contact.