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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our June luncheon speaker was Michael Springer, NOAA’s GOES-R Assistant System Program Director. His talk, entitled “The GOES-R Series: Earth in High Definition,” described why we need these NOAA/NASA geostationary environmental satellites as well as their amazing capabilities. The GOES spacecraft track weather events and send out alerts and warnings to protect lives and property with a huge economic impact. Over the past decade there have been at least ten weather events with an economic impact over $1B each (there were 16 last year) for a total GOES program cost of $11B. The GOES-R Series of four spacecraft is the latest generation of a legacy that began over 40 years ago. The primary instrument, the Advanced Baseline Imager (ABI) has 16 channels with four times the resolution of earlier imagers and five times the speed. It can image the full disc of the Earth in 5 minutes, or in an alternative mode can provide the same image in 15 minutes while simultaneously mapping the continental US every 5 minutes and zooming in on two 1000 x 1000 km mesoscale areas every minute, to track particular severe weather events. A new instrument, the Global Lightning Mapper (GLM) detects both cloud-to-ground as well as cloud-to-cloud lightning. For space weather, GOES-R contains particle sensors, electron and proton sensors, and two magnetometers. The 6-channel Solar Ultraviolet Imager (SUVI) instrument and the Extreme UV and X-ray Irradiance Sensor (EXIS) instruments track the Sun’s activity and irradiance. The spacecraft also supports search and rescue (SARSAT), a Data Collection System for relaying in-situ sensor data from around the country and the GOES-R Rebroadcast of data for public use.

GOES-R, launched November 19, 2016, is operating as GOES-East at 75 degrees W and GOES-S launched March 1st of this year is still in checkout. GOES 13, 14, and 15 are still operational. GOES-T is fully integrated and will go into environmental testing this fall for a 2020 launch and GOES-U is just beginning the build cycle and will be launched in 2024. Operations, command, and control are performed at the NOAA Satellite Operations Facility in Suitland, MD. A sixty-fold increase in data rate over earlier GOES spacecraft is transmitted to and from three x-band 16.4 meter antennas at the Wallops station in VA, with a back-up station in Fairmont, WV.

Mike showed several incredible videos of GOES-16’s images of Hurricane Harvey, which used mesoscale observations to provide an update of the hurricane as it threatened the Houston, TX, area. GOES mesoscale images of Puerto Rico were used extensively last year when Hurricane Maria wiped out the island’s weather radars, again providing updated images every 30 seconds. Our audience also viewed videos of GLM data overlaying the nation’s airplane traffic displays which showed how the planes used that data to avoid concentrated storm cells. We also saw videos of solar flares from the SUVI instrument, ABI images of recent fires throughout the US, and the four consecutive Nor’easter storms that hit the East Coast earlier this year. Mike’s talk included a very amusing video cartoon entitled, “So You Want to Build a Weather Satellite.”

TREASURER'S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from: Dorothy Burkholder, Ronald Browning, Frank Carr (in memory of John Boeckel), John Hraster, David Manges, Karl Peters, and William Tallant.

GSFC’S TAE KWON DO CLUB CELEBRATES 50th ANNIVERSARY THIS YEAR: According to Mike Comberiate, who is more familiarly known in NASA circles as NASAMIKE, has announced that a special event is being planned for October. Mike suggests all former members of GSFC’s TAE KWON DO Club keep this in mind and email him at nasamike@nasamike.com for more information.

THOUGHT FOR JULY: When we were children, we more than likely thought naptime was a form of dreaded punishment from our parents. As we matured, however, we logically started to consider it more like a mini-vacation!

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• McLean M. Grant, of Potomac, MD, passed away on May 30^th. He came to Goddard in ’63 and was first assigned to the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. In ’65, the office changed its name to the Technology Directorate, where he worked through the mid-’70s (although the name changed again in ’72 to the Space Applications & Technology Directorate). He transferred to the Engineering Directorate in ’76 and in the early ’80s to the Flight Projects Directorate to support satellite projects (including AEM, ERBE, ISTP, and GGSP). He retired in ’94 after serving 30+ years.
• George E. Kraft,, of Ellicott City, MD, passed away on June 13^th. He came to Goddard in ’63 and was assigned to the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division in the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications (which was changed to the Technology Directorate in ’65. He worked there until ’71, when the organization’s names were changed to the Sounding Rocket Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate where he worked until ’85. His last assignment prior to retiring in ’88 was in the Special Payloads Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• James W. Ridgley, Jr., of Washington, DC, passed away on June 14^th. He came to Goddard in ’63 and worked in the Theoretical Division of the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications until ’71. He was then assigned to the Space & Earth Sciences Computing Center of the Space & Earth Sciences Directorate until the organization titles changed to the Sciences & Applications Computing Center and the Sciences Directorate until ’83, when he transferred to the Operations Supporting Computing Center of the Networks Directorate. Lastly, in ’85 he was assigned to the Flight Dynamics Division of the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate prior to retiring in ’87.
• Edwin O. Stengard, of Dickerson, MD, passed away on May 9^th. He came to Goddard as a Mechanical Engineer in ’61 in the Satellite Applications Systems Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. In ’65 he transferred to the Aeronomy & Meteorology Division and then to the Technology Directorate from ’66 through ’71. In ’72 and ’73 he was assigned to the Earth Observation Systems & Systems Engineering Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate. From ’74 until retiring in about ’81 he was assigned to the Engineering Directorate, where over several years he worked in the Mission Technology, Instrument, and Space Technology Divisions.
• Iva L. (Wesley) Volkmer of Merritt Island, FL, passed away on June 7^th. After teaching school in MD, in ’75 she moved to FL and worked at Cape Canaveral for the Delta team near launch pad 17 on administrative duties for two years. In ’77 she moved back to MD, transferred to Goddard, and started working for the Financial Management Division of the Administrative & Management Directorate. In ’78 she worked as a Secretary for the GOES Deputy Project Manager for Resources. In ’81 she moved to the GOES Project in the Flight Projects Directorate and in ’83 she worked in the San Marco Office. In ’84 she married GRAA member Eldon Volkmer, retired and moved to FL.
• Annabelle (Ann) G. Wright of Solomons, MD, passed away on May 15^th. She came to Goddard in ’63 as a Secretary in the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division in the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. In ’64 she moved to the Laboratory for Space Sciences in the Space Sciences Directorate for two years and then moved back to the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division (which by then had moved to being located in the Technology Directorate). From ’71 to ’73 she was assigned to the Space Applications & Technology Directorate as Secretary for the Assistant Directors for Advanced Development and for Project Support. In ’74 she became Secretary for the Deputy Director of the Engineering Directorate and later became Administrative Assistant and later Administrative Officer for the Engineering Directorate Officer from ’76 prior to retiring in ’82.