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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our August speaker was Dr. Gary Blackwood, Manager of NASA’s Exoplanet Exploration Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Gary’s presentation, entitled “Show Me the Planets, described everything we know about exoplanets (planets outside our solar system that orbit other stars) including: how many have been confirmed, how they are named, what they are made of, and if they are in the habitable zone of their star. For example, over the past five years we have discovered that in our galaxy there are more planets than stars. So, there are approximately 200 billion planets in the Milky Way alone, one fourth of which are rocky, and most of those are in the habitable zone (i.e., the region where water would be in its liquid state. The first exoplanet was discovered in 1995 and since then over 4,000 exoplanets have been discovered and confirmed. In fact, the number of confirmed exoplanets doubles every 28 months and this trend is expected to continue for the next 30 years through missions including TESS, GAIA and WFIRST.

Exoplanets are hard to see, in fact finding an exoplanet travelling around a nearby star is like trying to see a firefly, flying around a spotlight, from across the country. They are very far away and the contrast difference is huge. Scientists use various methods to find exoplanets. The Doppler spectroscopy (or radial velocity) method measures the star’s wobble due to the effect of the orbiting planet. The transit method sees a decrease in the star’s light due to the planet crossing in front of it. The Doppler Spectroscopy method gives us the mass of the planet and the transit method gives us its size. Using both methods yields the density, telling is whether the planet is rocky, like Earth, or gaseous, like Jupiter. A third method called microlensing involves staring at the galactic bulge and when another star passes the line of sight, a magnifying effect allows a planet to be detected around an intermediate star. A future Starshade mission will adapt occultation techniques where the central light from the sun or a star is blocked by a disk, allowing nearby objects to be imaged. For stars that are many light years away, the disk needs to be ~ 40,000km away from the telescope. This mission could be accomplished by formation-flying the telescope and disk at L2, the 2nd Lagrange point. Gary brought a model of a deployable disk that was designed by an origami expert to fold into a rocket nose faring.

The nearest exoplanet discovered is four light years away and the farthest is hundreds of thousands of light years away. We now know that nearby stars are not very dusty, (i.e., their view is not typically blocked by asteroid dust). Planets less than 1.8 times the size of Earth tend to be rocky and those greater than 1.8 times the size of Earth tend to be gaseous.

Answering the question “Are we alone?” and finding Earth 2.0 is Gary’s and other exoplaneteer’s ultimate goal. They plan to do this by probing the atmosphere of an exoplanet in the habitable zone of its star, looking at the spectrum of the light from that star that passes through the planet’s atmosphere and identifying any oxygen, water, carbon dioxide or methane that could indicate a sign of life.

Dr. Blackwood handed out exoplanet travel posters, which are artistic conceptions of the exotic attractions of some of the recently discovered exoplanets. Gary also showed some exciting short videos about light year distances, how exoplanets are named, the TESS spacecraft, coronagraphs, and starshades (https//exoplanets,nasa.gov/exep). Even more exciting was the luncheon audience singing and clapping along with Gary’s rendition of his original song, “We are the Exoplaneteers” that concluded his talk.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER: On September 4, 1964, an Atlas-Agena B rocket launched the Orbiting Geophysical Observatory (OGO 1) spacecraft from Cape Canaveral, FL. The purpose of the OGO 1 spacecraft, the first of a series of six OGO spacecraft all launched during the ‘60s, was to conduct diversified geophysical experiments to obtain a better understanding of the Earth as a planet and to develop and operate a standardized observatory-type satellite. All in the series were intended to study the Earth’s atmosphere, magnetosphere, and the space between the Earth and Moon. By June ’69, data acquisition on OGO 1 was limited to 10% of the orbital path. The spacecraft was placed in a standby status on November 25, 1969, and all support was terminated on November 1, 1971.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Richard A. Austin, of Parrish, FL, passed away on July 21^st. He was initially employed at GSFC in ’63 and apparently supported GAO until ’66 and then was reassigned to the Program Support Division and later the Project Support Office and Division over time in the Administration & Management Directorate. He became Deputy Project Manager (DPM) for Resources through the decade of the ‘70s and then transferred to the Flight Projects Directorate in ’81 with similar oversight of programs/projects. In ’90 he became Deputy Associate Director for EOS Resources and transferred again in ’93 to the Mission to Planet Earth Office and became Deputy Director for Planning & Business Management. He retired in the mid-‘90s.
• Robert E. Carr, Sr., of Bloxom, VA, passed away on July 19^th. He worked for NACA in the late ‘50s, remained during the transition to NASA, and worked at the Langley Research Center (LRC) and the Wallops Island Facility (WFF) for 25 years, most of which were under the auspices of LRC. In ’82 he was assigned to the Suborbital Projects & Operations Directorate and ultimately became Head of that particular organization under the auspices of GSFC. He retired a few years later in ’86.
• George E. Croft, of Surfside Beach, SC (formerly of Westminster, MD), passed away on July 15^th. He was employed by GSFC in ’66 and initially assigned to the Experimental Fabrication & Engineering Division of the Administration & Management Directorate. In ’68 he was transferred to the Spacecraft Technology Division of the Technology Directorate and then returned to his original organization for a time. In ’74 he transferred to the Engineering Services Division and then to the Special Payloads Division in ’86 of the Engineering Directorate. He retired in ’89 and then worked for a contractor in the Laboratory for High Energy Astrophysics at GSFC for several more years.
• Deloris J. “Jackie” Finch, of Severn, MD, passed away on March 17^th. She was hired by GSFC in ’70 in the Accounting Branch of the Financial Management Division of the Administration & Management Directorate. She remained in the same division, but in ’81 the title of the directorate was changed to the Office of the Comptroller and she retired in ’86.
• James L. Jew, of Fulton, MD, passed away on August 10^th. He initially started working in ’68 at GSFC as a co-op student in the STADAN Engineering Division of the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate and in ’69 was reassigned to the Manpower Utilization Division of the Administration & Management Directorate. Since he is not listed in GSFC telephone books from ’70 through ’73, perhaps he was granted the privilege of attending school away from GSFC. When he returned to GSFC in ’73, he was assigned to the Network Engineering Division of the Networks Directorate and then in ’79 was reassigned to the Systems Division of the Engineering Directorate. In ’80 he was transferred over time to several different project offices; in ’86 in the Satellite Servicing Project until ’92, and for a year or so worked supporting HST missions.
• Daniel A. Klinglesmith III, of Socorro, NM, passed away on July 27^th. He was hired at GSFC in ’66 and initially assigned to the Laboratory for Space Sciences in the Space Sciences Directorate. In ’71 he transferred to the Laboratory for Optical Astronomy in the Space & Earth Directorate, and remained in the same laboratory when the title of the directorate was changed in ’77. In ’78 he became Head of image processing for the International Ultraviolet Explorer (IUE) satellite project, which was launched in ’78. He remained at GSFC until ‘96 or so before he retired and moved with his wife to NM where he taught astronomy at New Mexico Tech.
• Phillip A. Newman, of Olney, MD, passed away on August 13^th. He was hired by GSFC in ’66 and initially assigned to the Spacecraft Technology Division of the Technology Directorate. In ’71 he transitioned to the Engineering Physics Division and in ’72 he was moved to the Earth Observations Systems & Systems Engineering Division of the same directorate. In ’74 he transitioned to the Engineering Directorate from the Technology Directorate and remained at GSFC for another 16 years before retiring in ’90.
• Richard J. Wirth, of Tequesta, FL, passed away on August 1^st. He was hired at GSFC in ’63 as an Aerospace Engineer and initially assigned to the Spacecraft Systems & Projects Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. In ’66 he transferred to the Applications Technology Satellite (ATK) Project in the Projects Directorate until ’70 and then moved to the Engineering Directorate to support other Projects. In ’77 he transitioned to the Office of Deputy Project Managers /Technical in the Engineering Directorate. He was DPM for the GOES Program for many years and retired in ’90. However, he continued to work for GSFC contractors for several additional years.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from Roberta Valonis (in memory of Patricia “Patti” Stone) and Catherine Waltersdorff.