G.R.A.A.
Goddard Retirees and Alumni Association
P.O. Box 163, Lanham, MD 20703-0163

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM RON BROWNING, GRAA PRESIDENT: The Earth's gain and loss in ice, and the impact on humans, animals and vegetation is much in the news and has earned worldwide concern – a perfect setting for our January speaker, Dr. Doug McLennan, Project Manager of the Ice, Cloud, and land Elevation Satellite (ICESat-2). ICESat is the benchmark satellite Earth Observing System mission for measuring ice sheet mass balance, cloud and aerosol heights, as well as land topography and vegetation characteristics. The ICESat mission will provide multi-year elevation data needed to determine ice sheet mass balance by repeat observations over the same footprint every 91 days. Dr. McLennan provided luncheon attendees a detailed briefing on the objectives and methods to be used on the ICESat-2 mission to observe variations of the Earth's ice (on land and sea) and vegetation height measurements. The ICESat-2's laser is a single instrument system and differs significantly from the group of three laser systems used on ICESat-1; however, the laser systems of both satellites emit pulse-type beams in green toward the Earth. ICESat-2's laser system (multi-beam lidar) currently in design will generate three beams that will be split by a prism to produce a pattern of nine beams that reach the Earth's surface simultaneously (as compared to the three pulses emitted at slightly different times have precision in time and measured distance (+/- one centimeter) that scientists have never been able to observe and study in the past.The project is currently in Phase A, with a launch date anticipated in early 2016. Prior to designing and developing this mission, observations from other data sources show that about 50 percent of the world's ice has melted since 1950. No wonder researchers are whetting their scientific appetites to study this mission

PREPARATION BEGINS ON NEW MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY:  GRAA is planning to publish the 2010 edition of our Membership Directory in April.    Please send a note to our Lanham address or e-mail to Strat Laios (stratlaios@verizon.net) with new information such as mailing address, telephone number (if you wish to share it) and e-mail address (if you already receive or wish to receive the newsletter electronically) or corrections you have not previously provided us.Please provide the information by March 1, so we can publish the directory as accurately as possible. Based on increased costs to print and mail the new directory (somewhere north of $3000), you are encouraged to help our bottom line by sending in a tax-deductible contribution.

UPCOMING REVIEW OF NASA PROGRAMS:  The NASA Alumni League is sponsoring a review of NASA programs at NASA Headquarters on Friday, February 12^th, to be chaired by former Administrator James Beggs.  It will be an all-day review beginning with registration at 7:30 a.m. and concluding at 5:00 p.m.  GRAA members are invited.  Seating is limited at the James E. Webb Auditorium, so advance reservations are required.  Please RSVP to Ann Marie Trotta (ann.marie.trotta@nasa.gov or 202-358-1601).

TREASURER’S REPORT:  Bob Wigand reports tax-deductible contributions were received from:  Bob Adams, Ali & Alta Arman, John Berbert (in memory of Bill Hoggard), Buzz Brandenburg, Dave Byer, Dave Cleveland, Jim Dafnis, Carroll Dudley, Charles & Denise Duignan, Bill Elsen, Betty Jay, Carl Kellenbenz, John Lahzun, Alex Lawrence, Gerry Longanecker, Dave Manges, Don Margolies (in memory of Joe Purcell), John Millman, Reg Mitchell, Ralph Mollerick, Tom Page, Andy Rolinski, Mary Alice Smith-Wigand, Ed Smylie, Roberta Valonis, and Bill Willis. Bob also received an anonymous donation and a rebate from Verizon due to a member signing up for its services. A 2009 financial report was prepared and distributed to members of the Board of Directors.

THOUGHT FOR THE MONTH:  Did you ever notice that when you put the words “The” and “IRS” together it spells “Theirs?” 

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN FEBRUARY:  On February 24, 1996, a Delta-2 rocket launched the POLAR satellite designed to observe the polar magnetosphere.  POLAR was the second mission (WIND being the first) of NASA’s Global Geospace Science initiative to study the dynamics of the magnetosphere.  Expected to be only an 18-month mission, POLAR was terminated on April 28, 2008, from the WIND/POLAR Mission Operations Room in Building 3.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES

•  Darlene A. Ahalt, of Huntingtown, MD, passed away on January 13^th from a courageous 7-year battle with cancer.  Darlene served as a Public Affairs Specialist at Goddard.  Following her retirement, she worked on events for the American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics, public relations related to the Hubble Space Telescope, and office management functions and event coordination for the Maryland Space Business Roundtable.

•  Daniel W. Dembrow, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away January 5^th. Among many assignments at Goddard during his career, Daniel was deeply involved with the Delta Project.

•  Vincent A. Guidice, of New Carrollton, MD, passed away on January 13^th.  Among numerous assignments during his Goddard career, Vince worked in the Technology Information Section of the Networks Branch.

• William F. McDonald, of Silver Spring, passed away on October 5, 2009; however, we did not receive details regarding his career assignments at Goddard.

• Stanley A. Rozmarynowski, of Crownsville, MD, passed away on July 3, 2009, after a 7-month battle with cancer.  He worked in the Antenna Section at Goddard from 1962 to his retirement in 1981.

• Charles C. Schnetzler, of Columbia, MD, passed away on December 15, 2009, from injuries sustained when he was struck by a car in November while walking near his home at night.  He was a Research Scientist at Goddard who worked across many fields of the planetary sciences.  He was one of the first scientists to analyze moon rocks brought back to Earth in 1969 and in the 1970s became one of the first experts in the new science of remote sensing.

• Jesse Stern, of Rockville, MD, passed away on December 4, 2009, at a Bethesda restaurant from asphyxiation following a heart attack.  An Engineer, he worked on the design of ships and submarines at the Naval Surface Warfare Center before transferring to Goddard in the early 1960s.

POSSIBLE TRIP TO WALLOPS FLIGHT FACILITY:  A GRAA visit to the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) is being planned if we can get enough members to sign up.  We are currently looking a day in either April or May for a one-day bus trip.  There have been many interesting initiatives developed at WFF over recent years and William Wrobel has just been named as Director to replace John Campbell, who retired in December.  If we can get at least 40 participants, costs are anticipated to be around $100, which of course will include a seafood (or other entree) dinner during the trip.  Please contact Alberta Moran (alberta49@verizon.net or 301-890-0544) and let her know you’re interested in taking an excursion to the Eastern Shore.

MEMORIAL SERVICE FOR DARLENE AHALT:  A memorial service will be held at the Emmanuel Baptist Church at 11:00 a.m. on Saturday, January 30^th.  The church is located at 3800 Old Town Road, Huntingtown, MD.