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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our November luncheon speaker was Dr. Alexander (Sasha) Marshak, Goddard’s Deputy Project Scientist for the Deep Space Climate Observatory (DSCOVR) mission. His talk, entitled “Earth Observations from the First LaGrangian (L1) Point or Observing Earth from One Million Miles,” discussed some amazing and unexpected observations of the Earth from the L1 Lagrangian point. L1 is the point between the Earth and the Sun (about one million miles from Earth) where the combined gravitational pull from the Sun and Earth are balanced, allowing an object to maintain a stable relative position while orbiting with them. From that vantage point, the DSCOVR spacecraft (launched on February 11, 2015) has a continuous view of the sunlit part of the Earth. The DSCOVR mission evolved from the TRIANA mission, a 1998 Al Gore initiative to increase awareness of the Earth by updating the blue marble picture taken by Apollo 17; however, the mission was canceled and the spacecraft was put into storage in 2001. In 2005, the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) refurbished the mission to maintain the nation’s real-time solar wind monitoring capabilities, which are critical to the accuracy and lead time of space weather alerts. The spacecraft has three main instruments: the Plasma-Magnetometer (PlasMag), which measures solar wind for space weather predictions; the Earth Polychromatic Imaging Camera (EPIC), which takes images of the sunlit side of Earth in 10 different channels from ultraviolet to near infrared; and the National Institutes of Standards & Technology Advanced Radiometer (NISTAR), which measures irradiance of the sunlit face of Earth. Compared to images from the low Earth orbit MODIS instruments on TERRA and Aqua, which must stitch together strips of data at different times to produce a composite Earth image, DSCOVR can continuously view the sunlit portion of the Earth. Unexpected results from DSCOVR include: bright spots with 24 degrees of the equator were determined to be sunglint from ice crystals, which yielded unexpected ability to predict a fraction of oriented crystals in ice clouds. In addition to providing an updated image of the blue marble every two hours, on July 16, 2015, as the moon passed into the DSCOVR field of view, the EPIC instrument provided a series of images of the far side of the moon, which is never seen from Earth. Images are updated daily and can be seen at http://epic.gsfc.nasa.gov.

In November, we welcomed GRAA members Karen Moe and Epaminondas Stassinopoulos to a GRAA luncheon for their first time.

RECENT RETIREES: Mary B. Brown, Angelina A. Hewitt, Kenneth E. Pickering, Susan B. Rambo, and Agnes L. Smith.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from the following members: Joseph Bredekamp, Ronald Britner (in memory of Willem Botha, Johannesburg, South Africa, Station Director), William Carpenter, John Lahzun, Audrey Rhodes (in memory of Carl Rhodes), David Schaefer, Steven Smith, and Ralph Welsh, Jr.

SPECIAL TREAT FOR JANUARY LUNCHEON ATTENDEES: Alberta Moran, who for many years portrayed Mrs. Santa Claus at the Goddard Children’s Holiday Party, recently informed Ye Ed that members attending the GRAA Luncheon on January 10th will be provided a special gift for the New Year - a 2017 NASA Calendar.

THOUGHT FOR THE HOLIDAYS: Ye Ed assures members that any weight you gain over the holidays is in no way an indication of increased jolliness.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Robert J. Flick, of Gambrills, MD, passed away on November 29^th. He came to Goddard in the early ‘60s as a Procurement Specialist for the Procurement Division of the Office of Administration (later changed to the Administration & Management Directorate). In the late ‘70s he was TIROS Deputy Project Manager (DPM) for Resources and in ‘80 became DPM for the Hubble Space Telescope Project (HST). In ‘81, his DPM role was moved to the Flight Projects Directorate for about a decade. He then held DPM positions in the Advanced Mission Analysis Office and Mission Integration Office prior to retiring in the mid-‘90s.
• William C. Isley, of Bowie, MD, passed away on October 12^th. He came to Goddard in the early ‘60s as a Science Technologist in the Spacecraft Systems & Projects Division in the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications. In the ‘70s he was a Section Head in the Earth Observations Systems & Systems Engineering Division in the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in the ‘80s he was Head of the Tracking & Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) Management Office in the Networks Directorate.
• Euel R. Lancaster, of Bethesda, MD, passed away on September 29^th. In the early ‘60s he came to Goddard as a Mathematician for the Theoretical Division in the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications. Later in the ‘60s he worked in the Laboratory for Theoretical Studies of the Space Sciences Directorate and in the ‘70s until retiring in the mid-‘80s worked in the Trajectory Analysis & Geodynamics Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate.
• Cary F. Milliner, Jr., of Onley, VA, passed away on November 10^th. He came to the Wallops Flight Facility (WFF) from the Naval Aviation Ordnance Test Station in Chincoteague, VA, as Associate Chief in the Operations Division of the Suborbital Projects & Operations Directorate. Prior to retiring in the mid-‘90s, he spent numerous years serving as the WFF‘s Deputy Director.
• Walter Paroby, of South Orleans, MA, passed away on November 8^th. He was a Mechanical Engineer at Goddard who worked in the ‘70s in the Electronics Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in the ‘80s for the TDRSS Project in the Networks Directorate.
• James W. Ryan, of Kensington, MD, passed away on November 18^th. He was a Mathematician who came to Goddard and worked in the ‘60s in the Manned Flight Support Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems and the Manned Flight Planning & Analysis Division of the Manned Flight Support Directorate. In the ‘70s he worked in the Network Computing & Analysis Division of the Networks Directorate and in the ‘80s in the Instrument Systems Division of the Applications Directorate. Until retiring in the mid-‘90s, he was assigned to the Laboratory for Terrestrial Physics in the Earth Sciences Directorate.
• Paul E. Schmid, of Middleburg, VA, passed away on June 7^th. He was an Electrical Engineer who came to Goddard in the late ‘60s and worked in the Mission & Trajectory Analysis Division of the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate and later in the Trajectory Analysis & Geodynamics Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – THEY HAPPENED IN DECEMBER AND JANUARY:
December 18, 1999 - An Atlas-2 rocket launched the TERRA satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. The objective was to gain an understanding of the interactions between Earth’s land, atmosphere, oceans, and biology.
January 25, 1984 - President Reagan, in his State of the Union address, gave NASA the go-ahead to build Space Station Freedom. Several different plans were developed, but all failed to gain acceptance and budget approval. President Reagan’s initial thought, or dream, was achieved several years later and is now recognized around the world as the International Space Station.

TAX-DEDUCTIBLE DONATIONS TO GRAA ENCOURAGED: Only a few days remain in 2016 for you to consider sending in a donation to help GRAA maintain financial viability and deduct it from your federal income tax. Donations should be addressed to GRAA at P.O. Box 1184, Greenbelt, MD 20768-1184.