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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our June speaker was Dr. Michael Freilich, Director of the Earth Science Division at NASA Headquarters. His presentation was entitled “Satellites, Science, and Societal Benefits: NASA’s Earth Science and Applications Program.” The Earth Science Division consists of four elements: Flight - Developing satellites and making measurements; Research and Analysis - Taking satellite and in-situ measurements and turning them into understanding processes and interactions; Applied Science - the bridge between the measurements and the understanding of the Earth and the needs of users, providing societal benefits; and Technology Development - Identifying and maturing technologies to enable future missions. The Earth Science Program comprises about an eighth of the agency’s budget, but it leverages data from other US agencies and nations overseas. There are about 20 major NASA Earth Science on-orbit instruments (and another 18 in development stages) which observe the entire Earth by continuously monitoring and measuring data. This data is integrated with other foreign and domestic measurement data to form a comprehensive set of information which yields a verifiable picture of how the Earth environment is changing and how people are affecting it. No other NASA program has such direct societal benefits. Dr. Freilich demonstrated how the Earth’s ozone layer is slowly recovering from the effect of disastrous Chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs). Due to the 1987 Montreal protocol, which banned the worldwide use of CFCs, the ozone level should be back to the 1970’s level by the year 2070. He also explained that we are currently measuring every part of the hydrologic cycle (including evaporation, transport, condensation, precipitation, runoff, ground water, etc.). Continuous measurement since the 1990’s have shown that sea level is rising 3.2 + or - .4 mm/yr. This is primarily due to ocean expansion from warming (~1.8 mm/yr and land ice melting which eventually finds its way into the oceans (~1.4 mm/yr). The transition from an El Nino to a La Nina six years ago actually resulted in a cooling effect of the oceans, where the sea level actually dropped for one year, but the higher temperatures and rising sea level resumed since. Soil moisture and vegetation indices measurements from the Landsat program over the last 43 years (along with ocean salinity measurements from around the world) provide critical inputs to understanding the hydrologic cycle. Satellite data also measures the level of all the aquifers around the world and the effect of people drawing water out of aquifers faster than they are being replenished. The Global Precipitation Measurement (GPM) satellite, by measuring rainfall over the entire Earth (including the oceans, which were not previously measurable) provides the final element to understanding the hydrologic cycle.

Dr. Freilich’s presentation concluded that we are now closing the hydrologic cycle through use of satellite measurements, looking at many different processes quantitatively – measuring, understanding, and using such measurements and understanding to deliver real societal benefits about the planet on which we live.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible contributions from the following: Norman & Virginia Beard, Edward Bielecki, Joyce Corley, Thomas Page, Karl Peters, George Roach, and Thomas Underwood.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Tiffany A. Moisan, of Princess Anne, MD, passed away unexpectedly on June 5th. Dr. Moisan was a Research Scientist still working for the Sciences and Exploration Directorate since 2000 assigned to the Wallops Flight Facility. Her research interests involved phytoplankton physiology and optics with relationships to taxonomic composition of the phytoplankton community. She was also involved with research concerned with the Ocean Color Mission and Global Climate Change. Dr. Moisan was a member of the International Coastal Working Group for the Hyspiri Mission, which is a hyper-spectral satellite sensor designed to study the world’s ecosystems and provide critical information about natural disasters such as volcanoes, wildfires, and drought.
• William M. Rice, of Timonium, MD, passed away on August 19, 2015. He was an Aerospace Engineer who, among various assignments during his 25-year career, principally worked on re-entry communications systems while assigned to the Mission and Systems Analysis Branch of the Mission and Trajectory Analysis Division during Minitrack operations conducted during Apollo missions and the use of newer communications networks during later satellite missions.

NEW EDITION OF GRAA MEMBERSHIP DIRECTORY: The 2016 edition of the GRAA Membership Directory accompanied the June newsletter via snail mail. While we made our best effort to deliver a good product, we are aware that some errors with regard to contact information are contained within its pages. Please drop us a note at our Greenbelt address or send an email to either Strat Laios or Dave Moulton (using their email addresses in the directory). Although we will not print another edition of the Membership Directory until 2018, we can at least update our membership database. Since printing and postage fees are quite high, please consider making a tax-deductible donation (if you have not already done so recently) to help keep our treasury sustainable.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN JULY: On July 13, 1995, STS-70 launched from Kennedy Space Center (KSC), FL, on Space Shuttle Discovery and when in orbit launched Tracking and Data Relay Satellite-G (alternately known as TDRS-7, which denoted the last of 7 Shuttle missions to carry a first generation TDRS). This was the first Shuttle mission controlled from a new mission control center at Johnson Space Center. STS-70 was also the first flight of the new Block 1 orbiter main engine, designed to improve both engine performance and safety. The launch date was only six days after the landing of Shuttle Atlantis, marking the fastest turnaround between flights in the history of the STS program. TDRS-G was ejected from Discovery’s cargo bay precisely as scheduled at 2:55 p.m. CDT, approximately six hours after the launch at KSC.

THOUGHT FOR JULY: Remember, our senior citizen friends and colleagues are decidedly worth a fortune, with silver in their hair, gold in their teeth, stones in their kidneys, lead in their feet, and gas in their stomachs.