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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our August luncheon speaker was Dr. Donald Jennings, an Astrophysicist in Goddard’s Detector Systems Branch. His presentation was entitled “Goddard’s Linear Etalon Imaging Spectral Array (LEISA) Instrument on the New Horizons Mission.” Don described historical research about Pluto since it was first discovered by Clyde Tombaugh in 1930 through the recent encounter by the New Horizon’s spacecraft on July 14, 2015. Tombaugh used predictions from Percival Lowell (1915), who first caught hints of Pluto’s existence by observing its effect on other planets’ orbits. In 1978, James Christy discovered a “bump,” which turned out to be a moon passing in front of the planet. As more data became available over the years, estimates of the mass of Pluto diminished and it was reclassified as a dwarf planet in 2006, the year the New Horizons mission was launched. New Horizons got a gravity assist from a fly-by of Jupiter in 2007 and then encountered Pluto in July 2015 after flying over 3 billion miles.

Don described the Goddard-built instrument LEISA, which together with the Multispectral Visible Imaging Camera (MVIC) comprise Ralph, the visible and infrared camera on New Horizons. LEISA is a linear variable filter camera operating in the 1.25 to 2.5 micron spectral region with resolution as high as 7 km/pixel at the closest approach to Pluto. It was designed to identify and map surface ices, thus leading to several discoveries in the Pluto system. His presentation included some of the incredible images from the encounter and a description of the many discoveries the mission uncovered. For example, the mission mapped ices of methane, water, carbon monoxide and nitrogen across Pluto’s surface. Pluto is covered primarily with methane, but has a large white area coated with carbon monoxide ice. Pluto’s largest moon, Charon (named in part for James Christy’s wife, Charlene), is about half the size of Pluto and is covered with water ice with trace amounts of ammonia ice. Two of the smaller moons have turned out to be almost pure water ice. During the encounter, Pluto’s diameter was measured at 1,473 miles, or about two thirds the diameter of Earth’s moon. It has less than half the density of the Earth and does not bulge at the equator.

Following the Pluto encounter, New Horizons has been sending the high resolution image and spectral data back to Earth, a process that is taking more than a year due to the great distance. The latest images and other information can be found on both the NASA website (https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/newhorizons/main/) and Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory (where the spacecraft was built) website (http://pluto.jhuapl.edu). Next up, the New Horizons mission has been extended to fly by a second Kuiper Belt object (2014 MU69, discovered by the Hubble Space Telescope), which it is expected to encounter in January 2019.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible contributions from the following members: Richard Baker, Arthur Fuchs, James Gray, Arlin Krueger, David Manges, William McGunigal, Ralph Mollerick, and Thomas Underwood.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER: Space Shuttle Discovery (STS -48) was launched from Cape Canaveral, FL, on September 12, 1991, and deployed the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS) on September 15th at an altitude of about 375 miles. As the first satellite dedicated to studying stratospheric science, UARS focused on the processes that lead to ozone depletion and also measured winds and temperatures in the stratosphere as well as energy input from the Sun. While intended to be a three-year mission, six of its 10 instruments functioned for 14+ years. UARS was decommissioned in December 2005 due to funding cuts. Re-entry occurred between 300 and 800 miles downrange from American Samoa on September 24, 2011.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Henen C. Benthall, Jr, of Parksley, VA, passed away on July 14^th. He was Head of the Radar Systems Section assigned to the Data Acquisition Branch, Operations Division, Suborbital Projects and Operations Directorate at the Wallops Flight Facility.
• Angelo T. (Angie) Dannessa, of Glenn Dale, MD, passed away on August 8^th. He came to Goddard in 1966 and began working in the Manned Flight Operations Division of the Manned Flight Support Directorate. He later became Head of the Advanced Planning Section of the Network Procedures & Evaluation Division of the Networks Directorate. Before transferring to NASA Headquarters in the mid-'80s, he was assigned as Head of the Requirements Group in the Support Planning & Requirements Division of the same directorate.
• Casimir A. Ferenc, of Fairfax, VA, passed away on January 6^th. In the '70s he was assigned in the RF Techniques Section of the Electronics Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate. In the '80s and early '90s he worked in the Electronic Systems Section of the Instrument Division and later the Data Processing Section in the Applied Engineering Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• Leonard W. Kayton, of Riva, MD, passed away on July 31^st. He was a Stationary Engineer at Goddard and spent 40 years in the Utilities Operations & Maintenance Branch of the Plant Operations & Maintenance Division and, after an organization realignment, in the Facilities Management Division of the Management Operations Directorate.
• Earl R. Kreins, of Bellevue, NE, passed away on August 4^th. He was a Meteorologist at Goddard assigned in the late '60s to the Laboratory for Atmospheric & Biological Sciences of the Space Sciences Directorate; in the '70s in the Laboratory for Meteorology & Earth Sciences of the Space & Earth Sciences Directorate; in the '80s in the Laboratory for Atmospheric Sciences of the Applications Directorate; and in the early '90s in the Laboratory for Atmospheres in the same directorate.
• Brian C. Pierman, of Preston, MD, passed away on May 9^th. He was an Engineer at Goddard assigned in the late '60s, '70s, and into the '80s to the Flight Program Office in the Test & Evaluation Division of the Systems Reliability Directorate. In the early '90s he was Head of the Verification Engineering Office in the Engineering Services Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• F. Frank Richardson, Jr. , of Charles Town, WV, passed away on July 17^th. He was an Electronics Technician and Field Design Engineer assigned to the Laboratory for Space Physics in the Space & Earth Directorate in the '70s and then moved in the '80s and early '90s worked in the Laboratory for Astronomy & Solar Physics in the Sciences Directorate.
• Billy B. Williams, of Christiansburg, VA, passed away on August 5^th. He was an Antenna Design and Testing Technician at Goddard and in the '70s and '80s worked in the Antenna Systems Branch and the Tracking Systems Branch of the Networks Directorate. In the early '90s he worked in the Telecommunications Systems Branch of the Missions Operations & Data Systems Directorate.

AMERICAN ASSOCIATION FOR THE ADVANCEMENT OF SCIENCE (AAAS) SEEKS VOLUNTEERS: The AAAS needs volunteer scientists, engineers, and mathematicians to assist K-12 Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) teachers in the Washington, DC Metropolitan Area during the 2016-2017 school year. Details of the collaboration are worked out between the teacher and volunteer, and may involve giving demonstrations, assisting in lab experiments, lecturing on special topics, assisting with homework, etc. Hours are flexible and volunteers attend a one-day training session in September before being assigned to schools. If members care about K-12 STEM education and have an interest and time to share your knowledge with students and teachers in this worthwhile endeavor, please call Betty Calinger at 202-326-6629 or send her an email soon at bcalinge@aaas.org for details and learn more about this AAAS outstanding outreach program.

THOUGHT FOR SEPTEMBER: Relationships are akin to algebra. For example, have you ever thought about your X and wondered Y?