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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our February luncheon speaker was Dr. James Gleason, Chief of the Atmospheric Chemistry & Dynamics Laboratory of the Sciences & Exploration Directorate and the Joint Polar Satellite System (JPSS) Senior Project Scientist. His talk, entitled “ JPSS – The Next Generation of Polar-Orbiting Weather Satellites – More Than Weather: Measurements to Data to Information,” described JPSS as the generational upgrade of the Polar Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) weather satellite. The five-satellite system consists of the Suomi National Polar-orbiting Partnership (NPP) spacecraft, launched in 2011 and the four JPSS 1-4 satellites, the first of which will be launched this fall and the other three on five-year centers. Together with the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) system spacecraft, JPSS will provide the US with weather data for the next 25 years. The spacecraft carry five instruments: The Visible Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite (VIIRS), which takes higher spatial resolution observations in the visible bands of the land, ocean and atmosphere than the earlier POES instrument; the Cross-track Infrared Sounder (CriS), a Fourier Transform nadir scanning interferometer, which takes 3-dimensional profiles of temperature, pressure and moisture; the Advanced Technology Microwave Sounder (ATMS), which takes atmospheric temperature and moisture for weather forecasting and climate monitoring; the Ozone Mapper Profiler Suite (OMPS), which includes three hyperspectral ozone instruments; and the Clouds and Earth’s Radiant Energy System (CERES) to measure solar-reflected and Earth-emitted radiation at the top of the atmosphere. Jim explained how advanced measurements from the polar-orbiting satellites being a new dimension to 3- to 5-day weather forecasting. One huge advantage is more accurate prediction of severe weather events, like hurricanes. Improved forecasts of Hurricane Irene’s path in 2011 pinpointed a small area around Virginia Beach that needed to be evacuated, avoiding the evacuation of a much larger area of the East Coast. A new feature or the NPP is a VIIRS day/night band capable of mapping clouds by moonlight. This is a huge advantage to forecasters in Alaska, who deal with darkness for up to six months of the year. Sensing valley fog, which is a significant hazard, is another capability of the system. Along with monitoring city lights, the instrument can also detect gas flares from drilling sites and determine the amount of wasted methane. In addition to detecting energy usage, the VIIRS instrument provides useful economic assessments in other areas including fires, vegetation, changes in growing seasons, food and agricultural prediction, aerosols, smoke, and dust – all from an instrument designed to do cloud imagery. In closing, Dr. Gleason mentioned that the VIIRS Blue Marble image appeared on a US postage stamp last year.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN MARCH: Fifty years ago, on March 8, 1967, a Delta-C rocket launched the third Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO-3) from Cape Canaveral, FL. The objectives of the spacecraft were to perform solar physics experiments above the atmosphere during a complete solar cycle and to map the celestial sphere for direction and intensity of ultraviolet light, X-ray, and gamma radiation. Only real-time data transmissions were received from the satellite after the last tape recorder failure on June 27, 1968. The last data transmission from the OSO-3 occurred on November 10, 1969, and the spacecraft descended into the atmosphere on April 4, 1982. We offer a shout out to Dr. William Behring, for his role as Project Scientist in the OSO-3 mission.

WANTED - YOUR MEMORIES OF GODDARD: Alberta Moran has informed Ye Ed that the Visitor Center on the Greenbelt campus is currently undergoing an interior face lift. Management is looking to come up with some exciting new exhibits and think GRAA members could probably provide the right input. One possible exhibit could be to highlight facts about Goddard that occurred since Goddard came to Greenbelt (e.g., for several weeks in the late ‘50s Goddard was known as the Beltsville Space Center and another that Goddard was built on 500 acres of a pig farm belonging to the US Department of Agriculture). Another thought is to possibly showcase items that have been developed over the years by Goddard employees and used for the benefit of our lives, yet folks may not know were actually inspired and/or created at Goddard. Any suggestions you may have will be appreciated, so please accept the challenge and forward your ideas to Alberta Moran, 11609 Emack Road, Beltsville, MD 20705 or via email to bertiemae90@gmail.com.

THOUGHT FOR MARCH: As a senior citizen, GRAA members may want to consider signing up for services at one of the Hokey Pokey Clinic franchises located near your home. The catchy slogan for the clinics is: We will teach you how to “turn yourself around” in less than a month (of Sundays, that is).

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Leonard Arnowitz, of Aventura, FL, passed away on November 29, 2016. He was an Electrical Engineer with Project Vanguard at the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL) in Washington, DC, when it transitioned to Goddard shortly after the Center’s conception. Later in the ‘60s he was assigned to the Systems Division of the Technology Directorate. In the ‘70s be became Associate Chief of the Sounding Rocket Division in the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in the ‘80s was Head of the Special Payloads Division of the Engineering Directorate.
• Alfred M. Catanzariti, of Riva, MD, passed away on January 20^th. He transferred from the NRL to Goddard as a Mathematician in 1961 and worked in the NASA Communications Division of the Manned Flight Support Center (MFSC). In the ’70s he was a Section Head in the Networks Directorate and in the ’80s he was assigned to the Mission Operations Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate prior to retiring.
• Cornelis (Neil) A. Gehrels, of Berwyn Heights, MD, passed away on February 6^th. Dr. Gehrels came to Goddard as an Astrophysicist in 1982 and was on its personnel rolls as Chief of the Astroparticle Laboratory in the Sciences & Exploration Directorate from 1995 to his passing. Among the myriad of notable missions on which he served as a Project Scientist or Investigator are the Fermi Gamma-ray Space Telescope, the SWIFT Gamma-ray Burst Explorer, the Wide-Field Infrared Survey Explorer, and the Compton Gamma-ray Observatory.
• David C. Gleason, of Bowie, MD, passed away on January 8^th. He was an Architect at Goddard from the early ’70s to the late ’90s and was assigned to the Facilities Engineering Division of the Administration & Management Directorate (organizational titles were changed to the Facilities Management Division of the Management Operations Directorate at some point in the ’80s).
• David J. Haykin, Jr, of Clarksville, MD, passed away on December 23, 2016. He was an Aeronautical Engineer who worked at Goddard from 1963 to his retirement in the early ’90s. In the ’60s, he was assigned to the Aeronomy & Meteorology Division of the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications and later transferred to the Orbiting Astronomical Observatory Project in the Projects Directorate. In the ’70s, he was assigned to the Atmosphere Explorer Project in the Projects Directorate and later for the Delta Project in the Flight Projects Directorate and later still worked for the Meteorological Satellite (METSAT) Project in the same directorate.
• Frederick (Fred) F. Kolb, of Pahrump, NV, passed away on January 31^st. He was an Aerospace Engineer at Goddard. Ye Ed was able to locate very little information regarding the time he spent at Goddard except for the fact that in the ’80s he was assigned to the Assurance Management & Test Policy Office in the Office of Flight Assurance.
• Solomon Levine, of Berlin, MD, passed away on November 30, 2016. He was an Engineer at Goddard who, in the ’60s, worked in the Network Engineering & Operations Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems and later in the STADAN Operations Division of the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. In the ’70s, he was assigned to the Network Operations Division of the Networks Directorate.
• Edward Radovich, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on August 14, 2016. Following his retirement from the military in 1968, he worked as a Systems Analyst at Goddard for 13 years in the Network Facilities & Services Division of the Networks Directorate.
• Phillip A. Sabelhaus, of Annapolis, MD, passed away on February 7^th. He was a Mechanical Engineer who came to Goddard in 1978 right after graduating from the University of Maryland and started out working in the Instrument Systems Analysis Branch under the Instrument Division of the Engineering Directorate. Phil left Goddard in 1981 to work for a contractor managing the integration of three communication satellites launched aboard Ariane launch vehicles from French Guinea. He returned to Goddard in 1985 to work on the Space Station Program and in 1989 transferred to the Flight Programs & Projects Directorate. Since 1990, Phil served, over time, as Deputy Project Manager of the Flight Telerobotic Servicer Development Test Flight; Project Manager of the Total Ozone Mapping Spectrometer; Deputy Project Manager of the Geostationary Operational Environmental Satellite (GOES) Project; Project Manager of the LANDSAT Project Office; Associate Director/Program Manager of the Earth Observing System Program Office; and Project Manager of the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) Project.
• Piers J. Sellers, of Washington, DC, passed away on December 23, 2016. Dr. Sellers, a British citizen, came to Goddard as a Meteorologist and Climate Researcher in 1982. For the next 14 years he was involved with constructing computer models of the global climate system, interpreting satellite data, and conducting field experiments. He became a US citizen in 1991 and was selected as an astronaut in 1996. He made three trips to the International Space Station (2002, 2006, and 2010) and returned to Goddard from Houston in 2011 to serve as the Deputy Director of the Sciences & Exploration Directorate and Chief of its Earth Science Division.
• Robert (Bob) F. Warren, Jr., of Bryantown, MD, passed away on January 17^th. He was a Procurement Manager in the ’60s and then transferred to the new Department of Energy when it was created in the mid-70s. He later transferred to NASA Headquarters and became the Director of Administrative Operations prior to retiring in 1993.