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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our principal August speaker was Christopher J. Scolese, Goddard Center Director. Mablelene Burrell, Goddard’s Education Program Manager who coordinates over 400 interns (most during the summer months) attended the luncheon along with 20 interns and some of their mentors. The interns are undergraduate and graduate students from universities throughout the country (from as far away as Washington State and as near as the University of Maryland) who are majoring in several branches of Engineering, Computer Science, Astrophysics, Business, Communications, Finance and Mathematics. They introduced themselves and their mentors and described the exciting work they are experiencing at Goddard. We thanked Steve Messer, who is retiring from the American Legion Post, for his efforts in accommodating GRAA members and guests at luncheons over the years. Carolyn Ng, Education Specialist representing the Heliophysics Science Division, joined us as well and provided all attendees with a map and special glasses for viewing the solar eclipse on August 21^st.

Chris’ presentation contrasted the way Goddard was when it first began to the way it is now – from blackboards to hyperwalls, and how mission design, testing, launch activities, spacecraft operations and data processing have dramatically changed. He showed photos of the 1959 Greenbelt campus and described how Goddard now includes facilities in several states, including the Wallops Flight Facility in Virginia, the Goddard Institute for Space Studies in New York, the Independent Verification & Validation Facility in West Virginia, the White Sands Test Facility in New Mexico, and, most recently, the Columbia Scientific Balloon Facility in Texas. Chris also traced Goddard’s communications history from radio frequency days to the optical communications needed for today’s ever-increasing data requirements.

In the area of Earth Science, from TIROS to Landsat to GOES-R, the constellation of NASA spacecraft have been instrumental in improving agriculture and predicting natural disasters. Chris noted that without spacecraft data, hurricane Sandy would have been predicted to miss New York. Upcoming Earth Science missions include JPSS-1, ICESat-2, and GRACE-FO.

Goddard’s contributions to Planetary exploration include LRO, which measured erosion of the Apollo 17 lunar landing site; the SAM instrument on the Curiosity rover, which analyses Mars soil and atmosphere; the MAVEN mission, which samples Mars upper atmosphere; and OSIRIS-Rex, which will rendezvous with a comet and bring back the first solid sample since the lunar rocks of the Apollo days. Lastly, the Lucy mission will study primordial material found in the Trojan belt asteroids that formed the outer planets.

Chris described Heliophysics missions from SOHO to SDO, and the upcoming ICON, GOLD, and Solar Probe Plus missions. He mentioned that for the first time within the US, the DSCOVR spacecraft (located at the L1 point) will capture the moon casting its shadow during the August eclipse.

In the Astrophysics arena, Chris highlighted COBE, WMAP, and HST discoveries and mentioned the upcoming missions: JWST (October 2018 launch) and TESS, which will survey nearby exoplanets for JWST to investigate.

Chris closed by showing a video that showcases the people of Goddard who have the opportunity to work in all of these areas and also thanked Goddard alumni for laying the foundation on which Goddard now stands.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• Adolph Goodson, of Washington, DC, passed away on April 24^th. He started working at Goddard in the early ’60s and was first assigned to the Data Systems Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems and shortly thereafter was reassigned to the Computation Division of the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. In the early ’70s he moved to the Advanced Data Systems Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate. In the early ‘80s he was transferred to the Networks Control Center Division of the Networks Directorate and in the late ’80s was reassigned to the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate, remaining there until he retired in the mid ’90s.
• Han-Shou Liu, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on July 1^st. He was a Geophysicist/Space Researcher at Goddard starting in the mid-’60s in the Theoretical Division of the Office of Space Science & Satellite Applications which shortly thereafter changed its title to the Laboratory for Theoretical Studies in the Space Sciences Directorate. In the early ’70s he transferred to the Trajectory Analysis & Geodynamics Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate. In the early ’80s he worked in the Earth Survey Applications Division in the Applications Directorate and from the late ’80s until the mid 2000s was assigned to the Laboratory for Extraterrestrial Physics in the Earth Sciences Directorate. His last assignment prior to retiring was in the Planetary Geodynamics Laboratory in the Solar System Exploration Division of the Sciences & Exploration Directorate.
• Walter F. Truszkowski, of Hyattsville, MD, passed away on July 13^th. He was a Mathematician/Computer Scientist at Goddard and started in the mid ’60s working in the Data Systems Division and later the Computation Division of the Office of Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. In the early ’70s, he was reassigned to the Mission Operations Division of the Mission & Data Operations Directorate and reassigned in the early ’80s through the late ’90s to the Data Systems Technology Office/ Division of the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate. From the late ’90s until retiring with 47 years of service at Goddard he was assigned as a Senior Technologist to the Advanced Architectures & Automation Branch in the Information Systems Center of the Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate.
• Said W. Zewari, of Columbia, MD, passed away on July 2^nd. He was hired as a Mechanical Engineer at Goddard in the late ’80s and first was assigned to the Mechanical Systems Division of the Engineering Directorate through the late ’90s. Due to a reorganization in about 1999, he was reassigned to the Mechanical Systems Center of the Applied Engineering & Technology Directorate and remained there until he retired.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER: On September 29^th, 1962, a Thor-Agena B rocket launched the Alouette 1 spacecraft from Vandenberg Air Force Base, CA. Alouette 1 was part of a joint US-Canadian scientific program with the purpose of using over 700 different radio frequencies to investigate the properties of the top of the ionosphere. The launch made Canada the third nation, after the USSR and the US, to design and construct its own satellite. There was no tape recorder, so data were available only from the vicinity of telemetry located near Hawaii, Singapore, Australia, Europe, and Central Africa. The mission lasted 10 years and spacecraft operations were terminated in September 1972. Alouette 1 has remained in orbit for nearly 55 years.

TREASURER’S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from: William Adams, Elaine Blazosky, Donald Crosby, Robert Cummings, Ray Hartenstein, Elizabeth Jay, Shirley Keehn. John Lyons, William McGunigal, John Moore, Michael Moore (Commander, American Legion Post #136), Robert Pincus, Lawrence Pratt, George Roach, and Patricia Wolsh (in memory of John Wolsh).

THOUGHT FOR SEPTEMBER: Today’s children don’t realize how easy they have it! When Ye Ed was young, he had to walk 9 feet through shag carpeting to change the TV channel.