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

IMPORTANT DATES

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE, GRAA PRESIDENT: Our August luncheon speaker was Dr. Aki Roberge, a scientist from the Exoplanets & Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory of the Sciences & Exploration Directorate. Her presentation, entitled “Toward Earth 2.0: Exoplanets and Future Space Telescope,” described where we are in discovering exoplanets and what it would take to find a planet similar to our Earth. Dr. Roberge mentioned that when she was in college twenty years ago, it was not known that exoplanets (planets around other stars) even existed, but now there are almost 4000 confirmed exoplanets and scientists predict that there is about one planet for every star in the universe. Exoplanets come in a variety of sizes and shapes, i.e., more than the smaller rocky planets and large gaseous planet that are in our solar system. Most of the recent discoveries have been by the Kepler spacecraft, which detected exoplanets by using the transit method, which is by measuring the light from a star and seeing the intensity of that light decrease in a prescribed manner when a planet periodically passes in front of the star. From these observations we know, at best, the planet’s mass, size, and orbit, but cannot really tell its composition. We need to use spectroscopy to determine what these planets and their atmospheres are made of, but so far we have only been able to do transit spectroscopy, a relatively crude process which cannot probe deep enough into the planet’s atmosphere to determine its composition. The next step is the James Webb Space Telescope, which will also use the transit method to probe the atmospheres of larger planets to a greater extent, but will still not be able to measure Earth-size planets with heavy atmospheres.

When astronomers search for life they are not looking for people like us per se, but are looking for global biospheres with atmospheres that are changing due to evolution of life forms. Last year, the Trappist-1 discovery of seven Earth-size planets orbiting a red dwarf star captured the imagination of the world, but was detected using the transit method and was unable to determine any atmospheric information. The next advancement in the search for Earth 2.0 will use the direct detection method and a star suppression technique to detect energy from a planet the intensity of which is one billionth of the star that it orbits and is located at a very small angle from that star relative to the observer. The WFIRST project is developing a coronagraph technology demonstration that is advancing the technology of star suppression techniques using masks and active wavefront technology (deformable mirrors and other wavefront control techniques) to keep the wavefront of the received signal as stable as possible. Even at its best, the WFIRST system will only be able to perform spectroscopy on larger, farther out planets. However, it will be a major step toward the detection of Earth-like planets around sun-like stars. NASA is studying two missions, LUVOIR and HabEx (to be launched in the late 2030s), for consideration by the next National Academy decadal survey committee, which will use larger telescopes, advanced star suppression techniques, and the spectroscopy capable of finding an Earth 2.0.

Dr. Roberge closed her presentation by stating that the search for life will call on all elements of science as it transitions from physics to chemistry to biology. This effort will involve all of NASA’s science programs, including Space Weather (will the planet be habitable or will its atmosphere be stripped off), Earth Science (as a template for all measurements, Mars (a test case for the outer boundary of habitable zones), and Solar System (oceans containing alternate signs of life) all leading to the potential for finding life on ExoEarths.

TREASURER'S REPORT: Treasurer Jackie Gasch received tax-deductible donations from Ronald Britner (in memory of Mac Grout), Stanley Chan, David Hepler, Mary Knoll (in memory of John Knoll), William McGunigal, E.G. Stassinpoulos, Barbara Sweeney, and Thomas Underwood.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES – IT HAPPENED IN SEPTEMBER: On September 8, 2016, an Atlas V rocket launched the OSIRIS-REx (Origins, Spectral Interpretation, Resource Identification, Security, Regolith Explorer) from Cape Canaveral, FL. Its mission is to study asteroid 101955 Bennu, a carbonaceous asteroid, and return a sample to Earth on or about September 24, 2023, for detailed analysis. The material returned is expected to enable scientists to learn more about the formation and evolution of the Solar System, its initial stages of planet formation, and the source of organic compounds that led to the formation of life on Earth. After traveling for about two years, the spacecraft plans to rendezvous with the asteroid in December 2018 and begin 505 days of surface mapping, results which will be used to select the site from which to take a sample from the asteroid’s surface. Then a close approach will be attempted using a robotic arm to gather the material and return it to Earth to be processed.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

• William H. Anonsen, of Harwood, MD, passed away on July 31^st. He started working at Goddard in ’63 in the Space Data Acquisition Division and was soon moved to the Data Systems Division and then again to the Information Processing Division, all the Office of Tracking & Data Systems), when its name was changed in ‘65 to the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate. He continued working in the same division, but in ’69 the directorate name was changed again to the Mission & Data Operations Directorate. One additional name change occurred in ’85 when it became the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate until he retired at the end of ’91.
• Gerald W. Longanecker, of Crofton, MD, passed away on August 17^th. He came to Goddard and was first assigned to the Payload Systems Division of the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications under the auspices of the Assistant Center Director. In ’65 he was reassigned to the Spacecraft Integration & Sounding Rocket Division of the Technology Directorate and was reassigned to the Explorers Projects of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in ’74 he became IUE Project Manager in the Projects Directorate (which later changed its name to Projects Management Directorate) and later still to Flight Projects Directorate. In ’77 he became Project Manager for both IUE and COBE, but when IUE was launched that was dropped from being his responsibility. In ’81 he became the TIROS Project Manager and became METSATS Project Manager in ’83 through ’87. In ’88 he became Director of the Flight Project Directorate and retired about a year later.
• Chesley H. (Ches) Looney, Jr. , of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on August 19^th. He came to Goddard in ’59 as an Electrical Engineer when Project Vanguard was transferred from the Naval Research Laboratory to NASA and was Associate Chief of Advanced Development at Goddard until ’66. In ’67 he became Chief of the Computation Division in the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate until ’73 when he became Chief of the Mission Operations Computing Center (which changed its name to the Mission Operations Computer Division in ’76). In ’77 he was reassigned to the AST/SRT National Needs Office of the Engineering Directorate until ’79 when he became Assistant Director of Facilities and Equipment in the Engineering Directorate until retiring in ’83, but returned to Goddard later to work for Goddard contractors over numerous years.
• Richard G. Mulligan, of Silver Spring, MD, passed away on July 27^th. He came to Goddard shortly after its inception and worked in the Organization & Personnel Division under the Assistant Center Director of Business Administration until transferring to NASA Headquarters in ’63 as a senior personnel executive.
• Douglas H. Rose, Jr., of Ellicott City, MD, passed away on August 12^th. He came to Goddard in ’63 as a Mathematician and was initially assigned to the Data Systems Division in the Office of Tracking & Data Systems through ’68 (which later changed its name to the Tracking & Data Systems Directorate). He then transferred to the Computation Division and in ’73 transferred to the Operations Support Computing Division in the Mission & Data Operations Directorate through ’79 and then transferred to the same division in the Networks Directorate in ’81 through ’85 when he transferred to the Flight Dynamics Division in the Mission Operations & Data Systems Directorate, where he remained until retiring in ’97.
• William J. Smith, of Greenville, SC, passed away on April 29^th. He came to Goddard in ’67 as an Electrical Engineer and was assigned to the OAO Project in the Projects Directorate until ’73. His following assignment was in the Quality Assurance Division of the Systems Reliability Directorate (which changed its name to the Office of Flight Assurance) in ’77 and in ’82 he transferred to the Systems Review Office in the Office of Flight Assurance. He retired in ’88 and then returned to work for Goddard contractors for several more years.
• Richard M. (Morg) Windsor, of Millersville, MD, passed away on August 9^th. He came to Goddard about ’61 and was initially assigned to the Space Sciences Division of the Office of Space Sciences & Satellite Applications through ’65 and he then transferred to the Spacecraft Integration and Sounding Rocket Division of the Technology Directorate. Then in ’70 he transitioned to the Sounding Rocket Division of the Space Applications & Technology Directorate and in ’74 he remained in the same division, but moved to the Engineering Directorate until in ’79 he transferred to the Instrument Division until ’87 when he transferred to the Office of Flight Assurance and served as Assistant Director for Operations and retired in ’90.

THOUGHT FOR SEPTEMBER: A retiree mentioned to Ye Ed recently that a policeman came to his house one day last month, asked him where he was between 5 and 6, and seemed quite irritated when the GRAA member responded - “Kindergarten!”