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

IMPORTANT DATES

July 12

Lori Perkins of Goddard’s Science Visualization Studio will give an encore performance of her talk, “Visualizing NASA’s Science Results and Why it Matters”. We were unable to show the spectacular videos produced by SVS due to equipment problems in Lori’s talk last year, so we have invited her back. These big-screen dramatic videos make many of our hard-won scientific findings available to scientists and the public around the world.

August 9

See next month’s newsletter for the August speaker.

COMMENTS FROM TONY COMBERIATE AND ARLIN KRUEGER:

Our June luncheon speaker was Dr. James Garvin, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center Chief Scientist, a Goddard Fellow, and Principal Investigator on the Deep Atmosphere Venus Investigation of Noble gases, Chemistry, and Imaging (DAVINCI) mission. His talk, entitled “Sounding the Venus Atmosphere with DAVINCI” described this first Goddard-operated in-situ planetary mission. The name commemorates Leonardo da Vinci’s far-reaching concepts 500 years ago. It is designed to resolve some basic questions about “Earth’s evil twin,” such as: Why did the evolutionary paths of Venus and Earth diverge? Did Venus ever have oceans? Was it ever habitable?

Venus’ atmosphere contains chemical fossil records of the planet’s climate evolution and habitability. What we now know is that Venus’ atmosphere is 96.5% carbon dioxide, its surface temperature is hot enough to melt lead at 860℉, the surface pressure is 90 times greater than Earth, it has 30 km thick corrosive sulfuric acid clouds and strong, westward cloud-level winds, faster than the retrograde rotation rate of the planet. However, little is known about the atmosphere below the clouds and the abundance of key molecular species.

The DAVINCI probe is in a titanium aeroshell designed to aerobrake in the Venus upper atmosphere, then jettison its heat shield around 67 km (42 miles) above the surface where a parachute will initially decelerate the probe to ingest atmospheric gas samples, then free fall for the last 30 km (100,000 ft) in the very dense Venus lower atmosphere. The probe carries a suite of seven instruments working together to characterize the atmosphere and surface rock types. During its hour-long descent to the surface, the probe will measure noble gas abundances, the mixing ratios of water and sulfur species, the deuterium to hydrogen ratio, carbon, isotopes of oxygen and sulfur, as well as pressure, temperature, and the partial pressure of oxygen (a student experiment). A measurement of Xe isotopes, in particular, will discriminate between different models of the origin and evolution of Venus. The deuterium-to-hydrogen ratio can inform us about how much water Venus once had and where it came from. Recent speculation about life on Venus centers on the detection of phosphine in its atmosphere. This probe could resolve the issue. The probe will take many images at UV and near-IR wavelengths to discriminate surface rock types after it drops below the clouds. It will touch down in the Alpha Regio mountains, perhaps resolving the question of whether sedimentary rocks exist.

DAVINCI challenges our engineers and scientists because it has just one shot at collecting a huge amount of complex data from millions of miles away and successfully relaying it back to Earth. It will relay its data to the mother spacecraft in real-time since survival on the surface is not a mission requirement.

Jim mentioned that no previous mission within the Venus atmosphere has measured the chemistry or environments at the detail that DAVINCI’s probe can do and no previous Venus mission has descended over the tesserae highlands of Venus, and none have imaged the Venus surface from aloft. It is planned for launch in June 2029, first collecting remote sensing data on two gravity-assist Venus flybys, and a third fly-by to set up conditions for injecting the entry probe into the Venusian atmosphere in June 2031. The data will inform us on how stellar evolution governs climate and holds clues as to how stable planet habitability is in our solar system and forms a basis for studying exoplanet habitability. DAVINCI will build on what the Huygens probe did at Titan and improve on what previous in situ Venus missions have done, but with 21st-century capabilities and sensors. Jim is excited about the DAVINCI mission’s ability to close the many gaps in our knowledge of Venus and he looks forward to sharing that data with the Goddard community in the years to come.

REMEMBERING OUR FORMER COLLEAGUES:

Jackson Rea Herring, 90, passed away peacefully on Thursday May 26th, 2022 in Boulder, Colorado after a brief illness. He was born on October 2, 1931, in Louisville, Kentucky. Jack received his PhD from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill in 1959 in Nuclear Physics and then began his career at Goddard. The family moved to the foothills of Boulder, Colorado in 1972 where Jack was an Advanced Study Program (ASP) visitor at National Center for Atmospheric Research (NCAR) for one year before he began permanent work there as a Senior Scientist until his retirement in 1998. During his time at NCAR he published extensively in atmospheric science and turbulence theory. Jack's research influenced atmospheric and oceanic sciences, and the geophysical fluid dynamics communities at large in the 1970s, 80s and beyond. Jack worked on convection, two- and three-dimensional turbulence, intermittency, and direct and large-eddy simulation. Most important, Jack was known for his open-door policy and gentle manner.

Charles (Chuck) Albert Harris Jr., 92, passed away peacefully on May 28, 2022 with family by his side. Chuck was born on May 4, 1930 in Stockton, California. He graduated from Dunsmuir High School in 1948 and was very active and loved the outdoors; he climbed Mount Shasta twice and served as a lifeguard at the Dunsmuir Pool. He enlisted in the U.S. Army and graduated from Officer's Candidate School. Using the GI Bill, he earned a bachelor's degree from the University of California, Berkeley, in 1957. In 1962, Chuck was transferred to Fredericksburg, VA. Not long after, he accepted a position as an engineer to assist with the design and construction of Goddard’s new Magnetic Test Facility and moved to New Carrollton, MD in 1964 where he remained until his passing. He worked in the Magnetic Test Section and in the Environmental Test and Integration Branch in the Engineering Directorate and eventually as a contractor with NSI. He spent over 30 years at NASA and received numerous accolades for his significant contributions to the space program. Chuck remained active throughout his entire life, staying fit by running, biking, boating, scuba diving, and bowling, but what he enjoyed most of all was swimming. He swam and played water polo for the University of California and, while in the Army, he competed in the National Swimming Olympic Trials.

Donald W. Stanfill, 93, passed away peacefully at Brightview Senior Living in Severna Park, Maryland on Monday, May 30, 2022, surrounded by his wife of 67 years, and four children. Don was born January 20, 1929, in Louisa, Kentucky and attended the University of Kentucky under an ROTC scholarship. Don paused his college education to accept a commission in the United States Army as a 2nd lieutenant in Korea where he served with honor from 1953 to 1954. Following his service in Korea, Don returned to the University of Kentucky where he completed a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering. Don joined Goddard in 1963 and was the Programming Section Head in the Facilities Engineering Division and managed projects in the Engineering Services Division until retiring in 1994. The apex of his career was the design and construction of Goddard’s High Bay Clean Room, the largest clean room in the world. Following retirement from NASA he worked as a consultant for Jackson and Tull Chartered Engineers. His projects for J&T included overseeing the refurbishment of the National Science Foundation’s Scientific Stations in Antarctica. While in Antarctica, he had the once in a lifetime experience of visiting the South Pole.

Camillo “Charles” Jerry Arcilesi, 86, of Ocean City, Maryland died June 3, 2022 at Gull Creek Assisted Living in Berlin, MD. He was born in Baltimore, MD and is survived by his wife of 65 years. While living in Baltimore, he graduated from Baltimore Poly Tech and Johns Hopkins University. Charles enjoyed working in the space industry. He worked for NASA for 38 years as a project and program manager at Goddard, NASA headquarters, and Marshall Space Flight Center. After retiring from Goddard, he worked for Orbital Express, Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), where he was the chief engineer. In 2005, while working for DARPA, NASA chose him to be a board member for the Demonstration of Autonomous Rendezvous Technology (DART) Mishap Investigation Board which was tasked with determining why the spacecraft experienced a small-velocity collision with the no longer in use communications satellite with which it was programmed to rendezvous.

Robert (Bob) E. Davis, 101, died on June 4, 2022. Bob was born on February 5, 1921, in Oklahoma City. After graduating in 1942 from the University of Oklahoma with an electrical engineering degree, he took a civilian job with the Naval Research Laboratory in Washington, DC. Later, he served as an ensign in the Navy at the Laboratory's Chesapeake Bay Annex, working on projects to analyze captured enemy radar systems and to develop countermeasures to defeat them. Bob had a long aerospace career developing missile and satellite systems, leading to his pre-retirement job at Goddard planning Space Shuttle missions to repair NASA satellites. Bob was passionate about the sport of tennis, achieving the level of Master Professional and, in 2016, he was inducted into the US Professional Tennis Association's Mid-Atlantic Hall of Fame. Wherever he worked and lived, Bob left a trail of tennis courts that he designed and built. In his nineties, Bob became an author and published a book detailing the design and construction of his personal back yard tennis court. Then last year, at age 100, he published Follow My Path, a book about his engineering career intended as a mentoring guide for young people starting their careers.

Donna Helen (McAfee) Provost, 76, died peacefully, surrounded by family, on June 7, 2022 after battling Alzheimer's disease for several years. Donna was born in Seat Pleasant, MD. Donna graduated from Annapolis High School in 1963. She dedicated her life to her husband, children and grandchildren. She met her husband, David, while working as an administrative assistant at NASA. She supported him tirelessly as he traveled the world building satellite stations and robots for Goddard and travelled with him to New Zealand and Japan. Donna was kind, loving and loyal to all those who knew her.

Robert (Bob) James Mackey, Jr., 101 died peacefully at his home in Titusville, Florida on June 7, 2022. He is survived by his wife of 38 years, Patricia (Pat). Bob’s career in the air and space field spanned more than 30 years. After graduating from the University of Pittsburgh in 1943, he worked as a Radio Engineer for the Naval Air Material Center in Philadelphia, PA. In 1946, he moved to Washington, DC, as an Electronics Engineer for the Naval Research Laboratory (NRL). Later, he became the Head of the Vanguard Electronics Instrumentation Branch/Florida Operations for the Vanguard Project. In 1958, Bob joined the newly formed National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) at Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) where he was a Project Manager and later Head of the Communications Satellite Branch. From 1965 until his retirement in 1972, Bob held several high-level positions in the Space Applications and Technology Directorate, including Deputy Director. Bob also served on a number of NASA, government, and international committees. After retirement in 1972, he provided consulting services for several years on Comsat and communication satellite programs as well as serving on spacecraft study/review teams and committees. His name can be found on the National Air and Space Museum’ s Wall of Honor as an Air and Space Leader.

William “Bill” T. Tallant, 86, of Crofton, Maryland died on Thursday June 9, 2022. Bill was born in McKenzie, Alabama on December 19, 1935 and attended Auburn University, graduating in 1958 with a degree in Engineering. Soon afterward, he relocated to Maryland, and had a long, distinguished career at Goddard, retiring in 2002. While working at Goddard, Bill worked on numerous projects, including the Solar Maximum Repair Mission, which was the first mission ever to perform a repair of a satellite in space, and the Upper Atmosphere Research Satellite (UARS), which could closely observe the earth’s upper atmosphere. In his free time, he enjoyed playing golf and bridge, and following local and Auburn University sports teams. He also enjoyed going on many cruises with his wife, Marguerite.

Louis (Lou) John Demas, 80, of Newburg, MD passed away due to complications from amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, on June 10, 2022. Lou was born in November 1943 in Washington, DC. In 1966, after graduating from the University of Maryland with a BS in Mechanical Engineering, he began a long and illustrious career with NASA. Working at Goddard in the Structural Dynamics Branch, he was involved in the development, integration and testing of spacecraft subsystems and instruments for numerous space science missions while pursuing his Masters in Engineering Administration from George Washington University. In 1976 he was the Space Shuttle Payload Programs Flight Awareness Manager and his career transferred to NASA headquarters, where he was the manager of the Office of Space Terrestrial Applications (OSTA) Shuttle Payloads flown on STS-2 (Space Transportation System-2) and he went on to become the Program Manager of OSTA-3 and Space Lab 2. In 1988, he became the Chief of Flight Programs in the Space Physics Division responsible for Combined Radiation Release Satellite (CRRES), Wind Polar, SOHO and NASA's suborbital program. He was the Senior Program Executive in the Payloads Management Division responsible for all scientific missions at Goddard, Marshall and the Applied Physics Laboratory (APL). These missions included the Hubble Space Telescope, Explorer Programs, CHANDRA, Gravity Probe B, Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) the first mission ever to go into orbit around an asteroid, and Thermosphere - Ionosphere - Mesosphere - Energetics and Dynamics (TIMED). After retiring from NASA in 1997, he went on to become Chair of an Independent Review Team for Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) with Science Applications International Corporation (SAIC). He worked on Deep Impact, a NASA space probe successfully launched to study the interior of the Comet Tempel-1 and Dawn, a NASA spacecraft that was the first spacecraft to orbit the Asteroid Belt.

Robert E. Spearing, 82, passed away on Tuesday, 14 June 2022 in Alexandria VA. He worked at Cooper’s Island tracking station in Bermuda, where he was born, before obtaining a degree in electrical engineering from Clarkson University and began his NASA career in 1962 as a Junior Engineer in Space Communications in Goddard’s Networks Directorate. He was the Ranging Systems Section Head in the Networks Directorate RF Systems Branch. He became the TDRS Associate Deputy Project Manager, Ground Segment in the 1970s before becoming the Network Division Chief in 1985. He then became the Director of Mission Operations and Data Systems in 1986. Bob left NASA for private industry for 10 years before returning to NASA HQ as the Deputy Associate Administrator of Space Communications from 1998 until his retirement in 2007. He was recognized for his accomplishments with a number of awards including NASA’s outstanding leadership medal and its distinguished service medal. After leaving NASA, he became an independent consultant in space communications for several years and served on a National Science Foundation (NSF) U.S. Antarctic Program Blue Ribbon Panel. Bob was predeceased by his daughter Melissa, who he supported in her equestrian interests, as groom and coach. Bob enjoyed skating and running marathons.

FROM THE GODDARD ARCHIVES — IT HAPPENED IN JULY:

July 23, 1972, ERTS-A was launched on a Delta rocket. Bill Nordberg conceived the Earth Resources Technology Satellite program that later became the very successful Landsat series.

TREASURER’S REPORT:

Treasurer Jackie Gasch received a tax-deductible donation from Paul Hwang.