National Aeronautics and Space Administration
Goddard Space Flight Center
Greenbelt, Maryland/Wallops Island, Virginia
April 13, 2001
The Goddard News is published weekly by the Office of Public Affairs, Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD 20771
Director's All Hands Scheduled for Tuesday, April 17
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| Dr. Campbell |
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| Dr. Torres |
Goddard employees are invited to attend the next Director's All Hands meeting, scheduled for Tuesday, April 17, in the building 8 auditorium at 1 p.m. This month's meeting will begin a new series for all employee that focuses on accomplishments, current work, challenges, and future opportunities. The April event includes Flight Programs and Project Directorate and the Suborbital and Special Orbital Projects Directorate.
Wallops employees can view the presentations on Goddard TV Channel 6 and IV&V employees can view the presentation and ask questions in the VITS conference room 225B. All Goddard employees are encouraged to attend. A sign language interpreter will be available.
NASA's
Fiscal Year 2002 Budget Released
NASA released details of the President's FY 2002 for NASA this week. The budget provides a two percent increase in funding for NASA and includes strong support for the Space Launch Initiative and for improving aviation safety, space science programs, Earth sciences and for space shuttle safety improvements. The President has challenged NASA to examine its priorities to ensure that the workforce and institutions are most effectively focused on those key efforts that are most important to moving the country forward in the pursuit of science and technology discoveries. The FY 2002 budget draws on NASA's strengths in engineering and science and reflects the revolutionary insights and capabilities on the horizon in areas such as biotechnology, nanotechnology, and information technology.
For the full story, go to http://www.nasa.gov/budget/budget2002_index.html
Sun Takes
Another Solar Shot, This Time At Earth
An angry Sun fired off another powerful X-class flare Tuesday, April 10. X-class flares are the most powerful classification, and this flare, rated X-2, was the most recent in a series that included one of the most powerful solar blasts in 25 years.
An eruption of electrified gas, called a Coronal Mass Ejection, or CME, was observed shortly after Tuesday's flare, and it is heading our way. Depending on the orientation of the magnetic field carried by the CME cloud, it may cause a magnetic storm when it impacts the Earth's own magnetic field.
Tuesday's flare which, was observed by the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA's Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE) occurred at 1:25 a.m. EDT and came from a region on the Sun designated active region 9415. This region is rotating with the Sun and currently points towards Earth. Active region 9415 includes a sunspot group and has generated three X-class flares this month, including an X-5 flare on April 6.
For the complete details, go to: ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-071.txt
Terrie Williams to Present at Today's Scientific Colloquium
Terrie Willliams of Univ. of Calif., Santa Cruz is today’s Scientific Colloquium speaker. Her topic is "Deep Diving Strategies of Marine Mammals." Her talk describes how energy saving mechanisms differ between surface horizontal swimming and deep diving activities in free-ranging marine mammals from the blue whale to the Weddell seal hunting under the Antarctic sea ice.
The colloquium is at 3:30 p.m. in the bldg. 3 auditorium. For information about the scientific colloquia, go to: http://scicolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Engineering Competition to Host Earth Observing System
Each year, Goddard hosts an Engineering Competition, which highlights applied engineering involved in a selected mission. This mission is a part of the four enterprises that comprise the scope of missions at Goddard Space Flight Center: Earth Science, Space Science, Aerospace Technology, and Human Exploration and Development of Space.
This year, we are proud to host the Earth Observing System (EOS) programs flagship satellite - the Terra spacecraft. Terra’s mission objective is to measure climate and environmental changes all over the earth. Using Terra’s data, scientists around the world will study our home planet to better understand the causes and effects of climatic change and to distinquish between natural changes and those that are caused by humans. These data sets will help us to prevent or lessen the impact of natural disasters (such as floods, droughts severe storms, or volcanic eruptions). Scientists will use the data to develop predictive computer models that will help forecast climate changes years or even decades before they happen.
Because of the harsh environment that Terra functions in, namely being exposed to extreme hot and cold temperature shifts while continually being bombarded by cosmic radiation, it increases the possibilities that the performance of the satellites onboard remote sensors will be seriously compromised. Terra’s calibration strategy is critical to the success of the mission. At all times, scientists must know precisely how well the satellite’s sensors are performing and to what degree is their margin of error before they can determine how accurately it is measuring changes on Earth and not on the spacecraft.
This challenge will test the ability of a team of students to visualize the precise timing and mechanics of Terra’s on-orbit calibration attitude maneuvers so the spacecraft’s sensors can view the moon and deep space.
Over its lifetime, the International Space Station (ISS) will travel more than a billion miles, and NASA Goddard will help steer the way. Goddard is providing the Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver firmware (software directly built into the circuitry of a microchip) to be used as part of the navigation equipment on ISS in a partnership with industry and the Space Station Program office at the Johnson Space Center.
"Space Station is orbiting Earth at more that 17,000 miles per hour, so you can't just fly a typical sporting goods store GPS receiver," said Jim Simpson, lead test engineer for the GPS system within the Guidance, Navigation and Control Center (GNCC) at Goddard. "Due to its speed, the ISS GPS receiver has to acquire GPS satellites much more rapidly than ground or airborne systems. In addition to identifying the ISS location, our GPS receiver also determines the attitude (pointing) of the ISS, something GPS was not originally designed to accommodate."
"The Space Station's speed significantly changes the GPS satellite transmission frequency due to the Doppler effect," added Dr. Charles Campbell, also of the GNCC. "The Doppler is much greater than what standard GPS receivers experience - finding the correct frequency for a standard GPS receiver is like finding a dollar bill hidden somewhere in an average room. For the ISS receiver, it's as if the dollar is hidden in a house with one tenth of the time to find it."
Chief architect and programmer for the GPS attitude determination software, Dr. Glenn Lightsey, formerly of the GNCC and now at the University of Texas at Austin comments, "GPS development has reached the point of maturity to provide not only reliable timing and navigation information to the scientists and spacecraft operators but also knowledge of pointing in one sensor. This technology milestone is a culmination of almost a decade of research and development. This innovation has other far-reaching implications in the cost and operation of all future spacecraft operating near Earth."
"Goddard's GNCC has a long tradition of providing the science and space communities with state-of-the-art GPS systems. Together with industry and academia, we are truly giving the space community better and cheaper means of meeting mission success which was not possible just 5 years ago," said Frank Bauer, Chief of the Guidance, Navigation, and Control Center. He also adds, "We are very excited by the challenges presented to us by future formation flying missions which involve orbits that fly well above the GPS constellation, where the GPS signals are few and very hard to detect."
The Global Positioning System is a twelve billion dollar constellation of 24 navigation satellites placed into orbits approximately 12,560 miles high by the United States Air Force. GPS receivers determine accurate locations on the ground, in the air and in low-Earth orbits when they receive transmissions from the GPS satellites and compute the distance to them. Except for the poles, at least five GPS satellites are visible from any given place on the globe; distances to four are needed to determine precise location.
Even with the extensive customization provided by Goddard and its partners, the GPS system will be approximately three to four times less expensive than other navigation aids traditionally used for space flight, such as star trackers. "A star tracker is the Ferrari of navigation," said Simpson. "Each used to be custom-built for its spacecraft, and it provides a very accurate source of attitude knowledge. However, not all applications require that level of precision. GPS provides very good results for a lot less money. It's like commuting with a minivan instead of a high-end Lexus."
ISS is currently being piloted by the Russians, who are navigating with a satellite constellation similar to GPS called GLONASS. This GLONASS receiver can track both GLONASS and GPS signals but is not designed to determine spacecraft attitude. The Russians are also using a star tracker, sun sensors, horizon sensors, and magnetometers. When the four GPS antennas are delivered by the Space Shuttle to the ISS in early 2002 on Assembly Flight 8a, the ISS will transition to GPS navigation, with GLONASS as backup. The GPS receiver assembly has already been installed on the ISS, and the antennas are on the center section of a 300-foot long truss that will connect to massive solar panels; the section is designated Integrated Truss Structure S0. The GPS receiver is part of a larger navigation assembly called the Space Integrated Global Positioning System/Inertial Navigation System (SIGI), which includes laser gyroscopes that measure changes in orientation. Since the gyroscopes just measure the change in orientation, the GPS receiver is used to find the initial location as a reference. The GPS receiver also provides location updates because the gyros tend to drift, or accumulate small errors, over time.
Goddard provided the software necessary to customize the GPS receiver for use on the Space Station, which included the code to compute orientation, called attitude determination, and the command and data handling code. Goddard also performed extensive testing to ensure the system was reliable enough for human space flight. Trimble Navigation, Sunnyvale, California, provided the GPS receiver hardware, which is normally used on military aircraft. Both organizations are subcontracted to Honeywell, Inc., Clearwater, Florida, which provided the entire SIGI assembly to the Space Station Program office at JSC.
For images and the related story, refer to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/GSFC/technology/issgps/issgps.htm
For more information about the SIGI, refer to: http://www.futureshuttle.com/conference/Avionics/Majure.htm
NASA Carbon Cycle Science Initiative Held at Goddard
The NASA Carbon Cycle Initiative Team held its second workshop last month, here at Goddard. The goals of the workshop were to develop a set of proposed NASA activities to support the observational requirements defined in the first workshop. These observational requirements include atmospheric CO2 concentrations, land biomass and productivity, and air-sea CO2 fluxes. The activities defined in the second workshop included technology development leading to new missions and science support for achieving research goals. The research goals include i) quantifying global carbon sources and sinks ii) understanding processes underlying global carbon fluxes and iii) predicting carbon fluxes given future global change scenarios. The workshop was attended by members of the carbon science community and representatives from various NASA Centers (JPL, Ames, Kennedy), from NASA Headquarters and from other Federal Agencies (NOAA, DOE, USDA).
Candidate science missions and associated costs and timeliness for support and development were discussed. The Initiative Team is incorporating the input from the workshop into a plan and preparing for a third workshop to discuss the plan with the science community May 2-4 at GSFC.
GOES-M Arrives at KSC for Final Testing
The GOES-M environmental weather satellite, currently targeted for launch July 12, 2001, arrived this week by C-5 air cargo plane at the Kennedy Space Center's Shuttle Landing Facility from the manufacturing plant in Palo Alto, Calif.
GOES-M is the fifth and final spacecraft to be launched in the current advanced series of geostationary environmental weather satellites for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). The spacecraft is a three-axis inertial stabilized weather satellite that has the dual capability of providing pictures while performing Earth atmospheric soundings at the same time. A suite of space weather environment monitoring instruments, including a new solar x-ray imager, will also be aboard the satellite. Once in orbit GOES-M is to be designated GOES-12 and will complete checkout in time for the most active portion of the 2001 hurricane season.
The GOES-M satellite was built for NASA and NOAA by Space Systems/LORAL of Palo Alto, Calif. Goddard is responsible for the procurement of the GOES satellites for NOAA including final testing in Florida and the initial on-orbit checkout. NOAA is responsible for satellite operation, data distribution and management of the program.
For the complete press release, go to:
http://www-pao.ksc.nasa.gov/kscpao/release/2001/42-01.htmNASA Demonstrates How Earth's Global Heat Engine Drives Plant Growth
Scientists at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center have assembled the first long-term global data set that demonstrates the connection between changing patterns of sea surface temperature and patterns of plant growth across the Earth's landscapes. The results of their new study appear in the April 2001 issue of the Journal of Climate.
"For the first time, we can see patterns of climate variability reflected in land vegetation growth, globally, which was not possible before," states Sietse Los, the paper's lead author. "Until now, we haven't had a good data set to show us how vegetation changes over long periods of time."
Since land vegetation absorbs carbon dioxide from the atmosphere through the process of photosynthesis, which is ultimately released back to the atmosphere through decomposition and fires, the authors wanted to gain new insights into where there are large variations in plant growth. Such variations have implications for the spatial distribution of carbon sources and sinks, and how they change over time. Although seasonal variations in plant growth can be large, growth can also vary widely from one year to the next. Moreover, recent studies suggest that due to global warming the growing season is getting longer at higher latitudes, thereby increasing the ability of terrestrial plants to serve as a carbon sink.
For more details, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/GSFC/EARTH/ndvi/ndvi.htm
Saharan Dust "Cools" Climate Warming Estimates
Desert dust may slightly diminish estimates on how warm the world will become, based on findings of how much sunlight is absorbed by dust.
Scientists studying dust blowing off the Sahara Desert have found that dust particles absorb much less solar radiation than previously thought, reducing the amount of solar warming of the Earth's surface. These results appear in the April 15 issue of the American Geophysical Union's Journal of Geophysical Research Letters.
"Recent studies have suggested that desert dust absorbs 10-15 percent of the sunlight that hits the dust particles, in the visible to near infrared (IR) part of the solar spectrum," says lead author Yoram J. Kaufman of Goddard. "These studies have large uncertainties, and are based on old laboratory measurements of dust that were shown to be inaccurate. Our new results, produced with two independent sets of remote observations, found dust absorption to be 1-5 percent." This means that the Earth's surface receives less warmth in areas where dust lingers in the atmosphere, because that radiation is reflected back into space.
For more details, go to: http://www.gsfc.nasa.gov/GSFC/EARTH/sahara/dust.htm
The FIRST (For Inspiration and Recognition of Science and Technology) Robotics Competition is a highly regarded national engineering contest, which immerses high school students in the exciting world of engineering.
Teaming up with engineers from NASA, businesses and universities, students get a hands-on, inside look at the engineering profession. In six intense weeks, students and engineers work together to brainstorm, design, construct and test their "champion robot." The teams then compete in a spirited, no-holds-barred tournament complete with referees, cheerleaders and time clocks. The result is a fun, exciting and stimulating environment in which all participants discover the important connection between classroom lessons and real-world applications
GSFC is working with schools in Maryland and Pennsylvania in support of the 2001 FIRST Robotics Competition. Back in February, Goddard and Eleanor Roosevelt High School in Greenbelt hosted a team "Play Day." This allowed area schools to try out their robots and work out the bugs prior to shipping the first event.
Goddard sponsored eight high schools in the FIRST Robotic Competitions. All of these teams competed in a regional competition. This year seven of these teams went to the National Finals held at Epcot in Orlando Fla.
Linganore High School in Frederick, Md., attended the New York City Regional and finished 14th in their Rookie year. Ridgeway High School from Erie, Pa., attended the Philadelphia Regional where they finished 36th and the finals in Orlando where they finished 41st in their division. Parkville High School from Parkville, Md., attended the NASA Langley Regional where they finished 13th and made the finals. They also competed in the finals where they finished 67th in their division. Seneca Area High School from Erie, Pa., had a 36th place finish at the NASA Langley Regional and a 54th place finish in their division at the Nationals. Seneca Area High School was also a rookie team this year. Wm Penn High School from York, Pa., attended the NASA Langley Regional where they finished 61st and had a 73rd place finish at the Finals in Orlando. Corry High School from Corry, Pa., finished 29th at the NASA Langley regional and finished 30th at the finals in Orlando. Corry High School made the Archimedes division finals in Orlando. Montgomery Blair High School from Silver Spring, Md., had a 16th place finish at the NASA Langley Regional and impressive 8th place finish at the finals in Orlando. This finish assured them a spot in the Curie division finals. Eleanor Roosevelt High School had a 14th place finish at the NASA Langley Regional and finished 46th at the nationals in Orlando. This teams play enabled them to be chosen as a partner in the Galileo Division, where they went on to win that division. As the Galileo Division winners they competed for the national finals where they finished as runner up.
Goddard Space Flight Center was well represented in the special awards as Micah Garnett from Wm Penn High School won the Drexel University Scholarship. This scholarship is for $5,000 per year for 5 years to attend Drexel University. Eleanor Roosevelt High School was the "AutoDesk Award for Realization" Honorable Mention Award Winner. This award was for a 90 second computer-generated animation of their robot.
Stan Wojnar and Integration and Testing Branch staff, NASA Headquarters, NGST, HST, Triana, and MAP provided financial support of these teams this year.
Brown Name Associate Administrator for Public Affairs
NASA Administrator Daniel S. Goldin today named Jerry Brown, a senior corporate communications executive, as the Associate Administrator for Public Affairs, effective immediately.
Before joining NASA, Brown was vice president for Walls Communications, Inc., based in Washington, DC, where he served as senior counsel to the firm's Fortune 100 clients. Brown has more than twenty years experience in international, corporate and federal government communications.
"Jerry Brown has a distinguished track record of innovation and team building," said Administrator Goldin. "His diverse background and legacy of achievement will be important assets to this agency."
In 1992, Brown was appointed deputy director of the Office of External Affairs for the U.S. Agency for International Development for the Administration of President George Bush. In that capacity he managed press relations. Brown also served as the director of public affairs at the Federal Transit Administration for the U.S. Department of Transportation.
For more on Brown, go to:ftp://ftp.hq.nasa.gov/pub/pao/pressrel/2001/01-069.txt
National Window Safety Week is April 22-28, 2001, according and below are some window Safety tips.
1. Windows provide a secondary means of escape from a burning home. Determine your family’s emergency escape plan and practice it. Remember that children may have to rely on a window to escape in a fire. Help them learn to safely use a window under these circumstances.
2. When performing spring repairs, take care to make sure that your windows are not painted or nailed shut. You must be able to open them to escape in an emergency.
3. Keep your windows closed and locked when children are around. When opening windows for ventilation, open windows that a child cannot reach.
4. Set and enforce rules about keeping children’s play away from windows or patio doors. Falling through the glass can be fatal or cause serious injury.
5. Keep furniture - or anything children can climb - away from windows. Children may use such objects as a climbing aid.
6. If you have young children in your home and are considering installing window guards or window fall prevention devices, be aware that the window guards you install must have a release mechanism so that they can be opened for escape in a fire emergency. Consult your local fire department or building official to determine proper window guard placement.
7. Some homes may have window guards, security bars, grilles or grates already covering their windows. Those windows are useless in an emergency if the devices on them do not have a functioning release mechanism. Time is critical when escaping a fire. Time is critical when escaping a fire.
8. Insect screens are designed to provide ventilation and to keep insects out. They will not prevent a child’s fall.
9. The degree of injury sustained from a window fall can be affected by the surface on which the victim falls. Shrubs and soft edging like wood chips or grass beneath windows may lessen the impact if a fall does occur.
10. Supervision is the key to injury prevention for children.
Gamma Ray: The New York Times featured an article about the Gamma-Ray Meeting that was hosted by Goddard in Baltimore. A team of scientists, led by Robin Corbet, Code 660 presented their findings of two x-ray pulsars. In addition Space.com and Spaceflight Now.com also featured articles about the findings.
SOHO: The recent powerful solar flare that occurred this week was featured at Spaceflight Now.com. The solar flare was observed through the use of the Solar and Heliospheric Observatory (SOHO) and NASA’s Transition Region and Coronal Explorer (TRACE).
Lisa Goett, Daughter of First Center Director Speak of Her Father
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| Daughter of first Center Director, sharing her thoughts about her father at this year's 39th Goddard Memorial Symposium |
Thank you Dr. Diaz. I know that were our father alive today, he would feel quite humbled and awed by this dedication.
When our father became director of Goddard at age 48, he faced the challenging task of directing four separate groups that were not used toworking with each other as well as the responsibility of constructing the physical plant. Like starry masses of dust and gas, the N.A.C.A. and NASA were coalescing into what the agency would become today. By the end of our father's tenure, I was only nine years old and so my personal recollections of that time are scant; but I remember a book called Men of Space in which our father was included. In it, the author dubbed him "the maverick director of Goddard Space Flight Center." In trying to characterize our father, I keep coming back to that phrase because at its best it emphasizes and frames in a positive light the uncompromising spirit of idealism that lay at the heart of our father's personality and, I think, of scienticfic inquiry itself.
Our father never spoke about his career in terms of personal accomplishments; rather, he always spoke of the scientists and engineerswhose business was nothing less than to fathom the nature of the universe. At the heart of our father's motivation was a desire to create an optimal environment for this scientific endeavor. (Yes, it was important to reach the moon; but he thought it was even more important what one discovered once one got there.) One of the last conversations I ever had with him was on Christmas Eve, 1999, at the time of the third Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission. I remember asking my father to describe the mission. He responded with an almost childlike enthusiam; and after doing so, he said "That's Goddard!" Like Robert Goddard himself, our father might have said "It is difficult to say what is impossible, for the dream of yesterday is the hope of today and the reality of tomorrow." I believe that he would have taken great pride in this recognition, as he hoped that the configuration of Goddard's present and future was in part set by the precedent of the past's idealism.
Cinco de Mayo Celebration
What: From the people who bring you Paella Night is the first annual Goddard Hispanic Heritage Club Cinco de Mayo Fiesta. Come celebrate and enjoy carne asada (grilled steak), birria (Mexican chicken stew), rice, beans, tortillas, salad, dessert, and yes, cerveza mexicana (Mexican beer), along with music and dancing.
When/Where: On Friday, May 4 from 5:00 p.m. - 9:00 p.m. at the Goddard Recreation Center. Tickets are $10 and children under 12 are admitted free of charge.
For more info: Please contact Dan on x6-7913, Adan on x6-3295, Gab on x6-0129, or Gil or x6-2113. Tickets will be sold until Tuesday, May 1.
Spring Into a Healthy New
You at the NASA Goddard Annual Health Fair
What: Annual Health Fair. Over 30 presenters from local and national organizations will be represented. All employees and their family members are welcome. Topics will cover a wide variety of health and wellness issues, incorporating many interactive demonstrations and screenings.
When/Where: Tuesday, April 24, 2001 from 10:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. in the bldg. 8 auditorium.
For additional info: Contact the Health Unit at x6-6666.
Annual Small Business Conference
What Tentative topics for discussion will be Marketing Do’s and Don’ts, Legislative Updates, and an Open Forum with successful Goddard Small businesses.
When/Where The conference will be held on Thursday, May 24, 2001, blge 6, auditorium from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. The workshop session will be in bldg. 3 auditorium form 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. and from 1:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m.
For more info Olivia Gunter, conference Chairperson, X6-5460
Technology Showcase
What Goddard will be presenting its third Technology Showcase in June. This showcase will be similar to the 1998 showcase as it will be open to the GSFC community, academia, industry and other government organizations. As with the previous showcases, we hope to increase understanding about ongoing projects and resources at GSFC and to promote communications and networking among GSFC employees and our community partners in industry, academia and government.
When/Where June 14-15, 2001 This year, in conjunction with Public Affairs, we will be adding a third day to the Showcase to coincide with the Center's Open House on June 16, 2001. By doing so, the community will also get a chance to view the wealth of technology resources at Goddard. Please mark your calendars and plan to participate!
For more info If you are interested in participating please contact your directorate's committee representative, visit the website at: http://techshowcase.gsfc.nasa.gov. Committee representatives responsible for coordinating the directorate exhibits are as follows:
| Mike Delmont (300) x6-2428, | Jeff Houser (600) x6-1527 |
| Gregory Smith (400) x6-7737, | Carmel Conaty (700) x6-4267 |
| Dennis Andrucyk (500) x6-8776 | Craig Purdy (800) x7-2555 |
| Janet Jew (500) x6-5533, | Richard Lawrence (900) x6-9006. . |
Director’s Colloquium
Who: Stephen M. Dent, Founding Partner of The Partnership Continuum, Inc.
What: Will identify the attitudes, skill, competencies and actions needed to create long-term healthy partnerships.
When/Where: Wednesday, April 18, bldg. 3 auditorium at 10 a.m.
For more info:http://workforce.gsfc.nasa.gov/b2k.html
Scientific Colloquium
Who: William Hartmann, Planetary Science Institute
What: Will speak on "Recent Geological Activity on Mars"
When/Where: Friday, April 20 bldg. 3 auditorium at 3:30 p.m.
For more info: http://lheawww.gsfc.nasa.gov/users/djt/colloq/
Engineering Colloquium
Who: Michael E. Levi, Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
What: Will speak on " SNAP - Super Nova/Acceleration Probe."
When/Where: Monday, April 16, bldg. 3 auditorium at 3:30 p.m.
For more info: http://ecolloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/sched.html
Laboratory for Atmospheres
Who:
Dr. Jay Herman, Code 916What: Will discuss, "Triana: Earth Science From Deep Space
"When/Where: Tuesday, April 17, bldg. 33, Bldg 33 Room H114
For more info: http://hyperion.gsfc.nasa.gov/Personnel/people/Newman,_Paul_A./lab_seminar_spr2001.html
Information Science and Technology
Who: James R. Wertz, President, Microcosm, Inc.
What: Will discuss the topic of, "IS&T Approaches to Reducing the Cost of Satellite Constellations"
When/Where: Wednesday, April 25, bldg. 3 auditorium at 3:30 p.m.
For more info http//ISandTColloq.gsfc.nasa.gov/
Systems Engineering Seminar
What: An Insider's Guide to Designing Spacecraft Systems and Instruments for Operation in the Natural Space Radiation Environment, by Ken Label, Group leader, Radiation Effects and Analysis, and Project Manager, Electronics Radiation Characterization (ERC) Project. The implications of the natural space radiation environment on spacecraft systems will be discussed in some detail with emphasis on the following topics:
* A review of the environment and basic effects on technologies
* Concerns over emerging technologies
* System-level method for radiation harness assurance RHA)
including mitigative approaches
When/Where: Thursday, April 5, 2001, 1 p.m., in the GSFC Building 3 Auditorium
For more info: The
Systems Engineering Seminar Series is sponsored by the Systems Engineering and Advanced
Concepts Division of STAAC and the Human Resources Development Office. For more
information, please contact Mike Weiss at X6-8152 or Tom Bagg at 301-867-0063.
Innovative FEM Solutions to Challenging Problems
What: The goals of the workshop are to bring together engineers from the aerospace community to discuss and exchange knowledge and experience in the field of finite element modeling and analysis and to establish a network among analysts. The emphasis of the workshop is on finite element-based solutions to challenging problems encountered in aerospace hardware development.
When/Where: May 16-17, 2001
Sponsors: Code 542 and FEMCI (Finite Element Modeling Continuous Improvement)
Registration: Opens March 1, 2001 and will be online at: http://femci.gsfc.nasa.gov/workshop/
For more info:
Workshop coordinator: Jim Loughlin - james.loughlin@gsfc.nasa.gov/X6-6114
Organizational Support: Deb Wheeler - debra.wheeler@gsfc.nasa.gov/X6-7955
BBQ with BLEU LIGHTS 
What: Let's welcome Spring by spending a fun TGIF -- Listen/dance to the fabulous Bleu Lights band performing your favorite Motown, oldies, jazz, and R&B. Plenty of fresh BBQ'd and grilled chicken, hot dogs, potato salad, slaw, baked beans, beer/wine/sodas.
When/Where: At the Goddard Rec. on Friday, April 27th Center from 4:30 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.
Cost: $8/person. Tickets on sale at the GEWA Store til COB April 24th (sorry, NO door sales).
Science and Engineer Fair Judges Needed
Goddard Education Programs has received a request for a Science Fair Judging. The Judge(s) will assist in the school's program of reviewing/evaluating projects representing a variety of science topics. Area Science Fair Judges are needed for:
The eleventh annual "Kids for Science" Fair at Eleanor Roosevelt High School, Greenbelt, MD., on Saturday May 5, 2001. Students in the fourth through sixth grade will present their science experiments to adults who are knowledgeable about the scientific process. Judging will be finished by 11 a.m. If you are interested in volunteering or for more information, please contact Teresa Sadeghin, at 301-808-8254.
Career Fair Speakers
Goddard Education Programs has received a request for Career Day speakers. The presenters are asked to share experiences, tips for goal setting, plans for the future, obstacles and challenges that are a part of your career at the following schools:
G. Gardner Shugart Middle School, 2000 Callaway Street, Hillcrest Heights, MD on Friday, April 20th, 2001 at 9 - 11 a.m. If you are interested in volunteering or for more information, please contact Gillian Caruth-Hunt, at 301-702-3950. Refreshments will be provided.
Upcoming Launches
For a schedule of launches coming up in the next few months, check out: http://pao.gsfc.nasa.gov/gsfc/missions/projects/projects.htm
Press Releases from the past week can be found here: Hot Topics
Back to topIf you would like to submit articles, make comments or ask questions concerning Goddard News, please address your email comment to: Trusilla.Y.Steele.1@gsfc.nasa.gov