Right Around the Corner
A Publication for the Baltimore/Washington Area
from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
April 2002

Mary E. Kicza was recently named Associate Administrator for Biological and Physical Research at NASA Headquarters in Washington. Kicza was Goddard's Associate Center Director and senior manager responsible for coordinating and integrating all Goddard space science, Earth science, and enabling technology programs and activities. In making the selection, NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe praised Kicza's extensive management experience. "For two decades, Mary has managed an extremely diverse scientific community. She has the leadership skills and the management expertise to bring NASA's fields of physics, chemistry and biology together into a truly dynamic and successful program."

Key Center Management Appointments

Center Director A.V. Diaz announced three key appointments to the Center's Senior Management Staff on April 5, 2002:

• Alison McNally, Associate Director for the Center
• Diane Williams, Director of Management Operations
• Dolly Perkins, Director of Flight Programs and Projects

Ms. McNally joined Goddard from NASA Headquarters in 1999 and served as Deputy Director of Management Operations and the Director of that organization. "Her exceptional talents to analyze and solve issues while seeing the big picture as well as small concerns are remarkable," said Diaz. "I am very happy that Alison will become a part of the Code 100 team."

Ms. Williams spent her career at GSFC. "Diane's knowledge of resource management, projects, and institutional issues is superb." says Diaz. "Ms. Perkins understands projects. Her insight into how people, things and organizations work together to yield the greatest possible outcomes is outstanding." Backfilling for Ms. Perkins as Acting Chief Information Officer is Dr. Linda Rosenberg, currently Chief Engineer for Software Assurance. "Linda is known throughout the IT community for her high level of technical competence, outstanding communication skills and effective leadership." Diaz said.

Congratulations Goddard Hubble Team!

Space Shuttle Columbia started out the new year's shuttle missions with a March flight to the Hubble Space Telescope on STS-109, the fourth mission to service the space telescope since its launch in 1990. Five space walks were conducted during the flight to install an advanced new camera system, reactivate an existing infrared instrument system, install new solar arrays and install a new power controller. The mission extended the lifetime and capabilities of the now-famous orbiting telescope. For more information on this amazing mission, visit: http://sm3b.gsfc.nasa.gov/intro.html

GRACE Launched in March

NASA and the German Center for Air and Space Flight successfully launched the Gravity Recovery and Climate Experiment, or "Grace," mission into Earth orbit on March 17, 2002 from Russia's Plesetsk Cosmodrome. The mission, comprised of identical twin satellites, will precisely measure Earth's shifting water masses and map their effects on Earth's gravity field. For more information about GRACE, please see: http://www.csr.utexas.edu/grace/

Aqua Spacecraft Set to Launch

NASA's Aqua spacecraft is scheduled to launch in late April or early May from Vandenberg Air Force Base, Calif. Aqua, the latest in the Earth Observing System (EOS) series, will collect measurements of rainfall, snow, sea ice, temperature, humidity, vegetation, soil moisture and clouds as part of NASA's long-term, coordinated research study of changes in the global environment. Aqua's instruments will gather important data about global energy and water cycles, enabling scientists to monitor climate variations and trends.

"The entire Aqua team is very excited as we are approaching our launch date," said Phil Sabelhaus, Aqua Project Manager at Goddard. "We're excited to see all our efforts come to fruition and look forward to a successful launch."

Aqua fulfills part of NASA's commitment to studying the Earth as a global system and represents a key contribution by NASA to the U.S. Global Change Research Program. Aqua carries six state-of-the-art instruments to observe the Earth's oceans, atmosphere, land, ice and snow cover. Aqua will collect a large amount of information about the Earth's water cycle, thus the name Aqua. For more information on Aqua, visit: http://www.aqua.nasa.gov.

Eastern Alternative for Soil Conservation Service Road Selected as "Preferred" in New Master Plan

Center Director A. V. Diaz announced this month that the eastern alternative for realigning Soil Conservation Service Road (SCS) will be designated as "preferred" when the Center submits its proposed Master Plan for federal review and public comment. That action was taken after additional engineering studies were completed and in consultation with local officials and affected communities.

Realigning Soil Conservation Road is the first project scheduled under a new Facilities Master Plan that Goddard plans to submit to the National Capital Planning Commission (NCPC) in early summer. Once the proposed plan is submitted, local, state and federal agencies, and the public will have an opportunity to review it and provide formal input.

A final decision on realigning SCS Road and specific details of where the road will be built and how it will intersect with other roads will emerge from that NCPC review process and as the SCS project goes through its preliminary and final design stages. Neighboring communities, interested because SCS is a well traveled road, had preferred the eastern alignment to the western alternative.

To ensure clear and effective communication with the external community, GSFC planners met regularly with a Community Council that was formed in October 2001 to represent the interests of nearby residents. At the most recent Community Council meeting, held March 21, the members and Director Diaz said that they appreciated the cooperation and effort that has gone into working together over the past several months.

Partnering with NASA- the Wave of the Future

The 40th annual Goddard Memorial Symposium was held March 20-21 at the Greenbelt Marriott. A.V. Diaz, Director, gave opening remarks to an audience of about 150 industry, NASA, and academia partners. Hosted by the American Astronautical Society, the theme for this year's symposium was "Partnering with NASA- the Wave of the Future." Highlights of the symposium included a luncheon speech by NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe on the first day and guest luncheon speaker on day two, Clayton D. Mote, Jr., President, University of Maryland College Park.

Two NASA Earth Scientists Instrumental in Creation of New National Geographic Map of Antarctica

Robert Bindschadler and Christopher Shuman of Goddard's Laboratory for Hydrospheric Processes Oceans and Ice Branch have played an important role in the creation of National Geographic's new Antarctic map. Over the past two years, Bindschadler and Shuman have performed research on the Antarctic continent. From their research and the research of other scientists, National Geographic has created a new map of Antarctica entitled "Antarctica: A New Age of Exploration," which focuses on sea ice, ice flow, and ice movement.

The creation of this map started about 1 year ago at a meeting of scientists and National Geographic artists and writers. During the initial meeting, Bindschadler and Shuman added information on scientifically important Antarctic areas, topics of current research (mainly ice sheet movement, velocity, elevation, and ice coring), and missing pieces that linked parts on the map. Throughout the year, both have continually reviewed and revised the map, which became a map supplement to the December 2001 issue of National Geographic.

For more information or a copy of the Antarctica Map, please contact Christopher Shuman at christopher.shuman@gsfc.nasa.gov.

Update on GSFC Security Operations

Immediately after the tragic events of September 11, 2002, GSFC increased the level and intensity of our security measures. We then initiated action to look at our security measures from a strategic perspective and a team was formed to conduct a formal threat and vulnerability assessment for the Center. As a result of this team's efforts a number of initiatives to better protect Goddard's people and its other important assets will be implemented.

As a result of these initiatives, employees and visitors will see increased protection of our people and other critical assets. You will see a continuation and further refinement of our tightened inspection and delivery controls. Random vehicle inspections, which serve a valuable deterrent function, will be continued.

Our badge system will be improved to better define and control the levels of access given to employees and visitors. The requirement to escort visitors will continue. Attention will be given to retirees, GEWA members, and summer program participants to allow them to continue to participate in our community to the greatest extent possible, consistent with our security needs. As implementation proceeds, we will keep you informed through various announcements. Thank you for your patience and support of Goddard's security policies and personnel.