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Home , Mariner 4, Mariner 9, The Planetary Society

Jet SEPTEMBER Propulsion 2013 Laboratory volume 43

number 9

TRANSPORTED TO THE The science, advocacy and JPL leadership of Bruce Murray, 1931-2013

By Franklin O’Donnell

Bruce Murray, the outspoken advocate of planetary ex- In 1960, Murray put in an application to join Caltech, ploration who served as JPL’s director during one of the and came to the campus as a postdoc research fellow. He most challenging periods of the laboratory’s history in the spent much time in the early 1960s making infrared obser- late 1970s and early 1980s, died Aug. 29. vations with ground-based telescopes including the 200- Murray, 81, passed away at his home in Oceanside from inch at Mt. Palomar, observing at the same time as complications from Alzheimer’s disease. ’s historic in 1962. A geologist, Murray became known as an expert in Murray said he first saw through a telescope in imaging on early Mars missions before being appointed 1960, atop Mt. Wilson. “I felt transported to Mars itself,” JPL director in 1976. He argued vigorously for planetary he later wrote. “That night I fell in love with observational missions as NASA focused on developing the space shuttle and with Mars.” program, and saved the mission to Jupiter from Appointed in 1963 as an associate professor, Murray cancellation. In 1979, he joined with and JPL was invited by Caltech colleagues to become a member of engineer to found the Planetary Society, the imaging team for , the first flyby mission to a membership-based nonprofit organization dedicated to Mars, at a time when some scientists questioned the value exploring the and expanding public advocacy of optical imaging on planetary missions. He then joined for . the imaging teams for the Mariner 6-7 missions Murray “worked tirelessly to save our nation’s planetary and the Mars orbiter. He became imaging team exploration capability at a tumultuous time when there was leader for , which flew by Mercury and Venus in serious consideration for curtailing future missions,” said 1973-74. current JPL Director Charles Elachi. “Long after returning Murray later recalled that, after those missions, he to Caltech as a professor, he continued to be a strong voice decided to abandon space missions and focus his scientific in expressing the importance of space exploration.” work on earthquake studies on . One reason was his Born in 1931 in New York City when his parents lived disappointment in plans for the next Mars missions, the there briefly, Murray grew up in California and spent sig- and 2 landers and orbiters. He felt that Viking’s nificant time in Mexico in his youth. His academic work at goal of searching for life was unrealistic given the technol- Santa Monica High School was undistinguished—he later ogy of the time. recalled that he received a D in physics—but he blossomed His plans changed abruptly, however, when he was ap- at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, where he re- proached by the search committee seeking a successor to ceived bachelor’s and master’s degrees in geology, followed JPL Director William Pickering, who had led the lab for by a doctorate in 1955. more than two decades. Murray came to JPL in 1976, just Murray then worked for Standard Oil, and later specu- three months before the first of the two Viking landings. lated that he might have spent his life in the oil business if With many JPL personnel long-ensconced under Picker- Bruce Murray it had not been for an ROTC obligation to serve two years ing’s tenure, Murray thought the time was ripe for change. in the military. He spent two years in the Air Force con- Just three months into the job, he announced layoffs and ducting gravity and geodesy studies. Continued on page 2 Bolden surveys Earth missions Administrator also bestows major award for contractor support

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden recently received an up-close and personal view of the status of several of JPL’s Earth science missions being readied for launches next year. On his way west, Bolden on Aug. 9 stopped by the Gilbert, Ariz. facilities of Orbital Sci- ences Corp. for a briefing on Orbiting Carbon Observatory 2, currently in final assembly and environmental testing in preparation for launch in July 2014. The mission will be NASA’s first dedicated Earth remote sensing satellite to study atmospheric carbon dioxide from space. Four days later, Bolden checked on the progress of two missions being built at JPL for launch next year. The administrator was briefed by engineers preparing ISS-RapidScat, a scatterometer that will be mounted outside the International Space Station to measure ocean surface wind speeds and directions, and the Soil Moisture Active Passive , which will produce global maps of soil moisture for tracking water availability around the planet. Photo by Veronica McGregor Veronica Photo by

Continued on page 4 NASA Administrator Charles Bolden addresses reporters in JPL’s Spacecraft Assembly Facility cleanroom. 2 MURRAY Continued from page 1 niverse U

Clockwise, from top left: Bruce Murray in 1968; Murray (center) with Caltech Summer

Undergraduate and Research Fellow students in 1986; with astronomer Carl Sagan (right)

looking at a map of Mars; accepting an award from the American Institute of Aeronautics

and Astronautics in May 2008; with author Ray Bradbury (left) in 1975; Murray (right) at

the White House with President Jimmy Carter (second from left); at Mariner 10’s Venus

encounter in 1974; (center) with Prince Charles of the United Kingdom at JPL in 1977.

a major reorganization that shook up—and In 1977—the second year of Murray’s di- After Ronald Reagan’s election victory in percent of its work for the Department of shocked—the lab. “A lot of people there rectorship— and 2 were launched 1980, Murray hoped the new U.S. president Defense. felt that they were being driven extremely to the outer planets, but the pipeline of would be pro-space, given his stance of After returning to Caltech, Murray de- hard,” he later remembered. But, he be- planetary missions was then alarmingly competition with the Soviet Union. Murray voted his energies to teaching, research, lieved, “the outcome of this was that JPL dry. NASA was intent on developing the threw his efforts into promoting a U.S. flyby Planetary Society efforts and travel, serving [became] a far more sophisticated organi- space shuttle as an all-purpose launch mission to Halley’s in 1986, but was as a visiting professor in France, China and zation.” vehicle, and as it ran into budget problems bitterly disappointed when he was unable to Japan. He served on the science teams of One of Murray’s priorities was to im- resources for planetary missions became get his proposal past White House intermedi- a Soviet-French Comet Halley mission and prove relations between JPL and the vulnerable. Murray feared it would lead to aries. In late 1981 he gave up on the Halley several Russian Mars missions, and had Caltech campus. Up to that point, he said, “the demise of the planetary program.” proposal, and by the next summer resigned an experiment on the ill-fated Deep Space “Caltech, the campus, had very little to At one point, a committee chairman in as JPL director. 2 microprobes carried by 1998’s Mars Po- do with JPL’s being.” Murray worked to Congress led an effort to cancel JPL’s Gali- “It was all over,” he recalled later. “They lar Lander. He also wrote several popular “change attitudes and reduce hostilities,” leo mission to Jupiter, then scheduled to were trying to kill the DSN [Deep Space books and more than 130 scientific papers. but didn’t make as much progress as he launch in 1982. Murray mobilized an effort Network] and Voyager and everything else at Murray is survived by his wife, Suzanne, hoped on creating joint appointments and to save the mission; “it was really kind of that point, and I had to throw in the towel.” five children and 11 grandchildren. programs. He also promoted opportunities grim,” he later remembered, “but we beat To keep the lab afloat, he convinced Caltech’s for women and underrepresented minori- him.” faculty that JPL should take on up to 30 ties, creating a Director’s Advisory Council for Women that exists today. You know, you always try to leave a place better than when you found it. I don’t know about an imprint, but when I sit back and think about it, one of the things I did was to convince JPL to bring in professional leadership in key areas such as the Chief Information Officer organization and Human Resources. We took HR out of the business function and now have a separate and distinct human resources organization. In the business area, we brought in a Chief Financial Of- ficer from industry, and he set up a very strong financial organization at JPL. Someone mentioned the other day that I was the first guy to establish an acquisi- tion strategy panel for acquisitions over the $50 million mark. JPL had never done that before, but we’ve found it to be very effective.

Looking at where the lab is headed now, is there a direction you’d like to see it go? Anything you feel that it needs? Gene Tattini’s retirement will cap a Taking a Breath fast-paced 12 years at JPL That’s a good question. We’re very self-critical here—if we have a fault at By Franklin O’Donnell JPL, it’s that we don’t step back and give ourselves enough credit. We spend a lot of time thinking of better ways to do After 12 years as JPL’s Deputy Direc- to appreciate the men and women who everybody to come and they know they things, which is healthy—if you don’t do tor—a period in which the laboratory provide us with our security here at JPL, are expected to show. In civilian life, it’s that, you’ll atrophy and die. There is not launched an astonishing 27 spacecraft our urban search and rescue folks who not that way. So that was a little bit of a any really big thing that I think Charles and major instruments—Gene Tattini will devote a lot of their own time to being cultural adjustment both my wife and I would have liked to have seen done that retire on Sept. 20. Tattini—who came to properly trained, helping not only JPLers had to go through. we haven’t done. In the final analysis, you JPL after a long career in the Air Force but also the community. And then our can’t argue with success—and this place where he served as a Lieutenant Gener- professional firemen. Knowing that their What is a typical week or month like has been successful. al—here reflects on his time at the lab. families may be in danger, they come to for a JPL Deputy Director? work and really put it out. What are your plans? What is most memorable to you from I also remember when we lost several A lot of depends on how the Lab Di- your time at JPL? of our JPL family members in a tragic rector wants to use his Deputy. Over As my daughters tell me, “Dad, you van accident, and the way the lab came the time that Charles and I have been need to step back and take a breath.” So There’s no question that the high points together to support those families. That’s together, we’ve developed an operating I’m going to do that. I hope to stay ac- of my time here were the landings on something else that sticks in my mind pace. There’s no question that Charles is tive in the business. I have a couple of the surface of Mars. As Charles [Elachi] that really shows the character of the the rainmaker here. He is the face to the public speaking things. I’m involved with puts it, “Dare mighty things”—and these people who work here. outside of JPL for the most part. He is the state of California on the military events reflect the best of what JPL can extremely well-respected in the scientific retention and reuse commission, and do. Coming from the Air Force, how dif- community, supremely well-respected for there are some potential opportunities to The other thing that really stands out ferent was JPL? Was it a big culture his engineering excellence. He expects help small companies do business with in my mind is the resiliency of this place. shift? me to step back and more or less keep the government. But none of that is in I arrived in July of 2001, and on the the Lab running, to make sure that the concrete right now. I just plan to take a 11th of September of that year we went You know, a lot of people make a big men and women here at JPL have the breath and see what happens next. through a national tragedy. Watching the thing of that. There were differences in resources to do their job. I spend a lot of way that the men and women here at JPL some respects, but in most ways it was time working with the institutional side handled that was absolutely amazing. not a big jump. I spent the final 15 years of the house—security, facilities, human In fact JPL has faced all kinds of chal- of my Air Force career in the military resources—everything that is necessary lenges over the past dozen years. We space business, and whether you’re in to make JPL successful. I have a lot of and all of NASA went through the loss of uniform or civilian clothes, it’s kind of expertise in the acquisition area, so I get [space shuttle] Columbia. Just after that the same. The engineering challenges are involved with working out some of the we had our two the same, and the way we approach them major contracts. landings, and we knew the entire reputa- is very similar. Where the cultural gap tion of NASA was at stake. came in was more in terms of a lot of the Are there particular areas in which In 2009 we had the Station Fire. An institutional environment. When you have you feel you’ve left an imprint on JPL? Gene Tattini, top left, with Charles Elachi; above, in superhero event like that is when you really start a function in the military, you expect costume for a United Way campaign. 4 Gunapala receives photonics to the structure. Crews are also cur- honor rently performing demolition and re- grading work to relocate Building 322, News JPL Senior Research Scientist Sarath Gunapala in September will receive the a storage facility that recently housed niverse the Athlete rover, to a new spot near

U Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Photonics Society’s Aron the thermal-vacuum chambers up the Briefs Kressel Award, the society’s highest hill in the the northern part of the lab. award for the development of photonics Crews are expected to start digging device technology. footings to support the structure by Gunapala’s honor is for pioneering early September, said Swinerton Build- contributions to the development of ers superintendent Bobby Chambers. quantum structures–based infrared de- Major utilities (gas, water, commu- tectors and imaging focal plane arrays. nications) running through the area Members of Human Resources’ university recruitment team promote “likes” for their Facebook page. From Gunapala has authored more than now are being relocated and a new left are Paula Caterina, Danielle Garcia, Vanessa Gonzalez, Natalie Kiel, Amy Sanchez, Lisa Tanury and Mario 250 journal publications, several book 450-foot retaining wall at the structure chapters on quantum well infrared site is about 50 percent completed, he Portugal. photodetectors, and holds 22 U.S. added. patents. In 2011, he received JPL’s The structure will be built in an area University recruiting goes social Award for his leadership in that was washed out by rainstorms the development of technology for high- in 1969. To help tamp down the soil, By Emily Schneider of JPL-sponsored events at various performance infrared focal planes for the contractor employed a “rapid campuses. The new social media pres- space exploration. He also has received impact” machine that periodically JPL University Recruiting launched ence geared specifically for university JPL’s Lew Allen Award for Excellence, Sarath Gunapala drops a heavy weight into the ground its social media presence on Facebook recruiting also strengthens online ties JPL’s Exceptional Achievement Award to improve the soil’s ability to bear the and Google+ in late July. Previously, with partner universities. Additionally, for Technology Applications Program social media at JPL had featured the it provides another avenue to connect and the NASA Exceptional Engineering weight of the structure. missions, technology and innovations, with the recruiters and better under- Achievement Medal. The West Arroyo parking lot will be closed until completion of the but now the new “JPL University Re- stand the application process. He will receive the award at ceremo- cruiting” pages seek to highlight the 1,400-space structure in August 2014. Since going live, the pages have a nies Sept. 9 at the Photonics Society people behind the missions to give an One item that came up during combined following of close to 1,000 Conference in Bellevue, Wash. insider’s view of the lab and highlight review of the environmental documents people and have made nearly 150,000 what it’s like to work at JPL. impressions, expanding the reach of the Alumni award for Gudipati for the structure was the possibility The pages give an insider’s look recruiting team as they prepare for the Murthy Gudipati of the Planetary that Native American tribes may have through posting photos of events on new Workforce 2020. Ices Group was recently honored for his lived along the edges of the Arroyo lab—like Wave@Saturn and the Curiosi- Check out JPL University Recruiting contributions as a founding member of Seco. As a result, an archeologist was ty landing anniversary—as well as shar- sites on Facebook, www.facebook.com/ the Indian Institute of Science Alumni hired to observe the excavations. ing and connecting with the other social JPLUniversityRecruiting, and google+, Association of North America. The archeologist inspected the work media sites and providing information bit.ly/15FrXMD. He received the award at the organi- area near buildings 11 and 103, which zation’s global conference in Chicago. according to aerial photos looked to “Over the past decade I have been be undisturbed as far back as 1938, Murthy Gudipati actively involved in building this alumni said Chuck Buril, manager of JPL’s association with a single unified goal Environmental Affairs Program Office. P assings L etters of ‘giving back’ to the society where we “The idea was that if Native American live, where we came from, and where tribes had lived on the shores of what William M. Harris, 77, a retired test we got our education,” he said. became the Arroyo Seco, there might engineer, died May 25. I would like to to thank my JPL Gudipati earned a Ph.D. from the have been some artifacts,” Buril said. Harris joined JPL in 1959 and retired colleagues for condolences and com- forting support following the recent Indian Institute of Science in 1987. He The site could have proven to have in February 2013. He contributed to passing of my father. My wife and I has been with JPL since 2007, where historic significance as well. JPL efforts in communications systems development, observational systems, greatly appreciate the beautiful plant his recent research has focused on While digging for the road widening, spacecraft telemetry and command, sent by JPL. physics and chemistry of cryogenic ices. crews came upon a fascinating find and microwave observation systems. Boris Karasik from the era of propulsion work that Parking structure update The last project he worked on was the set the stage for JPL in the Arroyo: a chemistry and mineralogy instrument Thank you so much to JPL and all my Construction on JPL’s new east lot Coke bottle dated 1948. on ’s co-workers and friends for the beauti- parking structure continues apace and But the archeology inspection rover. ful plant, kind words, and wonderful remains on schedule for opening next READ AND SUBMIT CLASSIFIED ADS yielded nothing more interesting, Buril In 1992, Harris received NASA’s Ex- cards and thoughts during the recent August. AT JPL’s online news source added. “We found no indication of ceptional Service Medal. passing of my father. My family and I http://jplspace Recent work has focused on widening appreciate all your concern. ancient peoples living in the area; just He is survived by his wife, Sandra; the road running from the Arroyo Lot Tuan Do and family bottles and a few cans.” daughters Shari Lee Sommers and E-mail us at toward the East Gate to provide access Susan Youngblood; and granddaughter universe@jpl..gov Kimberly Youngblood. Memorial ser- I would like to say thank you to every- vices were held June 5 at Forest Lawn one for the sympathy and support for in Covina. the passing of my father. I would also like to thank Group 3224 for the lovely orchid. Your thoughts and prayers are BOLDEN Continued from page 1 greatly appreciated. Editor Joe Masiero Mark Whalen ISS-RapidScat is scheduled “Small businesses are critically and every project is special.” to launch in April 2014, with important to what we do,” said The company, which provides Design the Soil Moisture Active Passive Bolden at the award ceremony. consulting services focused in the Barbara Insua spacecraft scheduled for an Octo- He also told ATA executives mechanical and thermal disci- etirees Audrey Steffan R ber 2014 liftoff. that he was impressed with the plines, partnered with JPL to test The following employees retired in Production While at JPL, Bolden also company’s “achievements and and analyze the entry, descent August: David Hinkle presented the 2013 George M. problem-solving.” Mars Science and landing of the Curiosity rover; Robert Kouol, 44 years, Section Low Award, NASA’s premier per- Laboratory “would not have specifically the wheels, actuators 352N; Richard Key, 35 years, Sec- Photography tion 312B; Amy Walton, 35 years, formance honor for contactors possible without your contribu- and thermal control systems. ATA JPL Photo Lab Section 8040; George Fox, 33 years, and subcontractors, to ATA Engi- tions,” Bolden added. has also in recent years supported Section 312C; Jerry Suitor, 31 years, Section 1080; Pamela Won- Universe is published by the Office of neering Inc., an employee-owned “It has been a great privilege several other JPL missions as well cik, 24 years, Section 3011; Robert Communications and Education of the small business in San Diego that to work with you,” said ATA as other NASA programs. Orens, 15 years, Section 3764. Jet Propulsion Laboratory, made key contributions to Mars President Mary Baker. “JPL is 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Science Laboratory. like a candy store to engineers, Pasadena, CA 91109.