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Home , Planck (spacecraft)

Jet APRIL Propulsion 2009 Laboratory volume 39

number 4

Herschel, Planck to look In a cleanroom at Centre Spatial Guy- deep into anais, Kourou, French Guyana, the Herschel spacecraft is raised cosmos from its transport con- tainer to begin launch Thanks in large part to the preparations. contributions of instruments By Mark Whalen and technologies developed by JPL, long-range views of the are about to become much clearer. European

When the European Space Agency’s Herschel and wavelengths, continuing to move further into the far like the Hubble and ground-based Planck missions take to the sky together, onboard will infrared. There’s overlap with Spitzer, but Herschel telescopes to view galaxies in the billions, and millions be JPL’s legacy in studies. extends the range: Spitzer’s wavelength range is 3.5 to more with spectroscopy. In comparison, in the far infra- The pair are scheduled for launch together aboard an 160 microns; Herschel will go from 65 to 672 microns. red we have maybe a few hundred pictures of galaxies rocket from Kourou, French Guyana on April Herschel’s mirror is much bigger than Spitzer’s and its that emit primarily in the far-infrared, but we know they 29. Once in orbit, Herschel and Planck will be sent angular resolution at the same wavelength will be sub- are important in a cosmological sense, and just the tip on separate trajectories to the second point stantially better. of the iceberg. With Herschel, we will see hundreds of (L2), outside the orbit of the moon, to maintain an ap- “Herschel is really critical for studying important pro- thousands of galaxies, detected right at the peak of the proximately constant distance of 1.5 million kilometers cesses like how are formed,” said Paul Goldsmith, wavelengths they emit.” (900,000 miles) from Earth, in the opposite direction NASA Herschel project scientist and chief technologist A large fraction of the time with Herschel will be than the sun from Earth. for JPL’s Astronomy and Physics Directorate. “At the spent studying regions of formation in the Milky The Herschel observatory will study the evolution of start of the process in which a star is formed, you see Way. “As the star-forming regions get denser and colder, stars and galaxies with a mirror measuring 3.5 meters hardly any infrared radiation (that, say, Spitzer could the gas tends to turn into molecules, rather than at- (about 11½ feet) wide, the largest astronomical tele- observe) and no visible radiation to speak of. You do oms,” noted Goldsmith. “Then the question becomes one scope ever launched. Herschel will observe “” ob- get radiation at longer, far-infrared wavelengths, but of chemistry and what molecules actually exist in these jects such as star-forming clouds and , using the that part of the spectrum is almost totally blocked by interstellar, star-forming clouds.” A major part of JPL’s far infrared and submillimeter portions of the spectrum. Earth’s atmosphere. Herschel will be the first long-dura- involvement in Herschel’s mission will be addressed at JPL has contributed key technology to the Heterodyne tion, extremely sensitive observatory to be able to give NASA’s Herschel Science Center, directed by George Instrument for the Far Infrared (Hifi), a Dutch instru- us complete access to this region of the spectrum.” Helou and operated by Caltech’s Infrared Processing ment, and the Spectral and Photometric Imaging Re- Herschel will transform the field of galaxy evolution, and Analysis Center. Professor Tom Phillips is the U.S. ceiver (Spire), a United Kingdom instrument. added Jamie Bock of JPL’s principal investigator for Planck will improve our knowledge of the origin and Astronomical Instrumen- the Hifi instrument, which evolution of the universe by measuring the cosmic tation Group, principal will make the first spectral microwave background radiation—the important investigator for the scan of these star-forming source of information scientists have about the geom- web–like arrays regions. etry and contents of the universe—over the whole sky, on the Spire instrument, Ulf Israelsson, manager with unprecedented sensitivity and angular resolution. which will conduct large of JPL’s Herschel/Planck surveys of far-infrared gal- Projects Office, added that

JPL is providing the in the High-Frequency Photos: Carol Lachata, JPL Photolab Instrument, technology for the low-noise amplifiers in Jamie Bock, left, and Charles axies in the sub-millimeter Paul Goldsmith, left, and Ulf the NASA Herschel Science Lawrence. Israelsson. the Low-Frequency Instrument, and a 20-Kelvin cooler band. “We know that ap- Center will operate the that is critical for both instruments. proximately half the energy of stars in the universe American component of the solicitation process and will Herschel can be considered a successor to JPL’s comes out in the far-infrared and half of it comes out in develop software to support observations by the U.S. in that it’s looking at longer the optical,” he said. “For the optical, we have things science community. Continued on page 3 2

n i v e r s e noted leader U of leaders

By Mark Whalen

Gavin From left: Tom Gavin today; in 1970; in 1994 with then–JPL Director Ed Stone, Cassini Project Manager Dick Spehalski and California Sen. Barbara Boxer; with Chris Jones, celebrating Cassini’s successful orbit insertion in 2004. Carol Carol Lachata, JPL Photolab

Now in his 47th year at JPL, Tom You ended up working on great flagship missions, but what led you to Gavin has seen it all. He has learned this line of work in the first place? hands-on from some of the great- This is something I’ve wanted to do since I was 8 or 9 years old. I was intrigued est leaders in the Lab’s history, and by the concept of space exploration. When I was offered in the summer of 1962 to through an accomplished and award- come to JPL, my wife and I jumped at the chance. filled career he has made it his call to help prepare many of JPL’s new lead- How did you end up in executive management? ers of today as well as others yet to I was the mission assurance manager for Voyager and Galileo, both of which come. were fairly successful projects. When the leadership of the Rendezvous A year after earning a chemistry degree from Villanova University in Pennsylvania Flyby/Cassini project experienced some trouble, John Casani took over as in 1961, Gavin joined the Lab to work on the Mariner Project, the series of missions project manager. I had previously worked for John on Galileo, so he asked me to that would begin JPL’s accomplishments in planetary flybys as well as other pioneering take over the spacecraft office, a position probably equivalent today to the flight efforts. He moved up the ranks to become mission assurance manager for the Voyager system manager. and Galileo projects, and in 1990 was appointed spacecraft system manager for Cassi- ni, where he served until that spacecraft’s launch in 1997. He then was deputy director The thing you might be best known for around here is the Design Prin- of Space and Earth Science Programs, and director for Space Science Flight Projects. ciples and Flight Project Practices documents. I understand you’re In recent years he held the position of Associate Director, Flight Projects and Mission quite proud of that effort. How did they come about? Success. Following the 1999 losses of Mars Polar Lander and Mars Climate Orbiter, Gavin announced in February his intention to step down from the Executive Council which were traumatic experiences for the Laboratory, there were comments that position. Here he provides a retrospective look at his career. JPL had lost its way. Throughout the 1990s this institution was in the “faster, better, cheaper” fever. Why the decision to step down now? Is it a retirement? And everybody was doing their own thing. As a consequence, it was hard to mea- No, it’s clearly not a retirement. At some point in your life you have to decide if you sure the acceptable institutional risk. So the value of these documents was to set a have the requisite energy for the job, and I had my 69th birthday in December. So in my standard for what the institutional risk was. 70th year, I can feel myself slowing down and it’s not really fair to me—or to JPL—for But the history of this goes back to the 1960s, ’70s and ’80s, when a handful me to stay on full time. I still think I have a lot to offer, if it’s focused on a few things, of people went from project to project. We never had more than three projects in and in this particular case that is Mars Science Laboratory, which is pretty important development at one time. So in the post-Cassini timeframe, when we had a multi- to JPL. tude of projects, we didn’t have the necessary experience base that we had in the I had already made a commitment to Charles Elachi that I would stick around for the previous three decades. 2009 launch and I told Charles I was willing to work part time as required to help the To compensate for that, what we did, very frankly, was write down, in an orga- Mars Lab project get over its problems. nized way, all the lessons learned from the prior projects. Casani and Matt Landa- no also played a very special role in the development of the practices. They came Have you set a schedule? from a very simple concept —how do we do work? We literally used the terms “this I’m going to work full time until June, when the project is through with its re-plan- is the way we work.” ning, then I’m going to take a month vacation, then I’ll come back and probably work three days a week, until we mutually decide my services are no longer required. A lot of people are still depending on these practices. Does that sur- prise you? Will that be prior to the 2011 launch? No, but it makes me feel good. JPL people don’t exactly love rules, OK? But they One can only hope. I don’t want to be in the position of “Hey, I wish that guy would value these documents because they set the standards. And frankly, they wrote leave.” them. We pulled together teams of people from the technical areas to develop them, rather than sit up in an ivory tower and say, “Here’s what we’re going to do.” What in particular are you offering right now? Is it in engineering and tech- They’re in their third or fourth revision, so they’re living documents. nical areas, cost issues or a combination? I think it was a constructive way to make sure that everyone doing project and design work at JPL knew what the acceptable criteria were. But this generated Mentoring, giving others ideas and helping the leadership of the project. It’s bringing something that I had not anticipated. We could now go into reviews and convince my own experiences for the benefit of those close to the project today. It’s really a com- the customer that we will stick to our own design principles and standards. bination of spacecraft system development management and cost/schedule/technical issues. modules of that. of modules several teach to probablycontinue will I JPL. at ager projectthat’sman- a year prerequisitebecoming a to here.projectmanager a be to you qualify will that years the over experiences of series througha go you anointed; get automatically don’t you projectJPL, manager.a At becoming of chances improvetheir to do could they what and tions careerop- their about talking people, mentoring office this in time of lot a spent now.I right in you’resitting chair that in sat have projectmanagers been have areor who JPL at people the of most but managers, enabler.the was he … Huckins Dr.Earle late from the especially building, new the for Headquarters fromNASA support good had conferencerooms.of projectsoperate—lots way the that’sinterior an designed with It’sbuilding office an phases. development throughD—the B projectphases be will facility the using Specifically,those August. in Herschel/Planck successfully? out worked always activities mentoring your Have legacy? your of part be might else What launched in 2001 and is still observing. observing. still is and 2001 in launched WilkinsonMicrowaveAnisotropyProbe(W-Map), which NASA’swas generation second sky.The the directions on differentmicrowavebackgroundin cosmic the of tensity in- the in variations tiny measurementsof first the made microwavebackgroundand cosmic the of spectrum the measuredwhich infraredlight, measuremicrowaveand to 1989 in launched mission Center–managed Flight BackgroundExplorer,Cosmic GoddardSpace the a was first The JPL. at projectscientist Lawrence,Planck Charles microwavebackground,noted cosmic the study should be able to measure about 10 percent.”10 measureabout to able be should Planck background,and cosmic the propertiesof tion polariza- on information the percentof measured1 has W-MapAlso, it. of all measureessentially should Planck background,cosmic the of temperaturerange the on content information the percentof 10 measuredabout “WhereasW-Mapmore,has Lawrencesaid. promises yet Planck frequencycoverage, resolutionand angular any light at any wavelength,” Lawrencesaid. wavelength,” any at light any emit doesn’t just it telescopes; our of any directlywith seen be never can effects gravitational its of because therebe to has backgroundsays cosmic the that stuff “This all. at electromagneticinteractions no has it but gravity,by affected is and has ,”it “dark Called of. aremade world our and we matter of kind the than differentis universe the in matter the percentof 80 that the total mass energy in the universe to about half a half about to universe the energyin mass total the measureto able Webe it. should in has energyit much how big, how is, it old it’show what of, structed, made it’suniverse—how the con- of understanding our of Planck will be the third-generation space mission to mission third-generationspace the be will Planck a twice run typically we that class a Wehave also projectcurrentcropof the ask to Well,have you’d Weago. years six it for wereallocated dollars The online come Projectswill Center,Flight which The With an unprecedented combination of sensitivity,of unprecedented combination Withan Previous studies of the cosmic backgroundshowed cosmic the of Previousstudies “What we’ll be measuring with Planck is at the heart the at is Planck with measuring be we’ll “What

Continued from page 1 page from Continued offended unknowingly, I apologize. unknowingly,I offended ever I who people those all to And work. to willingness alive. been herehave people of lot a than herelonger been here;I’ve year 47th my in I’m … place this love here.I me. in confidence reallyappreciateCharles’ I and it, loved I’ve nity.But opportu- this have would I that me occurredto never it Schurmeier; Bud and Parks Bob like legends JPL of office the was This morecomfortable. lot a become you go. to wanted I place last the was 180 of floor 9th the place, this at gineer or things you wanted to get done? get to wanted you things or happened have that things regrets,about Any changed? What today? are you where up end would you that figured you wherecareer your in point a ever Wasthere Prettyremarkable.” is. house my big how know that’sI than moreaccurate percent—a of two-tenths about to emitted groundwas back- cosmic wherethe surface the like looks what to distance measurethe to able be should we percent,and others at JPL that goes back 30 years. 30 back goes that JPL at others and Jones Jack by coolers sorption in work pioneering on building 1991, since JPL at coolers sorption on ing JPL’sby led was work- tem, been Wade,had Larry who sys- cooler active Planck the of element key cooler,a Planck’sof development sorption Initial Lawrencesaid. background,cosmic the study to missions space to tion addi- powerful very a be would technology cryogenic that clear became it when mid-’90s, the in made was cosmic-backgroundmissions to connection The efforts. development researchtechnology long-standing and and have credibility,”have said. and he instrument Hifi the to contributions major these pose procould - whereJPL point the to things got work that NASA’sof all process.“Then technology-development throughlater up president’spicked was then fund, Caltech a by ago, years many started also was detectors lenges, Bock noted. Bock lenges, chal- as well providesnever-endingpromiseas and decade.” this arecoming improvementsthat by just science new completely but similar-sizedtelescopes, and systems cooling similar essentially have will that Planck and Herschel to missions successor imagine could you that plane—such the improvements—justin readyhave Wedefinition. al- by date, of out years 10 is technology fly,their missions when but fantastic, be to aregoing I have no regrets; I’d sign up again. up regrets;sign no I’d have I their and ingenuity their love here;I people the love I work come to decision regretsmy no about have I No, things, accomplish and older get you as Well,guess I en- young a was I When mind. crossedmy never It Both Herschel and Planck are benefiting fromJPL’sarebenefiting Planck and Herschel Both Goldsmith noted that the work on the Hifi-relatedthe on work the that noted Goldsmith Technology development is indeed an ongoing processongoing an indeed Technologyis development “Looking toward the future, both Herschel and Planck and Herschel future,both towardthe “Looking launches Kepler gov/kepler. visit moreinformation, For tions. opera- mission supporting and system flight Kepler the developing responsiblefor is Boulder, Colo., of TechnologiesAerospace& Corp. Ball development. mission Kepler manages JPL analysis. data science and operations mission development, groundsystem the responsiblefor is and investigator principal ence sci- the organizationof home the is ResearchCenter . searchfor to begin will telescope the camera, charge-coupledevice wide-field a strument, Kepler’scalibrating in- of single month another After measurements.first its make and cover dust its eject to Kepler relayedto be will commands April, early In May.early in completed be to expected is that ing” properly,“commission- working processcalled is a there.”areout it like others if or unique is Earth our if understand us help will race—Kepler man hu- the to meaningful so something of part a be to thrilled is team “Our JPL. of Fanson James Manager life. of formation the for essential be to believed is water ’sthe Liquid on surface. pool could water wheredistances at stars orbiting planets Earth-size first the find to designed is Friday,Kepler March6. Fla., ForceStation, Air Canaveral fromCape space Kepler is a NASA Discovery mission. NASA’smission. Discovery NASA a Ames is Kepler ensureit to Kepler check to begun have Engineers ProjectKepler said launch,” stunning a was “It into launched successfully mission Kepler The http://www.nasa.

Kennedy Space Center Un i v e r s e 3 4 Bar-Cohen publishes The award, to be bestowed in June book at an honors ceremomy, recognizes News Yoseph Bar-Cohen, supervisor of the McEliece “For fundamental contribu- Advanced Technologies Group (355N), tions to the theory and practice of n i v e r s e is the coauthor of a new book, “The error-correcting codes and to the

U JPL Deputy Director Coming Robot Revolution: Expectations design of deep-space telecommunica- Gene Tattini, left, Briefs and Fears About Emerging Intelligent, tion systems” and is one of the highest presents William Humanlike Machines.” professional acclaims that one can Cowan with the The book, Bar-Cohen’s fifth, covers receive from Institute of Electrical and Exceptional Bravery the state of the art, potential and chal- Electronics Engineers peers. Medal. lenges of the humanlike-robot technol- McEliece joined JPL in 1963 and ogy that used to be science fiction and later supervised the Information Pro- is increasingly becoming an engineer- cessing Group. He served as a Caltech ing reality. professor starting in 1982. “Such robots can greatly benefit Also to be honored is retired JPL re- future NASA exploration missions in searcher Antal Bejczy, who earned the performing tasks that require human Institute of Electrical and Electronics capability without the risk associated Engineers’ Robotics and Automation with the harsh ambient conditions,” Award, “For leadership and sustained said Bar-Cohen. contributions to a broad set of innova- helped with traffic control and com- rolled a number of times before com- A physicist and JPL senior research tive robotic and automation techniques forted the other victims. ing to rest on the side of the road away scientist, Bar-Cohen joined the Lab in applicable to space research and on The Canberra complex, part of the from the river. 1991. That year, he established the Earth.” Deep Space Network, is administered The incident occurred just before Nondestructive Evaluation and Ad- by JPL. the Canberra Deep Space Communica- vance Actuators Lab (http://ndeaa.jpl. Australian staffers The accident occurred in June 2007 tion Complex carpools arrived at the .gov), which has been responsible receive thanks when a dual cab pickup truck tried area on their way home. Staff mem- for a series of innovative concepts and Staff members at the Canberra Deep to negotiate the Point Hut Crossing bers rendered emergency assistance, mechanisms for planetary exploration, Space Communications Complex in on the southern route access to the located and stabilized all accident Canberra Deep Space Communication victims, contacted emergency help and Yoseph Bar-Cohen medical, commercial and other ap- Australia recently received NASA Hon- plications. or Awards for their actions in assisting Complex where the road curves on secured the area to ensure that traffic victims of a car accident in 2007. either side of a level crossing over the was not impeded. Honors for former JPLers During a visit to the complex in Murrumbidgee River. Inclement condi- Receiving the Exceptional Bravery Robert McEliece, a professor emeri- February, JPL Deputy Director Gene tions and a treacherous road combined Medal were Chris Grallelis, Dave True tus of electrical engineering at Caltech Tattini presented the Exceptional Brav- to make the 90-degree turn on the op- and William Cowan. The Public Service and a former JPL group supervisor, ery Medal to three people who located posite side of the crossing impossible Group Achievement Award recipients has won the 2009 Institute of Electri- and revived a victim who had stopped to negotiate and the driver swerved, were Paul Bradford, Nick Daskalakis, cal and Electronics Engineers’ Alexan- breathing, and Public Service Group pulling off the road. The vehicle then Ewen Hopkins, David Lorimer, Bas der Graham Bell Medal. Achievement Award to six others who Ormeno and Andrew Paddison.

Susan. Services were held at Oakdale I would like to extend my sincerest Thanks also to JPL and the 25 Division Memorial Park in Glendora. thanks to all across the Laboratory for the beautiful plant. My mom loved P assings and at campus for their expressions plants and we take it as a living trib- of concern, kindness and sympathy ute to her memory. during the time leading up to and Carlos Brinoccoli and family after the recent passing of my fa- ther, Joseph Davis. In particular I I would like to thank my JPL col- L etters would like to thank my friends and leagues for the sympathy card and colleagues in Division 35 for their lovely plant on the recent passing of heartfelt condolences and lovely my mother. Your support during this To my JPL friends and colleagues: card, and also thank the JPL ERC for difficult time was much appreciated. Thank you so much for your sup- the beautiful anthurium plant which Robert Bonitz port and many kind thoughts during we will nurture as a living reminder my mom’s long illness and upon her of Dad. With warmest regards, My family and I would like to thank passing in November. It is wonderful Greg Davis all our friends at JPL for their cards JPL RETIREES: to work in such a caring environment and kind words of support on the pass- READ AND SUBMIT CLASSIFIED ADS and to know those around you can fill From my wife Stephanie and me, ing of my father. Thanks also to the AT JPL’s online news source in during trying times. I’d especially thanks to JPL for the lovely flowers ERC for the lovely plant. like to thank JPL for the beautiful http://dailyplanet sent for the birth of our son Clement Don Kurtz plant sent in my mom’s memory and Laura Campanelli and to our friends for the various my section (312), group (312I) and baby gifts, which have since blended I wish to thank all my colleagues on E-mail us at Laura Campanelli, a long-time members of the outer planet flagship together into the gray, lumpy mush the Spitzer Operations Team for their member of the Radio Metric Data studies for their support, beautiful [email protected] that used to be our bedroom. Our kind support during this time of my Conditioning team, died Feb. 2. cards, plants and words of encour- great trip begins, made even greater wife’s serious illness. I am especially A data analyst, she worked with agement. with friends such as you all. grateful for the dinners sent to my nearly every JPL navigation team for Tracy Van Houten Richard Chen house so that my kids would have more than 20 years and supported good, hot meals during the nights Editor many launch and critical event opera- My family and I would like to thank I want to express my sincere ap- when I was in the hospital. Your kind- tions during her career. all my friends and colleagues at JPL, Mark Whalen preciation to JPL, and friends and ness will always be remembered. Services were held at Rose Hills Division 25, iBMS, and JPL softball coworkers in both the Mars Explo- David Bliss in Whittier. The family requests that for your support and kindness dur- Design ration Directorate and the Inter- donations in her honor be considered ing the recent passing of my father, planetary Network Directorate, for Audrey Steffan for the Avon Breast Cancer Aware- George Creason. Your lovely plants your kindness and generosity on the ness walk in Long Beach. will be well cared for and your gener- passing of my mom. I truly appreci- Production ous donations in his name are greatly ate all of the cards and gifts and David Hinkle Retiree Preston Willson, 90, died appreciated. My father loved JPL flowers you gave. Your kindnesses Dec. 8. Willson joined JPL in 1962 and was a huge fan of the work we will always be remembered. R etirees and retired in 2001. do here. I rarely saw him not wear- Photography Joyce Pulliam ing his NASA hat that I bought him JPL Photo Lab The following JPL employees retired on the day I joined the Lab over two David Griffith, 69, a retired inspector Heartfelt thanks to my friends in March: years ago. This truly is a wonderful Universe is published by the Office in the Construction of Facilities Pro- and colleagues following the recent place full of caring people and I can’t gram Office, died Feb. 18. illness and passing of my dear and James Lumsden, 40 years, Section of Communications and Education thank you all enough. Griffith worked at JPL from 1962 lovely mother. Your cards and kind 5310; Allan Sacks, 32 years, Section of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Tonia Hunt and to 2005. He is survived by his wife, words of encouragement were of 981; Lynn Barath, 17 years, Section 4800 Oak Grove Drive, the Creason family Jane, and daughters Donna and great comfort to me and my family. 3120. Pasadena, CA 91109.