Thriving Through Challenging Days by Mark Whalen

Jet JUNE Propulsion 2009 Laboratory volume 39

number 6

Thriving through challenging days By Mark Whalen

In a conversation with Universe, JPL Director Charles You have said that there are opportunities to Elachi provides highlights of topics discussed at a invest when times are tough. How does JPL plan recent Executive Council retreat. to do that? We intend to continue our investment in our employ- What are the major implications for JPL in ees by providing training and funding for their research NASA’s fiscal year 2010 budget request? efforts, as well as acquiring the technical equipment With change there are always opportunities, and needed to do the job. We need to make sure we have the one of the things we need to do is capitalize on the right environment for employees to be successful. We’re opportunity and be relevant to what the administra- going to do the very best we can to make that happen tion has determined is a high priority for the nation. within our budget limitations. The Obama administration has said they’re putting a The investments we do in research and technology de- high priority on science, climate change, technology velopment and developing new products really makes us and innovation. The budget is consistent with their more capable and therefore more competitive and suc- statement—the administration is proposing about a cessful in the long term. 30 percent increase for Earth science, with a some- With the Discovery Program, New Frontiers, Venture, what smaller increase in planetary science over the Explorer and others, almost every time we compete, JPL next five years. These are the areas where most of tends to do very well, and that is a reflection of the tal- JPL’s budget comes from, and we believe we can help ent we have here. the agency in accomplishing those objectives. All of our ongoing missions are fully funded in the Has the current hiring freeze proven to be new budget. In addition, we will receive funding for effective? When might that be lifted? the Soil Moisture Active and Passive mission for First of all, the hiring freeze gives our employees first a launch in late 2013 or early 2014, and there is priority before considering the hiring of new employees money for a start on Jason 3, and to start the defini- from outside the Lab. Secondly, we have no intention of tion of a Europa mission for launch around the 2020 growing beyond about 5,000 employees—which is our timeframe. level right now—even if we were to have more money. I Considering what’s happening in the U.S. economy, think we want to have an environment where we all can I think JPL has been very fortunate that the impact continue to work on this campus and at the neighboring here has been very minimal on employment and the site on Woodbury Road. kind of work we’re doing. So the fact that we will stay at 5,000 employees is almost independent of our potential future growth. The key You recently announced the decision to forgo is maintaining a family environment at JPL and keeping merit increases to employees for the upcoming the right mix of in-house and outside projects. fiscal year. Will the raises be reinstated next But if we don’t have the talent we need on site, there is year? a process to hire. Matter of fact, there is a mechanism in I understand that people will be disappointed about place now where exceptions to the freeze are considered. the lack of raises this year, but most of the people If we don’t have the talent on Lab, we will go out and I’ve talked to say protecting jobs is the most impor- hire. tant thing to do. We are hopeful that the economy

will pick up and we can get back to normal next year. In the cost–performance area, do you see a lot of Our near-term goal is to make sure we stay com- room for better performance in the near future? petitive while making sure we provide fair compen- I assume you’re asking me about Mars Science Lab. sation for our employees. When you look at what’s We have a reasonably good record in cost performance; happening in the aerospace industry and in the most of our projects do very well. That is usually over- economy, with many layoffs and high unemployment, looked when there is an overrun in one area. But some- I think we are very fortunate. times, particularly when we’re doing things that are We will continue to monitor what happens in the very, very tough and are being done for the first time, market. If it changes significantly, we will reassess the question is how can we develop a better way to bal- the decision. ance the scope of the mission, the risk involved and the

Photos by Carol Lachata, JPL Photo Lab Continued on page 2 2 Elachi Continued from page 1 and elsewhere, and we want to make sure they are prop- erly recognized. budget. I don’t think it will ever be perfect, but we can Where the angst will be felt is the fact that we are now always strive to be better. There are lessons from Mars moving from four employee-classification levels to six lev-

n iScience v e r s e Lab and we will learn them. But no one should els. But this change is going to be for the better. I think a U forget that Mars Science Lab is an extremely tough few months after we go to the new system people will get engineering challenge. That’s the work we should be do- accustomed to it and things will be fine. ing. I want people to continue to push the limit, but it always needs to be balanced with our best judgments, I understand you’ve received some interesting experience and making sure there’s good communication feedback about the experiences of some of the between the implementing organizations and the proj- early career hires on Lab. ects. It’s an across-the-board effort. mission would have been very successful had the launch Yes. Our new employees are excited about the kind of been done successfully. work we do and how welcoming and helpful their col- NASA is steering the human spaceflight program The other option is to fly the OCO instrument along leagues are. But on the other hand, many said we need in a new direction. Is JPL in a good position to with an infrared instrument being built at Goddard for to do better on how we introduce them to JPL. make a significant contribution in that area? the next Landsat mission in 2012. We are costing both We tend to forget that when we first arrive here it Yes. We have brought our expertise in robotics to the options, and will provide the data to NASA by early can be a bit intimidating. Also, the younger generation mix. The equivalent of about 150 full-time JPL employ- June, with a decision to be made in July. Then NASA will communicates a bit differently, so we have a lot of op- ees are involved in the human program. This has been work with Congress on funding. portunities to do better. When I first came here we didn’t appreciated by Johnson Space Center and Marshall If the decision were to fly a carbon copy, the earliest it even have personal computers, much less the Internet or Space Flight Center as well as NASA Headquarters. could be launched would be fall 2011. wireless. Now we have the opportunity to introduce new Our goal is not to be a major player but a valued, people to the Lab by putting information on the Web and significant player. As we look to the future, by offering The new Job Classification Redesign Project will combining it with personal interaction. A group of early our area of expertise and by teaming with other centers, be in force in October. It seems that many people career hires are going to work with Cozette Hart, our hu- I think we can do a better job collectively for NASA and have an emotional attachment to the new levels. man resources director, and Leslie Livesay, the engineer- help the agency achieve the nation’s goals in space I remember that when we were at 13 levels and then ing and science director, to see how we do that. exploration. brought it down to four, there was a lot of concern. So I look at it in a positive way. Young people are excited any time you have change, not everyone is comfortable and engaged and come here with ideas of how to make What is the future of Orbiting Carbon Observa- with it. JPL a better place. I keep emphasizing to them that tory? Can the mission be revisited? Under the new plan, employees will be slotted at lev- JPL is their place—20 years from now they will be We are looking at two options. One is a carbon copy els associated with the type of work they’re doing and leading the Lab, so for now we want to make sure we of the mission that was lost. We have to remember that its complexity. We have individual contributors who are have the best Lab for the current staff as well as the the failure occurred in the launch vehicle; I think the doing very complicated work on projects, on research next generation.

Chris Jones Leslie Livesay Rick Grammier John McNamee David Gallagher Roger Gibbs Keyur Patel

David Gallagher was named deputy director for as- Top management changes fulfilled tronomy and physics. Gallagher is currently the manager of the Advanced Optical Systems Program Office Here is a roundup of recent executive management and telecommunication subsystem project element man- and will continue his new role as an additional duty. changes at JPL. ager for Mars Pathfinder. Previously, he was the project manager for the Space Chris Jones is the new associate director for flight Rick Grammier was named director for solar system Interferometry Mission, Spitzer Space Telescope and the projects and mission success. Previously, he was JPL’s exploration. He was previously deputy director for solar Starlight Project. director for solar system exploration, deputy director system exploration, managed the Deep Impact mission Roger Gibbs is the new deputy director for Mars for space science flight projects, spacecraft develop- and was project manager for Juno during its critical exploration. Gibbs was most recently manager of the ment manager for Cassini and manager of the Space development through the confirmation phase. He also Autonomous Systems Division. Previously he managed Interferometry Mission. He also managed the Labora- managed the Mission Assurance Division and was the Mars Telecommunications Orbiter project and was tory’s Spacecraft Systems Engineering and Guidance and deputy project manager for Stardust. project manager and flight system manager for Mars Control sections. John McNamee was named Interplanetary Network Odyssey. Leslie Livesay is the new director for engineering and director. Most recently the deputy director for Mars Keyur Patel, most recently deputy director for the Of- science. She was previously deputy director for astrono- exploration, McNamee has held positions in project fice of Safety and Mission Success, was named deputy my and physics, Kepler project manager, and manager of management and line management including Mars ’98 director for solar system exploration. He previously the Avionic Systems and Technology Division. Her other project manager, deputy director for solar system ex- served as manager of the Dawn project and as deputy JPL positions include Deep Space 1 spacecraft manager ploration, and manager of the Deep Impact and Dawn project manager for Deep Impact. projects. 3 Key roles for Lab A technician performs thermal-balance on moon mission testing on Diviner. n i v e r s e

A JPL-developed instrument will play a key role in U one of two upcoming missions to Earth’s moon. Several other JPL employees have also contributed to the lunar mission. The missions—scheduled to launch together aboard an Atlas V rocket no earlier than June 17 from Kennedy Space Center—are the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter, which focuses on the selection of safe landing sites, identification of lunar resources and the study of how lunar radiation will affect humans, and the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, which will impact the moon twice in its search for water ice. JPL developed and manages the Lunar Reconnais- sance Orbiter¹s Diviner instrument, a multi-channel solar reflectance and infrared filter radiometer whose objective is to measure lunar surface temperatures at scales that provide essential information for future sur- Instrument Concepts Group led the development of the effects of weathering in order to determine the true face operations and exploration. uncooled thermopile detectors used for Diviner and also nature of the lunar surface. Diviner is nearly a duplicate of Mars Climate Sounder, served as system engineer for the instrument. Also, retired JPL project manager and scientist Tom an instrument onboard the active Mars Reconnaissance Amanda Hendrix of the Asteroids, Comets and Satel- Duxbury, now a professor of planetary sciences at Orbiter that was built by largely the same team in Divi- lites Group is on the science team for another Lunar George Mason University, will lead a study that will use sion 38 that developed Diviner. Reconnaissance Orbiter instrument, the Lyman Alpha data from several instruments to produce the first highly Wayne Hartford is the JPL project manager for Di- Mapping Project, which will map the entire lunar sur- accurate 3-D lunar cartographic maps; the registration viner. Mission operations activities will be conducted face in the far ultraviolet. The instrument will search for and cross correlation of different payload instrument from JPL and managed by Charles Avis. Scientists at surface ice and frost in the polar regions and provide data to the precision 3-D cartographic maps to map JPL involved in the data analysis include Ashwin Vasa- images of permanently shadowed regions illuminated mineralogy across the whole moon; and the character- vada, who will study potential water ice deposits in the only by starlight. She noted that in probing and map- ization and assessment of future robotic and human moon’s polar craters; Tim Schofield, who will advise on ping the moon’s composition it’s vital to understand the landing sites. mission operations and calibration activities; Eric de For more information on the missions, visit http:// Jong and Daniel McCleese. Marc Foote of the Advanced lunar.gsfc.nasa.gov. Open House About 32,000 people 2OO9 attended JPL's open house May 19–20 and enjoyed a wide variety of exhibits and attractions. Among the most popular were the Robo-Dome, Photos by Brad Graverson for JPL a pair of 700-pound robots in a high-tech arena under artificial stars in Building 199 as part of the Universe theme area, and Mars exhibits on JPL’s past, present and future rovers and orbiters. 4 Kudos to historian Research studies Soon Sam Kim of the Analytical planetary community to accomplish a Conway awarded Chemistry and Materials Development wide array of investigations, including News For his pathbreaking work on space Five JPL researchers were recently Group will lead “Miniature Nuclear the study of outburst activity on com- history, ranging from aeronautics to named principal investigators for Magnetic Resonance for Planetary ets and transitional objects; precovery n i v e r s e Earth and space science, JPL historian proposals selected for funding under Iron-Nickel Mineralogy,” which pro- investigations; and the study of the U Erik Conway has won the 2009 NASA NASA’s Definition and Development poses to develop a miniature, zero- dynamical processes of near-Earth Briefs Headquarters History Award. Program. field nuclear magnetic resonance objects and Kuiper belt objects. The award was bestowed for Mark Anderson of the 3538 Analyti- spectrometer that can characterize Conway’s two most recent books: cal Chemistry and Materials Devel- both iron- and nickel-bearing magnetic Don’t throw it away High-Speed Dreams: NASA and the opment Group will lead a study on phase minerals without application of If you’ve ever wondered what to do Technopolitics of Supersonic Transpor- nano-chromatography, with a goal of an external magnetic field. The unit with old items around the office that tation, 1945–1999 (2005), a sophis- developing a revolutionary new form can be deployed for Discovery-class you no longer need—but you know ticated study of politics, economics of miniaturized liquid chromatography asteroid lander missions as well as shouldn’t be thrown in the trash—then and nationalism in the context of a using atomic force microscope tech- various New Frontiers missions and a a new page on the Environmental complex technological enterprise; and nology. Rapid nano-chromatography Mars sample return mission. Affairs Program Office website will be Atmospheric Science at NASA: benefits a broad range of in-situ plan- JPL was also selected to lead a of help. A History (2008), a revealing account etary missions that include Europa, study for NASA’s Planetary Mission The site’s recycling page, which of NASA’s role in understanding the Titan and Mars. Data Analysis program. includes a section titled “How do I get Earth’s atmosphere, in part through Robert Carlson of the Planetary James Bauer of the Asteroids, Com- rid of old stuff?,” includes easy-to-find studying planetary atmospheres and Ices Group will lead “A Combined ets and Satellites Group is principal solutions for dealing with recycling the Earth itself from space. Infrared Interferometric Spectrometer investigator for “Archiving of the NEAT bins, stations and temporary contain- NASA Chief Historian Steven Dick for Compositional and Thermal Stud- Database (1996–2007) for Scientific ers, as well as what to do with news- presented the award April 28 at the ies of Moons, Comets and Asteroids.” and Mission Support,” a study that papers, toner cartridges and excess agency’s annual history review at Ames The study will assess how Fourier proposes to archive Near-Earth As- trash. Visit the site at http://eapo/ Research Center. transform spectrometers can provide teroid Tracking data in the Planetary recycling.html. For more information, Erik Conway, left, receives award from NASA Conway joined JPL in 2004 after wider spectral coverage, such that an Data System repository with all pho- call Taenha Goodrich, ext. 4-1973. Historian Steve Dick. working as a historian at Langley Re- entire spectral region can be measured tometric calibrations to enable the search Center. In addition to research by one instrument with high sensitivity and writing, his duties include con- and imaging spectrometer capability. ducting oral histories and contributing Pin Chen of the Advanced Instru- to the Lab’s historical collections. mentation and Spectroscopy Group Magellan’s 20th anniversary will lead “Massively Parallel, Cavity- About time for Prestage Enhanced, Laser Spectroscopy for honors Planetary and Lunar Exploration.” The John Prestage, project scientist in study proposes to develop a powerful the Quantum Sciences and Technol- new tool for understanding the origin ogy Group (332J), has been honored and evolution of the solar system for his research by a society of the and its habitability—as well as dis- Institute of Electrical and Electronics covery of resources for future human Engineers. explorers—by providing a miniature, The Ultrasonics, Ferroelectrics and low-cost and low-power instrument for Frequency Control Society named Pre- in-situ measurements of trace-gas and stage to receive the 2009 Rabi Award, stable-isotope compositions on plan- which recognizes outstanding contri- etary bodies and returned Martian, butions related to the fields of atomic lunar and cometary samples. and molecular frequency standards, Michael Hoenk of the Nano and and time transfer and dissemination. Micro Systems Group will lead “Delta- Tony Spear, right, and next to him Doug Griffith, both former project managers for the Magellan The award credited Prestage “for Doped Electron Multiplying CCDs for mission to Venus, were joined by program engineer David Okerson and his wife Barbara at JPL seminal work on the time variation Particle Imaging and Photon Count- of fundamental constants and out- ing,” which proposes to develop, test ceremonies in May where veterans of the project chatted about old times. standing contributions to trapped ion and validate the devices as a unique clocks.” He received the honor at the and enabling component technology Joint International Frequency Control for planetary and heliophysics mis- Fae and I would like to express our Symposium and the European Fre- sions and instruments. The proposed etters sincere thanks to everyone who joined quency and Time Forum, held in April L in the send-off for Jim’s retirement, detectors will enable energy-resolved both at JPL and at the party. The in Besançon, France. particle imaging and photon counting I greatly appreciate the thoughtful JPL RETIREES: incredible support and camaraderie from the extreme ultraviolet through expressions of sympathy from my FOR ACCESS TO CLASSIFIED ADS expressed was a major indicator of AT JPL’s online news source the near infrared. friends and colleagues on Dawn and in Division 31 upon the death of my just how well the JPL family works. http://dailyplanet father. I also am grateful for every- Your support, and all the hard work one’s understanding and support in of my ex-staff to make it happen, is E-mail us at tems Section, which included research accommodating my absence. Thank greatly appreciated. It has been great [email protected] and development in telerobotics and you very much as well to JPL for the being a part of the JPL family for over P assings microgravity flight experiments. His lovely orchid. four incredible decades. participation in the planning for the Marc Rayman Jim and Fae Lumsden Richard Grace, 80, retired from Sec- Office of Aeronautics and Space Tech- tion 645, died Feb. 3. nology telerobotics program earned My family has been overwhelmed Sincere thanks to all my dear friends Grace worked at JPL from 1963 to him a NASA Exceptional Service by the outpouring of kindness and and colleagues for your cards, kind Editor 1989. He is survived by his wife, Jane. Medal. He also headed the Analytic sympathy from our friends and col- words and support on the passing of Mark Whalen Instruments and Flight Attitude and leagues at JPL following the many my mother. Your thoughtfulness during Jacquie Lee Clark, 64, a retired Articulation Control Subsystem recent losses we have endured. Los- these past weeks was deeply appre- Design secretary, died March 12. sections. ing my father and uncle and Eliza- ciated. Also, thank you JPL for the lovely plant. Audrey Steffan Clark joined JPL in 1983 and retired Szirmay is survived by his wife, beth’s two uncles in rapid succession in 2004. She is survived by sons Cory Helen, sons Stephen and Robert, has been difficult at best; the sup- Suzanne Sinclair and Brant, along with their spouses daughter Elizabeth and grandchildren Production port we have received has been tre- and children, and brother Paul Swish- Jenica, Philip, Leah and Zachary. mendous. We thank all of you deeply David Hinkle er. No public services were held; the for caring; we also thank Susanne family requests that contributions to a James Fuhrman, 58, a help-desk Tutt and JPL for the lovely basket of Photography local animal shelter be considered in computer consultant, died April 6. azaleas. Our best to you all, R etirees her memory. Fuhrman worked at JPL from 1972 JPL Photo Lab Sunjay and Elizabeth Moorthy The following JPL employees retired to 1999, when illness forced him in May: Universe is published by the Office Stephen Szirmay, 80, a retired to long-term disability status. He is I would like to thank my JPL col- of Communications and Education manager of three JPL section offices, survived by sister Judith and brother leagues for the sympathy card and Robert Freeland, 49 years, Section died March 12. Randy. The family urges donations in 3550; Robert J. Wilson, 40 years, of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, lovely plant on the recent passing of Szirmay worked at JPL from 1956 his memory to the National Multiple my father. Your support during this Section 389F; Karen Callum, 25 4800 Oak Grove Drive, to 1991. Among his accomplishments Sclerosis Society, c/o Judith Fuhrman, difficult time was much appreciated. years, Section 3410; Richard Shope, Pasadena, CA 91109. was to form the new Automated Sys- 316 Marie St., Medford, OR 97504. Robert Bonitz 15 years, Section 3223.