Jet SEPTEMBER Propulsion 2009 Laboratory VOLUME 39 NUMBER 9 Good fortune, solid preparedness and a lot of help from both inside and outside the Laboratory spared both JPL and JPLers from major damage from the Station Fire that ravaged the Angeles National Forest from Aug. 26 into early September. The largest fire in Los Angeles County history, the blaze scorched JPL spared in more than 150,000 acres and came perilously close to JPL — within foothill fires about one-eighth of a mile of the By Mark Whalen Laboratory’s mesa in the northern hills, said Joe Courtney, deputy man- ager of the Office of Protective Ser- vices. Although flames never reached Laboratory buildings, smoke in the area closed JPL Aug. 29-31. Emergency assistance was offered to JPL employees and their families who live within the fire zone. Richard Photo coutesy of Robert Koukol Roessler, deputy manager of human The Station Fire that ravaged the San Gabriel Mountains came periously close to JPL. As a precaution, the Lab was closed Aug. 29-31. resources, said approximately 1,200 cars containing personal belongings in the as about 200 sorties were performed to visual inspections and surface sampling employees who live in areas stretch- campus’ Holliston Avenue garage. drop water on the fire and help protect to identify potential brushfire contamina- ing from Altadena on the east side of “People were appreciative and very nearby homes, Courtney said. tion were performed in cleanrooms across the Lab to Sunland on the west were grateful that the communication went out Dudley Killam of the Office of the Man- the Lab, said Phil Carey of the Technical contacted to see whether they needed to inform them of the help available from agement System said outdoor air quality Facilities Management Section (3762). help with housing and other areas. the campus,” Roessler said. as monitored by JPL’s Brushfire Airborne “Overall, we’ve found that the impact on Roessler said 140 employees re- Off-duty members of the JPL Fire De- Hazards Monitoring System, combined our cleanrooms has been fairly manage- plied that they had evacuated from partment were recalled and were joined with in-building air-quality verification by able,” he said, adding that high-efficiency their homes. Seven JPL families by about 40 members of the Lab’s Urban an occupational health team from JPL’s particulate air (or HEPA) filtration was took advantage of an offer to tem- Search and Rescue Team for the emergen- Environmental Health and Safety Program very effective at protecting facilities and porarily stay at housing owned by cy. JPL also supported helicopter opera- Office, “provided the environmental insight hardware therein from airborne particu- Caltech near the campus. Caltech tions on the mesa conducted by the U.S. and monitoring needed for the reopening lates. “Testing and analysis of air qual- also offered displaced employees Forest Service, Bureau of Land Manage- of the Lab to JPL personnel on Sept. 1.” ity, surface cleanliness, filter efficiency/ the opportunity to park their extra ment and Los Angeles County Fire Dept., In addition, air-quality verifications, Continued on page 2 future in space can be even better than Garver visits Lab in the past. We talked about that with the NASA’s new deputy adminstrator By Mark president in the Oval Office, as well as on discusses the agency’s future directions Whalen the campaign.” Garver addressed several key issues in JPL welcomed new NASA Deputy Ad- was broadcast Labwide, Garver said response to audience questions. Among the ministrator Lori Garver last month in her Bolden regretted postponing his visit but highlights: first visit since she and Administrator noted he is “a huge proponent of the sci- • The acceleration of Earth science mis- Charles Bolden were confirmed to lead ence” JPL does and takes “great pride in sions that track climate change is a “high the agency. what you all do here.” priority” for the nation. “We have an abso- Bolden was to join Garver for the Aug. While acknowledging that the Obama lutely critical role to play,” she said. “With 28 visit but instead awaited the launch of administration and Congress have that could certainly come funding, but Space Shuttle Discovery, which had been expressed an appreciation for the im- we’re going to need some creativity to get delayed for several days. Discovery finally portance of the space program to the it done as well.” She suggested considering launched later that evening. nation, Garver noted that throughout the combining instruments, working more with Thom Wynne / JPL Photo Lab In an address to JPL managers that agency, “Everyone recognizes that our Lori Garver addresses JPL managers. Continued on page 2 2 Fire Continued from page 1 remaining life and smoke constituents will continue for the next several weeks to extract as much useful data as possible,” he added. n i v e r s e U Frank Mortelliti, manager of the Environmental, Health and Safety Program Office, said that both JPL and Healthy Building International, a consultant, inde- pendently confirmed that the air quality inside mission- critical buildings, as well as other highly populated buildings, was well within established guidelines for the parameters measured for personnel health. The only reported measurable damage occurred about 1 kilometer away from the Lab, where on Saturday, Aug. 29 fire ravaged a tower supporting antennas that transmit test signals toward the Mesa Antenna Measure- ment Facility, said Ronald Pogorzelski, supervisor of the Photos courtesy of Joe Courtney Spacecraft Antenna Research Group. In anticipation of Fire reaches a tower on the mesa that supports antenna testing; some damage JPL firefighters assist a U.S. Forest Service helicopter crew in gathering water on the fire, the tower’s electronic equipment was removed was reported. the mesa Aug. 31. on Friday afternoon, but the flames destroyed cabling and connectors, probably damaging three antennas and ings for personnel impacted by the fires. The program also Sounder instrument onboard the Aqua satellite observed three positioners that control the polarization of the test provided additional information for those who need help carbon monoxide in the smoke from the fire, which was signals, he said. Three of the 12 measurement facilities adjusting to and recovering from the traumatic events. lofted as high as 8.3 kilometers (27,000 feet) into the on the mesa are supported by the transmit site that was As damage control picked up on the ground, JPL in- atmosphere. damaged, he said, adding that the positioners and an- struments on NASA satellites surveyed the situation For historical purposes, JPL’s Office of Communica- tennas will be tested for damage and possibly replaced from above. The Multi-angle Imaging SpectroRadiometer tions and Education is archiving movies of the Station or refurbished. onboard the Terra satellite on Aug. 30 captured an im- Fire made by JPLers. If you have a video to contribute, After staff members returned to work, Cynthia Cooper age of smoke plumes from the Station and other wildfires please contact Henry Kline, [email protected] or of JPL’s Employee Assistance Program hosted two brief- in Southern California, while JPL’s Atmospheric Infrared ext. 3-2336. Garver Continued from page 1 • A reflight of JPL’s Orbiting Carbon Observatory mis- near-Earth objects and the moons of Mars are all fabu- international and industrial partners and multiple pur- sion is “a huge priority but marrying that with the bud- lous places we need to go, and it’s just a question of chases of spacecraft buses to save money. get is the only challenge,” Garver said.” It’s a major goal getting the program together that can get us there in a • A national Earth science climate agency is being for us to get this done as quickly as we can.” way that ties in with what the nation needs NASA, and considered. “What we need to do should be for the • In the wake of a briefing on a future flagship mission our partners around the world, to be doing.” planet, not just the nation,” Garver said. “Hopefully we to Jupiter’s moon Europa, Garver expressed disappoint- A big part of that, she said, is the need to show that can take the particular expertise of the agency and work ment that discoveries there date back to the 1990s “but “we can tie in what we do with where we’re headed as with not only the rest of the country but the rest of the we won’t get there until 2020 at best.” She said NASA’s a country, and provide better value for the tax dollar. world to get this done, and you guys are a big part of it.” budget submission for 2011 will include a Europa fund- And you guys can help us with that. You do this better ing request “and at what level is to be determined within than a lot of folks in government so we want to take the set of priorities.” those lessons learned and translate them to what we • NASA’s Office of Science and Technology Planning is can do more broadly.” “very interested” in extrasolar data. “New knowledge is Along those lines, Garver lauded JPL’s public engage- the thing we tell the public, over and over again, that’s ment efforts and said they could be used as a model what they’re getting from NASA. … It’s one of those re- throughout the agency. ally exciting areas I think the public wants to do more of, In particular, she noted the effectiveness of the JPL- and that should translate into more political support as led Solar System Ambassador Program, which oversees well.” about 500 volunteers nationwide who help spread the • Funding for technology development is expected to word about JPL space exploration.
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