National Aeronautics and Space Administration Volume 12 Issue 2 February 2016 www.nasa.gov GoddardView Trending – 2 NASA Reflects on 30th Anniversary of Challenger Disaster – 3 Spinoff at 40: How Tech Transfer Brings NASA Back Down to Earth – 4 From Rodent Research to Beer Bubbles: Select Technologies in Spinoff 2016 – 5 Citizen Observations Help Scientists Better GPM Celebrates Two Years Understand Auroras – 6 The Global Precipitation Measurement mission celebrated its second launch NASA Engineers Tapped to Build First anniversary on Feb. 27. Managed by Integrated-Photonics Modem – 7 Goddard, GPM provides observations Hitomi to Study Structure and Evolution of the of rain and snow worldwide every three Universe – 8 hours and improves the forecasting of Employee Spotlight – 9 extreme weather events. Three of Goddard’s Best Among Presidential Rank Award Recipients – 10 To the Moon and Back: New Smithsonian AAAC Honors Contributions of Exhibit Features LRO Imagery – 11 African-American Employees In honor of African American History David Raphael: Builds Spacecraft Subsystems Month, the Goddard African American and Pays It Forward – 12 Advisory Committee highlighted the careers of several African-American On the cover: An artist rendering of gravita- Goddard employees and how they’ve tional waves, which were recently detected by contributed to the center’s missions. the Laser Interferometer Gravitational-Wave Observatory. Photo credit: NASA Center Director Delivers NP-2016-2-389-GSFC State of Goddard Address Following a televised viewing of Admin- Info istrator Charles Bolden’s State of NASA address on Feb. 9, Goddard Center Goddard View is an official publication of Director Chris Scolese updated employ- NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in ees on the center’s state of affairs and Greenbelt, Maryland. Goddard View showcas- outlined its priorities for 2016. es people and achievements in the Goddard community that support the center’s mission to explore, discover and understand our dynamic Text Alerts Provide Updates to universe. Goddard View is published by the Center’s Operating Status Goddard Office of Communications. The Goddard Office of Communi- cations has begun disseminating You may submit story ideas to the editor at text alerts to update employees on [email protected]. All contributions changes to the status of the Green- are subject to editing and will be published as belt facility. Text “GSFCGBLT” to space allows. 333111 to opt into the service. NASA REFLECTS ON 30TH ANNIVERSARY OF CHALLENGER DISASTER By Sarah Schlieder ince its establishment in 1958, NASA has made generations has remained strong,” said Ed Campion, news significant strides in science and exploration, thanks chief at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center and then- largely in part to the determination and dedication spokesperson for the project during the disaster. Sof its men and women. But like many endeavors, great achievements are often accompanied by great risks. The The agency would later eliminate the Space Flight Partici- agency’s annual Day of Remembrance honors those who pant Program, of which Teacher in Space was a part. In made the ultimate sacrifice while pushing the boundaries 1998, a new category of astronaut candidate was cre- of human achievement. ated: educator. The Educator Astronaut Program allowed teachers to apply during astronaut recruitment and, if In 1967, during the first manned mission of the Apollo pro- accepted, become fully trained NASA astronauts and mis- gram, a fire during a preflight launch pad test of the space sion specialists tasked with bringing space exploration to vehicle killed all three astronauts on board. In 2003, space classrooms. Barbara Morgan, McAuliffe’s backup for the shuttle Columbia broke apart while re-entering the atmo- Challenger mission, was selected and flew aboard a space sphere minutes before its scheduled landing. All seven shuttle Endeavour mission in August 2007. crewmembers were lost. Several others have died during test flights and operations throughout NASA’s history. In the wake of the Challenger accident, the crew’s families created the Challenger Center for Space Science Educa- During this year’s Day of Remembrance, NASA marked tion to engage students and teachers in dynamic, hands- the 30th anniversary of one of the worst accidents in the on activities in science, technology, engineering and country’s space program — the space shuttle Challenger mathematics. The first center opened in 1988 in Houston. disaster. On Jan. 28, 1986, Challenger abruptly broke Now, there are 45 centers worldwide. apart 73 seconds into its flight from NASA’s Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, killing all seven “The center is building upon what the Challenger mission crewmembers: Gregory Jarvis, Christa McAuliffe, Ronald started,” said Traketa Wray, instructional supervisor at the McNair, Ellison Onizuka, Judith Resnik, Francis Scobee Howard B. Owens Science Center — a designated Chal- and Mike Smith. lenger Center — in Lanham, Maryland. “Whether you watched the crew prepare for flight at home Several scientists and engineers across the agency – in- with family and friends or at school with classmates, all of cluding some at Goddard – passed through the Challenger us are here today because of their sacrifice,” Administrator Center before making their way to NASA, helping fulfill the Charles Bolden said in a statement. Challenger crew’s desire of inspiring future generations of space explorers. The Challenger mission was known as the “teacher mis- sion.” McAuliffe, a high school social studies teacher from “The 30th anniversary reaffirms our commitment to ac- New Hampshire, was selected as the first participant for knowledging the forward-thinking of the Challenger crew,” the Teacher in Space Project, designed to spur interest added Wray. “They were at the forefront of inspiring kids in science and space exploration. Students and educa- to go to Mars and explore other solar systems. We com- tors would have gathered around bulky televisions to memorate these pioneers in space education.” n watch McAuliffe conduct a live teaching session aboard the shuttle. Other lessons would have been recorded and Above: The Challenger crew (from left to right): Christa distributed to educators upon the crew’s return. McAuliffe, Gregory Jarvis, Judith Resnik, Francis Scobee, Ronald McNair, Mike Smith and Ellison Onizuka. “The original Teacher in Space lesson plans may have been lost, but the agency’s commitment to inspiring new Photo credit: NASA Volume 12 Issue 2 • February 2016 3 SPINOFF AT 40: HOW TECH TRANSFER BRINGS NASA BACK DOWN TO EARTH By Jenny Hottle rom your memory foam mattress to the digital image sen- This year’s edition features more than 50 impactful tech- sors in cellphone cameras, NASA technology developed nologies, including a rice crop model that helps farmers use for space exploration often winds up benefiting everyday sustainable irrigation practices, a pressure garment that helps Flife on Earth. stop postobstetric hemorrhaging and a new drug that treats osteoporosis. Research that focused on capturing and ma- When NASA was established through the National Aeronau- nipulating carbon dioxide on Mars even led to a system that tics and Space Act in October 1958, the government called allows microbrewers to capture carbon dioxide released dur- upon the agency not only to explore space, but also to en- ing fermentation and use it for carbonation. sure that the technologies created through its work could be adapted for commercial use. In 1962, the agency established “The beauty of the Spinoff enterprise and technology transfer a formal program – currently NASA’s Technology Transfer in general is that there are thousands upon thousands of sto- Program – to facilitate and report the transfer of technology to ries to tell,” added Lockney. “Each one is bizarre and wonder- the private sector. ful.” Some technologies are potentially life-saving as well, and he would be one to know. NASA highlights these “spinoffs” – commercial products or services that began as or NASA’s Jet Propulsion have benefitted from the Laboratory in Pasadena, agency’s technologies – in California, created an ultra- annual reports that are pre- sound device that detects pared for congressional bud- plaque buildup in the carotid get hearings and the scientific arteries. Gary F. Thompson, and engineering communities, founder of medical prod- but which have also generat- ucts manufacturer Medical ed a great deal of public inter- Technologies International, est. The reports evolved into distributed this hand-held the full-scale Spinoff publica- machine to hospitals across tion, which celebrated its 40th the country. anniversary this year with the release of the 2016 issue. Ironically, while writing a feature about the technology, Lockney underwent the ultra- “There was a remarkable amount of foresight that we would sound and learned his arteries were unhealthy. He took up yield terrestrial, practical benefits,” said Dan Lockney, execu- running and switched to a vegetarian diet, and his health dras- tive of the Technology Transfer Program at NASA Headquar- tically improved a few years later when he retook the test. ters in Washington and former Spinoff editor. “The money we spend on space research has these useful results right here “I’m tall and lean, and I had no real indication that I would on Earth.” have had any sort of arterial thickness,” Lockney said. “It hit very close to home.” Since 1976, Spinoff has highlighted about 2,000 spinoffs. The free publication features technologies in health, medicine, Spinoffs may not be at the forefront of the agency’s mission, consumer goods, energy, environment, industrial productivity, but NASA technologies have been successfully applied to information technology, public safety and transportation. almost every sector of the U.S. economy. “Space is a bigger part of our lives than we realize. People “NASA doesn’t view spinoffs as the justification for the space don’t always realize that when we pursue these noble things program. We want to go to space. We’re human beings and like going to space, there are side benefits that come out of it,” we want to explore,” Coleman added.