National Aeronautics and Space Administration, Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA

January 2006

www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/news/astrogram/2005/05astrograms.html

-- Stardust brings back valuable data, see centerspread, pages 6 - 9, for details --

G. Scott Hubbard

The following is a statement byNASA Administrator Michael Grif-fin on the second anniver-sary of President Bush's an-nouncement of the Visionfor Space Exploration, aplan to return to the moon,travel to Mars and destina-tions beyond.

"Two years ago thisweek, President Bush com-mitted our nation to the Vision forSpace Exploration. This Vision com-

NASA marks Vision for Space Exploration anniversarymits America to a journey of discoveryand exploration with new and excit-

ing plans to return astronauts to themoon. From there, to voyage to Mars

and beyond, while continuing to en-gage in groundbreaking space science

and pioneering advances ininnovation, creativity andtechnology.

Together with the part-nerships we have in the In-ternational Space Stationprogram, our nation has thetremendous opportunityand solemn responsibility

to lead the way toward the dawn of anew space age."

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To my friends and colleagues at Ames,It has been both a pleasure and an honor to work with you and to serve as the Ames

center director. You represent the best of the Agency, we've accomplished many thingstogether that I'm extremely proud of, and I know you will continue to play creative andcritically important roles as NASA turns the Vision for Space Exploration into reality.It seems only fitting that my new position at the SETI Institute will allow me to promoteand advance a research discipline that we began here at Ames - astrobiology. Holdingthe Carl Sagan Chair for the Study of Life in the Universe will provide opportunities tobring this exciting and ultimately profound line of research to the attention of academiaand the public and to increase the participation of private organizations in this work. Iwant to thank you all for your support and dedication.

- G. Scott Hubbard

continued on page 12

Scott Hubbard to hold Carl Sagan Chair at SETI InstituteAmes Center Director G. Scott

Hubbard recently announced his deci-sion to accept a new assignment as holderof the Carl Sagan Chair for the Study ofLife in the Universe at the SETI Institutein Mountain View, Calif.

In this prestigious position,Hubbard will work to strengthen theSETI Institute's capability, visibility andsupport for its research into the origin of

life, and how it might be found on otherworlds, in the planets and moons of oursolar system or beyond.

“My new position at the SETI Insti-tute allows me to return to the researcharena and pursue a lifelong interest inthe search for life in the Universe and itsorigins on Earth,” Hubbard explained.“I believe this field, that we know asastrobiology, is both the scientific heartof the exploration vision and the most

exciting area of research today. We havea chance to learn things that, only ageneration ago, would have seemedbeyond our capabilities.”

“Scott is the perfect candidate forthe Carl Sagan Chair,” remarked Tho-mas Pierson, chief executive officer ofthe SETI Institute. “He has a solid back-ground in the relevant sciences and hasproven himself to be an effective and

widely admired leader. As the holder ofthe Carl Sagan Chair, Scott will be en-gaged with many audiences, furtheringtheir understanding about science andits potential for new discoveries. Scottwill bring both expertise and enthusi-asm to this task and will be a terrificrepresentative for the Institute both do-mestically and internationally,” Piersonadded.

Hubbard began his career at NASA

Ames in 1987, and has served as thecenter director since 2002. As director,Hubbard substantially reorganized the

center, streamlined operations and con-tinued a 10-year center transformationto astrobiology and advanced technol-ogy in which he played a significantrole.

Hubbard is known for his innova-tive approach to collaborations betweengovernment, academia and the privatesector, exemplified by the award-win-ning NASA Research Park development

Astrogram January 20062

At its annual business meeting onJan. 11, the Ames Contractor Council(ACC) recognized and thanked outgo-ing President Linda McCahon(Infonetics) for her year of service in2005. She was presented with a certifi-cate of appreciation.

Highlights of the year includedachievement of non-profit status, cre-ation of the historic calendar as a majorfundraiser and education programs sup-port. NASA liaison to the ACC, ActingDeputy Center Director Steve Zornetzer,as well as Meredith Moore, special assis-tant to the deputy center director, joinedthe council in expressing appreciation.

The council develops and maintainsan open dialog with senior center man-agement, provides a mechanism for cen-ter management to communicate vitalinformation directly to contractors in atimely manner, provides a forum to raiseissues that affect the contractor commu-nity, creates a mechanism to addressissues affecting the contractor commu-

BY DOREEN COHEN

Ames Contractor Council honors 2005 president Linda McCahon

Members of the 2005 ACC board and newly elected officers for 2006. Left to right are: ChrisJohnson of MEI Technologies (2006 vice president); Faten Mansour of PAIC (2006 secretary);Doreen Cohen of Planners Collaborative (2006 president); Linda McCahon of Infonetics (2005president); Paul Chaplin of SAIC (2006 director); Kathleen Starmer of SAIC (2006 treasurer); andMarla Arcadi of ELORET (2006 director). Not present were 2006 directors Anita Fogtman (SAIC)and Paul Kutler (retired).

nity and provides centerwide recogni-tion for excellent contractor employeeperformance.

For more information about the

Ames Contractor Council, visit: http://contractorcounci l .arc .nasa.gov/about.html

Families and individuals atNASA Ames have been reaching outto those in need at Stennis Space Cen-ter, to provide support in the wake ofHurricane Katrina. To date, 47 con-nections have been made betweenAmes and Stennis, in an ‘adopt afamily’ concept.

This is not an official NASA pro-gram and involves no NASA fund-ing; it is based on personal connec-tions and support that is typicallybeing provided through networks ofAmes' employees, friends and fami-lies. Many of the participants fromAmes are forming long-distancefriendships with their Stennis fami-lies that may be lasting, as it is ex-pected that the recovery efforts willspan months or even years.

A variety of gifts and monetarydonations have been provided to theStennis families. In December, a sub-stantial shipment was sent from Amesto Stennis, through personal dona-

Ames ‘Families-Helping-Families’ participants with a shipment of items for Katrina families atStennis. Left to right in photo, back row: Maria Elena Lopez, Vivian Torres, John Garcia, LynetteForsman, Barbara Chenier, Gail James, Monica Mendoza, John Wallace, B J Navarro, Jeff Scargle,Sylvia Longchamps, Claudio Martinez, Julia Rivera, Mike Otto, Yvonne Pendleton, Wendy Dolci,Marion Legg. In front: Patricia Montes Gregory and Venoncia Braxton.

tions.To find out more and to sign up for

the ‘Families-Helping-Families’ effort,

Ames reaches out to its ‘family’ at Stennis

visit the Internet: http://spacescience.arc.nasa.gov/katrina/

BY WENDY DOLCI

3Astrogram January 2006

NASA commercial success stories featured in Spinoff 2005

BY LISA WILLIAMS

The annual issue of NASA Spinoffis hot off the presses and available forAmes employees. The Spinoff publica-tion documents successful partnerships

from the NASA technology transfer andcommercialization program. Many sto-ries describe new products on the mar-ket in the area of health, environment,information technology and safety.

As stated by Michael Griffin, NASAadministrator, in the forward section ofthis issue,�"These innovations demon-strate that a vigorous space exploration

program has andwill continue toprovide theAmerican publicwith an impres-sive technologi-cal return on in-vestment."

This year,five technologiesand partnershipsuccess storiesare based onA m e s - d e v e l -oped technol-ogy.

For yourown free copy,contact Lisa Wil-liams at e-mailLisa.M.Williams-

1@nasa.gov or call ext. 4-2954. The fiveAmes-related technologies and partner-ships featured in the publication are:Forty-year Old Foam Springs Back WithNew Benefits

Temperature-sensitive foam appli-cations ranging from football helmets tomedical applications are highlighted.

Inertial Motion-Tracking Technologyfor Virtual 3-D

InterSense Inc. ongoing partner-ships with NASA to develop next gen-eration virtual reality applications arepresented.

Water and Air Measures Make'PureSense'

PureSense Inc. is highlighted in itswork to secure a safe environment forall

A Search Engine That's Aware of YourNeeds

Stottler Henke Inc. works with SBIRto create software for manageable search-ing of NASA databases

Software of Seismic Proportions Pro-motes Enjoyable Learning ��

Seismic Entertainment, "InsideNASA" film creators discuss the jour-ney from idea to film release.

Front cover of the 2005 Annual Spinoff.

and to predict the future of life onEarth and in the rest of the universe.

To this end, it relies on the diver-sity of disciplines and has inspired newmeta-disciplines. Abstracts are solic-ited on all topics that span the enor-mous range of astrobiological themes.

The meeting format will include alimited number of plenary talks thatwill complement a larger number oforal presentations in parallel thematicsessions.

As has always been the case atprevious AbSciCons, the poster ses-sions, including the NAI-sponsoredstudent poster competition, will con-tinue to be a particularly importantand successful venue for the exchangeof scientific ideas.

Visit the Internet at http://abscicon2006.arc.nasa.gov to obtain thelatest AbSciCon 2006 information.

Fourth Astrobiology Science Conference set for MarchThe Fourth Astrobiology Science

Conference (AbSciCon) 2006 will be heldMarch 26-30 in Washington, D.C., at theRonald Reagan Building and Interna-tional Trade Center (located on the Webat www.itcdc.com).

All are invited to join the astrobiol-ogy community at this exceptional facil-ity that lies in the heart of Washington,just off the mall, blocks from the WhiteHouse and with easy access to all areasof the city via the Metro.

The meeting will be held when thecherry blossoms are nearing their peakat the Tidal Basin. A private eveningtour and reception are scheduled at theSmithsonian's Natural History Museum,site of the United States meteorite col-lection.The History of AbSciCon

NASA Ames and the NASA Astro-biology Institute (NAI) hosted the firstthree Astrobiology Science Conferences.The sessions were based on themes, such

as ‘Water the Sine Qua Non of Life.’Each session was led by invited ple-nary speakers and followed by con-tributed talks selected for their topicalexcitement from over 370 submittedabstracts.

The many excellent posters at-tracted viewers during special postertimes, lunches and evenings.

In the second meeting, the formatwas enhanced by overview talks indisciplines for those who wanted a re-freshing way to get ‘up to speed’ out-side their area of expertise. From cos-mology to human intelligence, theAbSciCon covers the intellectualbreadth of astrobiology.

AbSciCon 2006 builds on the suc-cesses of these previous meetings. As-trobiology is a novel approach to thescientific study of the living universe.It seeks to understand the origin andevolution of life on Earth, to determineif life exists elsewhere in the universe BY SHIRLEY BERTHOLD

Astrogram January 20064

The Photozig team, left to right: Luis Dib, chief software architect; JimWhitney, multimedia engineer; Francisco Imai, color imaging scientist; BrunoKajiyama, CEO; and David LeDrew, multimedia designer.

Photozig: a picture is worth a thousand words

BY DIANE FARRAR

Photozig Inc., an industry partnerin NASA Research Park (NRP) since2002, develops innovative software so-lutions and applications for digital pho-tography, with federal funding and in

cooperation with academic centers ofexcellence such as Stanford University,UC Davis, UCLA, UCSF and the Uni-versity of Illinois.

"Photozig is dedicated to creatingeasy, simple and powerful solutions fororganizing and sharing digital photosand video data," said Bruno Kajiyama,CEO of Photozig. "We are introducing

our first product to the market -- PhotozigAlbums, a complete solution for manag-ing digital photosand short videos onthe desktop com-

puter with Webconnectivity," hesaid.

"Our soft-ware has a rich set of features, allowingefficient control of your digital assets.You can easily transfer photos/shortvideos from your camera, index albumsand photos with categories and tags,drag/drop images from web browser todesktop, create slideshows orscreensavers with photos/video/music,enhance images, e-mail, send to the Web,

create photo blogs, exchange full resolu-tion images, burn a CD, backup and

much more, " Kajiyama said.�Photozig chose NRP because of the

research environment, proximity toNASA and potential access to NASAtechnology. Kajiyama believes thatNASA represents for humanity thedream of exploring and discoveringmore about our universe. He admiresNASA's dedicated personnel, their tal-ent, and technological achievements.

Photozig is interested in collabora-tive projects related to digital imagemanagement/enhancement, digitalphoto broadcast and spectral imaging.Photozig software, for example, couldenable astronauts to post photo albumblogs in near real time during missions,sharing experiences with their families,the educational community and theworld.

Kajiyama loves spending time withhis family and playing with his 17-monthson. He also enjoys skiing, traveling,filming and taking pictures.

More information is available atwww.photozig.com or by e-mailinginfo@photozig.com.

Screen snapshot of the Photozig Web site.

NASA photo by Tom Trower

Thermo-PhysicsFacilities BranchChief JoeHartman (left)explains thedynamics of theArcJet Facility tovisiting SenateBudgetCommittee stafferKevin Bargo(center) andNASA legislativeliaison JoanSalute.

Senate staffer Kevin Bargo tours Ames

5Astrogram January 2006

The Astrogram staff encouragesemployees to write stories about eventsand activities in their respective workareas, which provides Astrogram read-ers with a fresh perspective. To allow usto include as many stories as possible,we ask that writers follow these guide-lines for stories:

Astrogram story guidelines

BY THE ASTROGRAM EDITORIAL BOARD

Word limits:Feature articles/news releases: 500 wordsAround the Center (Ames-related): 250 wordsObituaries: 200 wordsUpcoming events/calendar items: 50 words

Timeliness:For upcoming events, please sub-

mit items at least 1 month in advance.For completed events, please submitarticles no more than 2 weeks aftercompletion of the event, activity, con-ference, etc. Items are due to the editorby the 10th of each month. If that datefalls on a weekend or holiday, then thenext business day becomes the duedate.

Writing tips:Please review the following writing

tips to familiarize yourself with ourwriting style and guidelines. Be sure toinclude who you want listed as the au-thor/byline. If you have questions,please contact the Astrogram editor atastrogram@mail.arc.nasa.gov

Types of stories:The most common kinds of stories

published in the Astrogram are newsstories and feature stories.

News stories:•Tell the basics - who, what, where,

when, how and why.•News stories are meant to inform

rather than entertain.•Don't use creative writing - pro-

vide just the facts. News stories, likefeature stories, can highlight, explainand share, but they are meant to be shortand to the point.

• Use the active rather than passivevoice.

•Write for a general audience andavoid jargon and technical terms as muchas possible.

Feature stories:•Serve as great opportunities to:

Highlight a person, organization or

project; offer a behind-the-scenes lookand tell a 'story' rather than present astraight-news article.

•They are less time-critical than arenews stories.

•They allow readers to relate to theexperiences, feelings, lessons learned orachievements of others.

•Feature stories allow you to writecreatively without using ‘puff’ words orputting yourself into the story.For feature articles about Ames projects,keep the following in mind:

•Remember, this is a feature storyand not a term paper - make your storyinteresting and not overly technical.

•Refrain from using jargon - tell thereader what it is you are doing in every-day language.

•Spell out all acronyms on first ref-erence and then put the acronym after itonly if it is used again in the article.

•Discuss the genesis and purposeof the project and the primary benefitsderived from it and to Ames and NASA.

•Discuss how the project fits intoother key programs and how it supportsthe NASA mission, if appropriate.

•Explain what happened to makethe project a success.

•Include timelines as to when theproject began, key milestones reached,when the project concluded, etc.

•Discuss the role of key figures onthe project.

•Discuss potential spin-offs, futureuses, and the next steps to be taken, ifappropriate.

•Add any other interesting newsabout the project.

•Add quotes from key individuals.For the human interest, 'personalityprofile' story:

•Make your story interesting andnot overly technical. Refrain from usingjargon.

•Spell out all acronyms on first ref-erence and then put the acronym after itONLY if it is used again in the article.

•Include some background aboutthe person's title, years of service, re-sponsibilities at Ames, awards, commen-dations, etc.

•Discuss outside interests (for ex-ample: community involvement, hob-bies, sports).

•Include particular items of note(inventions, patents, publications, con-ference presentations).

•Include other interesting back-ground about the individual.

•Add quotes from the person andother sources who work with or super-vise the person.

• Be sure to indicate who is to belisted as the author or the story.

Spam is not just a nuisance; it's adrain on IT resources and worker pro-ductivity. One report puts the cost at$87 billion to the U.S. economy annu-ally. Another shows the average em-ployee loses eight days per year dealingwith spam. It is occasionally offensiveand some messages are designed to foolthe recipient into giving out IDs andpasswords to bank accounts or similarsystems (called phishing).

The Applied Information Technol-ogy Division (Code JT) has implementeda new anti-spam service that offers im-proved defense against spam, adult con-tent and phishing attacks. Since its imple-mentation in September 2005, users havereported a significant reduction in spamreducing the need and time spent tomaintain and filter unsolicited commer-cial e-mail.

The new service uses advancedmachine learning techniques to analyzemore than 100,000 attributes in every e-mail, providing extreme confidence inidentifying spam messages. With thisnew service, JT provides improved vi-rus and spam protection including bet-

Ames' improves anti-spam servicester spam identification and user man-agement options.

While most users will simply rejoiceover the reduction in spam, we haveprovided options for advanced users.Advanced users may opt into the self-managed group that allow them to man-age their own quarantine areas, changebetween mild, medium and aggressivespam filtering rules and manage theirown personal safe lists and blockedsender lists. (These user managementoptions are only available for those us-ing the mail.arc.nasa.gov system.) How-ever, 95 percent of Ames users will findthat the current default configuration ismore than adequate to meet their needs.

An anti-spam town hall meetingsponsored by the Applied InformationTechnology Division was held in Octo-ber of 2005. If you missed the meeting,you may visit the outreach Web site ath t t p : / / a p p t e c h . a r c . n a s a . g o v /outreach.cfm to download a copy of theslides.

For more information regarding thisservice, see FAQ on http://amesemail.arc.nasa.gov/faq.cfm.

BY ELIZABETH TU

Astrogram January 20066

Demonstration of the Ames-developed heatshield used on the Stardustcapsule.

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Principal investigator Peter Jenniskens (SETI Institute) (seated) and MikeKoop of the San Jose Astronomical Association acquiring data from ahigh-resolution spectrometer on board the DC-8 that departed Ames toobserve the re-entry of the Stardust capsule on Jan. 15.

NASA used a McDonnell Douglas DC-8 aircraft to observe the re-entry of the Stardust capsule on Jan.15. The aircraft, based at the University of North Dakota, Grand Forks, collects data for manyexperiments in support of scientific projects serving the world scientific community. Included in thiscommunity are NASA, federal, state, academic and foreign scientists. Data gathered by the DC-8 atflight altitude and by remote sensing have been used for scientific studies in archaeology, ecology,geography, hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, volcanology, atmospheric chemistry, soil scienceand biology.

Trajectory of the Stardust mission

The Stardust capsule as it re-enters Earth’s atmosphere on Jan. 15. Phototaken from the DC-8 that departed from Ames to observer the re-entry ofthe spacecraft.

NASA photo based on video by Mike Taylor, Utah State University

To monitor the fireball-like returnof the Stardust sample capsule to Earth,

a team of researchers left Ames onNASA's DC-8 aircraft.

While the airplane circled over Ne-vada in the early morning darkness, theteam tracked and observed the capsuleas it plunged into Earth's atmosphere 10times faster than a speeding bullet. Fi-nally, the capsule parachuted down andwas safely collected in a desert in Utah.The capsule's precious cargo includedthousands of particles from the cometWild 2 and interstellar particles that theStardust spacecraft had captured withits specialized 'arm.'

The researchers on the DC-8 as-sessed the performance of Stardust's car-

Stardust returns with a ‘stellar’ show and valuable information

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shock emission brightness, light of whichcontributes to heating the surface.

bon-based, ablativeheat shield, devel-

oped at NASAAmes.

The scientistsaboard the DC-8took measure-ments of the shield’s surface tempera-ture and rate of ablation during thecapsule's high-speed flight. The teamalso measured the capsule's re-entry

7Astrogram January 2006

Comet Wild 2, taken bythe Stardust navigationcamera during thespacecraft's closestapproach to the cometon Jan. 2, 2004. Theimage was taken withina distance of 500kilometers (about 311miles) of the comet'snucleus with a 10-millisecond exposure.

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Scientists study the Stardust sample return particles (center) that were capturedby Stardust's specialized 'arm' and remained enveloped within the Aerogelsubstance inside the spacecraft’s interior.

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Sandford e-mails family, friends and colleagues about StardustNASA Ames astrophysicists Scott

Sandford is a member of the Stardustmission's science team that will be ana-lyzing the comet dust and interstellarparticles that were cap-tured when the Stardustspacecraft flew throughsome of Comet Wild-2'sdust in 2004. Sandford wasthe only member of the sci-ence team to also be on therecovery team when thecapsule landed in Utah onJan. 15, 2006. He has ac-companied the capsulefrom Utah to JohnsonSpace Center, Houston,where it was opened in aclean room and the par-ticles assessed. Sandfordhas been sending e-mailsabout his historic Stardustexperiences to family,friends and colleagues.Here are some excerptsfrom these messages.

Jan. 13, 7:02 a.m. MST:The recovery team has pretty much fin-

ished up all its preparations, and weare now mostly taking it easy and sav-ing our energy for 3 a.m. MST onSunday (Jan. 15). All our gear has beenchecked out and is ready for use.

We got some snow and ice lastnight, but it was largely gone by theend of the day, and it is unlikely to havecaused any problems with water in thelanding ellipse. There is apparentlyanother storm due on Sunday, but thehopes are that it won't really arriveuntil we are already finished recover-ing the sample return capsule (SRC).

The usual herds of deer and antelope arewandering the area, including between thebuildings in English Village where we spendour nights. I am particularly enjoying hear-ing the coyotes sing every night, somethingI heard frequently growing up in NewMexico, but that you don't get much of inthe San Francisco Bay area!Jan. 13, 5:11 p.m. MST:

The building was'locked down' so thatwe know everything will be ready and wait-ing for us when we re-gather tomorrowevening to start the actual recovery opera-tions.

We don't reassemble at the Avery com-plex for the recovery until around midnight.We'll then receive a briefing, get into our

warm weather gear, load things into trucksand helicopters, etc., in preparation for the 3a.m. MST re-entry of the sample returncapsule.

The helicopters did some practice flightstoday and made a point of checking out theground conditions in a number of locations

within the landing ellipse, including thetarget point. They reported that the groundis muddy, but mostly free of standing water.We don't want the SRC to land in deepwater, as water and our sampling aerogeldon't play well together.

The weather folks are telling us that anew storm is expected to blow in at justabout the time we would begin the recoveryprocess. This will play a factor in the deci-sion as to whether we recover the SRC usinghelicopters or ground vehicles. Helicoptersare preferred since they allow us to do therecovery more quickly and minimize ourexposure to any UXO (unexploded ord-nance) on the range.Jan. 15, 6:30 a.m. MST:

I'm back at Avery and the SRC is cur-rently being taken apart to get at the samplecanister. The field conditions were VERYmuddy, but no water got in the SRC and the

SRC itself didn't get toomuddy (our boots on the otherhand...)

The recovery went al-most perfectly. Finding theSRC took a little longer thanwe had anticipated. It alsotook us longer to completerecovery because the SRC dida few minor bounces, followedby a short roll, before comingto a stop on its side when itlanded. That required we domore environmental sam-pling than we practiced.

Jan. 16, 9:46 a.m. MST:Sorry for the long delay,

but I was up 39 hours straightdealing with the recovery andthen washing and organiz-ing gear, followed by watch-ing the disassembly of thecanister from the back shieldand the heat shield. After that

I caught some much-needed sleep.The recovery went perfectly, but a little

slower than in practice, in part because ittook a little longer to locate thesample return capsule than expected,and in part because we took moreenvironmental samples than ex-pected. The SRC hit the ground withsome transverse velocity due to thewind, so it made a few small bouncesand ended up on its rim. Once on itsrim, it rolled in a wobbly fashion fora short distance and then did a littlespiral and stopped on its side (kindof like a top at the end of its spin).The impact marks were all quiteshallow, so it looked like it had a

pretty gentle landing.We sampled all along the track. The

sticky mud sucked some fine grain materialoff the heat and back shields. As a result, themud had a hard time adhering to the SRCand the SRC itself had relatively little mudon it (less than ended up on me!)Jan. 18, 2:36 p.m. CST, e-mail sent fromJohnson Space Center, Houston:

Yesterday was a very long day. I was upat 4:30 a.m. MST to go down to the Averycomplex in preparation for flying down toJSC. We loaded up all the sample returncapsule gear and related hardware onto aflatbed truck and transported it to a waitingC-130 Hercules provided courtesy of the

Astrogram January 20068

Sandford to discuss Stardust, Hayabusa sample return missionsThe Silicon Valley Astronomy Lec-

ture Series presents a lecture co-spon-sored by NASA Ames, Foothill Col-lege Astronomy Program, SETI Insti-tute and Astronomical Society of thePacific. Astronomer Scott Sandford ofNASA Ames will give a non-techni-cal, illustrated talk on: ‘The Stardustand Hayabusa Missions.’ Details be-low.

Date: Wednesday, March 1Time: 7 p.m.Place: Smithwick Theater Foothill College El Monte Road and Freeway 280, in Los Altos Hills

The event is free and open to thepublic.Parking on campus costs $2.

Call the series hot-line at (650) 949-7888 for more information and drivingdirections.

There are currently two active space-craft missions designed to returnsamples to Earth from small bodies inour solar system. Stardust recently re-turned samples from the comet Wild-2and Hayabusa will attempt to returnsamples from the asteroid Itokawa.

Sandford will discuss the scientificgoals of the Stardust and Hayabusa mis-sions and provide an overview of theirdesigns and flights to date. He will alsoshow some of the exciting data returnedby these spacecraft during their encoun-

ters with their target objects. In addition, in the case of Stardust,

he will talk about some of the prelimi-nary findings from the comet samplesreturned to Earth recently.

No background in science will berequired for this talk.

Sandford, an expert on meteoritesand the material between the planets,is a senior member of Ames'Astrochemistry Laboratory and is co-investigator on the Stardust andHayabusa missions. He received hisPh.D. in physics from Washington Uni-versity, St. Louis.

Sandford e-mails family, friends and colleagues about Stardustcontinued from page 7

continued on page 9

Wyoming National Guard.Loading the plane was cold work (colder

than the recovery, so of course my nice,warm recovery parka was stowed in thegear). The Herc flight was similar to myexperiences with Herc in Antarctica, noisywith alternating hot and cold locations. Seat-ing was the typical hammock webbing.

We got a police escort all the way to JSC;police cars took turns dashing ahead of us sothey could block all the intersections, so wenever had to stop at lights. If we'd added abrass band it would have made a lovelyparade!

We arrived at the curatorial building atJSC, and there was a nice little crowd ofpeople there to greet us and give enthusiasticapplause (one of the only times in all of thisthat I got a little choked up). The SRCcomponents were all loaded into the SpaceExposed Hardware (SEH) clean room, andthen I escorted the canister up to the Stardustclean room. There the Lockheed team openedthe canister and exposed the aerogel tray forthe first time. Every aerogel tile is still inplace!!! By and large the tiles are in amaz-ingly good shape.

The science team entered the clean roomat this point, and we safely transferred thesample tray to its holding fixture in the cleanroom. This was a nerve-wracking step butwas completed with only a few tiny pieces ofloose aerogel falling from the tray (into wait-ing clean trays.)

It immediately became obvious that wehave lots of wonderful samples. There aremany impacts that are EASILY visible to thenaked eye! In some cases you can even see theparticles. Presumably, we have even more,smaller 10-20 micron grains in the aerogel.

It looks like we have succeeded well beyondour wildest hopes! I am not sure if it is goodclean room protocol to hug each other, butthere was a lot of it going on for the first 10minutes or so. We then got organized andbegan systematically photographing thecometary tiles. I helped with this until about6:30 p.m. CST when my many days of ir-regular sleep and meals started to tell, whenI turned my job over to Andrew Westphal.Jan. 20, 9:15 a.m. CST

The day after the canister got to JohnsonSpace Center, Houston, Mike Zolensky andI picked up a number of small fragments ofaerogel that were lying on the avionics deckand sampling arm of the sample return cap-sule. These are all probably small pieces ofthe front of some of the cometary aerogel cellsthat broke off after the sample trays werestowed subsequent to the comet flyby. Itisn't clear when they came off, but given therough and tumble life of the SRC (re-entry,hitting the ground at ~10 mph, etc.), I amsurprised we didn't see more loose aerogel.The entire Stardust system worked amaz-ingly well. Members of the team have beenexamining these small chips (the largest isonly about 1 cm on a side and a few mmthick) and have already found multiple tracksand particles. This bodes very well for thecontents of the full cells in the sampling tray.At this morning's science team meeting wedecided to begin to extract these particlesand use them to begin distributions to someof our preliminary examination team (PET)members.

Much of yesterday was spent experi-menting with the lighting conditions on thecometary tray in the automated scan plat-form. We want to optically scan a significant

number of cells to get a good sense of whatthe collected dust population looks like interms of track types, sizes, etc. So far, we arehaving some minor difficulties getting re-ally good images due to our inability to lightthe samples from the side (the tray frame getsin the way) and because we get a lot ofreflections off the frame and the aluminumfoils that hold the cells.

Nonetheless, we are getting good enoughimages to take us to the next step, which is toselect the first, few cells for extraction. If allgoes well, I think we will be extract our firstcell this afternoon, but we may not get to ituntil tomorrow morning. We want our firstcell to be "run of the mill." Cells with moreexceptional particles will wait until we haveproven all our extraction techniques workwell.

Last night the extended Stardust team,at least those members who are in Houston,had a celebratory dinner in the Gilruth Cen-ter. We've all made good friends during themany years of the mission, and it was nice totake a moment to relax in each other's com-pany.

During the celebration we made a pointof remembering the many, many, manypeople who have played key roles in thesuccess of the mission but were unable to bepresent.

Kudos to all of you out there who havehelped make this mission a reality. It is mysincere hope that I will get to work with thesefolks more in the future. Say, here's an idea- how about we do another sample mission!

Cheers!Scott

9Astrogram January 2006

Aerogel helps scientists unravel mysteries of comets

NA

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Aerogel, sample shown above, is a new concept for spacecraft tiles that canbe used on Earth to make efficient, vacuum-like insulation for refrigerators,furnaces and automobile catalytic converters. The new material is similar tothat used for the tiles on the Space Shuttle to protect the vehicle from theheat generated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere. However, the newtiles have a layer of aerogel, or `solid smoke,' mixed into the tile's air spaces.This works like a vacuum layer because it's a great insulator, insulatingspacecraft from 10 to 100 times better than today's tiles.

Strange stuff called 'aerogel' thatlooks like a semi-transparent, blue cloud,but that is solid, carried captured cometdust to Earth on Jan. 15, landing in aUtah desert.

In January 2004, theStardust spacecraft flewwithin 147 miles (236 kilo-meters) of the comet Wild 2(VILT-TWO) and survivedthe high-speed impact ofmillions of dust particlesand small rocks up to nearlytwo-tenths of an inch (one-half centimeter) across. Withits tennis-racket-shaped col-lector extended, Stardustcaptured thousands ofcomet particles in the see-through aerogel, which in-cludes silica and oxygen.

"It’s a little bit like col-lecting BBs by shootingthem into styrofoam. Someof the grains are likely tohave exotic isotopic ratiosthat will give us an indica-tion that we're looking atmaterials that aren't as oldas the solar system, but thatare, in fact, older than thesolar system," said ScottSandford, an astrophysicistand Stardust mission co-investigator atAmes.

Another mission objective was toexpose the spacecraft to the interstellardust stream for 150 days to grab par-ticles. After collecting them, the aerogelcollector retracted into the spacecraft'scapsule. Stardust will be the first mis-sion to capture and return a substantialsample from outside Earth's moon sys-tem.

Making sure that precious cometand interstellar particles imbedded inthe aerogel are not affected by earthlycontaminants was an important task tocomplete before the Stardust spacecraftwas launched on Feb. 7, 1999, from CapeCanaveral Air Station, Florida. aboard aDelta II rocket.

"Under Dr. Sandford's guidance, Iperformed the lab analysis of the aero-gel using infrared (IR) light to deter-mine the level of organic contamina-tion," said Max Bernstein, a scientist atNASA Ames. "These and other prelimi-nary lab tests ultimately led the Stardustaerogel development team to devise abake-vacuum-bake cycle to reduce thecarbon content in aerogel," Bernsteinsaid.

"Aerogel is made mostly of sand(silica), and what we're interested in isthe organic material in the cometary

samples," Bernstein said. "We measuredorganic contamination in aerogel earlyon. We raised a concern, and Peter Tsouand the aerogel team at the Jet Propul-

sion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif., de-vised a method to reduce carbon con-tent in aerogel by a factor of 10."

Infrared light that astronomers useto detect organic molecules in space alsocan be used to measure organic mol-ecules in the laboratory. In their labora-tory, Ames scientists shined IR lightthough a piece of an early batch of testaerogel, and they saw organic contami-nation. Because infrared is light that isnot visible to the human eye, scientistsuse special detectors to 'see' IR. If scien-tists detect a specific IR color scheme,they can tell that a specific molecularfragment is moving and is present in thesample of material they are examining.

"If you understand that colorscheme, then when you make the mea-surement, you can say, 'ah hah, I spottedcolors corresponding to a carbon-hy-drogen motion, so there must be car-bons and hydrogen in the aerogel, notjust silicon and oxygen,'" Bernstein ex-plained. "Thanks in part to our measure-ments, we now have cleaner aerogel,which is flying on the Stardust space-craft."

In cooperation with Bernstein,graduate student Maegan K. Spencer ofStanford University, Stanford, Calif., isconducting more sophisticated aerogelorganic contamination tests in the labo-

BY JOHN BLUCK

ratories of Stanford Professor RichardZare.

The returning Stardust capsulestruck Earth's atmosphere at eight miles

(12.8 kilometers) per second -more than 10 times faster thana speeding bullet. That is fastenough to go from San Fran-cisco to Los Angeles in onlyone minute. The 101-pound(45.7 kilogram) conical objecthurtled through the atmo-sphere and slowed before thespacecraft finally parachuteddown to Earth in a Utah drylake. The landing occured onSunday, Jan. 15, at about 3a.m. MST, in a restricted area- the Utah Test and TrainingRange, located southwest ofSalt Lake City.

"There will be a team ofscientists at Johnson SpaceCenter who will assess whatwe actually got back from thecomet so we can verify we didget a useful sample," Sandfordsaid. "A small portion of thesamples will then be used tomake a preliminary study ofthe returned material. Afterthe preliminary examinationis complete, all the samples

will be made available to the generalscientific community for more detailedstudy. My guess is people will be askingfor and working on these samples fordecades to come."

continued from page 8Sandford e-mails

COMPILED BY JOHN BLUCK AND

SCOTT SANDFORD

The Stardust mission was the first toreturn a sample from outside Earth'smoon system. Scientists believe the cap-tured cometary material likely containsancient pre-solar, interstellar grains andremnant material form the formation ofthe solar system. According to scien-tists, analysis of these celestial specksmay well yield important insights intothe evolution of the sun, its planets andpossibly even the origin of life.

The Stardust spacecraft waslaunched on Feb. 7, 1999, from CapeCanaveral Air Station, Fla., aboard aDelta II rocket. For more informationabout Stardust, visit: http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov, http://www.astro.washington.edu/brownleeand http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/multimedia/audio/sdust/sdust.html

Astrogram January 200610

Question:Could you please describe the

procedural requirements and pro-gram guidelines for foreign nationalvisits at Ames?

Answer:Over the last few years, NASA

Headquarters has issued revisedNASA procedural requirements andguidelines implementing significantchanges to the foreign national visitsprogram.

As an Ames employee, it is im-perative that you understand theserequirements and guidelines in orderto make this a successful and effec-tive process.

Ask the ‘Protective Services Wizard’

Ames Research Center has beenassigned the responsibility of coordi-nating and approving/disapprovingrequests for foreign national access toAmes facilities, information, materialand technology, provided they con-form to U.S. national security, non-proliferation and foreign policies, U.S.export control regulations and the visitis "of concrete benefit to NASA andthe United States".

Only a branch chief or higher cansponsor requests for foreign nationalvisitors (i.e., a foreign national is any-one who is not a U.S. citizen and thisincludes permanent residents).

Requests for foreign national visi-

tors may be disapproved unless sub-mitted at least 20 business days inadvance of the visit start date.

Visitors from designated coun-tries require advanced submission oftwo calendar months.

For on-site users, visit the AmesWeb site on the Internet at https://arcapps.arc.nasa.gov/ to submit a re-quest.

For further details, visit the AmesInternational Visits Office Web site ath t t p : / / j p . a r c . n a s a . g o v / S M /IVC_office.html or for immediate as-sistance with the request process andlocation, call the International VisitsOffice at ext. 4-5434, or at ext. 4-1677.

Guidelines for foreign national visits to Ames

Virgil P. Force passed away on Dec.17, 2005, with his loving daughter and

care taker, Jackie Schuarzenbach, at hisside. He was 87.

Born in Cass County, Ill., Forcejoined the Navy and graduated from theNavel School in San Diego in November1944. He ended up being stationed atMoffett Field.

A pioneer in technical services,Virgil Force, passes away

BY MANUEL FONTES

After leaving the Navy, he went towork at Ames (NACA) as a research anddevelopment model maker. Most of theprojects in those days were wind tunnelmodels and Force, a gifted craftsman,contributed to the success of many earlyflight programs such as the SST Project.

With the dawning of the space age,and the birth of NASA in 1958, therewere new technology challenges. Forcewas instrumental in finding new mate-rials and developing new processes tomeet these challenges.

Force worked on many early spaceflight programs. Most notably, heworked with the astronauts to develop abody and face restraint system, makingplaster casts of their faces. He workedon the first prototype models of the AX-5 hard space suit with researcher H.C.(Vic) Vykukal. Force's talent and cre-ativity inspired his fellow craftsmen andearned the respect of the researchers heworked with.

Force was married to his lovingwife Sarah until her death in January1994. He leaves his five children behind,four daughters and one son, along with10 grand children and eight great grandchildren.

Paying tribute

Virgil Force

Ames employees pay their respects as thefuneral procession for slain East Palo AltoOfficer Richard May passes under the MoffettField Blvd. overpass on Jan. 12.

NASA photo by Jonas Dino

11Astrogram January 2006

The Lamica saga - a multi-generational family working at Ames

The 1959 Flight Research Branch:. Violet Shaw is the second woman fromthe left in the first row. Gus Brunner is the last man in the first row.

There are several good books thathave been written about the history ofAmes, but for eyewitness accounts sitdown with Joe and Ron Lamica, twomembers of a three-generation legacythat has racked up over 200 years ofservice at Ames and Moffett Field.

The Lamica saga begins with Clem-ent Gilbert Lamica, Sr., (Gilbert, Sr.). InJanuary 1942, he was raising horses onproperty along El Camino Real in Moun-

tain View and repairing pinball ma-chines and similar devices for businessesfrom Redwood City to San Jose. He was36, married with five children and hadserved in the US 11th Mounted ‘BlackHorse’ cavalry stationed at Fort Ord.NACA's Ames Aeronautical Laboratoryhad just completed building the 7-foot-by-10-foot and the 16-foot wind tunnelsalong with the electrical substation toprovide power for the tunnels. It wasgearing up to direct all of its efforts toprovide better aircraft designs for theAmerican military. Gilbert, Sr. was hiredin 1942 to support the maintenance ofthe critical substation. He spent 38 yearsat Ames supporting the electrical sub-station and other center facilities, retir-ing in 1979.

In 1944, Clement Gilbert Lamica, Jr.(Gilbert, Jr. aka Pancho) at the age of just17 joined his dad at Ames, working inthe machine shops building models forthe wind tunnels and arcjets and thenhelping to install them. He worked atAmes for 37 years, less a couple of yearshe spent with the Army in Korea.

In 1951, Gilbert, Jr. was joined in themachine shops at Ames by his brotherJoe. Joe did a good deal of work on windtunnels, including the 6-foot wind tun-nel with Jack Boyd and the 2-foot windtunnel, as well as working on the uni-

Gilbert, Jr.'s retirement party,from left to right:Gilbert, Jr., Joe, Marge (Gilbert, Jr.'s wife) andGilbert, Sr.

tary. He retired as chief of the Mechani-cal Operations Branch in 1989, after acareer of 38 years, including four withthe Naval Air Corp in Korea and Viet-nam. Some of the highlights of Joe'scareer were getting the 2-foot wind tun-nel working in the 1970s and workingon the F-14 wing root shape problem --the air-flow was separating and produc-ing high drag and turbulence. Joe cameup with the fillet design that solved the

problem. Joe be-came an AmesAssociate theyear he retiredand continues toserve in that ca-pacity. He isworking on com-pleting a com-puterized inven-tory of all mod-els, unique tools,etc., developedby the Mechani-cal OperationsBranch in its vari-ous forms and

seeing that they are provided theirproper place in the history of Ames.

Violet Shaw was hired in 1956 as acomputational technician for NACA byGus Brunner, becoming part of his teamin Hanger N211. Not long after she washired, she was asked to serve as thereceptionist for the visiting chest X-raytrailer. One client was Joe Lamica. Amutual attraction developed and theymarried in 1957. Vi left in 1960 to raisethe family. In 1978, she came back towork at NASA until her retirement in1996.

In 1975, Gilbert, Jr.'s son, Ronald,was in the De Anza College trade pro-gram, studying to be a machine tool techand planning a cross-country trip on hismotorcycle. His dad strongly suggestedthat he get a job instead, so he inter-viewed at Ames, was hired under thestudent program and started learningall aspects of the machine shop, eventu-ally becoming a journeyman. On Jan. 20of 1978, just a weekend before he was tobecome a permanent NASA employee,Ron was hit by a car while riding hismotorcycle. He lost his leg in the acci-dent. "One of those things, it's life," hesays philosophically and grins. "I stillride." In June 1978, he became a perma-nent NASA employee. Over the years,Ron became proficient in CAD/CAM

for the numerical controlled machinesin the machine shop, supporting themanufacture of various aerodynamicand sculptured surfaces. Later he man-aged the planning office and worked onProject Reliance. Some of the highlightsof Ron's continuing career at Ames in-clude his presentation to the NASAAdministrator (Dan Goldin) and 400contractor representatives in Washing-ton, D.C. on Project Reliance, which is astudy to retain manufacturing skills atall NASA centers instead of consolidat-ing it to a single center. He also remem-bers his work on the STAR Model (aBoeing 777 semi-span) with project leadTom Gilbertson and his entire crew, as

well as his work with Tom Dixon fromNASA Headquarters on the centennialmuseum display of NASA wind tunnelmodels. Ron still carries his dad's brasswind tunnel tag. This tag was used bythe wind tunnel workers to identify whowas in the wind tunnel so it wouldn't berun while they were inside. Joe stillcarries his tag also.

Two of Joe's sons have also workedat Ames. Michael spent 10 years work-ing in the mail room and William spentthree years in the fabrication shop ap-prentice program. Finally, we have Joeand Gilbert, Jr.'s brother Richard. Hewent to work for the United States PostOffice in Mountain View, retiring as thepostmaster of the Moffett Field Post Of-fice after 40 years of service.

BY LARRY MANNING AND VALERIE ADAMSKI

Astrogram January 200612

Security/Law Enforcement Activity Fire Protection Activity

A statistical summary of activi-ties of the Protective ServicesDivision's Security/Law Enforce-

Protective Services monthly activity

Events CalendarAmes Amateur Radio Club, third Thursday of each

month, 12 noon, N-T28 (across from N-255). POC:Michael Wright, KG6BFK, at ext. 4-6262.

Ames Ballroom Dance Club. Classes on Tuesdays.Beginning classes meet at 5:15 p.m. Higher-level classmeets at 5:50 p.m. Held in Bldg. 944, the Rec. Center.POC: Helen Hwang at helen.hwang@nasa.gov, ext. 4-1368.

Ames Bicycling Club Inaugural meeting on Jan. 18,2006 in Bldg. 245, Room 215, 11:00 a.m. to 12:00 p.m.Thereafter every 3rd Wednesday of the month 11:00 a.m.to12:00 p.m. in Building 245 auditorium. POC: JulieNottage at jnottage@mail.arc.nasa.gov or ext. 4-3711.By-laws of Ames Bicycling Club can be found at: http://zen.arc.nasa.gov, the link is under the picture.

Ames Bowling League, Palo Alto Bowl on Tuesdaynights. Seeking full-time bowlers and substitutes.Questions to sign up: Mike Liu at ext. 4-1132.

Ames Child Care Center Board of Directors Mtg,every other Thursday (check Web site for meeting dates:http://accc.arc.nasa.gov), 12 noon to 1:30 p.m., N-210,Rm. 205. POC: Cheryl Quinn, ext 4-5793.

Ames Contractor Council Mtg, first Wednesdayeach month, 11 a.m., N-200, Comm. Rm. POC: LindaMcCahon, ext. 4-1891.

Ames Diabetics (AAD), 1st & 3rd Weds, 12noon to 1 p.m., at Ames Mega Bites, Sun room.Support group discusses news affecting diabetics.POC: Bob Mohlenhoff, ext. 4-2523/e-mail at:bmohlenhoff@mail.arc.nasa.gov.

Ames Federal Employees Union (AFEU) Mtg,third Wednesday of ea. month, 12 p.m. to 1 p.m.,Bldg. 221, Rm 104. Guests welcome. Info at: http://www.afeu.org. POC: Marianne Mosher, ext. 4-4055.

Ames Mac Support Group Mtg, third Tuesday ofea. month, 11:30 a.m.to 1 p.m., Bldg. N262, Rm 180.POC: Tony ext. 4-0340.

Ames Model Aircraft Club, flying radio-controlled aircraft at the north end of Parsons Ave. onweekend mornings. POC: Mark Sumich, ext. 4-6193.

Ames Sailing Club Mtg, second Thursday of ea.month (Feb through Nov), from 12:00 p.m. -1:00p.m. in Bldg. N-262, Rm 100. URL: http://sail.arc.nasa.gov/. POC: Becky Hooey, ext. 4-2399.

Environmental Forum, first Thursday of eachmonth, 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m., Bldg. 221/Rm 155.URL: http://q.arc.nasa.gov/qe/events/EHSseries/POC: Stacy St. Louis at ext. 4-6810.

The Hispanic Advisory Committee forExcellence (HACE) Mtg, first Thurs of month inN255 room 101C from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m.POC: Eric Kristich at ext. 4-5137 and Mark Leon atext. 4-6498.

Jetstream Toastmasters, Mondays, 12 p.m. to 1p.m., N-269/Rm.179. POC: Bob Hilton at ext. 4-2909, bhilton@mail.arc.nasa.gov.

National Association of Retired FederalEmployees, (NARFE). Former and current federalemployees. Your only contact with Congress. Join toprotect your federal retirement. Chptr #50 will thenmeet on the first Fri. of each month at HomeTownBuffet, 2670 El Camino (at Kiely), S. Clara, 11 a.m.lunch. POC Earl Keener (408) 241-4459 or NARFE 1-800-627-3394.

Native American Advisory Committee Mtg,fourth Tues each month, 12 noon to 1 p.m., Bldg. 19,Rm 1096. POC: Mike Liu at ext. 4-1132.

NASA Ames Research Center hasbeen designated by the U.S. Environ-mental Protection Agency on its na-tion-wide list of ‘Best Workplaces forCommuters.”

Best Workplaces for Commutersis a voluntary program that nation-ally recognizes excellence in em-ployer-provided commuter benefits.NASA Ames was recognized for thisaward because of its commitment tooffer a wide range of innovative ben-efits to employees, including subsi-dized transit passes, membership incarpool matching programs, offeringtelework options and providing freerides to/from mass transit on theAmes shuttle bus.

To learn more about Ames Com-mute Alternatives Program, visith t t p : / / j f . a r c . n a s a . g o v /NASA_Only/acap/index.html.

Ames named in‘Best Workplacesfor Commuters’

ment and Fire Protection Servicesunits for the month of Dec 2005 isshown below.

and the only NASA University Affili-ated Research Center. He was directlyresponsible for the Ames Project Co-lumbia, one of the world's fastestsupercomputers. The system was con-ceived, designed and brought on line ina record 120 days. In the fall of 2005, heannounced a collaboration with Ames'famous neighbor Google Inc., that al-lows the Internet search company tobuild up to 1 million square feet of newresearch collaboration laboratory andoffice space and ensures an extensiveresearch partnership between the twoentities.

From February to September 2003,he served full time as the sole NASArepresentative on the Columbia Acci-dent Investigation Board at the requestof NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe.He directed impact testing analysis thatestablished the definitive physical causeof the loss of the space shuttle Columbia.

Another significant accomplish-ment that occurred during Hubbard's

tenure was the November 2005 an-nouncement by NASA Headquartersthat NASA Ames had been assignedmanagement of the Robotic Lunar Ex-ploration Program.

“The Robotic Lunar ExplorationProgram is a critical element of NASA'sVision for Space Exploration,” said Ex-ploration Systems Mission DirectorateAssociate Administrator Dr. ScottHorowitz at the time of the announce-ment.

Hubbard also secured significantroles for Ames in the development ofthe space shuttle's replacement, the CrewExploration Vehicle (CEV) and the newCrew Launch Vehicle (CLV). These rolesinclude leading a multi-center team todevelop a thermal protection system forthe CEV and designing, developing andimplementing the launch mission sys-tems and the command-and-control ca-pability for the CEV and the CLV, anddesigning, developing and managing

continued on page 14

continued from front pageHubbard to hold position at SETI

13Astrogram January 2006

Ames ClassifiedsAds for the next issue should be sent to

astrogram@mail.arc.nasa.gov and must be resubmitted foreach issue. Ads must involve personal needs or items; (nocommercial/third-party ads) and will run on a space-available basis only. First-time ads are given priority. Adsmust include home phone numbers; Ames extensions andemail addresses will be accepted for carpool and lost andfound ads only. Due to the volume of material received,we are unable to verify the accuracy of the statementsmade in the ads. Caveat emptor!

Exchange InformationExchange InformationExchange InformationExchange InformationExchange Information

Beyond GalileoBeyond GalileoBeyond GalileoBeyond GalileoBeyond Galileo N-235 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873

Ask about NASA customized gifts for specialoccasions.

Mega Bites Mega Bites Mega Bites Mega Bites Mega Bites N-235 (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.)N-235 (6 a.m. to 2 p.m.)ext. 4-5969ext. 4-5969ext. 4-5969ext. 4-5969ext. 4-5969

Visitor Center Gift ShopVisitor Center Gift ShopVisitor Center Gift ShopVisitor Center Gift ShopVisitor Center Gift Shop N-943 N-943 N-943 N-943 N-943(10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) ext. 4-5412(10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) ext. 4-5412(10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) ext. 4-5412(10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) ext. 4-5412(10 a.m. to 4:00 p.m.) ext. 4-5412

NASA logo merchandise, souvenirs, toys, gifts andeducational items.

Open 7 days a week, 7:00 a.m. to 10 p.m. Ratesfrom $40 - $50.

Vacation OpportunitiesVacation OpportunitiesVacation OpportunitiesVacation OpportunitiesVacation Opportunities

Check web site for discounts to local attractions,http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov and click on tickets.

Information about products, services andopportunities provided to the employee and contractorcommunity by the Ames Exchange Council. Visit theweb site at: http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov

NASA LodgeNASA LodgeNASA LodgeNASA LodgeNASA Lodge (N-19) 603-7100 (N-19) 603-7100 (N-19) 603-7100 (N-19) 603-7100 (N-19) 603-7100

Tickets, etc...Tickets, etc...Tickets, etc...Tickets, etc...Tickets, etc...(N-235, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)(N-235, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)(N-235, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)(N-235, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)(N-235, 8 a.m. to 2 p.m.)ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873ext. 4-6873

See daily menu at: http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov

Housing

Miscellaneous

Ames emergencyannouncements

To hear the centerwide statusrecording, call (650) 604-9999 for in-formation announcements and emer-gency instructions for Ames employ-ees. You can also listen to 1700 KHzAM radio for the same information.

Ames Swim Center, 25 meter swimming pool openand heated year round. (80-82 degrees) Lap swim: Mon,Weds, Fri, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. and 3-6 Tues to Thurs 10a.m. to 1 p.m. and 4 p.m. to 7 p.m. Seasonal recreationswim; swim lessons. Locker rooms w/sauna and showerfacility. Open to all civil servants and contractors.Location: Bldg. 109 across the street from the tenniscourts. Fees vary depending on activity. POC: TanaWindhorst, ext. 3-8025; e-mail: tw4lsb@aol.com

Ames Swim CenterAmes Swim CenterAmes Swim CenterAmes Swim CenterAmes Swim Center (N-109) 603-8025 (N-109) 603-8025 (N-109) 603-8025 (N-109) 603-8025 (N-109) 603-8025

Astrogram deadlinesPlease submit articles, calendar

and classified advertisements toastrogram@mail.arc.nasa.gov nolater than the 10th of each month. Ifthis falls on the weekend or holiday,then the following business day be-comes the deadline.

For Astrogram questions, con-tact Astrid Terlep at the aforemen-tioned e-mail address or ext. 4-3347.

Lake Tahoe-Squaw Valley Townhouse, 3bd/2ba.View of slopes, close to lifts. Per night: $250, plus $145cleaning fee. Two night minimum. Includes linens,propane fireplace, fully equipped. Call (650) 968-4155,DBMcKellar@aol.com

South Lake Tahoe cottage w/wood fireplace, hottub. Rates $50 to $130 per night. Call (650) 967-7659.

Vacation rental, Bass Lake, 4 mls south of Yosemite.3bd/1.5 ba, TV, VCR, MW, frplc, BBQ, priv. boat dock.Sleeps 8. $1,050/wk. Call (559) 642-3600 or (650)390-9668.

Big Sur vacation rental, secluded 4bd/2ba house incanyon setting. Fully eqpd kitchen. Access to priv.beach. Tub in patio gdn. Halfway between Carmel andBig Sur. $175/night for 2; $225 for 4 and $250 formore, plus $150 cleaning dep. Call (650) 328-4427.

Tahoe Donner vacation home, 2 bd/2ba. trees,deck. Access to pools, spa, golf, horseback riding, $280wkend, $650 week. Call (408) 739-9134.

Pine Mountain Lake vacation home. Access to golf,tennis, lake, swimming, horseback riding, walk tobeach. Three bedrooms/sleeps 10. $100/night. Call(408) 799-4052 or (831) 623-4054.

Incline Village: Forest Pines, Lake Tahoe condo, 3bd/2ba, sleeps 8. Fireplace, TV/VCR/DVD, MW, W/D,jacuzzi, sauna, pool. Walk to Lake, close to ski areas.Visit Web page for pictures: http://www.ACruiseStore.com. $120/night low season, $155/night high season (holidays higher) plus $156 cleaningfee and 12% Nevada room tax. Charlie (650) 366-1873.

Disneyland area vacation rental home, 2 bd/1ba.Nearing completion completely remodeled w/newfurniture. Sleeps 6 (queen bed, bunk beds, sleepersofa). Air hockey and football tables. Introductory rate$600/wk, once completed rate will be $1000/wk.Security deposit and $100 cleaning fee required. Call(925) 846-2781.

New York, 5th Ave. One fully furnished bedroom in24 hour security bldg. overlooking Washington SquarePark, $1,000/wk or $3,000/mo. negotiable. Call (650)349-0238.

Paris/France: Fully furnished studio, 5th Arr, LatinQuarter, Notre Dame and Ile-St. Louis., $1,400/wk.negotiable. Call (650) 349-0238.

Santa Cruz townhouse, 2 bedrooms plus study, 2baths, decks, totally furnished, 3 blocks from beach,available July, August, September; $1,600 per month.Call (831) 423-5777 (H) or (831) 277-8476 (C).

West Maui vacation at Kahana Falls, across streetfrom beach. Thanksgiving week 19-26 Nov 05, $630/wk. 1bd/2 ba, w/d, fk. For 2 adults, 0 to 2 kids. Call(650) 962-1314 after Aug 7.

San Francisco, Donatello Hotel, small, deluxe hotel,one block from Union Square, 5 nights available to bescheduled either together or individually, $125 pernight. Call Barry Cunningham (510) 793-4457 or e-mail EZrdrdad@comcast.net

Vacation rental. Ferndale - The Victorian Village.Victorian home on Main Street a short stroll to theVillage which has been designated as a state historicallandmark. Enjoy the many holiday activities whichinclude a Christmas parade and lighting of America'stallest living Christmas tree. Four bedrooms (sleepsapprox. six), two full baths, large kitchen, dining room,parlor w/fireplace, enclosed desk w/hot tub. For info call(707) 983-9514.

Monterey Bay vacation rental at Pajaro Dunes, 20miles south of Santa Cruz, 3bd/2ba beach house withdistinctive architecture. Beautiful ocean and valleyviews, only 150 ft from the beach, first-class tenniscourts. $500/wkend, $200/addl night, includingcleaning by the maid service when you depart. Call(408) 252-7260.

Lake Tahoe cabin rental in Agate Bay, North Shore.4bd/3ba tri-level, AEK, cable TVs, fireplace, BBQ, deck,sleeps 10. Closest skiing is Northstar, Alpine and Squaw.Rates are $375 a weekend, $1,000 a week. Call (408)867-4656.

Montana, new lodge and B&B offers hunting,fishing, family reunions, retreats. 6 bedrooms withspectacular views of the Clark Fork River. Call or e-mail for a brochure, prices and hunting deadlines (406)360-6464 or sambernhardt@msn.com

Automotive

The Ames Cat Network needs help finding homes forcats trapped at Moffett. They range from feral toabandoned/lost pets. Tested, altered and inoculated. CallIris at ext. 4-5824 if you or someone you know areinterested in fostering or adopting a cat.

Oak high chair. Fits up to table like a chair; does nothave its own tray. Your child can sit at the table like a bigkid. Will e-mail photo if interested. $40. Call (650) 255-3377.

Pioneer 6-disc CD player with (8) extra changercartridges! Black finish, works perfectly, $35. Call (408)295-2160.

Novara 16 inch red bike. Used for about one year; ingreat condition. Will e-mail photo if interested. $60. Call(650) 255-3377.

Child's rocking chair. Light wood with a teddy bearprinted padded seat and back. Looks new. Will e-mailphoto if interested. $40. Call (650) 255-3377.

1/2 share in Skylane C182A, $24,000. New paint andrecent annual. New fuel bladders. Good condition. BasicIFR panel. Can base at LVK, 4Q5, TCY, possibly elsewhere.Key Dismukes (408) 938-0455.

Waterbed - King size, Universal, canopy, pedestal withdrawers - beautiful, large, wood frame waterbed, withnewish wave free mattress. Moving sale. $800 or B/O.Barry Cunningham (510) 793-4457 or e-mailEZrdrdad@comcast.net

Jet Performance chip state 1 part #294055 for 1994Chev truck/SUV. RAY (408) 269-4736.

Room available for rent in house in mid town Palo Alto,with kitchen, laundry, and pool, $500 plus $50 towardutils, for a quiet, neat, stable and conscientious person orcouple. E-mail jims@eos.arc.nasa.gov; ham call wb6yoy.

Furnished housing needed for visiting Germanresearcher (and his wife and small house-trained dog).Visiting Ames April 1 through July 31, 2006. Chris Blankenat (408) 733-7234.

Large room for rent in Newark, private entrance, ownbathroom and kitchen. All utilities paid except telephone.Close to all stores, malls, and freeways. $500. Call Jim (510)828-0315.

Good sized room in 4 bd/2 ba home, excellent, quietMtn View area close to Ames. W/D, microwave, wire/wireless cable modem. Tidy person and nonsmoker. Easyaccess to Ames, H85, 237, & 101. $475 plus dep. andshare utils. Avail. March 1, possibly sooner. Call (650) 964-1900.

’91 Acura Legend LS 4dr sedan. Very clean. Wellmaintained. 160K mls. White w/tan leather interior. Alpinein-dash cd player w/premium aftermarket speakers.Recently installed: Yokohama AVS db S2 tires, Brembo frontrotors, front and rear brake pads. Koyo radiator, 150Kservice, all performed by certified Acura technician. Needsabout a quart of oil between changes. Otherwise, runsgreat. $2,800. David (510) 387-2453.

‘98 Isuzu Rodeo. Good condition, A/C, power steering,windows and door locks. Tilt wheel, cruise control, dualfront air bags, roof rack, alloy wheels, silver paint, body hasno dent. $4,950. Ricky (510) 396-9149.

Astrogram January 200614

National Aeronautics and SpaceAdministration

Ames Research CenterMoffett Field, CA 94035-1000

PLEASE RECYCLEPrinted on recycled and recyclable paper with vegetable-based ink.

FIRST-CLASSU.S. POSTAGE

PAIDPERMIT NO. 85

MOUNTAIN VIEW, CA

The Ames Astrogram is an official publication ofAmes Research Center, National Aeronautics andSpace Administration.

Editor-in-Chief.............................. Laura Lewis

Managing Editor..........................Ann Sullivan

Editor, Layout and Design...........Astrid Terlep

You can reach the Astrogram Office at:astrogram@mail.arc.nasa.gov or by phone at(650) 604-3347.

The NASA family remembersOn Jan. 26, the NASA family ob-

served a Day of Remembrance to cel-ebrate and honor our NASA colleaguesand friends who gave their lives inservice to NASA and the nation in thecause of exploration and discovery.

In observance of the NASA Day ofRemembrance, the U. S. flag was flownat half-staff at all NASA centers. Onthis day we remember the Apollo 1astronauts - Gus Grissom, RogerChaffee and Ed White -- who perishedin a fire on the launch pad during atraining exercise on Jan. 27, 1967.

We also remember the crew of thespace shuttle Challenger - Dick Scobee,Michael Smith, Judy Resnick, EllisonOnizuka, Ronald McNair, Gregory

Jarvis and the first-to-be teacher in space,Christa McAuliffe, who perished just

more than a minute after lift-off on Jan.28, 1986.

And we honor the crew of STS-107 -

Rick Husband, Willie McCool,Michael Anderson, Ilan Ramon,Kalpana Chawla, David Brown andLaurel Clark - who died just minutesbefore completing its mission aboardthe space shuttle Columbia on Feb. 1,2003.

Unfortunately, there are manyothers, less well known perhaps thanthese astronauts but no less valued,who have lost their lives while pursu-ing America's dream of exploringspace. Let us always be vigilant anddetermined as we continue to pursuetheir, and our, journey to explore thecosmos.

continued from front page

BY LAURA LEWIS

the integrated systems health manage-ment capability for the CEV's groundprocessing and automation, among oth-ers.

To further increase new business atAmes, Hubbard established a new busi-ness office and named Wendy Dolci tolead it. The new office is tasked withidentifying new business opportunitiesand boosting revenue to the center byattracting new business partners.

Hubbard also is credited with open-ing communication channels to keepAmes employees better informed. Heheld a number of “Inside the Director's

Studio” forums and created a new radioprogram, KARC, that allowed him toshare commentary and news items withhis audience.

The recipient of numerous awardsand honors, Hubbard has been givenseven NASA medals: three for 'Out-standing Leadership;' three for 'Excep-tional Achievement;' and for his contri-butions to the Columbia accident inves-tigation, NASA's highest honor, the Dis-tinguished Service Medal. He has beenawarded 'Laurels' by Aviation Weekmagazine three times. Hubbard is anelected member of the International

Academy of Astronautics; a Fellow ofthe American Institute of Aeronauticsand Astronautics and recipient of theVon Kármán medal in astronautics, theIAA engineering science award and anhonorary doctorate from the Polytech-nic University of Madrid. He also is theauthor of more than 50 scientific paperson research and technology.

Hubbard will assume his new jobeffective Feb. 15, 2006. Marvin “Chris”Christensen will serve as the acting di-rector until a replacement is identified.

Scott Hubbard to hold Carl Sagan Chair at SETI Institute