JPL 50th anniversary open house special edition
Jet Propulsion Laboratory UNIVERSE
Pasadena, California - Vol. 24, No. 14 - July 15, 1994
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Martin Marietta named contractor for Mars Global Surveyor orbiter
   Development of the Mars Global Surveyor--the first in a series of low-
cost spacecraft to explore the Martian environment--will begin this month, 
leading up to a November 1996 launch and America's return to the red 
planet.
   JPL Director Dr. Edward Stone has announced the selection of the 
contractor, Martin Marietta Technologies Inc. of Denver, Colo., to build the 
light-weight orbiter after a rapid, industry-wide competition.
   "Martin Marietta Technologies Inc. has a successful record of developing 
unique planetary spacecraft, including the highly successful Magellan 
Venus radar mapping mission and the Viking Mars landers," Stone said. 
   "This is the beginning of a new era in the exploration of the Martian 
environment and a new way of conducting business with our partners in 
industry," he said. "We are now on the way to building a viable, state-of-
the-art spacecraft that will be ready for launch by November 1996 and 
assure us of many scientifically important results."
   The Mars Global Surveyor will be readied for launch from Cape 
Canaveral, Fla., in just 28 months, beginning NASA's decade-long plan to 
launch orbiters and landers to Mars every 26 months through the year 
2005. The rigorous timeline--trimmed from an average five years or more 
in the past--reflects NASA's new policy of streamlining the development 
and deployment of new planetary missions.
   Performance objectives for the new orbiter called for a low mass, polar-
orbiting spacecraft that could carry all but two of the eight science 
instruments that were on board the Mars Observer spacecraft when it was 
lost on Aug. 21, 1993.
   Project costs through 30 days after launch have been capped at $155 
million.
   The Mars Global Surveyor will provide high-resolution, global maps of 
the Martian surface, profile the planet's atmosphere and study the nature 
of the magnetic field. The orbiter will be small enough to be launched on a 
Delta expendable launch vehicle and will spend 10 months in transit to 
Mars before entering a polar orbit around the planet in September 1997.
   JPL will manage the Mars Global Surveyor mission for NASA's Office of 
Space Science, Washington, D.C. ###
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Mars Global Surveyor innovations
   Mars Global Surveyor demonstrates NASA's new approach to 
streamlining the development, deployment and on-orbit costs of new 
spaceflight missions. Features of the Mars Global Surveyor project include:
   -- Fast-track in development; costs constrained to $100 million or less per 
year.
   -- Utilization of existing infrastructure and hardware to achieve rapid 
launch readiness.
   
Project management
   -- Capped, cost-driven management approach; project management staff 
significantly reduced.
   -- Fast-track schedule with built-in performance measurement to assure 
on-time readiness for launch in just 28 months. (On average, planetary 
spacecraft development in the recent past has taken about 66 months or 
five-and-a-half years.)
   -- Shared launch vehicle engineering and launch site support personnel 
with Mars Pathfinder mission to minimize personnel and costs.
   -- Colocation of JPL project personnel at spacecraft contractor's facility.
   
Industry participation/ procurement innovations
   -- Rapid request-for-proposal preparation.  
   -- Simple, innovative fee approach that warrants on-orbit performance 
and rewards cost control.
   -- Contractor selection and contract award completed in eight weeks, 
compared with an average five to six months on similar procurements in 
the past. 
Spacecraft implementation
   -- JPL and spacecraft contractor personnel will team to share in 
development activities.
   -- Spacecraft contractor will use inherited elements and new technology 
to minimize schedule risk and provide adequate margins for completion of 
sublevel system tasks. 
   
Flight operations
   Flight operations system redesigned to eliminate a layer of management, 
provide a centralized command tracking database, ensure electronic 
document distribution, establish a seamless uplink process whereby 
commands are generated by a single team, and establish a single downlink 
team for performance assessment.
Small and minority-owned business participation 
   Small and minority-owned businesses participating in the Mars Global 
Surveyor mission will represent 33.3 percent of the prime contractor's 
hardware and software procurement.
   -- Technologies that will be provided by small and minority-owned 
businesses include:  solid state recorders, propulsion valves, solar panels, 
gimbal actuators, central clock, testing and high technology material.
   
Educational outreach
   Mars Global Surveyor will participate in a vigorous educational outreach 
program to promote excellence in America's educational system and help 
expand U.S. scientific and technological competence.
   The focus of these educational outreach efforts will support science, 
mathematics and space mission development curricula at the kindergarten 
through 12th grade levels, provide educational enrichment for teachers 
and a better public understanding of science. ###
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Astronomers preparing for the crash
By KARRE MARINO and MARK WHALEN
   It has been called the event of a thousand lifetimes. In other words, 
something we--or many future generations--probably never will see again.
   The problem is, we may not even get to see this one.
   When the 20-odd fragments--each following their own path--of Comet 
Shoemaker-Levy 9 (SL9) collide with Jupiter July 16-22, their impacts 
could release more energy into the planet's atmosphere than that of the 
world's combined nuclear arsenals, minus the radiation (according to one 
theory). But because the impacts will occur on the night side of Jupiter, the 
explosions will not be directly observable from Earth.
   Yet, scientists around the world are hoping they'll gain new insight into 
the composition of comets, as well as the atmosphere of Jupiter, according 
to Dr. Donald Yeomans, senior research scientist in JPL's Solar Systems 
Dynamics Group in Section 314. He explained the event's significance to a 
packed von Karman Auditorium July 11. "We're not expecting any visually 
impressive phenomena, nor do we expect any changes on Earth. 
   "What we do expect--besides the once-in-a-lifetime event--is a large 
standing army of excited astronomers, as well as a change in how we're 
beginning to view comets."
   Until recently, scientists believed comets to be dirty ice balls, a few 
kilometers in size. But, Yeomans said, "The Hubble Space Telescope 
indicates that SL9 is a not a monolithic iceball but a concentration of 
loosely bound fragments. If SL9 is typical of comets, perhaps cometary 
interiors are very fragile structures, composed of separate pieces--a sort of 
rubble pile.
   "We're trying to learn how large the pieces are, which will determine the 
kind of reactions we can expect upon impact, as well as shed light on the 
question of what comprises comets," Yeomans said.
   "This particular comet orbited the sun for about 4 1/2 billion years," he 
told the audience, "only to be captured by Jupiter a few decades ago, then 
torn apart by an exceptionally close approach to the planet in 1992.
   "This raises an interesting question: We know how fragile SL9 is, but 
given the ease with which it became fragmented, how did it live for 4 1/2 
billion years?" he wondered. 
   That long life is not the only thing that about Shoemaker-Levy 9 that 
strikes researchers as unusual. According to Dr. Paul Chodas, Yeomans' 
colleague in Section 314 and architect of the software that predicts the  
times of impact, "We've never had the opportunity to study the impact of a 
large solar system body on a planet. 
   "Also unusual is the fact that this comet is orbiting Jupiter," Chodas 
added. "Comets usually orbit the sun.
   "When we trace the motion of comets backward in time, we find that a 
few of them have been temporarily captured by Jupiter, but SL9 is the 
first comet to be actually observed orbiting the planet."
   Chodas also pointed out that SL9 came closer to Jupiter than any other 
comet. In July 1992, it made the closest known approach--113,000 
kilometers (70,000 miles) from Jupiter's center. "The difference in  the 
gravitational pull between the near and far sides caused the comet to 
break apart," he explained.
   "Although other comets have broken apart, none has broken into so 
many pieces as SL9," Chodas added.
   While Chodas and Yeomans know the hour of that close pass, they cannot 
say precisely where SL9 came from before that. "We think that for the past 
two decades it has been orbiting Jupiter in a loosely bound path," Chodas 
said.
   The pair will be stationed on-Lab for the week of impacts, predicting 
impact times and locations while astronomers worldwide attempt to 
observe various effects of the impacts, such as flashes reflected off the 
inner satellites of Jupiter.
   Chodas said professional astronomers from such far-flung spots as 
Arizona, Texas, Chile, Australia and Japan have been observing  and 
tracking the comet for a year, sending back information on the comet's 
position, which is used to refine impact predictions. "However," he said, 
"the pieces of the comet are faint, and are getting harder to see. As it 
approaches Jupiter, the planet's light interferes with the observations."
   The comet was discovered by Eugene and Carolyn Shoemaker and David 
Levy. It was first detected on a photograph taken March 24, 1993, from 
Caltech's Palomar Observatory in California.
   Most of the bigger pieces of the comet have been estimated by Dr. 
Zdenek Sekanina [senior research scientist, Division 32], along with Chodas 
and Yeomans, and to be 3 km (1.8 miles), while the smaller ones are 
guessed to be about 0.5 km (1,600 feet).
   "We think the nucleus of the original comet [before it broke up] was 
about 10 km (6 miles) across," Chodas said, "based on the positions of the 
fragments as they have been observed over the last year."
   The comet is accelerating tremendously as it approaches Jupiter, Chodas 
also noted. On June 27--20 days before impact--the comet's speed was 
about 4 km per second (9,400 mph). But when the fragments strike the 
planet, they will be traveling at 60 km per second (135,000 mph).
   Fragments of the comet have been named by Sekanina, Chodas and 
Yeomans using the letters A through W, with A hitting first on July 16. 
Southern California astronomers who hope to get a peek at the action may 
have to wait until July 20 at roughly 10:24 p.m., when fragment R will hit, 
followed by fragment V's impact on July 21, at roughly 9:15 p.m. (See table 
below for predicted impact times for each fragment.)
   Powerful telescopes are not the only means by which scientists hope to 
view the event and its results. JPL's Galileo spacecraft will be about 240 
million kilometers (150 million miles) from Jupiter, as it makes it way to 
its Dec. 7, 1995, rendezvous. The spacecraft has a direct view of the impact 
sites and should be able to observe impact flashes.
   The pictures will go on Galileo's tape recorder and will be returned to 
Earth over several months.
   Voyager 2 will observe impact signatures via planetary radio astronomy 
and ultraviolet spectrometer. Ulysses will use infrared radio and plasma 
wave experiments to observe radio emissions and radio bursts from the 
planet during the fragments' entries. 
   In answer to a journalist's question on how the impact will affect the 
general public, Yeomans said that besides being able to witness something 
that happens approximately once every thousand years, the event's 
greatest significance is really intellectual. "It's an amazing opportunity for 
scientists to learn about comets, Jupiter and the solar-system formation 
process." ###
__________________________________________________________________
Project Design Center dedicated
By MARK WHALEN
   Dedication ceremonies were held July 6 for JPL's new Project Design 
Center, a facility that will enable concurrent engineering of missions by 
bringing all those involved in designing a project together at its inception.
   "The Project Design Center will represent a direct manifestation of 
changes in the way JPL does business," said Laboratory Director Dr. Edward 
Stone. "Employees involved in the study and design process will be able to 
try out ideas that would not be practical in a larger-scale sequential 
process."
   Stone also noted that the facility--which took a little more than a year to 
develop--will be an important element in JPL's future of small and 
moderate missions.
   The design center--which is housed on the second floor of Building 264--
features seven major nodes: mission design, avionics, science, management, 
design, project design, mechanical, mission operations and 
telecommunications. Each node is connected to a common database, where 
engineers and scientists can, at any time, check proposed changes in 
spacecraft design as well as projecting their cost ramifications.
   "Design iterations that previously took months can now be achieved in 
days, or even hours," said Kane Casani, manager of JPL's Implementation 
Development Program Office, who led JPL guests and industry 
representatives on a brief tour of the facility. 
   Design center staff demonstrated to visitors how computer programs in 
the facility will utilize spreadsheets to capture mission and systems design 
knowledge and associated cost information. Mission designers working on 
different aspects of projects will be able to pass information to each other 
via the common database.
   Three major programs will be available to users of the facility. One 
program, called a multidisciplinary integrated design assistant for 
spacecraft, is a tool for expressing solution methodologies. By providing 
project constraints such as launch vehicle, launch date, performance 
requirements, or antenna size, the program can show a potential spacecraft 
design and project concept.
   The center's project trades model captures mission- and system-design 
knowledge and associated cost projections for alternative mission 
implementations. The model is a set of Excel spreadsheets and represents a 
capability that is essential for doing design-to-cost analyses.
   The third program allows integrated modeling of complex 
optomechanical systems. It combines optics, structures, thermal design and 
controls analysis in a unified modeling environment; this allows true 
multidisciplinary modeling.
   JPL Chief Engineer John Casani, the former assistant Laboratory director 
for the Office of Flight Projects, noted that "in many ways, the Project 
Design Center means going back to the basics. Thirty years ago, when JPL 
was a lot smaller, we used to work in small teams, and the design team 
meetings actually took place in the hallways.
   "People have to be in close proximity and have eye-to-eye contact. 
Putting them back together in this strategic way and utilizing modern 
technologies is the way to go."
   Initial users of the design center include Mars Global Surveyor, Pluto 
Fast Flyby Preproject, Satellite Test of the Equivalence Principle (STEP) and 
Space Infrared Telescope Facility (SIRTF). ###
__________________________________________________________________
Stone discusses freeze on wages
By KARRE MARINO
   Laboratory Director Dr. Edward Stone told JPL employees July 6 that his 
decision to enact a Labwide freeze on merit increases for fiscal year 1995 
is not a punishment but a reaction to "a shrinking NASA budget and high-
level reviews of the role of federally funded research and development 
centers and other government laboratories."
   During the town hall meeting in von Karman Auditorium, he reiterated 
that the decision is supported by the Executive Council and Campus.
   "From a strategic point of view, it's much better to get out in front of 
these changing external expectations, much as we did in the restructuring 
of Cassini two years ago," Stone said.
   The freeze means that no one will receive a merit increase this October, 
including the director. (Contractors are not included in this compensation 
plan.) In addition, there will be no FY '95 increases for special programs, 
including academic part time, co-op or post-doc, nor will new degree 
funding be available. Salary ranges will not change. 
   Stone noted that a very small FY '95 salary improvement fund has been 
established for special cases, including gross inequities or major 
promotions to positions of significantly greater responsibility.
   An FY '96 compensation plan will be developed in spring 1995.
   The director laid the groundwork for taking the aggressive action by 
summarizing a series of surveys on what comparable positions in similar 
industries--locally, regionally and nationally--pay. 
   Salaries for engineers and scientists average about 5.7 percent more than 
those for their aerospace-industry counterparts. The surveys for 1994 
indicated that administrative employees' salaries are close to the local 
industry average, while the average salary for JPL office/clerical, 
technician/trade and service classes workers is 7 percent more than the 
average salary for comparable positions in local-area industry.
   Stone also noted that nine federally funded labs had salary freezes for FY 
'94, and 10 other high-technology organizations have frozen or deferred 
salary increases in the last two years.
   He cited statistics comparing the recent JPL salary improvement budget 
with the rate of inflation.
   "The salary improvement budget totalled 20 percent compounded over 
the last four years, while the California consumer price index has increased 
by 14 percent. This may not agree with the feeling that we're not keeping 
up with inflation, but we are. And JPL's overall budget has decreased by 
8.4 percent over the same period. These are not irrelevant factors in my 
decision," he explained. 
   "Yes, we are expected to do important things with our government 
support," he said. "Yes, we are expected to do hard things that no one else 
does. We're also expected to demonstrate an increasing sensitivity to 
aspects affecting the cost of what we do for the government."
   Stone noted that, "There is a perception in some quarters that our level 
of comfort at JPL is higher than is warranted by the fiscal stress felt 
throughout the government due to the deficit, and throughout industry 
due to global competition. Any actions that we take to reinforce that 
perception are clearly counter to the demonstration of increased 
sensitivity to cost."
   Throughout his presentation, Stone reiterated the concept of this shared 
reality in an effort to make JPLers understand that the fight for a finite 
resource--federal dollars--has forced every constituency to make hard 
decisions. Yet, the uphill battle to assure this understanding is apparent to 
the director, who received some 300 comments regarding his salary-freeze 
memo. 
   The largest number of responses fell into six groups of similar sentiment: 
comments on the effects of the freeze on promotions, how inequities will 
be worked out and how outstanding performance will be recognized; those 
who understood and supported the plan; comments that suggested 
alternatives to a salary freeze; suggestions to penalize poor performers and 
reward high performance--a zero-base plan; and comments that such 
policy will force talented people to seek employment elsewhere.
   To deal with the changing environment in which JPL as an institution 
and employees must function, "it's critical that we have a shared reality as 
to what that environment is and how we must respond," he explained.
   Just as JPL does not exist in an economic vacuum, the decision to freeze 
raises was not made independent of a variety of considerations. Options 
considered for FY '95 salary increases included "business as usual, meaning 
we offered our regular merit raises," he said. Or, limit the raises to '94 
consumer price index numbers; the merit budget could be shaped by using 
different formulas for various groups of employees; increases could be 
postponed for six months; or offer no increases.
   Stone admitted that he had no illusions that a salary freeze "would be 
widely regarded as a morale booster. Individuals will be affected 
differently by such an action." Yet, he insisted that there is no escaping the 
economic environment. "The discussion today is intended to help develop 
for the whole Laboratory a shared reality about the environment that led 
to this decision." 
   The freeze is expected to save about $10 million in direct and indirect 
salaries. The money will help "JPL deal with the continuing downward 
pressure of the budget," he said. "We've saved some jobs," he added, "but 
again, this was not the primary reason we've done this. I hope that's clear. 
This isn't the best way to save money."
   Nor was it demanded by JPL's sponsor. "NASA did not suggest this 
option. I did not ask for advice. The decision was made internally. 
   "When I informed NASA of my decision, the reaction was that this was 
responsible, courageous and the right thing to do."
   Stone called it a strategic decision. "There will be long-term benefits for 
the Lab, as we better position ourselves in a transition to a different 
economic environment," he said.
   "These and similar adjustments to changing external environment are 
not easy. Such adjustments cannot be viewed effectively from just an 
internal or individual perspective. Instead, the best way to deal with them 
is to develop a shared reality. By redoubling our efforts to do so, we can 
get out in front and maintain our focus on the challenges of doing what we 
do best--expanding the frontiers of space."
   The director opened up the presentation to a question-and-answer 
session, then ended the Lab's second town hall meeting by explaining that 
"Technical excellence and sensitivity to cost are now equally important 
factors in determining the job we're doing. 
   "This is probably not the last adjustment we'll have impressed upon us 
by the external environment. Getting in front of changing expectations will 
offer us greater control of our future." ###
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EC accepts space-allocation PAT's plan of action
By KARRE MARINO
   JPL's Executive Council has accepted the Space-Allocation Process Action 
Team's recommendations for a new process to provide an equitable, 
understandable and responsive policy for assigning space on Lab.
   One of the new processes' highlights includes the creation of a Facilities 
Space Council, to be chaired by Associate Laboratory Director Kirk Dawson. 
   Members of the council are the directors for each Lab directorate or their 
empowered, permanent designees from the Engineering and Science 
Directorate (300), Business Operations Directorate (600), Space and Earth 
Science Programs Directorate, Technology and Applications Programs 
Directorate (800) and Telecommunications and Mission Operations 
Directorate. Two employees at large and the Facilities Division manager 
will round out the group.
   The council will assist Dawson in making decisions on allocating facilities 
for optimum use by the Lab's programs. The council will have final 
authority on space-allocation issues.
   It will also aid in the acquisition of new facilities by planning, providing 
advocacy and developing strategies for consideration by the associate 
director and the Institutional Management Committee.
   The council will also prepare and maintain a JPL Facilities Plan, which 
will offer housing goals and a current summary of resources, as well as 
assure use and adherence to the location process, develop and maintain 
facilities standards, and provide oversight to the annual construction-of-
facilities submission to NASA.
   The council's additional tasks include identifying, creating and allocating 
float space by recovering unused or underused facilities.
   To foster communications Labwide--ensuring that everyone 
comprehends the new process and has the ability to offer suggestions--an 
electronic bulletin board will be available, with postings for downward 
communications. 
   The facilities plan will offer housing goals and a current summary of 
resources.
   In addition, positive incentives are being implemented as a way to 
ensure cost-effective management of the new process. 
   The council administers the program and selects the winners from the 
nominees chosen by division managers. The selection criteria are based on 
the cost-effective use of assigned facility space.
   The automated incentive system, one of the incentives still under 
development, will offer a financial incentive based on facility occupancy 
charges. 
   The awarding of funds in recognition of the innovative and efficient use 
of assigned facility space is designed to motivate managers. These awards, 
according to the team's report, allow trades of facility space for other uses 
of the manager's burden budget, such as infrastructure improvements. 
   An organization that relinquishes space may use the saved facilities 
occupancy money for other infrastructure purposes.
   The concept appears feasible, according to team members, and is being 
worked on by Financial Planning and the Facilities Division. Oct. 1, 1995 is 
the targeted implementation date.
   According to Dr. Diane Evans, SIR-C project scientist, the team reached its 
stated goals, as the new allocation process "has been codified and 
streamlined. The new process offers several advantages: the Facilities 
Space Council should empower employees; the incentives will yield 
positive actions; communication has been established at all levels of the 
Lab, and the actual time it takes to make these decisions will be 
significantly reduced."
   In addition, she pointed out that metrics--six process measures--have 
been delineated as a way to quantify the new processes' success. One such 
measure is employee surveys that will assess knowledge of the Facilities 
Space-Allocation Process, satisfaction with the process and communications 
related to the process.
   "One of the benefits of this experience has been the lessons learned," 
according to Evans. "This matter took some time, but we finished, and we 
have a product that will work. People were dedicated."
   One of the first test scenarios to present itself to the new process are "the 
deliberations regarding space for Earth science activities. This is a perfect 
way for the Facilities Council to be tested."
   The new process was implemented July 1. team members are Bob Beale 
(380); Ed Bohanan (661); Winston Gin (100); Wes Menard (300); Steve 
Dombrowski (650); Luis Alfaro (652); Evans (710); Dr. Amy Walton (710); 
Dr. Harold Lang (326); Teo Almaguer (510); Dave Linick (220); Dr. Lynn 
Gref (840); and Larry Koss (660). ###
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PC fair coming to Lab Aug. 5
   JPL will host a personal computer data acquisition fair Aug. 5, so that 
employees and contractors can learn about the most advanced technical 
capabilities of data acquisition products for the PC.
   The fair will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. in von Karman Auditorium. 
Company representatives will demonstrate their data acquisition solutions 
using hardware and software for IBM-compatible computers.
   A series of technical talks about technical issues associated with data-
acquisition topics will also be held during the event.
   For more information, call Ed Baroth at ext. 4-8339 or Jim McGregor at 
ext. 4-6404. ###
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Von Karman, Malina laid the groundwork for the future JPL
By DR. JOHN BLUTH
   On June 15, 1940, Frank Malina, the supervisor of GALCIT Project #1, 
finished a report for Theodore von Karman, chair of the Subcommittee on 
Jet Propulsion of the National Academy of Science Committee on Air Corps 
Research, and director of Caltech's Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory 
(GALCIT). This report described "Jet Propulsion Research" completed for 
the Army Air Corps, which had provided the project funds.
   It really wasn't jet propulsion research as the term "jet" is used today 
but rather basic rocket research conducted at Caltech for the Air Corps as a 
graduate-student research project under the direction of the students' 
professor, von Karman.
   Von Karman wore two hats at the time: head of the GALCIT and the chair 
of a short-lived subcommittee of the National Academy of Science. The 
project arrangement worked fairly well; significant jet-assisted take-off 
(JATO) research produced small solid-fueled rockets.
   In August 1941, solid rockets helped make the Ercoupe the first U.S. 
airplane to take off using JATOs. In April 1942, five months after World 
War II began, a Douglas A-20a airplane used permanently mounted liquid-
fueled JATOs to take off. This had also been developed by GALCIT Project 
#1; significant and applicable research had been accomplished for the Air 
Corps. This project-type organization simply continued, and the Air Corps 
funded other and continuing GALCIT research in which it was interested.
   At this time there was no Jet Propulsion Laboratory--or at least nothing 
called by those three words. The handful of people who worked together in 
1940-41 referred to where they worked, what they did, and who they 
worked for as "The Project." When they used these words, they could mean 
the Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project, the GALCIT #1 Project, or the 
Arroyo Seco Project (after 1941).
   One part of the Project doing research on an Army torpedo--the 
hydrobomb--was called the Armament Laboratory. Another part of the 
Project was called the Materials Testing Laboratory. The confusion and 
imperatives of wartime activities caused and was reflected in these 
varying names for plural research projects.
   The Project gained a new focus, however, after July 1943, when a series 
of events began that would bring the Jet Propulsion Laboratory into being 
both in name and in function.
   In July, the Air Corps Materiel Center asked von Karman to comment on 
three British photos of German V-11 buzz-bomb installations in France, as 
well as on verbal reports about the V-2 ballistic missile that military 
intelligence had obtained. Von Karman could only confirm that secret 
developments could have indeed created a threat to Allied plans for the 
conduct of the war.
   The previous April, Winston Churchill had first heard of the V-2, a rocket 
that could deliver about 743 kg (1,650 pounds) of explosives to a target 
240 km (150 miles) away. The Vergeltungswaffe (revenge weapon) had 
been under secret development in Germany since 1929. In December 
1935, Germany had planned research and testing facilities on the Baltic 
Coast, and in October 1942, the first successful V-2 had been test-
launched. It would first be fired against a military target in September 
1944.#
   On Aug. 2, 1943, the Caltech-Air Corps Materiel Command liaison officer, 
W.H. Joiner, suggested that von Karman prepare a report about the 
possibility of the United States building a similar long-range rocket. If the 
United States were to counter the strategic threat that the V-2 offered, it 
had to have its own version, with all of the accompanying advances in 
technology that such development entailed. The "targetable artillery shell 
of great magnitude"--fired from beyond the horizon and moving so fast 
fighter aircraft would be unable to intercept or even detect it--could 
fundamentally change the techniques of international warfare.
   In September 1943, another Army branch--known as Army Ordnance--
created its own Rocket Development Branch. In that same month, Army 
Ordnance's Aberdeen Ballistic Research Laboratories in Maryland 
completed a study called "Development of Long-Range Rocket Projectile." 
Army Ordnance submitted this to the National Defense Research 
Committee, an agency created just before World War II to guide and direct 
advanced-weapons research and construction.
   In October 1943, the NDRC suggested the Air Corps appoint a general 
officer to coordinate a guided-missile program. In the following month, Air 
Corps' Hap Arnold's work  emphasized guided-missile research-and-
development and procurement.
   Meanwhile, at the Project, von Karman enlisted the help of Malina and 
another of von Karman's graduate students of promise, Hsue-shen Tsien. 
Dr. Tsien had finished his Ph.D. at Caltech in 1939.
   The three wrote a memorandum analyzing rockets with ranges of up to 
120 km (75 miles); they finished their report on Nov. 20, 1943. Von 
Karman wrote six pages on "The Possibilities of Long-Range Rocket 
Projections," and Malina and Tsien attached a longer, more formal study 
with charts and drawings titled "A Review and Preliminary Analysis of 
Long-Range Rocket Projections."
   Von Karman proposed three devices: a solid-fueled, 16-km-range (10-
mile) missile; a liquid-fueled, 19.-km-range (12-mile) missile; and a 
supersonic ramjet-powered device with wings--maybe with rocket-assisted 
takeoff--to fly 120 km (75 miles), somewhat equivalent to the German V-1.
   Tsien and Malina described a U.S. version of the V-2, a ballistic missile 
that would follow an upward trajectory into the ionosphere under power, 
expend its fuel, and then fall at supersonic speeds to its target more than 
160 km (100 miles) from its launch point, carrying with it about a half ton 
of high explosives.
   On Nov. 30, 1943, Air Corps liaison officer Joiner sent this long-range 
rocket report to the Commanding General, Materiel Command, at Wright 
Field. The commanding general did not respond. This may have been 
because the Air Corps already had in hand the Aberdeen rocket report. 
Maybe the Air Corps envisioned only Aberdeen as the future venue for 
rocket research and development.
   Nevertheless, Joiner was convinced of the importance of rocket 
development. He may have known that in fall 1943 the Ordnance 
Department had requested Division 3 of the National Defense Research 
Committee to investigate developing a long-range rocket to carry a 22.5-kg 
(50-pound) payload. For whatever reason, he handed a copy of the report 
to his fellow Army Ordnance liaison officer at Caltech, Robert Staver, who 
immediately forwarded the report to Colonel Gervais Trichel, the chief of 
Rocket Development Branch in the Technical Division of Ordnance.
   The long-range rocket report on its title page included the #first known 
use of the three words "Jet Propulsion Laboratory." Von Karman signed the 
document as "Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory," whereas he had 
previously signed similar Project reports as "Director, Guggenheim 
Aeronautical Laboratory." No such Jet Propulsion Laboratory existed at the 
time, as far as Caltech was concerned.
   It is not clear what prompted the change of name for the Project and for 
von Karman; the new usage was unprecedented. The long-range rocket 
document itself was clearly different from the reports the Project had sent 
previously to the Air Corps. Perhaps von Karman was engaged in wishful 
thinking or simply chose an organization name that did not include the 
words "Army Air Corps" so he could send the report to Army Ordnance 
without giving offense.#
   Army Ordnance's Trichel responded promptly. In a Jan. 15, 1944 letter 
he asked von Karman to expand the proposal. The rockets suggested in the 
report "could only be considered as being laboratory models of the desired 
missile" envisioned by Ordnance. 
   Ordnance requested a research proposal that would last one year and 
cost no more than $3 million. It would include a plan of operations, test-
model construction and additional personnel. Ordnance would sign a cost-
plus-fixed-fee contract with Caltech and would make available other 
Ordnance facilities and engineering services. Out of this work Army 
Ordnance expected a liquid-fueled rocket motor with 9,000 kg (20,000 
pounds) of thrust burning for 60 seconds, powering a missile with the 
range of about 50-65 km (30-40 miles).
   When Malina heard of this research windfall-to-come, he commented, 
"This letter threw us into a proper dither." In response, he and von Karman 
prepared by Jan. 22, 1944, a proposal for long-range rocket projectile 
development.#
   The pair proposed to set up a rocket research team they would lead 
(including Tsien, others from Caltech, and W.A. Sandberg, chief engineer 
for Lacy Manufacturing Company of Los Angeles). An Army Ordnance team 
would complete the remote-control work, make the warhead, and conduct 
the firing tests, as well as provide facilities and engineering services.
   Two short-range missiles would be built by Lacy: a 158-kg (350-pound) 
thrust, solid-fueled model rocket (using an Aerojet engine with an 
Ordnance booster), and a 900 kg (2,000-pound) thrust liquid-fuel model 
rocket (using an Aerojet liquid motor and an Ordnance launcher).
   A to-be-determined subcontractor would build a prototype liquid-fueled, 
long-range rocket--with separate booster rockets--to be sustained in long 
flight by a ramjet.
   These five arms of activity--two teams and three rockets--would be 
directed by an executive board chaired by von Karman and including 
Malina and Clark Millikan, a Caltech aeronautics professor, with R.R. Martel, 
also of Caltech, as supervising engineer. Representatives of Ordnance, 
Army Air Corps and the National Defense Research Committee would 
advise this board.
   NDRC barrage rockets (built in Pasadena during the war in the separate 
Physics 3 Project) and Ordnance rockets would be needed as boosters. New 
research facilities would be constructed on land already purchased by 
Caltech adjacent to existing GALCIT Project land. All this would require 
cooperation of the Air Corps Materiel Command, since the Project had 
ongoing contracts with the Command.#
   Major General Gladion Barnes of Army Ordnance visited Caltech Jan. 28-
29, 1944. Presumably von Karman and Malina talked with him, told him 
what they might do and listened to what he thought were the prospects for 
a well-funded, wartime research project.
   At about this time, von Karman urged the Caltech Board of Trustees to 
negotiate with Army Ordnance this new contract to build a long-range 
rocket weapon. The board agreed and authorized von Karman to pursue 
the matter with contractual reservations that respected Caltech as a 
scientific institution.
   The trustees recognized that such a new contract implied more land in 
the Arroyo Seco would become available for this new work. On Feb. 1, 
Caltech bought 45.16 acres from Flintridge Realty Company on the western 
edge of the Project's land, thereby tripling Caltech holdings in the Arroyo.#
   Von Karman urged Air Corps Materiel Command to cooperate; he was 
convincing, and on Feb. 17, 1944, they also agreed to support the proposed 
Ordnance project.
   On Feb. 28, von Karman outlined a research-and-development program 
for rockets for Ordnance's Technical Division. First, theoretical and 
experimental studies would decide whether a pure projectile or a winged 
missile would be built. Studies would also decide the best stabilizing 
devices and propulsion systems--liquid- or solid-fueled rockets or ramjets 
launched on rails from the ground. Models would be built, remote control 
would be investigated, and techniques for test-firing developed.
   For this project, a new laboratory complex would be built on the new 
adjacent land. Ordnance would pay the cost for this plus "the overhead 
involved by the general administration of the Institute." However, the 
Ordnance Department would have to provide test-firing sites and provide 
personnel to execute the test firings.
   The location of testing facilities, who would build and own them, and 
who would conduct what tests, where, became some of the issues discussed 
during negotiations concerning terms of the definitive contract that lasted 
until 1945.
   Another issue of concern in February 1944 was the development of 
remote control. Von Karman and Malina assumed that this was Ordnance's 
problem; Ordnance assured the two men it was their problem. Ordnance 
prevailed, and Caltech professor William Pickering was "drafted" to help 
the Project. In July 1944, a subcontractor, the Sperry Corporation, was also 
hired to develop remote-control systems for the rockets.
   Von Karman, however, was not satisfied with all the changes in the 
Project that were called for in the new Army Ordnance contract. He made 
another, wholly different proposal, also on Feb. 28, this time to the Air 
Corps Materiel Center to build a ramjet test facility.
   The ramjet principle was simple, but no data were available to guide the 
creation of an efficient and reliable design. Estimated cost of buildings, 
equipment and a year's operation was $288,352. Four buildings would be 
constructed west of the Air Corps Jet Propulsion Research Project land in 
the Arroyo and separately fenced with new water-and-power lines 
installed. Von Karman envisioned making prototypes that would 
eventually lead to ramjets that could be the main power plant in missiles, 
eventually transonic and supersonic in speed.
   In this Air Corps proposal, von Karman again signed himself as "Director, 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory," when no such organization existed. The 
document also was labeled "Jet Propulsion Laboratory Proposal JPL-1;" the 
concept of JPL was firming up.
   In March, von Karman followed up the ramjet proposal with a theoretical 
report similar to the long-range rocket report, with the help again of 
Malina and Tsien, as well as Martin Summerfield, a former student of von 
Karman's and a consultant at the Aerojet Corp.
   Von Karman considered the theoretical limits of various airplane and 
rocket-propulsion systems such as ramjets, turbojets and propellers. He 
circumspectly concluded that, theoretically, ramjets--in combination with 
boosters, wings and launching circumstances--would be best for high-
speed, medium-duration flights where 450-kg (1,000-pound) warheads 
were to be delivered. The short-burning time rockets of 1944 were good 
only for short-duration flights over short distances.
   To supplement the February ramjet proposal, in April, von Karman asked 
for an additional $85,500 for one year to support ramjet research by seven 
professionals and eight staff members. Caltech would receive 12 1/2 
percent in administration and overhead expenses.#
   The February proposal, the March report and the April supplemental 
proposal resulted in an Air Corps Air Technical Services Command contract 
for the study of ramjets. "Power Plant Laboratory Project MX527" started 
slightly later in 1944 as GALCIT Projects 20 and 23, and continued until 
1946 as the JPL-3 Project. Ramjets might operate airplanes at more than 
1,600 km/h (1,000 mph) plus operate winged missiles powered by a 
ramjet/rocket combination.
   Presumably to deal with the upcoming changes in work load and type of 
research, the Project was administratively restructured by May 1944, with 
four functional divisions.
   Von Karman was again the director of GALCIT Project No. 1; Malina as 
the chief engineer reported to him. Summerfield as assistant chief engineer 
(with no staff) and Eugene Pierce as technical aid (with no staff) both 
reported to Malina, as did the members of each of the four new divisions. 
New staff were hired, adding up to 102 people who worked either full- or 
part-time for the Project.
   In June 1944, von Karman went to New York City for intestinal cancer 
surgery. He had a slow recovery due to two surgery-caused hernias and 
did not return to Pasadena until about mid-September. During this period, 
von Karman stayed at Lake George, N.Y., for recovery and conducted 
project business from there.
   Air Corps General Arnold telephoned von Karman at Lake George in the 
early days of September and then visited with him in New York City on a 
runway at La Guardia Airport a week later. Then, with no previous hint, 
Arnold proposed that von Karman move to Washington to lead a strategic 
scientific advisory board and become a long-range planning consultant to 
the military.
   Von Karman was appointed to such a position on Oct. 23, 1944, and 
eventually left Caltech in December 1944. But the process of change he had 
set in motion in the Arroyo Seco played itself out as the new contract with 
Army Ordnance began.
   A letter of intent--a "letter contract" for $1.6 million--began June 22 and 
expired Aug. 15, 1944, and was supplemented periodically until February 
1945, when a definitive contract was finally signed.
   To clear the way for the Corps of Engineers to build structures on 
federally owned land, Caltech transferred title to its land to the 
government. Eventually, half of JPL's land was sold to the Corps of 
Engineers for $7,300. Briefly called the "Karmal Project" (presumably for 
von Karman-Malina) but soon known as the ORDCIT Project, long-range 
rocket research started slowly. In July no new employees were hired, but 
Colonel Leslie Skinner opened a new Ordnance/Caltech ORDCIT liaison 
office on July 1, 1944.
   The ORDCIT Project was to develop--within a year--"a long-range rocket 
missile with suitable launching equipment" to carry a high-explosive 
payload of at least 450 kg (1,000 pounds) to a distance of 120-240 km (75-
150 miles). 
   "Dispersion at maximum range" (a measure of accuracy) was not to 
exceed 2 percent. To achieve this degree of accuracy meant achieving in-
flight control of the missile--so that it was steerable after launching by 
either an internal, possibly gyroscope-based system--or by radio control, 
command and ranging techniques. These latter techniques bordered the 
technically undeveloped area of telemetry.
   No Project employee, however, felt qualified to work in the development 
of either remote control or telemetry. The development of the technologies 
also portended that the future development of guided missiles would 
emphasize the word "guided."
   To successfully launch and fly was one thing, but to deliver on target was 
a problem even the Germans with their V-2 had not overcome.
   Of all launched V-2s, 74 percent fell within a target circle of about 30 km 
(18 miles) and 44 percent within a circle of about 9.6 km (6 miles) The 
high drift rate of the V-2's internal gyroscope control could not be 
improved further at the point in World War II when the V-2 was pressed 
into service. 
   In fact, 40 percent of the test-fired V-2s exploded about 3-5 km (2-3 
miles) above the ground during their ballistic descent. No proximity fuses 
were mass-produced in Germany during the war, and therefore, military 
V-2s used a very insensitive fuse to withstand launch and flight stresses. 
Most military V-2s simply made a big hole in the ground where they hit, 
often not near their target.
   With this new ORDCIT contract, the graduate student GALCIT Project now 
became more than just relatively small-scale Air Corps research and 
development. Also, with the higher level of new financing, it passed 
beyond a project able to being run by a few brilliant graduate students. 
This indicated how influential Army Ordnance work came to be in the lives 
of Project personnel.
   In pragmatic terms, the present JPL traces its origins to the evolution of 
this ORDCIT contract and the change it brought to the Project.
   However, perhaps the most pragmatic beginning date for JPL is Aug. 30, 
1944, when the Caltech Assistant Comptroller literally sent A.W. 
Sommerfield up to the Arroyo Seco to oversee and rationalize the 
"involved" accounting problems associated with "the GALCIT Project." 
Sommerfield, assigned as JPL project comptroller, was to review various 
contract expenditures and approve and distribute payrolls and 
requisitions. He was to observe "sound business practice and the terms of 
the contracts involved."
   The financial rationalization process continued when the GALCIT project 
workers, paid under three Caltech job categories--Miscellaneous Mechanics, 
Faculty and Special Contracts--were all transferred to a new single, 
separately coded payroll Oct. 1, 1944. 
   The first supplies list that used the words "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" 
was dated June 29, 1944. Malina typed "Jet Propulsion Laboratory, ORDCIT 
Project" as a letterhead on an Aug. 9, 1944 memo. The first proposal for 
new work that used "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" was dated Aug. 21, 1944. 
The "Jet Propulsion Laboratory GALCIT" made its first monthly Army 
Ordnance report on Sept. 1, 1944.
   The continuing series of monthly progress reports to the Army Air Force 
Materiel Center Aircraft Laboratory also first used "Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory Project No. JPL-1" to replace "GALCIT Project No.1" on Sept. 1. 
However, until after October 1944, the Caltech assistant comptroller still 
called the Project the "Arroyo Seco Project."
   In November 1944, the Project's street address was changed from 2401 
N. Arroyo Blvd., Pasadena to 4800 Oak Grove Drive, La Canada. Previously, 
the U.S. Post Office had designated RFD Box 44-A, Route 1, Pasadena, as a 
rural-route mailing address for the Project.
   Malina believed that GALCIT Project No. 1 was founded in 1936 and 
ended on Nov. 1, 1944, when JPL began; von Karman formally turned the 
leadership of the Laboratory over to the new JPL Executive Board on Dec. 
16, 1944, when he left Pasadena for Washington, D.C. "The Guide to the 
Microfiche Edition of the Frank Malina Papers," p. viii, accepted Nov. 1, 
1944 as the beginning date for JPL. 
   Interestingly, however, Malina had signed an ORDCIT report dated Aug. 
20, 1944, from the "Jet Propulsion Laboratory, GALCIT." 
   When von Karman left Pasadena in December, he proposed to the Caltech 
Executive Council that Caltech aeronautics professor Millikan act as GALCIT 
director, a JPL Executive Board be created, Malina be appointed acting JPL 
director, and Louis Dunn to be assistant JPL director. Von Karman felt that 
he had left JPL " ... in the capable hands of Frank Malina and his assistant 
Louis Dunn."
   Malina knew it was in November when things changed and he "took over 
the direction of the Laboratory with Dunn as assistant director." In making 
this judgment about a date for the change, Malina focused on the loss of 
the shaping influence of von Karman on GALCIT affairs. Malina did not see 
the start of the less tangible ORDCIT contract as the key turning point 
leading to the modern JPL.
   Malina did not sign any proposals using "JPL" until Feb. 13, 1945. From 
then until April 20, 1946, he signed no documents as anything other than 
"Acting Director, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, GALCIT."
   By December 1944, the first of the ORDCIT test missiles, called the 
Private A, was assembled. A series of rockets was test-fired at Leach 
Springs near Barstow, away from the Caltech campus. JPL bought an off-
the-shelf booster from the Army for the Private A (the Tiny Tim) and a 
solid-fuel JATO unit from the Aerojet Corporation (the Aerojet 30AS-
1000C), assembled the other parts and designed and built a launcher. 
   JPL also learned how to organize personnel and conduct field operations 
for test launches that formed the basis of many years of future activity. 
This was the beginning of the Lab's morphological approach to research 
and development that would create the United States' first tactical nuclear 
missile, the Corporal, America's answer to the V-2.
   In spring 1945, JPL employees test-fired an improved Private F at the 
newly opened White Sands Proving Grounds in New Mexico. Both the 
Private A and the Private F were the forerunners to the Corporal--which 
von Karman, Malina and Tsien had described in November 1943.
   Work on the Corporal had begun in August 1944, but due to tank-
fabrication problems and research time for motor development, it wasn't 
until May 1947 that a successful flight test occurred.
   The end of World War II, the beginning of the Cold War and other 
technological advances and military priorities changed and shaped JPL 
developments after this point in time. The name "Jet Propulsion 
Laboratory" became the name by which the Project would be known from 
then on. However, it took until June 6, 1946, before the JPL Executive 
Board decided to list "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" under the Js in the public 
telephone book.
   The JPL board agreed on Feb. 7, 1947, to thereafter only refer to the 
Laboratory as "Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of 
Technology." The use of "GALCIT" following "Jet Propulsion Laboratory" 
ended.
   In 1964, during congressional pressure for JPL to change organizationally 
following the series of Ranger failures, Sy Ramo, an influential presence in 
the aerospace community and one of the founders of TRW Corp., suggested 
JPL "shed its old skin" and take on a new name. The suggestion has never 
been adopted. ###
Dr. John Bluth is the oral history coordinator for the JPL Archives.
__________________________________________________________________
Open house July 16-17 celebrates 50 years of JPL history
   JPL's 50th anniversary of space exploration will be the focus of a two-
day open house at the Lab Saturday and Sunday, July 16-17.
   The open house will run from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. both days, and admission 
is free.
   Hosts at JPL's main entrance will answer questions and direct visitors to 
points of interest. Displays in the mall will focus on ongoing projects 
representing the Lab's work for NASA and other agencies.
   
Parking
   All employees who show their badges will be permitted to park on Lab 
in any legal space except for those reserved for the handicapped or under 
the 167 Cafeteria. The East Gate will also be open for those who wish to 
enter the Lab through the east parking lot.
   
Cafeteria
   The 167 Cafeteria will be open from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m. both days of the 
open house.
   
Display and demonstration highlights
   
167 Conference Room
   "It's Cool Inside"--comet demonstrations and liquid nitrogen tricks. Learn 
what makes up the nucleus of a comet and how different objects behave 
under extremely cold conditions.
   
Cafeteria Building (167), east end
   Mission videos will be shown. A schedule of show times will be posted in 
several places throughout the Lab.
   
Spacecraft Assembly Facility (179)
   On display are the original Wide Field Planetary Camera from the Hubble 
Space Telescope, the NSCAT Scatterometer and a full-scale model of the 
Cassini spacecraft.
   
Flight System Testbed (179)
   Tour of the facility provides rapid development of spacecraft prototypes, 
early spacecraft system-level testing, evaluation and infusion of new 
technology, reduced time and cost for spacecraft system integration and 
designs legacy and knowledge for future missions.
   
Administration Building (180), lobby
   "Toward the Final Frontier:  The Robotic Exploration of the Solar System." 
Speakers will describe JPL's space exploration efforts from Explorer I to 
the Pluto Fast Flyby Mission.
   
   Demonstrations of the JPL Library information center online systems, 
emergency preparedness and ridesharing.
   
Building 183, room 328
   Computers have been set up to demonstrate the use of Internet on Lab, 
including the ease of use and the effectiveness of Mosaic and the use of the 
World Wide Web.
   
Von Karman Auditorium (186)
   "Welcome to Outer Space," a multi-image production about JPL's history, 
missions and future vision, will be shown on an alternating basis with 
"From the Arroyo to Deep Space:  the first 50 years of JPL," a new video to 
commemorate the Lab's 50th anniversary.
   
Museum (186)
   Models of the Spaceborne Imaging Radar-C/X-band Synthetic Aperture 
Radar (SIR-C/X-SAR) instrument, TOPEX/Poseidon satellite, and a display 
of Wide Field Planetary Camera photos from the Hubble Space Telescope 
are available for viewing, as well as full-size models of the Voyager and 
Galileo spacecraft and Galileo images of Earth, the moon and asteroids. 
Updates on the July 16-22 collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 will also 
be provided.
   
Project Design Center (264)
   The newly opened facility provides a focused environment in which to 
automate and coordinate project-level design efforts using design-to-cost 
methodology and project life cycle estimating through rapid, 
comprehensive design, cost and schedule iterations.
   
Fire Department (mall)
   JPL's Fire Department will provide demonstrations by its hazardous 
material response team, as well as the emergency robotics response 
project, including Hazbot III. ###
STAR PARTY JULY 16
   
   Collisions of the fragments of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 will be the focus 
of a get-together open to the public and hosted by the JPL Astronomy Club, 
following the first day of the open house, July 16, from about 6 to 10 p.m. 
in the west parking lot. 
   Organizers hope to have several telescopes on hand to observe the event, 
and club members will be on hand to answer questions about the event 
and astronomy in general. ###
__________________________________________________________________
Celebration to continue throughout July
   JPL will join with NASA July 20 in observing one of the agency's most 
significant anniversaries--the landing of the Apollo 11 spacecraft on the 
moon 25 years ago.
   At 11:30 a.m. on the 20th, the Lab will serve as the official venue for the 
first public offering of the Apollo 11 25th Anniversary Commemorative 
Stamp. JPL Chief Engineer John Casani will host the event, and Robert 
Mysel, Pasadena postmaster, will unveil the new stamp.
   Fun and games will round out the month's festivities, as participants in 
the JPL Bowl test their knowledge of Lab history July 25-29, from 11:30 
a.m. to 1 p.m. each day.
   Six teams will compete in the double-elimination tournament, to be held 
in von Karman Auditorium. Each team will field seven players, plus 
alternates. Team names are the Business Bears, Corporals, Lab-abouts, Plan 
10 from Outer Space, Sergeants and Saturn's Ringers. ###
__________________________________________________________________
DSN helped bring Apollo 11 mission to television
The Legacy of Apollo
Second of a three-part series
By DIANE AINSWORTH
   In a remote corner of the windswept Mojave Desert, JPL's 64-meter 
(210-foot) antenna dish was pointed at the sky on July 20, 1969--along 
with a network of communications antennas in the United States, Australia 
and across the Pacific--as Apollo astronaut Neil Armstrong lowered his foot 
onto the ashen surface of the moon.
   Armstrong was not sure how far his foot would sink into the powdery 
material or how well his thermally controlled spacesuit would shield him 
from the 82-degree Celsius (180-degree Fahrenheit) heat of the lunar day. 
His heartbeat, monitored via this 64-meter guardian of the worldwide 
Deep Space Network (DSN), raced from its normal 77 beats per minute to 
168.
   Without this vital communications link at Goldstone, Calif., and at 
facilities around the globe that were providing communications during the 
Apollo 11 lunar landing, high-resolution televised coverage of Armstrong's 
first steps on the moon--perhaps the greatest shared adventure in all of 
human history--would not have been possible.
   "In those days, the moon was a very long way away, and communicating 
with the Apollo astronauts was no easy feat," said Raymond Amorose, 
manager of the JPL Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Operations 
Office, which manages the day-to-day operations of NASA's worldwide 
network of deep-space communications complexes.
   "The communications stations at Goldstone and Honeysuckle Creek, 
Australia, made it possible for all Americans--in fact, for the world--to 
watch the most historic moment of the space program." 
   JPL's experience in communicating with unmanned lunar spacecraft was 
well under way when President John F. Kennedy issued his challenge to 
the nation in May 1961 to put astronauts on the moon and return them 
safely to Earth before the end of the decade.
   The first of these projects was JPL's Ranger series, which demonstrated 
the accuracy and feasibility of precise radio guidance to the moon and the 
value of continuous telecommunications between a distant spacecraft and a 
network of Earth-based communications stations.
   The Ranger project was followed by JPL's Surveyor and the NASA 
Langley Research Center's Lunar Orbiter projects. All three contributed 
valuable knowledge about the moon and its environment, which laid the 
groundwork for many of the decisions made in the Apollo era.
   Two of the most critical decisions during the evolution of the Apollo 
network involved JPL. These were the decision to use the so-called "S-
band" for communication with the Apollo spacecraft and the decision to 
capitalize on JPL's existing deep-space communications expertise and 
tracking facilities.
   The S-band technology represented a major advance in spacecraft 
technology, said Dr. Nicholas A. Renzetti, who oversees science operations 
for the Telecommunications and Missions Operations Directorate. Signals 
for voice, data communications, television and commanding were 
integrated into a single radio carrier.
   "In a single stroke, the many various separate transmitters, receivers 
and antennas of Mercury and Gemini were consolidated," Renzetti said. 
"The S-band meant economy and simplicity on the spacecraft and on the 
ground."
   In the early 1960s, JPL was operating three deep-space complexes, using 
26-meter (85-foot) antennas at Goldstone, Woomera, Australia and near 
Johannesburg, South Africa.
   "The locations of these deep-space stations around the globe assured 
communications with spacecraft by at least one facility at all times," 
Amorose added. "A ground-communications facility and space flight 
operations facility, located at JPL, completed the requirements to provide 
an integrated capability designed to communicate with lunar and 
planetary probes in deep space."
   But with the inception of Apollo, larger antennas were needed to 
maintain radio communications in the vicinity of the moon, some 400,000 
kilometers (250,000 miles) away. In addition, the DSN would have to 
maintain contact with two vehicles and three men in each Apollo flight: the 
command module, which would orbit the moon, carrying one astronaut; 
and the lunar module, which would land the other two astronauts on the 
moon and later launch them to dock once again with the mothership. 
   New antennas were added to meet the communications needs of the 
Apollo program. JPL dedicated the Goldstone Pioneer 26-meter antenna, 
now a historical monument, to the Apollo flights. NASA's Goddard Space 
Flight Center named a newly built 26-meter antenna Apollo.
   Additionally, new communications wings housing special Apollo 
transmitting and receiving equipment, plus switching connections, were 
built at the deep-space communications stations to augment the Manned 
Spaceflight Network facilities at Goldstone, the Robledo complex near 
Madrid, Spain, and the Tidbinbilla complex near Canberra, Australia.
   The DSN's 64-meter antenna at Goldstone, called the Mars site, was later 
added to the Apollo network during lunar operations for two important 
reasons: It would provide reception of color television signals and a high 
data flow from space to Earth during the descent of the lunar module in 
case the spacecraft's steerable S-band antenna faltered.
   During preparations for the Apollo 11 flight, though, it became apparent 
that the Goldstone antenna dish would not be able to see the lunar module 
during the critical walk on the moon, said John Saxon, currently on 
assignment to JPL from the Australian Deep Space Communications 
Complex, and who had been stationed at the Manned Space Flight Network 
prime station at Honeysuckle Creek, Australia, during Apollo 11. The moon 
would be setting on Goldstone's horizon, and another facility would have to 
be used, he explained.
   "The schedule called for the moon walk to begin when the spacecraft was 
in view from Australia, but the Manned Spaceflight Network had only one 
26-meter antenna in Australia," Saxon said. However, west of Sydney, at 
Parkes, the Australians operated a 64-meter antenna as part of their 
radio-astronomy research program. By using this antenna through various 
microwave links, televised coverage of the moon walk could be improved.
   NASA negotiated an agreement with the Australian government 
whereby the Parkes antenna could be used to augment the Manned 
Spaceflight Network for the televised portions of the moon walk.
   "As it turned out, the moon walk began early," Saxon said. "The 
astronauts just wanted to get out there once they landed. The walk was 
moved up by about two hours. But the moon was low on Goldstone's 
horizon, so Honeysuckle's TV link was used for Armstrong's first steps. 
Then, later, the Parkes antenna in Australia was brought on line to provide 
most of the television coverage of Armstrong's and Aldrin's walk."
   The Apollo 11 lunar module carried a special transmitter designed to 
beam television images of the moon to the communications facilities. The 
technology, which had to operate in the vacuum of space and in the 
absence of an atmosphere, was cutting-edge at the time. And it worked 
like a charm.
   Hundreds of millions of people around the world watched the astronauts 
step out onto the lunar surface and followed their activities on the barren 
moonscape. Historians and broadcast anchors alike commented that those 
ghostly television images were indelibly etched in the minds of every 
witness to the event.
   During lunar operations, there were four sources of communication 
signals: the two astronauts, the lunar module and the command module 
that was orbiting the moon, Saxon said.
   "It was a complicated business, because each communications facility 
was receiving all of the data streams at the same time, from the command 
module, the lunar module, the astronauts' backpacks and, in the later 
years, the lunar rovers," he said. 
   "There were all sorts of weird and wonderful modes that were used to 
communicate with the astronauts and lunar modules, and they all took a 
lot of simulation on the ground," he said. "We rehearsed endlessly before 
every mission. The simulations were generally much tougher than the real 
thing. By the time Apollo 11 was in progress, tracking was pretty much a 
well-oiled machine" 
   Voice communication was crucial to the Apollo landing missions. Two-
way voice communication was established using microwave frequencies 
from the astronaut crews to the deep-space viewing stations and then to 
mission control at Houston. During landing of the Apollo 11 module, 
Armstrong flew the command module manually, explaining over the voice 
link to Houston that he was searching for the best place to land.
   "I think Armstrong landed about a hundred yards from where they had 
planned to land because there were a lot of boulders in the way," said 
Saxon, who was monitoring the voice net at the time. "It was a tense 
moment, needless to say, because Armstrong was really down to the last 
10 percent of fuel. They had about 20 seconds of fuel left and they almost 
ran out."
   During their brief, two-hour moon walk, Armstrong and Aldrin planted 
an American flag in the fine moon sand of Tranquility Base, talked to then-
President Richard Nixon, gathered geologic samples and set up the first two 
science experiments to be left on the lunar surface. 
   One of the instruments, designed by JPL scientists, measured 
moonquakes, meteoroid impacts and volcanic eruptions on the lunar 
surface. The other, a JPL laser reflector array, continues to operate today, 
enabling highly accurate measurements of the moon's orbit around Earth 
by way of laser ranging.
   An exhibit of JPL's role in the Apollo era will be included in Space Week 
activities, being sponsored in part by NASA, the week of July 18-22 in 
Washington, D.C. The JPL exhibit will showcase the Laboratory's robotic 
missions to the moon, the DSN's role in the Apollo program and computer-
simulated flights over other planets of the solar system. ###
__________________________________________________________________
JPL outplacement organization, 090, helps in transition period
By KARRE MARINO
   The three numbers "090" don't have to strike terror in the hearts of JPL 
employees. 
   Being transferred to JPL's outplacement organization because of 
downsizing, slashed budgets or completed projects can be viewed as a 
transition period and an opportunity, according to Deanna Kraemer, JPL 
outplacement coordinator.
   "We find that a person's attitude is one of the most important aspects of 
success. The outplacement program can assist them, but being positive and 
focused really makes a difference."
   The Section 090 facility is located in Building 510 and comprises a well-
stocked resource center and computer resources. Employees in the 
technical, administrative, engineering, office/clerical, technician/trade and 
service classifications who have been transferred to 090 have access to a 
wide variety of reference books, newspapers' classified advertising 
sections from local and out-of-state areas, phone books, an 090 newsletter 
filled with jobs and networking tips, and actual job listings for JPL, Caltech 
and outside companies.
   Computers, laser printers, phones and faxes are available for letter- and 
resume-writing (mailing privileges are free), and users may even tap into 
the Internet to access job-listing databases, as well as post their own 
resume in the appropriate groups. Individuals also continue to receive 
internal JPL mail at the Outplacement Center.
   In addition to the printed materials, Kraemer explained that she offers a 
series of three classes that teach job hunting, resume writing and 
interviewing skills. 
   "We've been reminded that the job market has changed in recent years, 
which means the way resumes are written has changed, too. That's why 
the classes we offer can be helpful," she noted, "as many people have been 
out of the job market for some time, and this is a way to update their job-
hunting skills."
   An important aspect of JPL's outplacement program is career counseling, 
which is headed by counselor Alice Fairhurst. "She has a testing method 
that helps individuals identify their temperament, work style and 
transferable skills," Kraemer explained. 
   "Alice aids them in understanding where they might go next in terms of 
their search for employment. Via interest inventories and tips, she enables 
them to focus on what they can do to gain employment that will satisfy 
them."
   Kraemer encourages everyone who comes into 090 to see Fairhurst. "One 
of the things they have to look at in order to be successful in the next job 
is their transferable skills. We offer a great resource with which to do 
that."
   Most JPL employees find out well in advance of their transfer that they 
will be sent to 090. "Supervisors and management give verbal notice to the 
employee, who then receives formal written notice, called a notice of 
layoff," Kraemer explained. Employees must contact 090 within three days 
of being transferred there, and they must plan to attend an orientation. 
She described the first day in 090 as a transitional period, "one in which 
the individual creates a job marketing plan. That serves to help them 
determine goals and job-hunting activities. They also write a resume.
   "While in 090 they must be accountable for their time, so every two 
weeks they write a memo, documenting their activities. It's important that 
they are focused on looking for work, or on acquiring additional skills for 
work that will assist them or transitioning into a new position."
   Those in 090 may use their time to return to school--whether to finish a 
nearly completed degree or to acquire additional skills and knowledge. 
   She added that two people currently in 090 are in school. "One is 
transitioning into a new field, and the other wants to become an expert in 
another area; he's currently reading as much as he can about his particular 
field."
   Kraemer emphasized that the program is flexible, which means the staff 
works to meet employees' needs, schedules and personal style of job 
hunting. "No one is expected to come in here every day, 9-5," she said. 
"And we realize that people have their own way of doing things. We're 
here to ensure that they have the helpful tools."
   Those in 090 are still employed by JPL, and receive their full paychecks 
and benefits. (Employees are paid for 22 days and receive five additional 
days for each year of completed service to JPL. Exempt employees max out 
at 130 paid days, and nonexempt at 65 paid days.) "They continue to 
accrue vacation and sick time while in 090, as well. They do have to  come 
in here to pick up their paycheck, at which time they verify employment 
status." These individuals may also leave the area for job interviews or 
employment leads--as long as they have Kraemer's prior approval.
   JPL's outplacement program is fairly unique, she said, as in a survey she 
conducted, Kraemer "could not find another program like ours; with 
respect to aerospace programs, ours is unique. While some companies do 
have such an outplacement program, they are generally a result of 
downsizing, and after the cuts in employment have been made, the 
program is discontinued. "Our program is ongoing, whether you have one 
or 100 people in program. Numbers do not determine whether we exist or 
not.
   "090 offers a great support system for people experiencing significant 
change. Someone is available to talk to when one feels frustrated, and 
people can network and help each other."
   Kraemer emphasized that "People who come in here regularly and use 
the facilities in a constructive way gain good results. We don't get people 
jobs, but we do provide the tools that will make their effort more 
successful."
   JPL's outplacement program facility is available Monday through Friday, 
8 a.m.-4:45 p.m. For information, call ext. 7-9061. ###
__________________________________________________________________
    Predicted impact times for fragments of Shoemaker-Levy 9
   Predictions as of July 11, by Drs. Paul Chodas and Don Yeomans
   
   Fragment	Impact Time (PDT)	Best locations for viewing Jupiter 
at impact time
   
   A	July 16	12:58 p.m.	Africa (except W. Africa), Middle East, eastern 
Europe
   B	7:54 p.m.	Eastern North America, Mexico, western S. America
   C	11:59 p.m.	New Zealand, Hawaii, (also West Coast of U.S., barely)
   
   D	July 17	4:45 a.m.	Australia, New Zealand, Japan
   E	8:05 a.m.	India, southern China, Southeast Asia, western Australia
   F	5:27 p.m.	South America
   
   G	July 18	12:28 a.m	New Zealand, Hawaii
   H	12:26 p.m.	Africa (except W. Africa), Middle East, eastern Europe
   
   K	July 19	3:18 a.m	Australia, New Zealand
   	3:07 p.m.	Brazil, western Africa, Spain
   
   N	July 20	3:21 a.m.	Australia, New Zealand
   P2	8:10 a.m.	India, southern China, southeast Asia, western Australia
   Q1	12:59 p.m.	Africa (except western Africa)
   Q2	12:32 p.m.	Middle East, eastern Europe
   R	10:24 p.m.	Hawaii, west coast of North America
   
   S	July 21	8:10 a.m.	India, southern China, southeast  Asia, 
western Australia
   T	11:06 a.m.	Africa (except W. Africa), Middle East, eastern Europe
   U	2:53 p.m.	Brazil, western Africa, Spain
   V	9:15 p.m.	Western U.S., Mexico
   
   W	July 22	12:57 a.m.	New Zealand, Hawaii, eastern Australia
   
   Note:  Except for fragments T, U and V, these predictions are accurate to 
plus or minus 15 minutes. For fragments T, U and V, the predictions are 
accurate to plus or minus half an hour. ###
__________________________________________________________________
Editor, Mark Whalen
Assistant Editor, Karre Marino
Photos, JPL Photo Lab
Universe is published every other Friday by the Public Affairs Office of the 
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak 
Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109.