June 2007

www.nasa.gov

On the Inside . . .

Page 2- Kepler spacecraft designed to detect 

 Earth-size planets

Page 4 - NASA’s Phoenix to access chance

 of life on Mars

Page 9 - Way to Go! Recognizing employees

Page 14 - Ames Ongoing Events

Page 15 - Ames Classifieds

Page 16 - Ombuds Office services available

Dr. Lisa Porter, associate administrator for the Aeronautics Research 

Mission Directorate, (ARMD), along 

with program directors and other 

ARMD staff, recently visited Ames. 

During her visit, Porter spoke at an All 

Hands meeting to provide an update 

on the status of ARMD research activities and answer questions.

Lisa Porter speaks at Ames

NASA photo by Dominic Hart

Research supports presence of large oceans on early Mars

Lisa Porter, associate administrator for the 

Aeronautics Research Mission Directorate, 

recently visited Ames.

Worden says Ames is “Cool”

continued on page 9

Ames Research Center Director S. Pete Worden is seen 

here during his recent assessment of the State of the 

Center in early June. He gave his perspective about how 

Ames is doing after his first year here at the center. 

NASA photo by Paul Langston

continued on page 11

NASA-funded astrobiologists at 

the University of California, Berkeley 

have discovered evidence supporting 

the presence of large oceans of liquid 

water on early Mars.

One of the most obvious surface 

features on Mars is a large plain 

surrounding the north pole that 

resembles a sediment-filled ocean 

basin with shoreline-like features. But 

the purported shoreline isn’t level, 

an observation that has been used as 

an argument against the presence of 

an ocean. This new study shows that 

the undulations can be explained by 

movement of Mars’ spin axis, and 

thus its poles, and that a liquid water 

ocean could indeed have existed there.

The scientists’ research is scheduled 

to be published in the June 14 issue of 

Nature magazine.

“This work strongly supports 

the idea that there were large standing bodies of water on the Martian 

surface,” said Carl Pilcher, director 

of the NASA Astrobiology Institute 

at Ames, which co-funded the study. 

“Interpreting this topography as an 

ancient northern ocean could have a 

great impact on current and future 

Mars exploration,” he added.

“When the spin axis moves relative 

to the surface, the surface deforms, 

and that is recorded in the shoreline,” 

said study co-author Michael Manga, 

a professor of Earth and planetary 

science at UC Berkeley, and member 

of the NASA Astrobiology Institute 

Team there. “On planets like Mars 

and Earth that have an outer shell or 

lithosphere that behaves elastically, the 

solid surface will deform differently 

than the sea surface, distorting the 

topography,” added primary author 

Taylor Perron, a former UC Berkeley 

graduate student, now a postdoctoral fellow in Harvard University’s 

Department of Earth and Planetary 

Sciences. Perron’s calculations show 

that the resistance of the elastic crust 

could create elevation variations for 

topographic features like the shoreline, 

in accord with observations.

Ames has come a long way in the 

past year and the future looks bright for 

NASA’s Silicon Valley jewel, according 

to Ames Center Director S. Pete Worden. 

During an All Hands meeting held 

June 7, Worden delivered an upbeat 

assessment of the center’s current 

status and its future. His wide-ranging 

remarks delivered to a capacity crowd 

gathered in the main auditorium, were 
 Astrogram June 2007

Kepler spacecraft designed to detect Earth-size planets

continued on page 4

Artist’s rendition of the Kepler spacecraft.

NASA’s new Kepler spacecraft will 

greatly expand the quest for planets 

orbiting stars - not just giant, Jupitersize planets -- but smaller, Earth-size 

worlds that might well contain liquid 

water and so could harbor life. 

Kepler is a NASA ‘Discovery’ mission that scientists have designed to 

survey our region of the Milky Way 

galaxy to detect potentially hundreds 

of Earth-size and smaller planets in or 

near habitable zones. A habitable zone 

is the distance from a star where liquid 

water could exist on the surface of a 

planet orbiting that star.

“It’s the most important endeavor 

NASA is undertaking, in my opinion,” 

ventured William Borucki, a space 

scientist and Kepler’s principal investigator who works at Ames where 

the mission was conceived and where 

science operations will be conducted. 

“We are trying to find man’s place in 

the universe. The first step in doing 

that is finding Earth-like planets. Ultimately, we’ll travel to the stars to see 

who is there,” Borucki predicted.

“Since we first proposed Kepler 

in 1994, scientists have detected more 

than 200 extra-solar planets,” said 

astrophysicist David Koch of Ames, 

Kepler’s deputy principal investigator. 

However, almost all of these are gasgiant planets, and the virtue of Kepler 

is that it is able to find Earth-size and 

smaller planets, Koch observed.

Kepler will be the first space 

telescope specifically designed to find 

Earth-size planets in the habitable 

zones around distant stars. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch in November 2008 on a Delta II rocket from 

NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Fla. 

Kepler will look for periodic dimming 

of stars, or transits, as clues that would 

reveal the presence of intervening 

planets along the craft’s line of sight.

Looking for planets orbiting other 

stars is difficult with Earth-based 

telescopes that have to peer through 

Earth’s atmosphere. The starlight is 

‘polluted’ by the 

nocturnal lights 

cast by cities, and 

the smoke and 

smog of civilization and by other 

natural distortions created by 

our atmosphere. 

Even the Hubble 

Space Telescope, 

which orbits 

Earth, is limited 

because it is not 

designed to stare 

intently for years 

at just one small 

section of the 

Milky Way. To 

overcome these and other problems 

encountered by Earth-bound telescopes, astronomers suggested that a 

new telescope that can detect Earthsize and smaller planets in habitable 

zones be launched into space. This 

new telescope would be expressly 

designed to look for star-dimming 

‘transits.’

Kepler will include a lens, a primary mirror and a charge-coupled 

device (CCD) array for collecting light. 

The CCD array is similar, but bigger 

than, the CCDs that replace film in 

consumer, digital cameras.

“The Kepler focal plane is made 

up of 95 megapixels, unlike a digital 

home camera, which might be five 

megapixels,” Koch explained. As of 

February 2007, the CCD photometer 

array was nearing completion, and 

engineers were planning for spacecraft 

assembly and testing at Ball Aerospace, Boulder, Colo. The new optics 

system on Kepler, including its mirror 

and telescope, will focus pinpoints of 

light from 100,000 Milky Way stars 

onto the light-sensitive CCD array, according to Koch.

After launch in 2008, Kepler will 

soar away from the Earth, and in a few 

days the spacecraft will be past the 

moon’s orbit. Kepler’s final orbit will 

be around the sun, trailing Earth.

Scientists designed the orbit to 

give the spacecraft a stable view of the 

100,000 stars being examined and to 

keep Kepler’s view of those stars from 

being blocked by the sun or moon. Researchers planned the Kepler mission 

to last four years with the potential to 

extend it an additional two years.

“If you’re thinking about the Earth 

traveling around the sun, Earth goes 

around once a year. So, you need to 

observe for at least three years, and 

preferably four years, to be more certain statistically that a planet has been 

spotted,” Borucki explained. 

Like a photographer’s light meter, the CCD array will not capture 

actualimages of planets, but instead 

will look for starlight that dims and 

brightens again on a regular timetable. 

This periodic variation of starlight 

may indicate that planets could orbit 

these stars. Planets would be passing 

between their stars and Earth, causing the starlight reaching the Kepler 

spacecraft to be weakened, once for 

each planet’s ‘yearly’ orbit. Planets’ 

years will vary in comparison to Earth 

years, depending on how far away 

from their home star they orbit, and 

how fast they orbit.

According to Koch, Kepler would 

look at the same field of view in space, 

a region along the Orion arm of the 

galaxy for at least four years. “The 

chances of detecting a planet in the 

habitable zone of a star are about a 

half of a percent. Therefore, tens of 

thousands of stars need to be monitored continuously (at least once every 

hour) in order to detect hundreds of 

planets,” Koch said.

Kepler will transmit its data to 

Earth every 30 days via NASA’s Deep 

Space Network. The network will carry the data to the mission operations 

center at the University of Colorado, 

Boulder. The center staff will use the 

engineering data to monitor the health 

of the spacecraft and its key component, the CCD photometer. The science 

data will travel to the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, 
 Astrogram June 2007

Finding defects in rotating machinery will be quicker and easier, thanks 

to two new NASA computer programs 

and an award-winning technical paper 

that describes them.

Two Ames computer scientists 

who wrote about software that can 

find faults in gearing, received an 

award for their technical paper from 

the Society of Automotive Engineers 

(SAE, International), Warrendale, Pa. 

SAE represents engineers in mobilityrelated professions.

“The significance of this technology is that from sensory data, it can 

predict if, and at what location, a 

given moving part of a mechanical 

system may fail during operation,” 

said Upender Kaul, one of the two 

authors and principal investigator of 

the project. 

SAE gave computer scientists Kaul 

and Nikunj Oza, also of NASA Ames, 

the Arch T. Colwell Merit Award at the 

SAE 2007 World Congress in Detroit in 

April 2007. Kaul and Oza co-authored 

the research paper, ‘Machine Learning 

for Detecting and Locating Damage in 

a Rotating Gear.’ The paper explains 

how the software analyzes stress and 

other data from normal gears, and 

then can detect damaged gear teeth.

The article not only describes a 

method to detect and locate damage in 

a rotating gear using the two programs, but also notes that the detection process is not limited to gearing. 

One program involves modeling and 

simulation software that can simulate machine subsystems. The second 

program involves software that can 

predict how well a machine will operate.

“Based on this technology, we can 

create damage detectors and locators 

that can be more robust,” Oza said.

Kaul developed the simulation and 

machine-learning software. Oza finetuned the machine-learning software 

to enable the computer programs 

to detect faults more efficiently. The 

work reflected in the technical paper 

was primarily funded by the NASA’s 

Computing, Information and Communications Technology (CICT) program 

managed by Eugene Tu of NASA 

Ames.

Kaul has more than 27 years of 

research and development experience in the field of computational 

sciences and has published more than 

60 technical documents, including 

papers in peer-reviewed conferences 

and journals. Oza wrote more than 20 

papers in peer-reviewed conferences 

and journals.

According to SAE, the society creates and manages more aerospace and 

ground vehicle standards than any 

other entity in the world. “Today, as 

SAE approaches its 100th anniversary, 

we represent the collective wisdom 

of nearly 85,000 engineers, technical 

professionals, academics and governmental representatives in 97 countries 

around the globe,” the society Web site 

observes. 

NASA computer programs help engineers find machine defects

by John Bluc

U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and 

Australian Foreign Minister Alexander Downer 

visited Moffett Field in late May for a first-hand look 

at one of Silicon Valley’s new green technologies, 

including a ride in the Tesla Roadster, a new 100 

percent electric, zero-emissions sports car.

Secretary of State tests car at AmesNASA photos by Dominic Hart

In a story published in the May 

2007 issue of the Astrogram, entitled 

‘Google representative discusses 

impressive solar program,’ Steve 

Frankel, Plant Engineering branch 

chief, requested clarification to his 

statement.

Referring to the article in which 

Frankel gave details on the effort to 

install solar panels at Ames and said 

“seeing a payback on the investment 

of the panels is a challenge,” -- Frankel said this is true for the recently 

installed photovoltaic (PV) on N-245 

and N-235 .

Clarification

The May article continued, “Panels were installed on two buildings at 

Ames in the past and they were unsuccessful; they were not maintained 

and became unusable.” Frankel said 

this refers to the solar water heating 

systems installed in the 1970s on N235 and N-203.

According to Frankel, these statements cannot be combined. The PV 

panels are very successful systems, 

generating 16,500 kwh per year of 

free electricity for Ames.
 Astrogram June 2007

Md., where researchers will archive 

Kepler’s raw science information.

Researchers in Baltimore will relay 

raw science data to the science operations center at Ames for analysis and 

interpretation. Computers will examine the data from the stars to locate 

any potential dimming caused by 

planetary transits.

Kepler scientists will be able to 

calculate the size of the planet by noting how much the brightness of the 

star drops in relation to how large the 

star is. Scientists will use the size of 

the planet’s orbit and the temperature 

of the star to estimate the planet’s 

temperature. 

“If there are many planets around 

a star, we should know how many 

planets there are, how big and how 

far away from the star they are, and 

if they are in the habitable zone,” 

Borucki observed. “That happens if 

all the planets are in the same orbital 

plane.” 

According to Borucki, scientists 

will find out how frequently Earth-size 

planets form around stars. “From that, 

one will know whether, potentially, 

life is widespread or rare,” Borucki 

said. Scientists hope the Kepler mission will detect Mars-size to Jupiter-size planets in an estimated 700 

planetary systems, according to Koch. 

by John Bluc

continued from page 2

by John Bluc

Kepler spacecraft designed to 

detect Earth-size planets

NASA’s Phoenix to assess chance for life on Mars

In 2008, NASA’s Phoenix space- craft is scheduled to land in the north- ern plains of Mars to determine if that 

environment could support life in the 

past or in geologically recent times. Like a detective, NASA scientist 

and Phoenix co-investigator Carol 

Stoker of Ames will piece together 

clues radioed to Earth from the space- craft to try to determine if conditions 

on Mars in the icy north could support 

life either today (unlikely, she says), 

or in the relatively recent past, when 

warmer conditions occurred.

“My role is to try to help pull the story together from all different instru- ments,” said Stoker. She will lead 

the science-working group that will 

evaluate the biological potential of the 

landing site. “We are trying to learn whether conditions allowing life to grow ever 

occur at this site,” she explained. The 

possibility of life revolves around 

the question of whether or not liquid 

water forms in the region as a result 

of warming due to climate change, ac- cording to Stoker. During the 90-day mission, Phoe- nix will deploy its robotic arm that 

can dig trenches as deep as 1.6 feet 

(one half meter) into the soil, or to the 

top of an ice boundary. According to 

Stoker, scientists are expecting to take 

a small sample from icy soil covered 

with a thin layer of dry soil.

To analyze soil samples collected 

by the robotic arm, Phoenix will carry 

eight “ovens” in a “portable laboratory.” Martian samples will be heated to 

release volatiles that can be examined 

for their chemical composition. Scientists will look for the building blocks 

of life that include carbon, hydrogen, 

nitrogen, oxygen and sulfur among 

other things.

NASA has scheduled the Phoenix 

spacecraft for launch in August 2007. 

In May 2008, Phoenix is to land in an 

ice-rich area in the northern polar re- gion of Mars between 65 and 72-north 

latitude. Phoenix is not a ‘rover,’ and 

will remain where it lands.

“Why land in the northern plains?” Stoker said. “When Phoenix 

was being proposed, the Mars-orbiting Odyssey spacecraft had just 

discovered that in the high latitude 

regions of Mars, at 60 degrees north 

and south, there is a high concentra- tion of hydrogen molecules, indicating 

that there is up to 50 percent ice in the 

soil,” she explained. The climate on Mars is governed strongly by the intensity of sunlight energy hitting 

each area of 

Mars. Sunlight 

intensity changes 

over time in each 

region because 

Mars’ orbit 

changes, and the tilt of the planet’s 

axis of rotation changes. “Recent missions -- Mars Explora- tion Rovers -- have explored environ- ments that may have been habitable 

billions of years ago, but are not 

today. Phoenix is the first mission to 

explore an environment that might be 

capable of supporting modern life,” 

she explained. “We think the ice may 

preserve organic compounds that are 

otherwise destroyed by harsh ultravio- let light and strong oxidants found on 

Mars,” Stoker said.

“Currently, Mars is tilted 25.3 degrees, which is nearly the same as 

the tilt of the Earth’s axis,” Stoker said. 

This is just a coincidence, Stoker said. 

“If you were to take a snapshot in any 

other epoch of Mars’ history, the tilt 

of the axis could be anywhere from 15 

degrees to 35 degrees.” Globally, Mars does not get warmer as orbital parameters change, 

explained Stoker, but a particular 

location could be much warmer. “The 

change of the tilt of the axis is cycli- cal,” she said. “The time scale for an 

obliquity (tilt) cycle is about 100,000 

years, and the size of the variation 

increases as you go back in time. 

Between five and 10 million years 

ago, the solar energy was almost three 

times higher in the northern plains 

than it is now.”

Another factor Stoker noted is that 

the martian orbit is slightly noncir- cular. Currently, when it is summer 

in the north Mars is furthest from the 

sun, the time of year when Mars is 

closest to the sun changes over time 

and goes through a complete cycle in 

50,000 years. So, in 25,000 years, the 

northern summer will occur when 

Mars is closest to the sun. That ef- fect alone will increase the amount 

of sunlight in high northern latitudes 

by roughly 50 percent, according to 

Stoker.

“The near-surface ground ice at the Phoenix landing site could have 

become warm enough to melt as 

recently as 25,000 years ago, and these 

melting periods recur on 50,000-year 

cycles,” Stoker noted. “So, that region 

is possibly habitable for periods of 

time lasting a few thousand years, 

separated by periods where it is too 

cold, lasting roughly 50,000 years or 

so,” she added.
 Astrogram June 2007

2007 Forum on Environmental Sustainability held at Ames

Environmental initiatives at NASA 

and the regulatory issues that govern them were the focus of the 2007 

Sustainability Forum held at Ames on 

June 13. 

The forum included opening 

remarks from Ames Center Director 

S. Pete Worden, a keynote address 

from David Crane, special advisor to 

Governor Schwarzenegger and access 

to interagency experts. It provided 

Ames staff with updates on legislation 

establishing the most extensive carbon dioxide emission controls in the 

United States, and regulatory efforts 

at state and local levels impacting 

Ames operations.

Winners of the 2007 Ames Sustainability Awards were recognized for 

their leadership in pursuing practices 

to conserve energy, buy “green” renewable/recycled products, preserve 

resources and educate employees on 

ways to become more environmentally 

aware. The 2007 projects and honorees 

were:

 • The NASA Advanced Life Support Research and Adaptations for 

Sustainable Practices presentation. Dr. 

John Hogan discussed similarities and 

differences between advanced life support in space and on Earth; proposing 

a mission to save the planet utilizing 

top talent in scientific research and 

project management. 

• The 14-Foot Wind Tunnel Demolition Debris Recycling project, led 

by Peter Goldsmith, Phase I achieved 

significant reductions in landfill waste 

and successful recycling/recovery of 

more than 40 tons copper/brass/aluminum; 3,000 tons ferrous metals; and 

2,500 tons concrete.

• The Ames Bicycling Club. Julie 

Nottage, Pat Grant, Ted Roush and by April Neilso

David Crane, senior advisor to Governor Arnold 

Schwarzenegger, is seen here at right, presented the 

keynote address at the 2007 Forum on Environmental 

Sustainability, held June 13 at the center. Ames Center 

Director S. Pete Worden also spoke at the event. Ames 

employees learned more about how Ames is pursuing 

environmental excellence in support of Vision for 

Space Exploration and how these activities support 

California’s economic environment of innovation and 

entrepreneurship. 

NASA photo by Dominic Hart

Chris Hlavka teamed up to establish 

the club; setting up a board, community/Earth Day outreach, safety 

courses, bike tours, city council visits, 

commuter support and refurbished 

bikes for Ames employees.

• The Carpet Square Installation at 

the cafeteria. Mike Stock and Plant Engineering coordinated recycled carpet 

tile installation at the entrances to the 

cafeteria to test the durability of this 

new ‘green product.’

NASA is awarding five-year 

grants to four research teams that will 

become new members of the NASA 

Astrobiology Institute (NAI).

The new multidisciplinary teams 

are led by the University of Wisconsin, 

Madison; the California Institute of 

Technology, Pasadena; Montana State 

University, Bozeman; and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), 

Cambridge. For the first 18 months of 

research, teams will receive $350,000 

in funding. The five-year average 

grant size is approximately $7 million 

per team.

“These teams have proposed exciting research that is complementary 

to work being done by other NAI 

members,” said NAI Director Carl 

Pilcher, NASA Ames Research Center, 

Moffett Field, Calif. “The selection of 

these teams forms an excellent foundation for entering the institute’s second 

decade.”

NASA selects new members of Astrobiology Institute

Astrobiology is the study of the origin, evolution, distribution and future 

of life in the universe. In 1998, NASA 

founded the Astrobiology Institute, a 

virtual research institution based at 

Ames, to stimulate and support this 

multidisciplinary field of research and 

education as part of NASA’s overall 

science portfolio.

The University of Wisconsin team, 

headed by Clark Johnson, proposes 

to study organic and mineralogical 

signatures and environments of life on 

Earth and other planets. This team’s 

work focuses on technologies for the 

detection of microbial life from its 

subtle effects on rock chemistry. These 

technologies will examine ancient 

rocks on Earth, paving the way for 

eventual instruments to search for 

signatures of life on Mars.

The California Institute of Technology team, led by Victoria Meadows, 

will extend research done within the 

NAI from 2001 to 2006. This team has 

developed a Virtual Planetary Laboratory to explore the habitability and 

biosignatures of extrasolar, Earth-like 

planets. These scientists use computer 

models of planets with different sizes, 

temperatures and atmospheres to 

investigate how the presence of life on 

such planets could be detected telescopically.

The Montana State University 

team is headed by John Peters. Its 

focus is on the origin of life, investigating the role of iron-sulfide compounds 

in the transition from the non-living to 

the living world. This work will support the mission of NASA in the area 

of prebiotic chemistry and the development of signatures for terrestrial 

and extraterrestrial life.

Roger Summons leads the MIT 

team. The team will investigate 

requirements for the development of 

continued on page 12
 Astrogram June 2007

Each summer since 2003, a group 

of scientists, technologists and mission 

planners have attended International 

Planetary Probe Workshops, dedicated 

to exploring our solar system using 

high-speed atmospheric entry probes. 

This year, the workshop leadership 

will bestow the first annual Alvin Seiff 

Memorial Award. The award honors 

an individual for outstanding contributions to understanding the atmospheres of planets or moons, and is 

meant to encourage new generations 

of solar system explorers to follow 

Seiff’s lead.

The recipient of the first Seiff 

Memorial Award is Dr. Hasso B. 

Niemann, recently retired from the 

NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. 

Niemann devoted his career to the 

development of mass spectrometer 

technology and its use to measure 

the composition of planetary atmospheres. Niemann’s work began in 

collaboration with Seiff on the 1971 

Planetary Atmospheric Experiments 

Test (PAET). 

Niemann remained a close colleague of Seiff’s in the development 

of atmospheric probes as a research 

platform, and his accomplishments 

include landmark determinations of 

the compositions of the atmospheres 

of Jupiter, with the Galileo probe, and 

Titan, during the Cassini/Huygens 

flights. 

This new award recognizes Seiff’s 

legendary contributions to entry technology and its use in solar system exploration. Early in his career at Ames, 

Seiff led a group of young researchers to define the aerodynamics and 

aerothermodynamics of the Apollo 

vehicle. Then, Seiff developed the 

concept of inverting the entry physics “problem” into a “solution” for 

understanding planetary atmospheres, 

whereby the response of an entry 

probe is used to determine the structure and composition of an unknown 

planetary atmosphere. This concept 

was demonstrated with the Planetary 

Atmospheric Entry Test (PAET) in the 

Earth’s atmosphere. 

Later, Seiff was the principal investigator on probe missions to determine 

the structure of the atmospheres of 

Mars (Viking), Venus (Pioneer Venus) 

and Jupiter (Galileo). He was the coinvestigator on the Huygens atmospheric structure experiment, but did 

not live to see the results of his work. 

Seiff is also known for his work with 

Tom Canning, for the development 

of the Hypersonic Free-Flight Ballistic Range Facilities, still operating at 

Ames. 

Seiff won the NASA Medal for 

Exceptional Scientific Achievement 

three times and was honored with the 

Dryden Lectureship by the AIAA. He 

and those he led truly “soared to the 

stars,” literally touching three planets 

and Titan with his experiments. 

We acknowledge the contributions 

of Glen Bugos, Jack Boyd and Lynn 

Albaugh for the research and preparation of this article.

by Jim Arnold

and Ethiraj Venka

Ames establishes the Alvin Seiff Memorial Award

Artist’s concept of the Galileo Probe’s entry to 

Jupiter.

NASA photo by Roger Brimmer

The first recipient of the Alvin Seiff 

Memorial Award was named this year. 

Named after Alvin Seiff (shown above) 

the award honors an individual for outstanding contributions to understanding 

the atmospheres of planets and moons.

Standing beside a model of the Galileo probe, in 1997, are the scientists 

who analyzed and interpreted data from their Probe instruments. From 

left to right, they are David H. Atkinson, Doppler Wind Experiment, 

University of Idaho, a co-founder of the IPPW and co-investigator on the 

Galileo Atmospheric Structure Experiment with Alvin Seiff; Larry A. 

Sromovsky, Net Flux Radiometer (NFR); Hasso B. Niemann, Neutral 

Mass Spectrometer (NMS); Richard Young, Probe Scientist; Alvin 

Seiff, Atmosphere Structure Instrument (ASI); Ulf von Zahn, Helium 

Abundance Detector (HAD); Louis J. Lanzerotti, Lightning and Radio 

Emissions Detector and Energetic Particles Instrument (LRD/EPI); 

Boris Ragent, Nephelometer (NEP); Klaus Rinnert, LRD; and Harald 

M. Fischer, Energetic Particles Instrument (EPI).

NASA photo

Shadowgraph of a PAET model in the 

Hypersonic Free-Flight Ballistic Range.

NASA photo
 Astrogram June 2007

In the next few months, NASA 

Ames employees will migrate to the 

NOMAD (NASA Operational Messaging and Directory) system. There 

are numerous benefits of the NOMAD 

system across the agency, including 

unified messaging and calendaring, 

instant messaging, file-sharing capabilities, and an agency-wide global address list. In addition, the new system 

will provide single password sign-on 

for scheduling, email and file sharing 

capabilities.

New e-mail system is just around the corner!

by Vonnie Simonse

Ames is scheduled to migrate to 

NOMAD by November 2007. The center will no longer support the current 

e-mail client Eudora. The vendor of 

the Eudora e-mail client (Qualcomm) 

will no longer support this client commercially after November 2007.

Employees will continue to receive 

communication regarding the NOMAD system including scheduling 

specifics for the migration of your system. For more information, please see 

the Ames NOMAD Web site for details 

about the transition process as well as 

training materials for the use of the 

NOMAD software. There will also be 

events to offer demonstrations of features and assistance to all users. If you 

have questions, please contact help@

mail.arc.nasa.gov or visit the Web site 

at http://nomad.arc.nasa.gov. 

The Center for Robotic Exploration and Space Technologies 

(CREST) held its inaugural open house in early June in its new 

student research facility in Bldg. 583C at the NASA Research Park. 

During its open house, CREST showcased current partner projects 

that demonstrated the power of university collaborations, both 

within the academic arena and within the sectors of industry and 

government agencies. Activities included live robotic demonstrations and student-led tours of the Small Spacecraft Assembly 

lab and the Mission Ops center. CREST partners discussed their 

programs including the Entrepreneurial Space program and the 

DEVELOP program, where students work in collaboration with 

other federal partner agencies using cutting-edge NASA Earth 

science satellite data to address community issues.

A lemon tree was recently planted 

inside the NASA complex just east of 

the Arnold gate, directly across from 

Building N-200, (see far left photo) in 

remembrance of Johnny Green, the 

much-loved Ames security guard who 

passed away in March. He is seen here 

with his unfailingly positive attitude.

If Johnny were still with us today, he 

would have been able to see the lemon 

tree from his post at the gate and he 

would have been able to stroll over 

during his break to pick lemons for 

his famous lemonade. Hopefully, this 

tree will remind us all of Johnny, his 

lemonade and his cheerful grin as we 

drove into the center each day.

Lemon tree planted at Ames in Johnny Green’s name

photo by Jonas Dino

NASA photo by Dominic Hart

CREST holds open house at NASA Research Park

NASA photo by Dominic Hart
 Astrogram June 2007

The 2007 Presidential Rank and NASA 

Honor Awards Ceremony for Ames 

was held in early June. Ames presented Presidential Rank and NASA 

Honor Awards to the 26 employees 

who were selected for individual 

awards and to the managers of the 16 

groups selected for the NASA Group 

Achievement Award. The names of 

the honorees are listed below.

2007 Presidential Rank and NASA 

Honor Awards

2007 Presidential Rank and NASA Honor Awards Ceremony held

The European Modular Cultivation Systems (EMCS) Project team, one of the recipients of the group 

achievement awards, are shown during the recent 2007 Presidential Rank and NASA Honor Awards 

ceremony held at Ames. 

NASA photo by Dominic Hart

Group Achievement Award

Airborne Observation of Stardust Entry

Ames Workforce Realignment Team

Animal Care Facility Extended Use Lease Team

CLV Simulation Assisted Risk Assessment Team

Columbia Data Life-Cycle Systems Team

European Modular Cultivation Systems (EMCS) Project

FIT Project Team

Heavy Lift Rotorcraft Systems Integration Team

Intercontinental Chemical Transport Experiment

NASA African Monsoon Multidisciplinary Activities

NASA/ARMY UH-60A Airloads Program Team

Orion TPS ADP Phase I Test Team

PRM Technique Development Team

Spaceward Bound 2006 Expedition: Chile

Stardust Thermal Protection System (TPS) Team

TUFROC TPS Team

Outstanding Leadership Medal

Donovan L. Mathias

Irving C. Statler

Gloria K. Yamauchi

Exceptional Service Medal

Dale P. Cruikshank

Steve A. Frankel

G. J. Hartman

Nelson T. Hsu

Andrew Kerr

Sylvia S. Longchamps

Suet Kwun C. Poon

Phillip T. Snyder

Exceptional Scientific 

Achievement Medal

Mark S. Marley

Exceptional Public Service Medal

Dinesh K. Prabhu

Exceptional Engineering 

Achievement Medal

David L. Iverson

Joseph P. Lavelle

Exceptional Achievement Medal

Michael J. Aftosmis

Howard N. Cannon

Kevin J. Carey

Todd C. Farley

Gregory A. Josselyn

Lisa L. Lockyer

Stuart E. Rogers

Michael H. Sims

Ashok N. Srivastava

William R. Van Dalsem

Ethiraj Venkatapathy

Presidential Rank of Meritorious 

Executive

Bonnie P. Dalton

G. Scott Hubbard

Presidential Rank of Meritorious 

Senior Professional

Louis J. Allamandola
 Astrogram June 2007

Perron, Manga and their colleagues calculate that on Mars, an 

initial shift of 50 degrees from today’s 

pole would be sufficient to disrupt the 

shoreline. Manga theorizes that the 

shift that precipitated the tilt of Mars’ 

rotation axis is related to the presence 

(and great mass) of an ocean at one 

of the poles. If a flood of water had 

filled an ocean at the northern pole 

on Mars about 3 billion years ago, its 

mass might have been enough to shift 

the pole 50 degrees to the south. Once 

the water disappeared, the pole could 

have shifted back.

Manga also said the source of the 

water, while unknown, may have 

produced a flood or deluge greater 

than any that have been observed on 

Earth, evidenced by huge canyons in 

the flanks of the Tharsis rise, site of 

the solar system’s largest volcano. The 

water may have evaporated, but it 

may also have sunk back into underground dikes, frozen near the surface 

but possibly liquid below.

Additional coauthors of the study 

include Mark Richards, professor of 

Earth and planetary science and dean 

of physical sciences at UC Berkeley; 

Jerry Mitrovica from the Department 

of Physics at the University of Toronto in Ontario, Canada; and Isamu 

Matsuyama from the Department of 

Terrestrial Magnetism at the Carnegie 

Institution of Washington in Washington, D.C. The work is part of UC 

Berkeley’s BioMars project, funded 

by NASA’s Astrobiology Institute 

(http://cips.berkeley.edu/biomars/). 

The research also was supported by 

UC Berkeley’s Miller Institute for 

Basic Research in Science, the Natural 

Sciences and Engineering Research 

Council of Canada and the NASA 

Mars Data Analysis Program.

The NASA Astrobiology Institute 

(NAI), founded in 1997, is a partnership between NASA, 16 major U.S. 

teams, and six international consortia. 

NAI’s goal is to promote, conduct and 

lead integrated multidisciplinary astrobiology research and to train a new 

generation of astrobiology researchers. 

For more information about the 

NASA Astrobiology Institute, visit the 

Web at: http://nai.nasa.gov/

Way to Go! Recognizing the deeds of Ames employees

This monthly feature recognizes 

contractor and civil service staff for 

tasks and deeds that may otherwise 

go unacknowledged. When you witness a commendable action, please 

take a moment to write up a few 

sentences about the event, mentioning 

the person who went that ‘extra mile’ 

by name. You can choose to remain 

anonymous; just indicate your preference when sending in your write-up. 

Thank you for taking the time to 

recognize the stellar actions of your 

fellow employees. Together, we make 

NASA Ames more than just a research 

center; we make it a community. 

Please submit your employee commendations to the Astrogram office by 

the 10th of each month to: astrogram@

mail.arc.nasa.gov

Recognizing the Contractor Cost Reporting (CCR) Working Group

I would like to give a “Way to Go” to our Contractor Cost Reporting (CCR) Working Group. This team is made up of our 

center’s top CCR subject material Experts. The CCR process is a complex contract structure within the SAP accounting system 

used to cost contractor (533) information.

The group was established when NASA changed our accounting system from COAD to SAP. They are the actual center experts 

who test, provide feedback, solve problems/issues hand-in-hand with the Competency Center and then train our center CCR 

analysts, using training materials and job aids which they developed. They were instrumental when the agency recently updated SAP with the System Version Upgrade (SVU). Information would go through this group and get to the users quickly and 

effectively.

I found out about this group when we were experiencing some issues with the CCR process. We met with the group, solved the 

problems, and were pointed in the right direction with the added benefit of job aids. I was impressed with the knowledge each 

member had with the system, process, their willingness to help, and the overall goal of getting the center to be successful with 

each and every CCR transaction.

The working group members include: Nguyen (Wing) Trang - lead, Brent Bertsch, Perla Blancett, Veneranda (Veny) Jubilo, 

Homa Knojkav, Barbara McCalment, Sherri Shore, Jack Stanley and Long Truong.

Thank you and “Way to Go” team.

-- Pam Chavira

Research supports presence of large oceans on early Mars

by Michael Mewhin

continued from front page
10 Astrogram June 2007

It is with much sadness that the 

Coe family announces the passing of 

beloved father, grandfather, uncle and 

friend, Charles F. Coe on April 17. A 

California native, Coe was born on 

March 15, 1923 in San Mateo. In 1945, 

he married Shyrle Uhalt and together 

they built their lifetime home in Los 

Altos. In 1947, he graduated from 

the University of Nevada, Reno in 

Mechanical Engineering.

During WWII, Coe flew 31 missions as a navigator on B-17s in the 

European theater as a member of the 

303rd Bomb Group - the Hell’s Angels. On several occasions, the crew 

relied on him to find alternate landing sites on the British coast because 

their aircraft was too shot up to make 

it all the way back to the airfield at 

Molesworth. He was awarded the 

Distinguished Flying Cross, Air Medal 

with three Oak Leaf Clusters and a 

European Theater of Operations 

Medal. He returned to the U.S. and 

became a navigator instructor on B-29s 

and then an instructor of instructors.

Coe retired from Ames in 1981 

after 32 years of research on subjects 

of aerodynamics, dynamic loads, 

aero-elasticity, structural dynamics 

and instrument design. He authored 

over 40 NASA reports primarily on 

the subjects of dynamic airloads and 

buffeting.

He was a member of the NASA 

team to assess structural dynamics research requirements during the 1980s, 

a member of the Space Shuttle Advisory Subgroup on loads and dynamics, a guest lecturer on the subject of 

dynamic aerodynamic measurements, 

and the NASA representative to the 

joint DOD and UK MOD technical 

panel on transonic maneuverability. 

As a member of the Shuttle Structure Team, he ran wind-tunnel tests of 

tiles that provided the first measurements of steady-state and dynamic 

aerodynamic forces and moments 

that could be used to validate airload 

predictions. He designed the unique 

tile airload instrumentation that made 

these tests a success. In recognition 

for this work, Coe received NASA’s 

Exceptional Engineering Achievement 

Medal in 1981.

After retirement from NASA in 

1981, he started COE Engineering, 

Inc., and worked on the correlation of 

wind tunnel and flight measurements 

of buffet loads and the prediction of 

aircraft as well as Titan IV and Delta 

launch vehicle buffet, design and 

development of a patented electronic 

pressure scanner, and research on flexible thermal protection materials in an 

aerodynamic environment. 

Two years prior to his death, 

NASA requested his participation in a 

select group of experts (known as the 

“greybeards”) to support wind-tunnel 

tests to measure and specify the aeroacoustic and buffet loads on the space 

shuttle orbiter and external tank.

Coe will be remembered as a committed “do-it-yourself-er” and for his 

keen intellect, love of travel, wry sense 

of humor, extraordinary kindness and 

loving heart. Besides his many friends, 

Coe will be deeply missed by his 

daughters Lizabeth Coe and Francesca Coe Sherrill; and grandsons Charles 

Alexei Coe and Peter Frederick Coe.

In memory of . . .

Charles F. Coe, former aerodynamic structural engineer

Charles F. Coe

The Ames Diversity Day event was held at the center on June 14. Ames 

employees were encouraged to par- ticipate in a day of events dedicated to 

reinforcing the center’s commitment 

to the concepts of inclusion and a 

value-based work force. 

 Diversity Day events included a kick-off with opening remarks from 

Ames Research Center Director S. 

Pete Worden, a presentation, ‘The 

Evolution of Diversity: Past, Present 

and Future,’ by Byron Kunisawa; a 

diversity fun run/walk at noon; and a 

diversity seminar presented by Joyce 

Hammel and Therese Leone.

Last November, Ames Center 

Director S. Pete Worden and the Ames 

Diversity Implementation Plan subcommittee presented the Ames Diver- sity Implementation Plan to the center. 

The Ames Diversity Implementation 

Plan demonstrates the business case 

for diversity and delineates a series 

of events designed to establish a long 

range process for organizational cul- ture change across the Ames commu- nity with regard to diversity. The Ames Diversity Implementa- tion Plan can be found on the Office 

of Diversity and Equal Opportunity 

Web site located at http://eo.arc.

nasa.gov/. The plan is located under 

the ‘Diversity & Equal Opportunity 

Board’ heading. Questions concern- ing the Ames Diversity Implementa- tion Plan should be directed to the 

Diversity Plan Sub-Committee, via the 

co-chair, Darlene Gross, to: Darlene.

F.Gross@nasa.gov.

Ames Diversity Day held to reinforce concepts of inclusion

Bryon Kunisawa spoke at the center 

recently on Ames’ Diversity Day.

NASA photo by Eric James
11 Astrogram June 2007

punctuated with humor and amusing 

anecdotes.

Worden kicked off his presentation 

with a humorous slide showing him 

wearing a robe and holding a wooden 

staff while tending to the “goat lawn 

maintenance herd” at Ames. 

“We’ve got 1,800 acres here and 

I’m the landlord,” Worden quipped.

Another humorous slide showed 

Deputy Center Director Marvin 

(Chris) Christensen holding Worden 

steady as he reeled in a large fish. “The 

close relationship at the top will land 

big fish for Ames,” Worden joked. Among other things, Worden said Ames’ “coolness-factor” is on the rise, 

as evidenced by the highly successful 

Yuri’s Night celebration held in April 

to commemorate humankind’s first 

flight into space by Russian cosmo- naut Yuri Gagarin. Worden donned a 

wizard costume for the festive celebra- tion held in the N-211 Hangar. More 

than 3,000 people attended, many 

of them in the 18-34 year age demographic that Ames is striving to reach.

As another example of Ames’ success, Worden pointed out that the latest Federal Human Capital Survey of 

physical working conditions showed 

that NASA was the fourth best place 

to work in the federal government and 

that Ames was in the top three NASA 

centers. He also noted proudly that 

Ames was the most improved center 

since 2004.

A major accomplishment mentioned by Worden is the resolution 

of the center’s unfunded workforce 

problem. Worden also said that with 

help from NASA Headquarters and 

program offices, Ames has secured 

funds for virtually all its uncovered 

workforce.

“When I started here a year ago, 

there were 290 unfunded employees, 

but we now have assigned work for 

essentially everyone at the Center,” 

Worden said.

Another example of Ames’ success 

cited by Worden is the approval by 

NASA Headquarters of the construction of a new Collaborative Support 

Facility. The new four-story, 75,000-

square foot steel framed structure will 

replace 12 aging, substandard facilities 

and trailers and provide workspace 

for 288 people.

“For the first time in 20 years, we have received approval for $29 million 

for construction of a new building,” 

Worden noted, adding there was stiff 

competition from other field centers 

for construction projects. 

He also cited numerous other 

successes, including the Lunar Crater 

Observation Sensing Satellite (LCROSS) project (“a really, 

really cool 

mission” that 

is co-manifested with the Lunar Reconnaissance 

Orbiter (LRO). Also cited were Ames’ 

Arc-jets, which he said were “on the 

critical path” for the Orion capsule. 

Last December’s successful launch of 

the Genesat-1 mission also was cited 

as a recent success. 

Worden also said Ames has strong 

support in all the mission directorates 

at NASA Headquarters. In Exploration 

Systems for example, he said Ames’ 

Thermal Protection Systems were continuing to “provide critical support” 

to the Orion capsule and that there 

was “strong and 

growing demand 

for Ames’ Information Technology 

capabilities. He also 

said there was a strong recognition of 

Ames’ capabilities in developing tools 

for advanced mission operations and 

training. Turning to the Aeronautics Re- search Mission Directorate, Worden 

said that Congress has increased aero- nautics budget for FY 2007 to provide 

a stable funding level for aeronautics 

research in which Ames is a major 

contributor, and that Ames was “well 

on its way” to meeting the hiring 

targets established by the mission 

directorate. He said the recent visit by 

the Aeronautics Directorate’s senior 

staff demonstrated “a strong endorsement to Ames as a contributor to its 

mission.”

Worden noted that Ames has 

significant roles in fundamental aeronautics research, including subsonic 

rotary wing, subsonic fixed wing, 

supersonics and hypersonics, as well 

as in aviation safety, airspace systems 

(including the software of the year 

award recently won by the FACET 

team) and wind tunnel tests in support of aeronautics research.

Worden also pointed out that 

Ames is making significant contributions to the Science Mission Director- ate. He said in addition to a new man- agement team at NASA Headquarters 

led by Associate Administrator Alan 

Stern, formerly of the Southwest 

Research Institute, Ames now has a 

significant presence at Headquarters, 

with five scientists, including Yvonne 

Pendleton, Max Bernstein, Doug 

Hudgins and Cassie Conley in the 

Science Mission Directorate, and Jeff 

Smith in Program Analysis and Evaluation. He said the directorate’s new 

leadership offers “significant opportunities” for Ames.

Among the examples of Ames 

science contributions Worden cited 

were the Stratospheric Observatory for 

Infrared Astronomy (SOFIA) and the 

Kepler mission, as well as Ames’ work 

in Earth Sciences. He also pointed out 

there were new science opportunities 

in Small Explorers (SMEX) Missions 

of Opportunity costing less than $105 

million, new opportunities in extrasolar planet finding and a new Lunar 

Science Research Program. Worden 

also said there were opportunities for 

Ames to excel in development of small 

satellites to support sustainable, costeffective space missions. Other Ames successes mentioned 

by Worden included the recent award 

by the NASA Astrobiology Institute 

to four new teams, the recent Lunar 

Regolith Bio-mining workshop held at 

Ames in May, the continuing high demand for Ames supercomputing capa- bilities. He also lauded the numerous 

partnerships that Ames is developing 

through the center’s Strategic Busi- ness Development and Partnerships 

Offices, the Innovative Partnerships 

Program, Small Business Innovative 

Research Program (SBIR) and its wide 

variety of educational programs, such 

as the International Space University 

Program.

Concluding his well-received remarks, Worden local political support 

is growing and that he was “cautiously optimistic” that NASA would 

rebound in 2008 from the budgetary 

problems faced under the continuing 

resolution in 2007. 

continued from front page

by Michael Mewhin

Worden says Ames is “Cool”

“When I started here a year ago, there were 

290 unfunded employees, but we now have 

assigned work for essentially everyone at 

the center,” -- Worden said.

Worden said Ames’ “coolness-factor” is on the 

rise, as evidenced by the highly successful Yuri’s 

Night celebration held in April . . .
12 Astrogram June 200

OPIS, a new Web application 

developed at Ames and accessible by 

ELS’ Online Project Information System (OPIS) 1.0 released

by Julie Lev

A Director’s Colloquium was given in early June at 

Ames by Douglas Shane entitled ‘Risk Management in the Deep End of the Pool - Winning 

the X-Prize.’ Shane is vice president/business 

development, director of Flight Operations and 

test pilot for Scaled Composites. He has 21 years of 

experience in aircraft flight test, design, program 

management, and business development, with 

particular expertise in research aircraft developmental flight test. Shane is seen here, left, during 

his presentation at the center. In 2004, Scaled 

Composites won the Ansari X-Prize for flying two 

flights with the equivalent payload of three people, 

above 100 km altitude twice within two weeks. The 

presentation described the origins of the SpaceShipOne program, design considerations, ground 

testing, crew training and flight test results. 

Douglas Shane talks about SpaceShipOne

NASA photo by Dominic Hart

Online Project Information System (OPIS) team members. OPIS 

is a new Web application developed at Ames. Team members are, 

front, left to right: Julie Levri, Mike Ho, John Hogan, back, left to 

right: Jon Welch, Bob Kaehms and Bruce Deng. 

photo by Julie Levri

all members of the NASA Exploration Life Support (ELS) Project, is now 

available on the Web at 

https://opis.arc.nasa.gov. 

Driven by a grassroots 

demand for better project 

reporting and collaboration tools, OPIS will help 

managers, principal investigators, and analysts communicate project developments, make informed 

technology advancement 

decisions and close 

research and technology 

development gaps.

 The ELS project 

provides research and 

development for nextgeneration life-support 

technology in the areas of 

NASA selects new members of Astrobiology Institute

multicellular life in Earth’s ancient 

past. They will concentrate on organic 

biosignatures preserved in the rock 

record and the state of the Earth’s 

early atmosphere, and will investigate the critical genetic pathways that 

constrained and supported early life 

while multicellularity developed.

“Each of these teams brings something important to NASA’s overall 

portfolio in astrobiology, and to the 

future success of missions in planetary 

science, astronomy and Earth science,” 

said Colleen Hartman, deputy associate administrator for NASA’s Science 

Mission Directorate, NASA Headquarters, Washington.

The addition of these new teams 

brings the membership of the NASA 

Astrobiology Institute to 16, selected 

with staggered 5-year terms. The 

astrobiology teams are widely distributed throughout nearly 150 universities and other research institutions, 

including numerous international 

affiliates.

More than 500 research scientists 

work in these teams, and there is a 

strong focus on public education and 

the training of the next generation 

of astrobiologists. The basic research 

carried out in the institute directly 

supports many NASA missions, such 

as exploration of Mars and the search 

for planets around other stars, including investigations of the habitability of 

other worlds.

continued from page 5

cabin air revitalization, water recovery, 

waste management and thermal control. ELS research and development is 

spread among multiple NASA centers, industry partners and university 

institutions.

Users incur no costs, as OPIS is 

based on open source software, including the cutting-edge QCodo PHP 

development framework. Furthermore, while OPIS was developed with 

the ELS Project as a focal point, it has 

a flexible and modular architecture 

which will allow expansion and evolution throughout the agency.

For more information about OPIS, 

contact the author, the OPIS site responsible civil servant, at julie.a.levri@

nasa.gov or call her at ext. 4-6917.

by Michael Mewhin
13 Astrogram June 200

Federal regulations require that 

Ames store trash in closed trash 

containers. So why should Ames employees be interested in this? NASA 

Headquarters auditors recently 

issued a citation to Ames for not 

complying with this requirement, 

and a similar citation was issued for 

failure to recycle all cardboard. 

 

Is Cardboard Recycling Required?

EPA regulations require all 

federal agencies to separately collect and sell corrugated material for 

the purpose of recycling. There are 

currently 45 cardboard collection 

bins placed strategically throughout 

the center for this purpose. (See top 

right photo.) However, the auditors 

observed that Ames personnel failed 

to separate all cardboard from other 

refuse and estimated that 20 percent 

of the trash bins across the center 

contained some cardboard materials.

 

What about the Trash Bin Lids?

Under federal regulations, federal facilities are required to store all 

Please keep garbage lids closed and recycle cardboard

refuse with food waste 

in closed containers. 

During an environmental self-assessment, the 

Ames Environmental 

Services Division found 

roughly one-third of the 

outdoor refuse bins had 

open lids. 

Ames Logistics and 

Documentation Services 

Division has labeled all the trash bins 

with ‘Keep Lids Closed’ signage. (See 

above photo.) The division has also 

directed the refuse hauler to close 

the lids after emptying each bin, and 

by Mark 

directed the janitorial 

staff to close the lids 

when they deposit trash. 

 

What You Can Do

Next time you make 

a trip to the trash bin, 

toss your cardboard in 

the cardboard recycling 

bin and close the lids on 

the trash bins. If you have questions 

about cardboard or other recycling 

at Ames, call Mark Lacy, ext. 4-1406.
14 Astrogram June 200

Ames emergency 

announcements

To hear the centerwide status record- ing, call (650) 604-9999 for informa- tion announcements and emergency 

instructions for Ames employees. You 

can also listen to 1700 KHz AM radio 

for the same information.

Ames Ongoing Monthly Events Calendar

Security/Law Enforcement Activity

Fire Protection Activity

A statistical summary of activities of the Protective Services Division’s 

Security/Law Enforcement and Fire Protection Services units for the month 

of May 2007 is shown below.

Protective Services monthly activity

Ames 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 class meets 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, Every 3rd Wednesday 

of the month. The meeting location is Building 19, Conference Room 1083 and the meeting 

time is 12 noon - 1 p.m. Contact Julie Nottage 

at jnottage@mail.arc.nasa.gov, ext. 4-3711. Bylaws of Ames Bicycling Club can be found at 

http://zen.arc.nasa.gov; the link is right under 

the picture.

Ames Bowling League, Homestead Lanes on 

Thursday nights at 6:20 p.m. Seeking substitute 

bowlers. Questions to sign up: Mike Liu at ext. 

4-1132. 

Ames Child Care Center Board of Directors 

Mtg, every other Tuesday in N-229/Rm 117 

from 12 - 1:30 p.m. POC: Julie Schonfeld, ext. 

4-6504.

Ames Contractor Council Mtg, first Wednesday each month, 11 a.m., N-200, Committee 

Room. POC: Chris Johnson, ext. (650) 938-

8017.

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 

of ea. 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. 

on weekend mornings. POC: Mark Sumich, 

ext. 4-6193.

Ames Sailing Club Mtg, second Thursday of 

ea. month (March through Nov), from 12:00 

p.m. -1:00 p.m. in Bldg. N-262, Rm 100. URL: 

http://sail.arc.nasa.gov/. POC: Becky Hooey, 

ext. 4-2399.

Environmental Forum, first Thursday every 

other month, 9:00 a.m. to 10:00 a.m., Bldg. 

218/2nd floor training room. URL: http://q/

qe/events/EHSseries/ POC: Stacy St. Louis 

at ext. 4-6810.

The Hispanic Advisory Committee for Excellence (HACE) Mtg, first Thurs of month in 

N255 room 101C from 11:45 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. 

POC: Eric Kristich at ext. 4-5137 and Mark 

Leon at ext. 4-6498.

Jetstream Toastmasters, Mondays, 12 p.m. to 

1 p.m., N-269/Rm.179. POC: Miwa Hayashi at 

ext. 4-1397, mhayashi@mail.arc.nasa.gov, Web: 

http://jetstream.freetoasthost.com

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.

 Safety Data 

 NASA-Ames Occupational

 Illness-Injury Data for 

 Calendar Year-to-Date 2007

 Jan. 1, 2007 – May 31, 2007

 Civil Contractors

 Servants

 

 First aid cases 4 8

 Lost Workday cases 0 1

 Recordable cases 0 1

 Restricted duty days 0 0

 Above data are as of 5/31/07. May 

 be subject to slight adjustment in the 

 event of a new case or new inform-

 ation regarding an existing case. 
15 Astrogram June 200

Ames Classifieds Exchange Information

Beyond Galileo Gift Shop N-235 in 

the cafeteria , 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., ext. 4-6873

Don’t forget to purchase your baby shower, birthday, holiday gifts at Ames’ two gift shops!

Mega Bites Cafeteria N-235, 6 a.m. to 

2 p.m., ext. 4-5969/Catering ext. 4-2161

Visitor Center Gift Shop N-943 

M-F, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m., ext. 4-5412

NASA logo merchandise, souvenirs, toys, gifts and 

educational items. 

Vacation Opportunities

Information about products, services and opportunities provided to the employee and contractor 

community by the Ames Exchange Council. Visit 

the web site at: http://exchange.arc.nasa.gov

NASA Lodge (N-19) 603-7100

Tickets, etc... N-943 outside the main gate, 

10 a.m. to 3:30 p.m., ext. 4-5412 and Beyond 

Galileo, 8 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. ext. 4-6873

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

The pool is heated year round! The pool is currently available for lap swim, pool parties and 

special events. POC -Chana Langley, Pool Manager 

(650) 603-8025. Memberships: single memberships: $40/yr. Family memberships: $60/yr. After 

purchasing a membership, there is an entrance fee: 

daily entrance fee - $3/day or lap pass fee - $40 for 

20 uses. Platinum membership - $360/yr. (no daily 

fee). Special events: include military training, swim 

team events, kayak role practice, etc. The cost for 

special events is $50/hr.

Ames Swim Center (N-109) 603-8025

Astrogram deadlines

Please submit articles, calendar and 

classified advertisements to astrogram@mail.arc.nasa.gov no later than 

the 10th of each month. If this falls 

on the weekend or holiday, then the 

following business day becomes the 

deadline. For Astrogram questions, 

contact Astrid Olson at the aforementioned e-mail address or ext. 4-3347. 

Ads for the next issue should be sent to astrogram@

mail.arc.nasa.gov and must be resubmitted for each 

issue. Ads must involve personal needs or items; (no 

commercial/third-party ads) and will run on a spaceavailable basis only. First-time ads are given priority. 

Ads must include home phone numbers; Ames extensions and email addresses will be accepted for carpool 

and lost and found ads only. Due to the volume of 

material received, we are unable to verify the accuracy 

of the statements made in the ads. Caveat emptor! 

RV Lots Available Call to reserve a 

space at (650) 603-7100/01.

 Civilian/Contractors, $50/mo; military $25/mo

Where to stay when you’re too tired to drive home? 

What about the lodge?! Two types of rooms: Bldg. 

19 (43 rooms), rate: $55/night ($5 ea add’l adult); 

Bldg. 583 (150 rooms), rate: $45/night ($5 ea. add’l 

adult) 

Moffett Field Golf Club with ‘Tee minus 

1’ Grill and Sports Bar. Call (650) 603-8026.

Housing

Miscellaneous

The Ames Cat Network needs help finding 

homes for cats trapped at Moffett. They range 

from feral to abandoned/lost pets. Tested, 

altered and inoculated. Call Iris at ext. 4-5824 

if you or someone you know are interested in 

fostering or adopting a cat.

We are looking to share days with another child 

at the NASA Ames Child Care Center. Our 

child is currently 21 months and is on the waiting list. If interested, call (408) 394-7114.

Ikea ‘TROMSO’ platform bed, twin size, mattress not included, $50. Joan (650) 493-3382.

Compassionate care giver available to live in or 

for hourly work, seven days a week.. References available. Call Molini at (408) 836-9271.

Furnished medium-sized room for rent in home 

nr. dwntwn Los Gatos. Nice size closet. $650 a 

mo./incl. most utils. Deposit is $350. House near 

all fine parks/bike paths. Kitchen, living room 

privileges inc. Cleaning lady is avail. to hire. No 

animals and N/S. Chris (408) 354- 7126.

2bd/1 ba apt, completely remodeled in Sunnyvale). Upstairs apartment duplex. Unit includes new cabinets, new tile counter tops, new 

stove, new refrigerator, microwv, storage area. 

$1,250. Great location nr. downtown Sunnyvale 

at N. Frances. Avail. now. Mike (408) 736-5900.

Lake Tahoe-Squaw Valley Townhse, 3bd/2baequipped, Balcony view, hiking, biking, golf, river 

rafting, tennis, ice skating, and more. Summer 

rates. Call (650) 968-4155, DBMcKellar@aol.com

Bass Lake vacation rental, 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 

in canyon setting. Fully eqpd kitchen. Access to 

priv. beach. Tub in patio gdn. Halfway between 

Carmel and Big Sur. $175/night for 2; $225 for 4 

and $250 for more, plus $150 cleaning dep. Call 

(650) 328-4427.

Pine Mountain Lake vacation home. Access to golf, 

tennis, lake, swimming, horseback riding, walk 

to beach. Three bedrooms/sleeps 10. $100/night. 

Call (408) 799-4052 or (831) 623-4054.

Incline Village, Forest Pines, Lake Tahoe condo, 3 

bdrms/2 ba, sleeps 8, fireplace, TVs/VCR/DVD, 

stereo w/CD player, microwv, W/D, jacuzzi, sauna, 

outdoor pool. Walk to lake. Close to ski areas. Visit 

web site for pictures: http://www.ACruiseStore.com 

$135/night spring and fall, $173/night summer and 

winter (holidays higher) plus $125 cleaning fee and 

12 percent Nevada room tax. Charlie (650) 743-8990.

New York, 5th Ave. One fully furnished bedroom 

in 24 hour security bldg. overlooking Washington 

Square Park, $2,000/wk or $3,000/mo. negotiable. 

Call (650) 349-0238.

Paris/France: Fully furnished studio, 5th Arr, Latin 

Quarter, Notre Dame and Lie-St. Louis., $1,400/wk. 

negotiable. Call (650) 349-0238.

Santa Cruz townhouse, 2 bedrooms plus study, 2 

baths, 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).

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.

Florida west coast vacation in St. Petersburg, beautiful 2bd/2ba condo, fully equipped kitchen and furnished, sunset views, 1/4 mile from St. Pete Beach, 

monthly or 2 week minimum rentals only. Call (703) 

299-8889 or e-mail: jdgoehler@aol.com

Maui luxury oceanfront resort one-bedroom condo 

available one week. Rents for $345/night now, 

$495/night in the summer. We will rent to an Ames 

family for $1,750 for the week. See the condo at 

http://www.starwoodvo.com/resorts/villafeatures.

jsp?resortID=12 Call (650) 572-8877 for availabilty 

and questions.

Monterey Bay vacation rental at Pajaro Dunes, 20 

miles south of Santa Cruz, 3bd/2ba beach house 

with distinctive architecture. Beautiful ocean and 

valley views, only 150 ft from the beach, first-class 

tennis courts. $700/wkend, $2,100/wk including 

cleaning by the maid service when you depart. Call 

(408) 252-7260.

South Lake Tahoe large cabin surrounded by 

protected forest, 8 miles from Stateline Sleeps 12 

comfortably, 4 bd/3ba. Hot tub/pool table/65” TV 

Matt (408) 482-5286

South Lake Tahoe cozy home backs up to large open 

meadow, 1 mile from Heavenly Valley. Sleeps 11, 

3 bd/2.5 ba. Large deck with hot tub. Matt (408) 

482-5286.

‘80 528i BMW, 4 dr, blue, stndrd trans., strong 

6 cyl. engine. Leather, sun roof, AM/FM, cass., 

A/C (nds rechrge). Engine, rear end (differential, etc.) completely rebuilt about 150K mls ago. 

Runs very strong. ‘Rest’ of car ca. 293K mls old, 

so some small older car issues. Hood, top, trunk 

stripped, repainted. Many parts replaced (water 

pump, hoses, belts (incl. timing), fan, radiator) in 

last 5 yrs, $2,500, B/O. Kevin (408) 209-0768.

‘01 Toyota Celica, white, 2D, 5 spd manual transmission, $7,595. A fun, responsive car, good on 

gas. Est. 28 mpg city/34 MPG freeway. 84K mls. 

Dark gray interior; condition B minus. 4-Cyl, 

1.8 liter. A/C, power windows, doors, steering, 

radio/tape deck and driver-side air bag. Call 

(415) 971-0051

Automotive
16 Astrogram June 200

National Aeronautics and Space 

Administration

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The Ames Astrogram is an official publication of 

Ames Research Center, National Aeronautics and 

Space Administration.

Managing Editor.......................Michael Mewhinney

Editor, Layout and Design....................Astrid Olson

You can reach the Astrogram Office at: astrogram@

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Astrogram Web site: http://www.nasa.gov/centers/ames/astrogram/2007/07astrograms.html

Ames Research Center

Moffett Field, CA 94035-1000

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