Heather Enos received a NASA Exceptional Public Service Medal this year. This medal is the second highest award that NASA can give to a non-government worker.
It is given to "a number of carefully selected individuals who have distinguished themselves by making outstanding contributions to the NASA mission."
Senior Staff Scienstist Floyd Herbert, a long-time member of the LPL family, passed away on May 12, 2010. He was born in Orange, California and lived throughout California as a child. He graduated from CalTech and then moved to Tucson where he received his Ph.D. in physics from the University of Arizona. Floyd worked at Kitt Peak, briefly at the Planetary Science Institute, and then at the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory.
His research was focused on magnetic fields interacting with asteroids, Io, and in his last work, extra-solar planets. An example of his innovative work was his 1979 paper in "Icarus,'' with Charles Sonett, then director of LPL, on the heating of asteroids by strong magnetic fields and solar winds. The Herbert-Sonett model offered an explanation of why some moderate-sized bodies, like Vesta, have once-melted igneous surfaces, while larger bodies, like Ceres, appear to have unmelted primitive surfaces. This difference had not previously been explained. The subject of asteroid heating has been somewhat dormant in recent years, but tests of Floyd's ideas may come with the DAWN mission, now sailing toward Vesta and Ceres.
Congratulations to Doug Archer, who successfully defended his Ph.D. dissertation, "The Martian Near Surface Environment: Analysis on Antarctic Soils and Laboratory Experiments on Putative Martian Organics," in April 2010.
Congratulations, Doug!
On May 22, 2010, LPL hosted its first ever open day at the Catalina Observatories atop Mt. Lemmon. Approximately 100 guests spent the day learning about LPL's past, present, and future, including a history of telescope observations on Mt. Lemmon and Mt. Bigelow. Featured activities included tours of the Catalina Sky Survey's 60-inch telescope, a presentation about the HiRISE camera, and a walking tour of the old Air Force Station. Visitors got a lesson on meteorites and the chance to handle a 4.5 billion year old meteorite.
There were also exhibits and displays about mountain hummingbirds and the geology of the Catalinas. The event was a big success and lots of fun for everyone! (Photos below courtesy of Steve Larson.)
On November 4, 2011, LPL hosted a celebration of a life well lived, to honor the life and career of Michael J. Drake. Approximately 250 colleagues and friends attended. The event was streamed live by Arizona Public Media.
Tim Swindle, acting department head and director, hosted the program. Speakers included Joaquin Ruiz, Executive Dean, UA Colleges of Letters, Arts, and Sciences; Matthew Drake, M.D., Oregon Health Sciences Center; and Eugene G. Sander, President of the University of Arizona.
Dean Ruiz announced at the start of the program that the building at 1415 N. Sixth Avenue, formerly known as both the PHOENIX Science Operations Center and the OSIRIS-REx building, had been officially re-named the Michael J. Drake Building.
Several of Mike's former colleagues, students, post-docs, and collaborators also shared their memories and experiences. Invited speakers included: David Lindstrom, Program Officer, NASA Headquarters (Retired); Elizabeth Roemer, Professor Emerita, PTYS/LPL; Robert G. Strom, Professor Emeritus, PTYS/LPL (recorded comments); Brad Smith, PTYS/LPL Faculty, 1974-1990; John Holloway, Professor Emeritus, Arizona State University; Peter Strittmatter, Dept. Head/Director, UA Astronomy/Steward Observatory; and Joaquin Ruiz.
Speakers representing former students and post-doctoral fellows were: John H. Jones, Senior Planetary Scientist, NASA Johnson Space Center; Melissa Lamberton, MFA Student, Iowa State University (recorded comments); Valerie Hillgren, Research Scientist, Carnegie Institution of Washington; and Nancy Chabot, Planetary Scientist, Johns Hopkins/Applied Physics Lab.
Susan Brew (Manager, Arizona Space Grant Consortium) and Dante Lauretta (OSIRIS-REx PI and Associate Professor, PTYS/LPL) also spoke about Mike's life, research, and legacy to LPL, to education, and to the field of planetary science.
Guests, including many LPL alumni, shared stories and memories at a reception following the program.
On October 22, 2011, the exhibit titled "Mars and Beyond: The search for life on other planets" debuted as the first offering of Science Downtown, a nonprofit organization that has taken up residence in the Rialto Block exhibition hall in downtown Tucson. The exhibit features the science of several LPL research projects, including HiRISE and OSIRIS-REx. Science Downtown is dedicated to offering rotating science-based programs to Tucson and all of Arizona. The "Mars and Beyond" exhibit will run for several months in the historic Rialto Block venue.
On May 4, 2011, two new U.S. postage stamps commemorating 50 years of manned space flight were unveiled during a special event hosted by the Postal History Foundation, 920 N. First Ave. in Tucson.
The special ceremony was highlighted by remarks from Dr. Ann Sprague, a University of Arizona research scientist. Sprague is a member of the NASA science team involved with evaluating information currently being gathered about the planet Mercury from the unmanned MESSENGER spacecraft, shown on one of the two new "Forever" postage stamps. MESSENGER is conducting the first orbital study of our solar system's innermost planet.
The second stamp salutes the 50th anniversary of Project Mercury, NASA's first manned spaceflight program, and astronaut Alan Shepard's historic May 5, 1961, flight aboard the Freedom 7 spacecraft.
Items from the UA Lunar and Planetary Laboratory's collection of space mission artifacts and maps were also be on exhibit at the Postal History Foundation's Peggy Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library. These rarely-seen items include a giant 3-D map based on photographs taken of Mercury, and a globe detailing Mercury's geographic features, as known prior to the start of the MESSENGER's launch.
A special pictorial Tucson postmark was applied to envelopes and cards bearing the new stamps in celebration of the stamps' release.
Kudos to undergraduate student Lujendra Ojha, who was chosen to display his research at the April 2011 Posters on the Hill event at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. "Posters on the Hill" is sponsored by the Council on Undergraduate Research. Luju's poster was titled "Transient Slope Lineae: Observations by HiRISE." Luju is a Geosciences major working with Alfred McEwen.
Join us in congratulating Professor Robert Strom! At a commencement ceremony held on Saturday, May 28, 2011, Professor Strom received an honorary doctorate of planetology from his alma mater, the University of Redlands. Congratulations, Dr. Strom!
PTYS/LPL Professor William Hubbard, co-investigator on NASA's Juno mission, was present at Cape Canaveral on August 5, 2011, to watch a successful spacecraft launch to Jupiter.
In advance of the launch, Bill Hubbard described Juno and her mission to Jupiter on Arizona Public Media.
