Crosslink Winter 2005 Contributors

An Overview of Meteorological Satellites

Leslie O. Belsma of Space Support Division supports both the DMSP and NPOESS program offices. She also manages an Internal Research and Development project to demonstrate the use of satellite data to improve high-resolution weather forecasting in support of air-quality and homeland-security applications. She promotes the use of satellite data for air-quality applications through presentations to the civil air-quality community. A retired Air Force weather officer with an M.S. in aeronomy from the University of Michigan, she joined Aerospace in 1999 (leslie.o.belsma@aero.org).

John S. Bohlson, Systems Director of the Advanced Environmental Applications Department, supports both DMSP and NPOESS in the areas of remote sensing, data exploitation, and user requirements. He holds an M.S. in meteorology from the University of Wisconsin and has been with Aerospace since 1988 (john.s.bohlson@aero.org).

John M. (Mike) Haas is Principal Director for the NPOESS program operating from the Silver Spring office. He joined Aerospace in 1998 as Senior Project Engineer on the NPOESS program, concentrating on requirements definition and sensors—particularly, the Visible/Infrared Imaging Radiometer Suite and the Aerosol Polarimeter Sensor. He served with the Air Force, most recently in the Office of the Secretary of Defense, and retired as a colonel. He has an M.S. in atmospheric dynamics from North Carolina State University (mike.haas@noaa.gov).

W. John Hussey is Principal Director for NOAA Programs. He is responsible for managing the NOAA programs for Civil and Commercial Operations, including support to the National Environmental Satellite, Data, and Information Service (NESDIS) and the National Weather Service. He joined Aerospace in 1997 as Principal Scientist in the Arlington, Virginia, office. Prior to joining Aerospace, he was the Senior Executive Service Director of the Office of Systems Development for NOAA/NESDIS. He was responsible for program management and development of NOAA's satellite programs, including the GOES geostationary-orbiting satellites, the POES polar-orbiting satellites, and Landsat operations. He has an M.S. in meteorology from the Pennsylvania State University. He is a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics and an Associate Fellow of AIAA (john.hussey@aero.org).

Ann Mazuk is a project engineer in the Advanced Environmental Applications Department, Meteorological Satellite Systems. She joined Aerospace in 1983 as a summer intern in the Systems Evaluation Department and has previously worked in the Environmental Safety and Remote Sensing Departments. She has supported a wide range of programs, including Air-Launched Antisatellite Program, Mid-Course Space Experiment, Space Based Infrared System high and low, DMSP, and NPOESS Preparatory Project. She is a member of the American Meteorological Society and holds a B.S. in atmospheric science from the University of California, Davis (ann.l.mazuk@aero.org).

Overview and History of the Defense Meteorological Satellite Program

George Iwanaga retired from Aerospace in March 2004 after 37 years of service. He first joined Aerospace since 1967 and worked for 10 years in the Controls Department. He then switched to DMSP, where he remained for the rest of his Aerospace career. He supported 14 consecutive DMSP launches; all achieved complete mission successes, except for one that experienced a launch failure during ascent. At the time of his retirement, he was DMSP Level 3 Systems Director in Mission Operations and Integration and also served as DMSP Chief Engineer. He received his M.S. from the University of Southern California (george.i.iwanaga@aero.org).

The Near Real Time Processing Effort

Jim O'Neal is Senior Project Engineer in Civil and Commercial Operations, currently assigned to NOAA/NESDIS. Before joining Aerospace in 2000, he served as program manager of NOAA's Polar-orbiting Operational Environmental Satellite (POES) Program, and while in the Air Force, program manager of DMSP Block 6. He holds M.S. degrees in statistics and electrical engineering (jim.oneal@noaa.gov).

The NPOESS Preparatory Project: Architecture and Prototype Studies

David Bart is Associate Director of the Ground Systems and Development Department. He has more than 12 years of experience performing a variety of system engineering programs within The Aerospace Corporation. He has supervised the Aerospace effort on numerous system developments at all phases of the program life cycle. He holds an M.S. in electrical engineering from Arizona State University (david.w.bart@aero.org).

Sheri Benator, Manager of the Database Engineering and Knowledge Management Section of the Software Systems Analysis Department, has been with Aerospace for more than 20 years. She has more than 25 years of experience working in software and systems engineering as a technical manager, analyst, and developer and has supported a wide range of government programs. She holds an M.S. in mathematics from the University of Florida (sheri.e.benator@aero.org).

Samuel Gasster is Senior Engineering Specialist in the Computer Systems Research Department, where he specializes in grid computing technology for scientific and remote-sensing applications, high-performance computing applications, and data-modeling and data-management system development. He has worked at Aerospace for 15 years and has supported a wide range of defense and civilian programs and agencies, including DMSP, NPOESS, NASA, and NOAA. He was the sensor technical lead during the acquisition phase of the NPOESS Conical-scanning Microwave Imager/Sounder and provides algorithm and software performance evaluation support to the NPOESS program. He is also the CrIS Level 1 Science Team Lead for the NASA NPP Science Team. He has taught remote sensing and computer science at UCLA Extension and systems engineering at CalTech. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Berkeley (samuel.d.gasster@aero.org).

Space Weather and the Upper Atmosphere

James Hecht is Senior Scientist in the Space Sciences Department. He has authored more than 60 refereed scientific papers since arriving at Aerospace in 1981. He specializes in optical remote sensing of the upper atmosphere, which has allowed him to study the aurora at –40° in February in Alaska and to develop experiments on atmospheric gravity waves in the heat of the desert sun in Alice Springs, Australia. He has performed basic research for both NASA and the National Science Foundation and supported DMSP, NPOESS, and BMDO. He holds a Ph.D. in physics from the University of California, Santa Barbara (james.h.hecht@aero.org).

NOAA's Move Toward an Enterprise Architecture

Constance Killion, Senior Project Engineer, is a member of the Silver Spring Program Office, Civil and Commercial Operations, supporting NOAA's Office of Systems Development. She joined Aerospace in 1999 to support the National Security Space Architect's office, working primarily on the communications architecture, now known as Transformational Communications, and on the Space-based Radar Working Group. An assignment in the Reconnaissance Systems Division led her to NOAA, where she led the development of operational concepts for NOAA and NESDIS, and has been a primary author of NOAA's Strategic Direction for the Integrated Global Environmental Observations and Data Management System. A retired naval officer, she spent four years at NASA, one working moon and Mars architectures and three as Chief of International Planning and Programs (constance.j.killion@aero.org).

Thomas C. Adang is Director of the Silver Spring Program Office in Civil and Commercial Operations. His office is supporting NOAA in the development of its future geostationary operational environmental satellite (GOES-R) and in the development and implementation of an integrated Earth-observation and data-management system architecture. He joined Aerospace in 2000 after 27 years of active military service in the Marine Corps and Air Force in the fields of tactical communications, operational weather forecasting, and air and space operations. Upon joining Aerospace, he provided space systems engineering and architecture support as part of the National Systems Group's Imagery Programs Division. He moved to Silver Spring to establish that office in 2002. He has a Ph.D. in atmospheric science and remote sensing from the University of Arizona (tom.adang@noaa.gov).

Going the Distance: GOES-R and the Future of U.S. Geostationary Environmental Satellites

Nathaniel E. Feldman is Senior Engineering Specialist in the Communications Architecture Department. Prior to joining Aerospace in 1981, he worked at Rand in systems analysis and in the exploratory design of microwave electronic systems; while there, his analyses of communication satellite architectures contributed to NASA's shift from passive to active satellites and to NASA's and DOD's shift from UHF and X band to much higher frequency bands. At Aerospace, he has examined jam resistance, covertness, signal-processing trade-offs, delays during day-to-day operations and in crises, and outages due to propagation effects. An Associate Fellow of AIAA and a Senior Member of IEEE, he received his M.S.E.E. from the University of California, Berkeley (nathaniel.e.feldman@aero.org).

Samuel Lim is Director of Business Development for the Electronic Systems Division (ESD). He is responsible for developing, expanding, and overseeing all of ESD civil and commercial new business activities. He began his career at Aerospace in 1988, first as a member of the technical staff in the Communications Systems Engineering Department, and later as a project engineer for MILSATCOM Advanced Programs. He left Aerospace in 1993 to work for Boeing Space and Communications and later for Hughes. He returned to Aerospace in 2002. He holds an M.B.A. and an M.S.E.E. in communications from UCLA (samuel.lim@aero.org).

Michael Madden is Senior Project Leader in the Silver Spring Program Office for Civil and Commercial Operations. He joined Aerospace in 2003, and now supports spacecraft and sensor acquisition for NOAA's GOES-R Program Office. He previously worked in the US Air Force and the CIA. He has an M.S. in remote sensing from the University of Michigan (michael.madden@noaa.gov).

Kenneth D. Shere, Senior Project Engineer , provides system support to NOAA through the Silver Spring Program Office, Civil and Commercial Operations. He joined Aerospace in 1995. Particular areas of expertise include systems-of-systems architectures, ground-station acquisition, strategic planning, systems engineering, software engineering, source operations analysis, and proposal evaluation. He holds a Ph.D. in applied mathematics from the University of Illinois (kenneth.shere@noaa.gov).

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