Space & Astronomy/Space and Astronomy (October 1993).iso/pc/text/jplpaper/930507.uni

Text File | 1993-08-11 | 34KB | 623 lines

Jet Propulsion Laboratory UNIVERSE
Pasadena, California - Vol. 23, No. 9 - May 7, 1993
_________________________________________________________________

Stone says five-year plan, new
technology crucial to Lab's future

By Mark Whalen
     In his annual "State of the Laboratory" address April 21,
JPL Director Dr. Edward Stone outlined the external environment
and expectations that will drive JPL's future. Cultural and
operational changes already under way must be stepped up, he
said, and in order to maintain its viability, the Lab must plan
not only for this year or next year -- it must look five years
down the road.
     "The (federal) budget cycle, now under way, is very
important, because it will establish the nature of the NASA
program for the next five years," Stone said, "and will also
establish the nature of JPL's part of the NASA program."
     Noting that the end of the Cold War means that the space
program can no longer be "rationalized to demonstrate superiority
over the Soviet Union," Stone said, "there has to be another
reason for the space program."
     Although science will continue to be an important rationale,
he said there will be an increased emphasis on technology, a
point he underscored during a brief run-through of current and
near-future JPL missions. "In some cases," he said, "we have
invented the technology. In many cases we have not invented it,
but we put it into use for the first time, to demonstrate the
technology's usefulness."
     Stone told the von Karman Auditorium audience there will be
a "fixed level" of investment in NASA over the next five years,
in which the agency will be expected to provide more technology
per dollar invested, more dual-use technology (of use outside the
space program) and more technology transfer (outside of NASA
centers and the government, to universities and private
industry). NASA anticipates receiving about $24 billion less than
it had planned, Stone added, but $8 billion was added back into
the agency's budget through 1998 for a
     Technology Investment Program, and "all of JPL's new
missions will come out of that $8 billion.
     "It's clear to me that President Clinton has included NASA
in its vision of the future as a vehicle for using new technology
to drive economic growth in this country," the director said.
     What does all this mean for JPL? Because of the changing
expectations for the space program over the next five years,
Stone said, "we must change the size of our work force and
discover how to improve what we do while maintaining our hallmark
of technical excellence."
     In establishing a five-year goal for reducing the Lab's
total work force -- including on-site contractors -- by 1,000
personnel by 1998, Stone said it is important that JPL take the
lead in initiating and shaping changes, "rather than waiting to
be directed to make changes, and having no time for an effective
transition. We decided to downsize in a very systematic way, to
control and shape it so that in five years we end up with the Lab
we feel is the right one, and NASA feels is the right one."
     With an annual voluntary turnover of about 300 per year,
Stone emphasized that the work force reduction "doesn't mean
1,000 layoffs" and that it "does not need to change the
fundamental character of the Lab. It does not mean that we will
be totally different than we were in the past; in fact it might
mean that we'll be more like we were in 1988."
     JPL has had a declining budget since 1988, in fixed-year
dollars, Stone said. But "while our budget has gone down, our
work force has gone up. Our budget five years ago was 19 percent
larger than it is today, and our work force was 11 percent
smaller, and there clearly is a concern about the organizational
dynamics that have led to that situation," he added.
     Stone noted that many aerospace companies are downsizing,
"much more rapidly than anything we're planning to do ... over
the last few years, they have been getting smaller, while we have
been getting larger." It has become clear, he added, that in
JPL's role "as a Federally-Funded Research and Development
Center, we are a special kind of laboratory the government has to
do things that industry can't do," he said. "But we are not
supposed to be competing with industry, we are supposed to be
helping NASA to work with industry."
     In addressing his vision of how the Lab will improve work
processes in the near future, Stone expressed his confidence in
the progress of the Total Quality Management (TQM) initiative,
which is in its second year of implementation. About half of
JPL's employees have so far taken The Quality Advantage, TQM's
introductory course.
     Stone said he thinks of TQM as "a way of changing our
attitudes" in four areas, where changes are already under way:
     -- Customer focus -- The Executive Council now visits NASA
Headquarters twice a year to assess "what NASA cares about in the
way JPL performs," Stone said. "Things don't change overnight;
what is important is whether or not our customers sense that we
understand what they care about in terms of doing their program."
     Stone told the audience, "Each of you has customers, and I
urge you to think about what your customers' concerns are, and
ask them what they care about."
     -- Strategic planning -- "It allows us to focus on a few
areas where it is most important that JPL should change. It
forces us to prioritize," he said, adding that the Executive
Council has identified four such areas for change over the next
five years: cost, customer interaction, employee participation
and developing small and moderate missions.
     In discussing employee participation, the director reported
that nearly 40 percent of JPL employees have not returned their
questionnaires from a Lab-wide survey conducted earlier this
year. He wondered if some employees were skeptical that anything
will change or if perhaps others feel the Lab doesn't need to
change. "That 40 percent number indicates the challenge we have
in engaging everyone in the process of change," he said.
     In illustrating the small and moderate mission strategic
goal, Stone cited last year's Miniature Seeker Technology
Integration (MSTI) mission, which was completed in one year for
only $15 million and returned 120,000 infrared images of Earth.
Also, the upcoming $150-million MESUR/Pathfinder mission to Mars
was singled out for its plan to concurrently engineer mission
operations, ground data systems and flight data systems. "The
only way to have a low-cost approach to future missions is to
have this kind of end-to-end, cross-functional design," he said,
adding that the project's plan to keep its spacecraft simple will
also simplify ground operations.
     -- Continuous improvement-- Stone lauded the pioneering
efforts of the 10 "Quick-start" Process Action Teams currently in
operation at the Lab, particularly in their efforts in uncovering
"cultural impediments" at JPL, such as: lack of focus, aversion
to work-process flowcharting, and jumping to conclusions "before
agreeing on what the problem is."
     -- Employee empowerment -- Recognizing an element of
frustration among some Lab employees, Stone said, "I know that
some of you feel your supervisors are not supportive of TQM ...
yet." He noted that the supervisor of the future needs "both
technical expertise and interpersonal skills to listen and lead,
and a few individuals may decide that this new type of management
role is not for them." He urged all employees to "support
surveys, talk to your customers. Don't get discouraged because
everyone is not yet on board. It takes time."
     In reiterating the implications of NASA's new directions in
the near future, Stone expressed confidence about JPL's current
and future projects and the Lab's ability to continue to serve
the agency's needs. "In developing missions which cost less, use
new technology and have shorter development times," he said, "we
must also shift the balance toward technology and away from
operations.
     "With your cooperation in making changes in how we do
things, while preserving and improving our technical excellence,
I'm confident that JPL will have the flexibility to meet the
challenges of reinventing the space program in the post-Cold War
era, and that we will continue to have a leading role in
expanding the frontiers of space to enrich knowledge and benefit
humankind." ###
_________________________________________________________________

Rideshare program gets kudos from district

By Toni Lawson
     Results from a surprise audit by the South Coast Air Quality
Management District (SCAQMD) signified that JPL's rideshare
program ranks in the top 10 percent in Southern California, and
its vanpool program is one of the best in the district.
     Last December's audit showed that the Lab's rideshare
incentive program, car-care coupons, administrative bookkeeping,
vanpool program and subsidies far exceed other large employers in
the district, said Gil Duke, a JPL employee transportation
coordinator.
     As a result of the review, the SCAQMD now refers other
employers in Southern California to JPL as a model for traffic
and air quality control.
     "What makes JPL's program a good one is that we have a
dedicated staff, strong management support and outstanding
marketing techniques such as soliciting rideshare participation
and identifying potential markets," Duke said.
     The Lab established a rideshare program in 1989 to do its
share to combat the air pollution problem in the Los Angeles
basin by encouraging employees to vanpool, carpool, bicycle, walk
and use public transit to get to work.
     In December of that year, the SCAQMD assigned the Lab a goal
of 1.5 Average Vehicle Ridership (AVR), or persons per vehicle
ratio. The district determines the AVR by dividing the number of
employees coming to work by the number of vehicles bringing the
employees to work during the peak hours from 6-10 a.m. An AVR is
assigned to all employers in the Southern California district
that have more than 100 employees.
     Employee participation in the rideshare program is steadily
increasing.
     Each year JPL submits to SCAQMD a trip-reduction plan which
reports a different AVR for each of its facilities. In the
recently approved 1992-93 plans, the AVR was 1.33 for Oak
Grove/Woodbury, 1.24 for Foothill and 1.23 for Sierra Madre
Villa.
     In all, more than 3,000 JPL employees and contractors
participate in the carpool program, while more than 500 others
come to work in vanpools.
     "These numbers symbolize the number of persons per car
entering each JPL site," Duke said. "Ultimately this means that
there are reductions in employee vehicle trips traveling to the
work site which reduce pollution and save gas."
     Even though the rideshare program has made progress since
its 1989 inception -- there are now 48 vanpools and more than
1,200 carpools -- the Lab still has work to do to achieve its
goal of 1.5 persons per vehicle ratio.
     Participation in the rideshare program is highly encouraged
and easy to do, according to Duke. Melanie Bentley, a JPL
employee transportation coordinator, can give those interested in
ridesharing a current list of JPL vanpools, an employee zip code
list, and a commuter matchlist of potential carpools in their
respective areas. Then, new vanpools and carpools are registered
through JPL's Plant Protection Section 613.
     The Lab's rideshare program also works with the JPL Bike
Club, sponsors a yearly bike fest and rideshare fair and
subsidizes Rapid Transit District and Foothill Transit bus
passes, which are sold at JPL's Employee Recreation Club at a
discount price. The bus passes are also sold at the Lab's
off-site locations.
     "We are asking each employee to participate in some aspect
of the program at least three times a week," Duke said. ###
_________________________________________________________________

Highway project allows Lab
to work a lot closer to home

By Karre Marino
     In an effort to provide some systematic framework for the
emerging ground-based transportation system aimed at resolving
problems facing Angelenos and virtually all Americans, the
federal government has asked JPL to manage development of an
Intelligent Vehicle Highway System (IVHS) architecture.
     "About a year ago, JPL management decided to get back into
surface-transportation work, something we'd been exploring for
the previous nine months," explained Bob Phen, Energy & Surface
Transportation Technology manager in the Office of Technological
and Applications Programs.
     JPL had been involved in ground-based transportation
projects in the late '60s through the mid-'80s "but we'd stopped
this work in an effort to narrow the focus of our projects," Phen
explained. However, JPL again began exploring whether its
technological knowledge and capability would be a good match for
society's needs in a changing transportation environment. "We
have excellent capabilities in systems engineering, sensing and
detection, control systems, communication, computing, data
management and image processing," Phen said. "Each of these areas
matches with the needs of IVHS -- to create systems by which
cars, federal highways and mass transit will operate more
efficiently, and reduce present problems."
     The effort couldn't have come at a better time. Total travel
in the country has more than doubled since the early 1970s; urban
freeway delays now number 2 billion vehicle hours per year, and
70 percent of all peak hour travel on urban interstates occurs
under congested conditions. The loss of national productivity due
to congestion is estimated at $100 billion annually.
     And while highway traffic accident and fatality rates have
decreased over the past several years, the number of deaths
related to highway accidents still outnumbers that for any other
mode of transportation. Traffic accidents cost the country an
estimated $70 billion in lost wages and direct costs. More than
6.6 million police-reported collisions occur each year, resulting
in 3.5 million injuries, 500,000 of which are serious or fatal.
     With such problems in mind, the task ahead seems daunting.
Yet JPL's charge is to manage the creation of a systems structure
that will reduce congestion, lost productivity due to drivers
being stuck in traffic, air pollution and emissions from stalled
vehicles, and accidents on rural highways; as well as improve
safety. "We know that some transportation-type problems can be
fixed via smart cars and smart highways," Phen said, which he
described as vehicles and roads that are automated by sensors and
communication systems. Installed along highways and in cars, they
can provide information to government agencies like Caltrans,
offering information on freeway congestion. For commercial-truck
fleet operations, truck locations can be monitored and routed.
Technology will become available for RTD users, which could
indicate to waiting passengers when a bus will actually arrive at
a bus stop.
     In fact, such technologies are already being used, Phen
said. Advanced signal-control systems and an advanced traffic
surveillance and control system here in Southern California have
reduced vehicle delay. Thousands of large trucks are equipped
with electronic automated location systems, along with two-way
satellite communications systems that link drivers to their
dispatch offices. Automatic Vehicle Identification (AVI) systems
are being used to automate toll collection, reduce delays and
provide more efficient processing of fees, an advantage for both
users and toll agencies. Along the Oklahoma turnpike, more than
63,000 vehicle owners purchased AVI tags in the first year of
operation, more than double the anticipated demand. He also noted
that all Greyhound buses will feature a radar system that will
warn the driver when they're approaching the car in front of them
too quickly. "These capabilities are all possible because of the
technology advancements," he said.
     JPL was awarded the 3 1/2-year IVHS architecture management
contract in December 1992, and a team of about eight -- four in
Washington, D.C., and about four on Lab -- has already begun
work. "The architecture itself will be developed by a consortia
JPL will manage," Phen said. "In the end, it is the intent that
we arrive at a consensus architecture."
     IVHS activities are in their infancy. Although some of the
technologies date back 10 and even 20 years, the current IVHS
effort only began three to four years ago on the heels of an ad
hoc group called Mobility 2000. This national group has grown
into IVHS America, whose members, including JPL, are from the
private and public sector, he explained.
     Phen said that JPL continues to explore ways to participate
in the IVHS program. A couple of new tasks are currently being
discussed and negotiated with sponsors. He is open to all ideas
of JPL staff. "We want to encourage people here to think about
this area. If they have ideas, I encourage them to contact me."
###
_________________________________________________________________

Magellan, DSN join forces
on radio science experiments

     JPL's Deep Space Network (DSN) has joined forces with the
Magellan spacecraft in performing three types of radio science
experiments.
     Magellan, which has been orbiting Venus since August 1990
and has mapped more than 98 percent of the planet, has utilized
its downlink capabilities to probe Venus' upper atmosphere and
the sun's plasma. Using open-loop receivers at the DSN stations,
signals were received from the spacecraft, digitized and recorded
on tape.
     "The radio science instrument, which is comprised of a
transmitter aboard the spacecraft and a ground-based receiver, is
unique because it is distributed between the spacecraft and DSN
stations; it is at the latter where the data observables are
actually generated," explained Dr. Nick Renzetti, manager of the
Telecommunications and Data Acquisition Science Office.
     "Six Magellan radio science experiments have been conducted
over the last two years," said Magellan Project Manager Doug
Griffith. "Three of them studied the atmosphere of Venus, one is
an ongoing gravity-field data-collection campaign, and the other
two have studied the scintillations in the solar wind and the
Faraday rotation effect in the solar corona," he said.
(Scientists can discern the nature of the corona's magnetic field
by understanding how much a signal polarization rotates.)
     "Magellan's large High Gain Antenna and powerful X- and
S-band downlink, as well as its ability to accurately maneuver to
track the Earth through the refracting atmosphere, allowed radio
occultation measurements deeper than ever before into Venus'
atmosphere," explained Dr. Steve Saunders, Magellan project
scientist.
     When the radio signal transmitted by the spacecraft traveled
through Venus' atmosphere on its way to Earth -- a geometrical
configuration called occultation -- it was changed in phase and
attenuated in amplitude by the gases forming Venus' atmosphere.
These perturbations were recorded by specialized equipment at the
DSN stations. The data produced highly accurate profiles of
atmospheric refractivity and absorptivity that, in turn, produced
temperature and pressure profiles of the Venusian atmosphere. Of
special interest to investigators Paul Steffes of Georgia Tech
University and Jon Jenkins of NASA's Ames Research Center is a
study of the abundance of sulfur dioxide, carbon dioxide and
sulfuric acid vapor in the Venusian atmosphere.
     In order for the DSN to remain in communication with the
spacecraft, even as it went behind the planet, Griffith said "a
complicated limb-track maneuver was performed to maintain the
radio link as long as possible while the signal was refracted in
the atmosphere." The maneuver, he said, which was designed and
implemented jointly by JPL's Magellan team and the spacecraft
team at Martin Marietta -- in combination with the strength of
the transmitted signal and accurate predictions of the DSN
receiving equipment -- enabled Venus' atmosphere to be probed to
depths of 35 kilometers at the 3.6 centimeter wavelength radio
signal (X-band) and 33 kilometers at the 13 centimeter signal
(S-band).
     During superior conjunction in late spring 1992, a
four-month solar-wind radio-scintillation experiment was
conducted to investigate the near-sun solar-wind region not yet
explored by direct spacecraft, according to Principal
Investigator Richard Woo of the Radio Frequency and Microwave
Subsystems Section. For part of the experiment, data were also
generated to study the Faraday rotation effect in the solar
corona. Michael Bird of Germany's University of Bonn will obtain
information about the electron density and magnetic field in the
corona.
     In its current cycle around Venus, Magellan and the DSN --
in a third investigation -- are measuring the planet's
gravitational field. Accelerations of the spacecraft are tracked,
according to gravity field investigator William Sjogren of the
Navigation Systems Section. Using the DSN to communicate with the
spacecraft and record the returned signals, small changes in the
X- and S-band Doppler signatures can be seen. (The Doppler effect
is the change in frequency due to relative motion of either the
transmitter or receiver.) These changes are caused by
perturbations in the spacecraft's orbit that result from
irregularities in the mass distribution of the planet.
     "The gravity data will allow geophysical models to examine
the internal structure and dynamics of Venus, as well as look
below the surface for the forces that have created the geologic
features that Magellan has mapped," Saunders said. ###
_________________________________________________________________

Child care assistance program
helps with those first steps

By Karre Marino
     It's often difficult to find the right child care provider
for your child -- especially a provider close to home and one
that ensures learning in a safe and supportive environment. The
cost of quality child care also creates added worry. That's why
the JPL Child Care Assistance Program (CCAP) has made such an
important difference for Karlotta Banks, department assistant in
Documentation Section 644, and her 2-year-old son, Jarrad. "As a
single mother raising a child, I don't think I could have sent
him to the kind of school he now attends without the financial
help," she explained.
     Established in 1984, CCAP provides a significant subsidy for
the Lab's working parents whose young children require child
care. The program provides up to 90 percent of a licensed
provider's fees for eligible employees. Eligibility criteria
includes limitation on annual household income (recently raised
from $29,500 to $32,000, excluding child support and social
security income). Participants must be regular, full-time
employees, and coverage for the child is pro-
     vided until he or she enters first grade. Additionally, the
child-care provider must be licensed by the State of California
or Department of Education, and a Payer's Request for Identifying
Number
     form must be provided by the caregiver. No more than two
children per family are provided support under the program.
     "Everyone connected with the program works hard to
accommodate us," Banks noted. "Communication is very important.
If you change the child-care provider, for instance, it helps to
let the program know."
     Carol Gibbs of the Employee Compensation, Services and
Records Section 614, who assists in administering CCAP, concurs,
noting that each month she must receive a statement that includes
the names of the employee and child, address, child's age,
child-care provider and address, and the child-care director's
signature. This information ensures that the child's fees are
paid directly to the caregiver. "My school prefers that I pay
weekly," said Banks, "but I informed them of the arrangement with
JPL, and the director understands this. That's why communication
is so important. You have to talk to the school and CCAP."
     Banks said school has been important for Jarrad, who attends
the Altadena Christian Children's School. "He is learning the
alphabet,  numbers and colors. He's also courteous and very
articulate. I've noticed a real difference in his social skills,
too."
     Not only is Banks pleased that Jarrad is thriving, she is
comforted to know that her son attends a safe, innovative school
that is only minutes from her work. "I feel relieved when I come
to work, because I know he is in a good place."
     Since its inception, the CCAP has assisted more than 85
families obtain quality child care.
     For applications and more information on CCAP eligibility,
call Employee Services at ext. 4-7149. ###
_________________________________________________________________

News briefs

     JPL's Graphics Vending Services Group will host an expo May
18-20 on the Mall to showcase the latest tools for presentations,
displays, technical illustrations and other graphics-related
products and services.
     Eight graphics-related contractors already serving JPL will
participate, and each will contribute 10 hours of illustration
time toward JPL-related work for a raffle that will be held May
20 at 12:30 p.m.
     Call Elsie Barker at ext. 4-5960 for information.

     The results of a user survey have prompted Document Review
Services to change its polity on reprint and page charge orders.
     After May 31, the department will no longer process these
orders. This function will be given to the individual authors who
indicated that they prefer to handle their own orders. However,
document clearances and transfer of copyright will continue to be
handled by Document Review.
     For more information, call Linda Worrel, ext. 4-5857 or
Document Review, ext. 4-5090.

     Section 372's Virus/Security Lab currently has anti-virus
applications available for both Macintosh and personal computers.
     Disinfectant 3.2 for the Mac and ViruScan 102 for the PC can
be obtained by sending a 3-1/2" Mac disk or 5-1/4" PC disk, along
with your name, section number, mail stop and computer model
number to Mike Peterson at 602-145.

     JPL TOPEX/Poseidon Project Manager Charles Yamarone was one
of four team members awarded the Prix d'Astronautique, 1992 by
France's Association Aeronautique et Astronautique for their work
on the project.
     NASA Program Scientist Dr. William Patzert accepted the
award in Paris May 5. Also honored were Michael Dorrer and Michel
Lefebvre of the French space agency Centre National d'Etudes
Spatiales.

     Dr. Joel Smith, project manager for the U.S. Space Very Long
Baseline Interferometery (VBLI) mission, was recognized by the
Kiwanis Club of La Canada as La Canadan of the Year at an April
14 luncheon at Descanso Gardens.
     Presenters cited Smith's "distinguished leadership and
service to the community of La Canada Flintridge."
     Smith has been actively involved as a school board member
for the last eight years, having raised money for a variety of
projects, holding town forums and ensuring access to the school
district's operation.
     He said that it is this spirit of volunteerism that makes a
community more than simply a collection of houses. "The school
system is built on the thousands of hours of volunteered time,"
he noted, "which is reflected by our having the highest test
scores in L.A. County."
     Smith also received a congratulatory letter from Gov. Pete
Wilson. ###
_________________________________________________________________

MO back to normal after
going into contingency mode

     The Mars Observer spacecraft was returned to normal cruise
mode at 3:15 p.m. April 30, after spending about 38 hours in a
fault protection mode known as "contingency mode." In contingency
mode, the spacecraft automatically switches from the high-gain to
the low-gain antenna and repositions itself to a more favorable
orientation toward the sun.
     No hardware problems were involved in the incident and the
spacecraft performed perfectly in switching to contingency mode.
     JPL's flight engineering team will continue to study the
problem until an adequate software fix can be designed and
uplinked.
     The Joint Gravitational Wave Experiment, in which Mars
Observer was joined by Ulysses and Galileo, completed
data-gathering April 12, and data analysis has begun.
     Today Mars Observer, which was launched aboard a Titan
III/TOS vehicle last Sept. 25, is about 21 million kilometers (13
million miles) from Mars and about 209 million kilometers (130
million miles) from Earth. The spacecraft is traveling at a
velocity of about 7,200 kilometers per hour (4,500 mph) with
respect to Mars.
     A brief status report on JPL's other missions follows.
     Voyager 1 and 2: The two Voyager spacecraft continue their
interstellar mission with fields-and- particles data acquisition.
Voyager 1, launched Sept. 5, 1977, is currently 7.8 billion
kilometers (4.8 billion miles) from the sun, receding at 17.6 km
per second, after flying by Jupiter and Saturn in 1979 and 1980;
Voyager 2, launched August 20, 1977, to fly by Jupiter (1979),
Saturn (1981), Uranus (1986), and Neptune (1989), is now 5.97
billion kilometers (3.7 billion miles) from the sun.
     Magellan: The Magellan spacecraft is continuing its survey
of the gravitational field of Venus, utilizing precise navigation
of the spacecraft in the near-Venus portion of its elliptical
orbit, through May 15, 1993. The Project plans to begin maneuvers
to circularize the orbit on May 25. Magellan was launched May 4,
1989, aboard Space Shuttle Atlantis with an IUS injection stage;
it radar-mapped more than 98 percent of Venus' surface from
September 1990 to September 1992.
     Galileo: The spacecraft is now en route to Jupiter,
scheduled to go into orbit there on Dec. 7, 1995. Spacecraft
performance and condition are excellent except that the high-gain
antenna is only partly deployed; science and engineering data are
being transmitted via the low-gain antenna. The Project is now
planning to use the low-gain antenna for the Jupiter mission and
the August 1993 encounter with asteroid Ida. Galileo was launched
Oct. 18, 1989, by Space Shuttle Atlantis and an IUS, and flew by
Venus in 1990 and Earth in 1990 and 1992 for earlier gravity
assists and asteroid Gaspra in October 1991 for scientific
observation.
     Ulysses: The spacecraft is in a highly inclined solar orbit,
now almost 30 degrees south (relative to the sun's equator), in
transit from its Jupiter gravity assist in February 1992 toward
its solar polar passages (about 80 degrees south and north) in
1994 and 1995. Ulysses spacecraft condition and performance are
excellent, and cruise science data-gathering continues. The
Ulysses spacecraft was built by the European Space Agency and
launched Oct. 6, 1990 aboard Space Shuttle Discovery, with IUS
and PAM-S stages.
     TOPEX/Poseidon: The satellite is healthy, and all scientific
instruments are performing normally, typically providing three
playbacks per day. The mission is to map ocean circulation.
TOPEX/ Poseidon was launched Aug. 10, 1992, aboard Ariane 52. ###
_________________________________________________________________

Hot temps may bring out snakes

     The recent warm weather has roused a variety of snakes, who
move from the dirt and leaves of their resting places and seek
the warmth of the Lab's asphalt, according to the U.S. Forest
Service.
     While only 5 percent of the reptile population here is
rattlesnakes, said Will Shaw, a ranger at Clear Creek, it is
still a good idea to stay away from them. If your path crosses
that of a snake, don't attempt to pick it up. Keep walking. And
it's likely that the snake will slither by, he said, as they
"don't see us. Snakes stick out their tongues to feel heat or
movement; that indicates that another creature may be present."
     Shaw said that most of the snakes seen on Lab are garden
snakes, boas, gophers and California Kings, which he described as
being "orange, black, yellow and white." The Pacific Coast
rattler, he said, has a diamond on the back of its head.
     "In the forest, we use a general rule of thumb: These
animals live here; they don't present any danger. This is their
forest, so we leave them alone."
     If you see a snake, contact JPL's Facilities Maintenance and
Operations Section at ext. 4-4933. ###
_________________________________________________________________

Exec dining room converting to buffet area

     In an April 19 memo to all employees, JPL Deputy Director
Larry Dumas announced that the Executive Dining Room and
adjoining patio area located in the 167 Cafeteria will be
converted to a new dining area called "The Buffet Room" beginning
May 17.
     Buffet food service will be available from 11:15 a.m. to
1:30 p.m. each day and will cost $5 per person. The buffet will
feature selected main entrees, Mexican food, and a soup and salad
bar, all available with a choice of coffee or tea. A waitress
will be available to take orders for other beverages and
desserts.
     Erika Hessinger, Service America's Food Service director for
JPL's three cafeterias, noted that employees will find the new
buffet a pleasant alternative to eating in the cafeteria every
day.
     "We'll be serving good food in The Buffet Room," she said.
"Many employees have not had the pleasure of eating in the
Executive Dining Room, and it will be an all-you-can-eat-buffet."
     Seating in The Buffet Room will be on a first-come,
first-served basis, but reservations will be accepted for a
limited number of business lunches each day.
     Because The Buffet Room may be used for business lunches
with non-Lab guests, patrons in the new dining area will be
requested to dress in appropriate business attire.
     Reservations for The Buffet Room can be made starting May 17
by calling the 167 Cafeteria, ext. 4-3808. ###

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