Ten individuals and three groups at Jet Propulsion Laboratory will receive NASA Honor Awards in ceremonies at the Lab on Jan. 24.
Dr. Bruce Murray, lab director, will present the awards on behalf of Dr. Robert Frosch, NASA administrator.
The individual awards will go to:
o Mahlon F. Easterling; the Outstanding Leadership Medal for technical and managerial leadership in establishing the conceptual design for NASA's future ground-based tracking and data acquisition network. (Easterling retired recently and now lives in Durham, N.C.).
o Richard T. Woo of La Canada; the Exceptional Scientific Achievement Medal for development and demonstration of spacecraft radio scintillations as an important new method for studying interplanetary plasma turbulence.
o Lloyd H. Back of La Canada; the Exceptional Service Medal for exceptional contributions to the understanding of the fluid mechanics of rocket propulsion and the reduction of heat transfer in rocket nozzles.
o Donald E. Hayes of Pasadena; the Exceptional Service Medal for sustained and outstanding contributions in the organization and performance of system-level spacecraft assembly, test operations and launch preparations.
o Rolando L. Jordan of Pasadena; the Exceptional Service Medal for exceptional contributions to the development and performance of the Seasat synthetic aperture radar.
o Richard P. Mathison of Altadena; the Exceptional Service Medal for outstanding engineering contributions and leadership in development and application of communication and tracking systems for NASA's deep space missions.
o Marvin K. Simon of La Canada; the Exceptional Service Medal for outstanding contributions in the analysis and design of space communications systems.
o Gerald M. Smith of Northridge; the Exceptional Service Medal for outstanding management and leadership in development and construction of the NASA Infrared Telescope Facility.
o Anthony J. Spear of Pasadena; the Exceptional Service Medal for outstanding leadership in managing development, integration and operation of the successful array of Seasat sensors.
o Kay H. Haines of Altadena; the Equal Employment Opportunity Medal for outstanding contributions to the goal of equitable professional development and employment opportunities for women at Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The groups to be honored are:
o Mission Control and Computing Center Mark III Development Team; the Group Achievement Award for outstanding group achievement in developing and implementing the Mission Control and Computing Center Mark III, enabling greatly enhanced mission support capability.
o Planetary Ephemeris Development Team; the Group Achievement Award for sustained and outstanding work in developing the high-precision planetary ephemerides and associated computer software that have enabled the achievement of demanding planetary mission objectives. (An ephemeris is table that predicts the position in space of planet, satellite or star at any given moment.)
o Seasat Synthetic Aperture Radar Team; the Group Achievement Award for development of NASA's synthetic aperture radar system, whose excellent performance demonstrated the significant potential of the radar system as scientific instrument.
The award ceremony will begin at l0 a.m. in von Karman Auditorium on lab.
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