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The Remote Sensing Science Group (RSSG) is the hub of activity for the four remote sensing science instruments mounted on Galileo's scan platform: the Solid-State Imaging (SSI) Subsystem, the Near-Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (NIMS), the Photopolarimeter/Radiometer (PPR), and the Ultraviolet Spectrometer (UVS), plus a fifth instrument, the Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) Spectrometer mounted on the spinning part of the Orbiter. The RSSG has the responsibility to acquire the wealth of remote sensing science data available at Jupiter and its moons. To this end, the teams responsible for these instruments have been united with the necessary support services under the leadership of Brian Paczkowski as the Remote Sensing Science Group (see photo).
The challenge is twofold. Success depends on careful selection in collecting essential science data and integration of the commands to each instrument so that data can be downlinked through a single pipeline. Initially, science teams select the type of information they anticipate will reveal the history of the Jovian system and its present composition and processes. Science coordinators on the instrument teams respond by developing specific design sequences (series of commands) that activate the instruments and the spacecraft's scan platform to perform observations; collect, process, and record the desired data; and return it to Earth. They then optimize the balance of collection versus downlink capabilities for the design of each and every satellite encounter and cruise sequence.
There are four science teams. The SSI Team (Ken Klaasen, Team Chief, and Science Coordinators Herb Breneman, Catherine Heffernan, Todd Jones, Jim Kaufman, and Dave Senske), develops the imaging sequences for science data to be gleaned from the camera that brought you those impressive pictures of comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 crashing into Jupiter. The NIMS Team Chief, Bill Smythe, and Science Coordinators Kevin Baines, Elias Barbinis, Paul Herrera, John Hui, Rosaly Lopes-Gautier, Frank Leader, Adriana Ocampo, and Marcia Segura will focus on a study of the Jovian atmosphere to learn the composition and thermal profile for emissions in the 0.7- to 5.2-µm spectral range and from 180 to 340 K. Joe Ajello, UVS/EUV Chief, and his team, Science Coordinators Steve Edberg, Lonnie Lane, Keith Naviaux, and Kent Tobiska, develop sequences to study the physical processes in the upper atmosphere of Jupiter, the Io plasma torus, and the composition and thermal structure of volatile gases escaping from Jupiter's moons. Terry Martin, Science Coordinator for the PPR Subassembly, and his assistants, Ian Claypool and Leslie Tamppari, develop the sequences needed to collect thermal and reflected radiation data about satellite surfaces and atmospheric properties.
The RSSG has responsibility for the development, maintenance, and operations for the key software program set used by the instruments. Fred Gangloff, Paul Koskela, and Laura Su comprise the Development Staff for POINTER (Planetary Observation Instrument Targeting and Encounter Reconnaissance), the software tool for the SSI, NIMS, PPR, and UVS instruments. Brad Cracchiola, Lisa Crowell, Jeff Culwell, and Jerod Gross are the four Remote Sensing Design Engineers (RSDEs) who employ POINTER to develop observation designs, define the scan platform patterns (or mosaics) required to acquire the science objective, and generate the detailed commands to the platform to perform the observations. Engineers Bill Cunningham and Keith Meredith for the SSI Team and General Science Instrument Analyst David Acevedo for the other teams are on hand to monitor and care for the health and safety of the remote sensing science instruments. Then, RSSG Integrator Dave Bliss blends the sequences so that the product is internally consistent and conflict free. The result flows to the Sequence Team, where it is folded into the overall sequence. The RSSG Integrator also receives the Fields and Particles Science Group (FPSG) recorded observation requests and inserts them into the overall record plan. In turn, the FPSG integrates requests from RSSG for real-time science observations (by NIMS and UVS/EUV) into the overall real-time science collection plan. Laura Barnard, assisted by Barkev Azadian, provides secretarial support for all the RSSG tasks.
Currently, sequences for the Jupiter Tour orbits are being prepared, reviewed, checked, and validated. After each Encounter, Brian Paczkowski as Lead will oversee the ongoing activity of fine-tuning the uplink commands and orchestrate team requests for revising the data playback scenarios to ensure that each instrument can contribute the best data within the available downlink telemetry.
The uplink development schedule for the orbital tour is very demanding. For the RSSG, 10 weeks are needed to go from the initial high-level plan for the entire orbit (encounter and cruise) to the detailed commanding level. Another 8 weeks are used to refine the commands for the encounter sequence only and prepare a sequence load that can be executed by the spacecraft. Also during these 8 weeks, development of the next orbit begins so that two sequences are developed in parallel. Brian commented, "The performance of the instrument teams and the rest of the RSSG staff has been exceptional in meeting these schedule demands."
It was the time of the Apollo Missions when, through his own telescope, young Brian studied the sky over Scranton, Pennsylvania and considered traveling the star highways in person. His reality today is space exploration by remote control as Lead for the RSSG. After earning a BS in astronomy at Villanova University and performing graduate work at Ohio University, he came directly to JPL in 1983. Working under Ken Klaasen, he developed the imaging sequence for Galileo's first flyby of the Earth. Seasoned by stints with CRAF, Cassini, and as Deputy Team Chief for the Galileo Science Requirements and Operations Planning (SROP), Brian moved into leadership of the RSSG when the Project reorganized. To learn how Brian brings balance to his highly technical lifestyle at JPL, visit his office and catch a glimpse of the Paczkowski family slide show, featuring 18-month-old daughter Kira and wife Sharon (yes, computer images, sharp and colorful). In addition to family activities, Brian enjoys working with wood to create art objects, designing and building wooden furniture, playing a round of golf, and remembering Earth-bound travel to faraway Hawaii and Bora Bora. At work at JPL, he is looking to the exciting adventure coming so soon. Encounter Day on December 7 is clearly visible, but much planning, checking, and rechecking is still to be done to ensure our successful mission.