Oct 13 2009
From The Space Library
Rodger E. Doxsey, head of the Space Telescope Science Institute’s (STScI’s) HST Mission Office in Baltimore, died of cancer at the age of 62. Recruited as an HST Mission Operations Scientist, Doxsey had worked at STScI since 1981, nine years before the launch of HST. Since HST’s launch, Doxsey had been involved in the daily operations of the telescope. He had been responsible for all work necessary to support HST’s scientific operations, planning and scheduling, and calibration of data, and for building scientific mission specifications and issuing all commands necessary to HST’s instruments. Doxsey had worked with GSFC to develop HST’s new scientific instruments. Despite his illness, he had remained involved in the preparations for the final servicing mission to the telescope in May 2009. In 1991 NASA had recognized Doxsey with the highest honor it could give to a nonfederal employee, awarding him its Distinguished Public Service Medal. With this award, NASA noted Doxsey’s “outstanding leadership in developing the concepts of the scientific operations” of HST and in implementing the systems needed to accomplish those ends. In 2004 AAS had awarded Doxsey the Van Biesbroeck Prize for his “outstanding, unselfish dedication” to making HST “one of the most scientifically productive telescopes of all time.” Director of STScI Charles Mattias “Matt” Mountain described Doxsey as the “heart and soul of Hubble” at the Institute, saying that Doxsey “knew everything about the space telescope, from the smallest anomaly to the breadth of the extraordinary science delivered by the telescope.” Doxsey had worked with HST for more than 28 years.
Frank D. Roylance, “Rodger Doxsey, One of Space Telescope Team’s First Leaders, Dies at 62,” Baltimore Sun, 15 October 2009.
NASA announced a partnership with the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory to develop a “technology roadmap” study for the commercial reusable launch vehicle (RLV) industry. Led by NASA’s Innovative Partnerships Program, the study would identify technologies and assess their potential use, in an effort to accelerate the development of commercial RLVs. The study would also recommend to the U.S.government technology tasks and milestones for various vehicle categories. NASA had defined the categories as 1) reusable, suborbital vehicles; 2) expendable and partially reusable, orbital vehicles; 3) reusable, two-stage orbital vehicles; and 4) advanced vehicle concepts, such as single-stage-to-orbit, air-breathing systems, in-flight refueling, and tethered upper-stage vehicles. NASA and the U.S. Air Force planned to evaluate all types of flight systems—from space entry, descent, and recovery systems, to avionics, communications, and flight control. The study would commence in 2009, at the Commercial and Government Responsive Access to Space Technology Exchange in Dayton, Ohio (26-29 October 2009). Representatives from NASA, the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory, and the FAA’s Office of Commercial Space Transportation would meet with representatives from the commercial RLV industry, soliciting feedback about long-range growth plans and the necessary technology to implement those plans successfully.
NASA, “NASA Announces Commercial RLV Technology Roadmap Project,” news release 09-238, 13 October 2009, http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2009/oct/HQ_09-238_RLV_Study.html (accessed 30 September 2011); Michael Cooney, “NASA Partners with US Air Force To Develop Commercial Space Roadmap,” Network World, 14 October 2009.
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