[GLIMS] In Memoriam, our friend, ASTER VNIR

Tue May 14 11:26:03 MDT 2024

Hugh,
Thanks for your message. I remember, soon after I arrived at USGS after getting my PhD, and I was all about Mars, Mars, Mars (Mars glaciers and ancient glaciation especially), you tried to recruit me to help with ASTER for mapping of the world's glaciers. I was too thrilled about Mars, and a bit of Venus, and icy satellites of the giant planets, and was (compared to my grad student wallet) floating in NASA grant money, and I declined. You appealed a while later another time. I declined. You made one last appeal. My kids at the time were 10 and 12 and 20 (or 9, 11, and 19) years old. You said, "Jeff, when your kids are done with college, ASTER is likely to still be operating. Think again before you say "no."" I did think, and I said yes. I'd help, but only for 1/3 full-time-equivalent. In fact, the youngest of my kids is now 39 years old, and she has three of her own kids ages 4, 13, and 19.

So, yes, poor ASTER, but before VNIR passed, I heard her whisper, "I've lived a good and productive life, and I am way older than any orbital instrument is designed to live, I've lived two dog lives; like with old dogs, there is a time. My time is coming." True for all of us. Thank you, Hugh, for asking that third time. Life would have been easier if I had agreed to full time, but I am so pleased that I had the opportunity to work on GLIMS and related matters, and work with you. It was a genius idea you had. It was harder than any of us imagined at first, but we did it, and one good thing led to another.

As Bruce Raup just mentioned in a message to me, "it's been a good run."

Cheers,
Jeff

________________________________
From: Hugh Kieffer <hhkieffer at gmail.com>
Sent: Tuesday, May 14, 2024 4:51 PM
To: Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com>
Cc: GLIMS Mailing List <glims at nsidc.org>; Bawden, Gerald (HQ-DK000) <gerald.w.bawden at nasa.gov>; leon maldonado <leon.maldonado.jr at jpl.nasa.gov>; Jared Entin-NASA-GLIMS-ProgramManager <jared.k.entin at nasa.gov>; Bruce Raup <braup at colorado.edu>; scott at rockyglaciers.org <scott at rockyglaciers.org>; Thomas Wagner-NASA Manager for GLIMS project <thomas.wagner at nasa.gov>; Nancy Searby--SERVIR <nancy.d.searby at nasa.gov>; Michael Abrams <mjabrams at jpl.nasa.gov>; shanna.n.mcclain at nasa.gov <shanna.n.mcclain at nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: [GLIMS] In Memoriam, our friend, ASTER VNIR

Jeff: Lovely memorial.

Yes, we are all aging. Poor ASTER.

My connection to ASTER goes back to at least 1989, Jeff  a couple
years less, and Bruce soon after that.
Hard to believe that the youngest of the ASTER "kids" is pushing 60.

Best wishes to you all
Hugh

On Tue, 14 May 2024 at 09:17, Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
>
>
> Dear GLIMS colleagues,
> I have sad news about a loved one (machine). ASTER's VNIR has shut down since May 11 and is not expected to recover. It is an electrical problem on the spacecraft, as the messages from Leon Maldonado indicate. TIR is still operable.
>
> Fortunately the world has launched many other Earth observing missions. Given the historical and ongoing (until May 11) role that ASTER VNIR played with GLIMS and glacier studies, landslide studies, glacier lake and outburst flood research, and earthquake impact investigations, it is a sad occasion, but the data legacy (ASTER's memoirs) survives.
>
> Anyway, it was initially a 5-year mission, which then went on and on for nearly a quarter of a century; that was like the fictional Starship Enterprise's 5-year mission, which was extended over the decades; however, Terra/ASTER  explored only one strange and wondrous world, a world that just could not be better for human habitation and diverse life and wildly varying conditions amongst the hot deserts, tundra landscapes, forests, cities, farmlands, grasslands, oceans, rivers, deltas, mountains, polar caps, glaciers, sea ice, snow fields, lakes, clouds, and volcanoes... alas, from here on, our planet is only as wonderful as we can keep it, or as wonderful as it can be despite us.
>
> ASTER SWIR and VNIR and all of you working with those instruments' data did so much to help humans understand the dynamics of glaciers in the world, their roles as natural reservoirs, in causing disasters, as signposts of climate change, and simply their innate beauty and their insistent exclamation of borderlessness to people who sometimes imagine themselves to be different and demarcated as separate from their neighbors.
>
> With ASTER, we made a difference, and we brought scientific and public understanding of glaciers like never before.
>
> Cry some tears, and cry in joy for what ASTER was and the legacy of its data. That data legacy is still golden. Use the data in the same ways as always and in new ways, and learn more than you thought possible, and inform the world about what you learn.
>
> And remember, TIR is still going.
>
> Thank you METI/Japan, NASA and other U.S. agencies (USGS, others) for your gift of ASTER and Terra, and thank you to all the nations and individuals, ESA and other agencies who have contributed to ASTER data analysis, and those who have personally helped me with ASTER usage.
>
> --Jeff Kargel
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Maldonado, Leon (US 329A) <leon.maldonado.jr at jpl.nasa.gov>
> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 11:09 PM
> To: Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [EXTERNAL] ASTER TIR Only Mode (moving forward)
>
> Hi Jeff,
>
> At this point of the mission and the particular hardware in question, I do not expect there to be any hope for VNIR.  This does affect the wide angle pointing used for some of the GLIMS targets as well as any of the urgent requests that relied on a quick observation in VNIR-Only mode.  We’ll definitely be updating status at the next team meeting in September.
>
> Leon…
>
> _______________________
>
> On May 13, 2024, at 16:01, Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com> wrote:
>
> Leon,
> Thank you for the update. I am sad that VNIR now is disabled. Is there any realistic hope that the problem will be resolved and VNIR can renew operations?
> --Jeff
> ________________________________
> From: Maldonado, Leon (US 329A) <leon.maldonado.jr at jpl.nasa.gov>
> Sent: Monday, May 13, 2024 10:01 PM
> To: Jeffrey Kargel <jeffreyskargel at hotmail.com>
> Subject: ASTER TIR Only Mode (moving forward)
>
> Hi Jeff,
>
> As of 11-May, Terra spacecraft has experienced a problem in it’s ability to properly transmit power from the the solar arrays to the spacecraft batteries resulting in difficulty ensuring a full barttery charge along with inability to maintain proper battery temperatures.  As a result, ASTER (for its part) will need to turn-off the VNIR instrument to reduce the power load on the Terra spacecraft.  Moving forward ASTER will only collect TIR data in its respective day mode therefore GLIMS planning and all other data requests will only be collected in TIR-Only mode.
>
> Let me know if you have any other questions,
>
> Leon…
>
> ______________________________
> Leon Maldonado
> ASTER Project Science Coordinator
> _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> Earth & Space Science Div.
> Email: leon.maldonado at jpl.nasa.gov
> ______________________________
>
>
> ______________________________
> Leon Maldonado
> ASTER Project Science Coordinator
> _-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_-_
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory
> Earth & Space Science Div.
> Email: leon.maldonado at jpl.nasa.gov
> ______________________________
>
> _______________________________________________
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--
Hugh Kieffer                       hhkieffer at gmail.com
Celestial Reasonings         Cell   775-315-5135
PO Box 1057,  180 Snowshoe Ln., Genoa, NV 89411
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