Dave Gingerich

On October 24, 1960, at the USSR's Baikonur Cosmodrome, an electrical malfunction led to the deadliest launch accident in space industry history. Shortly before a test launch of the first Soviet R-16 intercontinental rocket, the second stage engines prematurely ignited, detonating the first stage fuel tanks. We hypothesize that the primary contributing factor to the tragedy was a systemic flaw in safety management caused by cultural and political values. Through the use of interviews… Show more

On October 24, 1960, at the USSR's Baikonur Cosmodrome, an electrical malfunction led to the deadliest launch accident in space industry history. Shortly before a test launch of the first Soviet R-16 intercontinental rocket, the second stage engines prematurely ignited, detonating the first stage fuel tanks. We hypothesize that the primary contributing factor to the tragedy was a systemic flaw in safety management caused by cultural and political values. Through the use of interviews, literature, and a chronology of the events leading up to the failure, an interpretive analysis identifying contributing factors to the disaster was conducted. This study found that cultural and political influences were primary causes to the loss and also let to a safety management environment that continued to threaten the success and integrity of aerospace development in the USSR and other space-faring countries. Show less

The NASA Discovery Stardust spacecraft flew by the main belt asteroid 5535 Annefrank at a distance of 3100 km and a speed of 7.4 km/s in November 2002 to test theencounter sequence developed for its primary science target, the comet 81P/Wild 2.During this testing, over 70 images of Annefrank were obtained, taken over a phase anglerange from 40 to 140 deg. This viewing showed that Annefrank was at least 6.6

5.0

3.4 km in size (diameters), with its shortest dimension normal to its… Show more

The NASA Discovery Stardust spacecraft flew by the main belt asteroid 5535 Annefrank at a distance of 3100 km and a speed of 7.4 km/s in November 2002 to test theencounter sequence developed for its primary science target, the comet 81P/Wild 2.During this testing, over 70 images of Annefrank were obtained, taken over a phase anglerange from 40 to 140 deg. This viewing showed that Annefrank was at least 6.6

5.0

3.4 km in size (diameters), with its shortest dimension normal to its orbit plane. Annefrank is highly angular, with flat appearing surfaces, possibly planes formed when it wasfractured off of a larger parent body. For the limited part of the surface seen, Annefrank resembles a triangular prism for the main body, with smaller, rounder bodies, possiblyaccreted through contact. Show less

Some of the objectives of the Genesis mission require the separate collection of solar wind originating in different types of solar sources. Measurements of the solar wind protons, alpha particles, and electrons are used on-board the spacecraft to determine whether the solar-wind source is most likely a coronal hole, interstream flow, or a coronal mass ejection. A simple fuzzy logic scheme operating on measurements of the proton temperature, the alpha-particle abundance, and the presence of… Show more

Some of the objectives of the Genesis mission require the separate collection of solar wind originating in different types of solar sources. Measurements of the solar wind protons, alpha particles, and electrons are used on-board the spacecraft to determine whether the solar-wind source is most likely a coronal hole, interstream flow, or a coronal mass ejection. A simple fuzzy logic scheme operating on measurements of the proton temperature, the alpha-particle abundance, and the presence of bidirectional streaming of suprathermal electrons was developed for this purpose. Additional requirements on the algorithm include the ability to identify the passage of forward shocks, reasonable levels of hysteresis and persistence, and the ability to modify the algorithm by changes in stored constants rather than changes in the software. After a few minor adjustments, the algorithm performed well during the initial portion of the mission. Show less

Seventy-two images of the S-class asteroid 5535 Annefrank, acquired on 2 November 2002 at target ranges of 11,415–3078.5 km, were transmitted to Earth as a part of an engineering readiness test of the Stardust mission. Forty-four of these were used to create a phase curve extending to 134°, the largest angle yet achieved for any S-class asteroid. Flux fell by more than six magnitudes between the extrapolated 0° and 134°. A maximum illuminated cross section of 16 km2 was seen at a phase angle of… Show more

Seventy-two images of the S-class asteroid 5535 Annefrank, acquired on 2 November 2002 at target ranges of 11,415–3078.5 km, were transmitted to Earth as a part of an engineering readiness test of the Stardust mission. Forty-four of these were used to create a phase curve extending to 134°, the largest angle yet achieved for any S-class asteroid. Flux fell by more than six magnitudes between the extrapolated 0° and 134°. A maximum illuminated cross section of 16 km2 was seen at a phase angle of 47.2°. Assuming a camera efficiency of 75%, a broadband (470–940 nm) geometric albedo of 0.24 was derived for Annefrank Show less

Peer reviewer for published papers