APL-led TIMED Team Receives NASA Award

APL-led TIMED Team Receives NASA AwardDuring the 31st annual NASA Headquarters Honor Awards Ceremony on Nov. 3, 2004, the TIMED (Thermosphere, Ionosphere, Mesosphere Energetics and Dynamics) project was presented with the Civil Service/Contractor Team Award. NASA presents this award to a team composed of both Headquarters civil servants and contractors for outstanding performance in support of Headquarters' mission. The APL-led team was recognized "for outstanding accomplishments in the successful development, launch and completion" of TIMED's primary 2-year mission, which ended in January 2004. It was also recognized for the collection of "unprecedented global observations of the upper atmosphere's basic structure, temperature, pressure, wind and chemical composition, as well as measurements of the regions energy inputs and outputs." APL TIMED Project Manager Dave Grant, accepted the award on behalf of APL, which designed, built and is operating the spacecraft for NASA. "It's an honor to have NASA recognize the dedication of the many team members nationwide contributing to TIMED's success," he said. "Thank you for a job well done." TIMED - the first mission in NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes Program - was launched on Dec. 7, 2001, to explore one of the last frontiers in Earth's atmosphere. In January 2004, TIMED began an extended 3-year mission to study how declining solar activity affects a portion of the upper atmosphere that serves as the gateway between Earth's environment and space, where the sun's energy is first deposited into our environment.

Pictured with the TIMED team award are (from left): NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe; NASA's Solar Terrestrial Probes Program Executive VictoriaElsbernd; APL TIMED Project Manager Dave Grant; APL Space Department Chief Engineer and TIMED Mission System Engineer Dave Kusnierkiewicz; TIMED Project Scientist Sam Yee (APL); and NASA's Associate Administrator for Institutions and Management James Jennings. Download Hi-Res Image (.tif 16MB)