Remembering Adrian
From the InterPlanetary Networking Special Interest Group (IPNSIG)
Remembering Adrian
We hang on to the people who matter to us, as long as we can, and then we can’t hang on any longer and they’re gone. Adrian Hooke was a visionary, a romantic, a true believer, sometimes a tough adversary and always a loyal friend. Maybe most of all, for those of us who worked with him on making the Solar System Internet a reality, he was a tireless, resourceful, and endlessly enthusiastic leader. We will miss him.
Adrian was an admitted Space geek for 46 years. He worked on the Lunar Modules for Apollo 9, 10, 11, and 12, from 1966 to 1969. He was on the flight control teams for the Mariner 9 and 10 missions that visited Mars, Venus, and Mercury. He worked on Voyager and SEASAT, and in 1976-77 he spent a year at the European Space Agency helping with the Shuttle-SpaceLab program.
Out of his experience with these projects grew a deep understanding of the complexity of communicating with spacecraft and of the costs and risks inherent in reinventing vehicle command and telemetry procedures over and over again for every new mission. So from 1981 onward Adrian made it his business to improve the reliability and reduce the cost of flight mission communications by establishing sound standards.
He was well equipped for job he’d taken on. He was very smart, and he was highly articulate. In Adrian’s nature were steely determination and limitless energy, with not only a keen appreciation of human wackiness but also an equally keen ear – and not much patience – for pernicious nonsense.
In 1982 Adrian co-founded the international Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems. Within CCSDS, he was instrumental in the development of international standards for Packet Telemetry, Packet Telecommand, the Advanced Orbiting Systems protocols used for communication with the International Space Station, and the Space Communications Protocol Standards that improve Internet protocol performance over links to Earth-orbiting satellites.
All of this was prologue to the vision of a ubiquitous, cheap, and reliable Interplanetary Internet – as simple to use as the terrestrial Internet, but able to operate over the enormous distances between planets in the solar system – that captured his imagination in the late 1990s. Adrian organized the initial meeting of JPL, MITRE, and Sparta engineers with Vint Cerf at MCI, in February of 1998, that planted the seeds for what we would later call Delay-Tolerant Networking. He then spent the next fourteen years nurturing DTN: finding money to develop it, encouraging experiments to demonstrate it, and helping often-skeptical space programs to finally understand its importance. That work isn’t done yet, but without Adrian’s fierce commitment it might never have gotten started.
And there isn’t anyone quite like him to take over, now that he’s gone. The rest of us have just got to step up. In the end, Adrian finished the job in the only way he could: along with so much else, he left us an idea worth reaching for. We couldn’t hope for any more. Goodbye, Adrian, and thanks.
int cerf
Adrian was the spark plug and engine that kept our growing team focused and productive. Never seeking recognition for himself, he worked tirelessly to keep the Interplanetary Network effort in the budget and on the radar screens of those whose support was needed. He was the master of PowerPoint with presentations that easily topped 25-50 MB and jammed images and information into exquisitely choreographed stories. His spreadsheets were paeans of persuasion for those whose budgets needed to include support for IPN. Adrian had a wacky side too – his sense of the ironic and the ridiculous produced some of the weirdest and funniest URL pointers to obscure websites I have ever seen. I still laugh until the tears come every time I hear “The Bricklayer’s Lament” [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zZUJLO6lMhI].
We are grateful for all the support he and we received from his wife, Merle McKenzie, who worked with him at JPL and NASA. They made a remarkable team and her presence in our midst reinforced our determination to press on when things seemed dark, as she continues to do despite her personal loss.
Scott Burleigh’s beautiful requiem speaks for all of us who loved and worked with Adrian for many years. We will carry on, somehow, driven by the belief in the possibilities Adrian articulated so well and so convincingly.
Adrian has gone on ahead of us, as he did in life. Somewhere, somehow, in the fullness of time, I won’t be surprised to find him again, ready to put us all to work together on another project he’s prepared for us. So long, Adrian, and thanks for all the fish…
From Rich Miller, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Retired
Merle,
Adrian
was a very unique character (somehow I think you were well aware of
that). His technical excellence and rare combination of detailed and
big picture understanding always commanded respect in that wide
audience.
I will highlight only two aspects which were a
source of both admiration and amusement for me over all those
aforementioned years.
Adrian was a master of presentations.
His viewgraphs were always amazing and combined with his language
skills always made his presentations the highest information density
of anyone no matter the occasion. He also had an amazingly flexible
throttle. He could have 10 viewgraphs left and the chairman say, "I
know you were scheduled for 20 more minutes but the meeting is
running late, can you finish in 5?"....and he would do it
without leaving out a singe viewgraph or word. "One minute
warning," with 3 viewgraphs left, one more click up on his speed
and he would finish as requested still without dropping a word.
The
second I will mention, which is related to his presentation skills,
was his command of language. Adrian was an archetypical example of
why the language the rest of us try to use should be called
"English". His use of words and turn of phrase was a
reminder of why the Masterpiece Theater drama's and comedies are such
a delight. Even when Adrian criticized someone (even if it was you)
you wanted to write it down to remember the cleverness and
originality of it. An example I remember was a particularly eloquent
diatribe of someone’s [at a Center] lack of competence.
Unfortunately he had sent this as an email to the subject person with
several on distribution. I replied to Adrian's email saying "although
you are right about him" it was wrong to put such a thing in
writing and particularly in a medium such as email which could so
easily be recopied and spread. His email reply to my reprimand was
short: "It is also a good practice to be careful with "Reply"
verses "Reply all". To my horror his was right, I had
accidentally used "Reply all" to the same
distribution.
Lots of good memories of significant challenges,
shared frustrations, and celebrated successes.
Rich
Miller
From Ed Greenberg, JPL, and another original member of CCSDS
Merle, I was looking for my pictures of Adrian and finally came across the box containing these photos. These pictures are from the Block Telemetry party at the LAB. It was a Bar Mitzvah party (13 years after the writing) for the paper. I hope to see you soon so we can give you our good wishes in person.
From Ed Birrane, Johns Hopkins University
Hi. This is Ed Birrane,
and I work at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Lab (APL)
and have supported, in some fashion, the DTN project for the past
several years. We all had dinner together one evening in Darmstadt
and we spoke briefly in January at JPL after your lunch with Vint. I
had mentioned sending you an e-mail, and apologize for any
delay.
While I only knew Adrian in a professional context, I
was enormously fond of his personality, insight, and enthusiasm. I
was looking forward to seeing him at the meetings at JPL in early
January and so shocked and saddened to hear of his passing.
There
were three things I wanted to communicate as you were collecting work
information for Adrian: my sincere thanks for his championing of the
DTN project/technology, a singular memory of him in Noordwijk, and
how deeply I enjoyed, and miss, his manner.
First, a
thank you.
In early 2012 I drafted an e-mail thanking Adrian
for his passionate drive in championing a transformational technology
within NASA and recounting how it had a very large impact on my
career and personal direction. I never sent that e-mail as I felt it
inappropriate to send such a thing to someone who gives you money;
there is always the chance the intent could be misconstrued. I
regret, now, deleting it instead of sending it. I want to pass on to
you the gist of the e-mail and to at least get the "thank you"
out there in some small way.
Several years ago I
came to a personal conclusion that I needed to shift my career away
from repetitive engineering tasks and towards strategic technology
development; to be more thinker than typer. Around that time I joined
the NASA DTN project. It was interesting technology: space and NASA
and Internet rolled into one. The problems were (are!) technical,
social, and political in nature. At the core of this team was Adrian
- someone with a wild enthusiasm to envision a new technical reality
and with a sharp (and humorous) intolerance of status-quoers and the
occasional "radiohead". He was charismatic, effective, had
a history of successes, and a wonderful wit. I love technology, but
he made me love *this* technology and the context in which he wished
it applied. His passion for this work was infectious and I am
plodding through my PhD thesis in this area (with Vint and Keith
Scott on my committee).
I owe Adrian a very big "thank
you" for fighting for this project, for letting me/APL on it,
and for keeping me/APL on it (and that was pretty tough to do
sometimes). I owe him a very big "thank you" for
inspiring me not only on this technology, but with his energetic,
holistic approach to realizing it. I learned lessons from Adrian I
would not have learned from others, and I am grateful to him and for
him. While inspiring me is important to me, I have no
presumption that it is important to others, so I also wanted to thank
him for his generally inspiring persona. It is highly likely I am not
the only life path he has influenced.
Second, a
recollection.
A few years back we had a CCSDS meeting in
Noordwijk at ESTEC. My wife, Linda, came with me as she always
wanted to see the tulip fields (or mud fields in the off-season...),
The Hague, Amsterdam, Delft, and other areas. One evening was a
CCSDS-sponsored dinner and Linda joined in. Sitting at our
table were several DTNers working to understand the value proposition
of DTN.
As it happened, Linda sat next to Adrian and a few
minutes into what was to become a multi-hour debate, Adrian checked
out of the DTN conversation and spent the rest of the dinner chatting
with us. He spent the time talking about living in Noordwijk, the
strangeness of keeping up the bay window appearances, the snowstorms
and medical emergencies, places to see. He spent some time
talking about his family and having lived in various places. It was a
warm, personable and kind discussion which completely saved the
evening for those not wishing to delve into a night of aerospace
politics. While a small kindness, we have carried that with us.
Linda was as shocked and saddened at the news of his passing as
I; she sends her most sincere condolences.
Third, some
humor.
Many of my e-mails with Adrian were technical in
nature, or dealing with budgets, timeframes, statements of work, and
such. Some e-mails included ventings that are probably best left
un-forwarded. However, in going through my e-mail archive, I pulled
out a few examples in our correspondences of my exposure to his
directness and humor, which I miss very much.
On funding
APL:
-------------------
> We are on Q1 fumes right now
Is
that stuff legal in Maryland?
On
religion:
-------------------
> I'm not a fan of the term
"my illness", and don't mean to pry. Not sure
>
where you fall on the faith spectrum, but I've certainly said a small
prayer
> or two for your health this past week. While
admittedly unlikely, let me
> know if there is anything I can
do to be helpful.
Thanks Ed. No need to apologize - it has
been my choice not to bore people with minute-by-minute details about
my illness, so your catching me in the hospital was a natural
consequence. I am home and doing fair to middling.
On the
faith spectrum, I once went to a couple of Unitarian gatherings.
Afterwards, we used to go out and burn question marks into people's
lawns .... ;-)
On financial
planning:
-------------------
> APL's contract through JPL
ends on 2/29 and we are spending these last two
> weeks
packaging up our deliverables, including the DTNMP RFC, and
>
software check-ins.
Ed: sorry, I have been consumed with
getting DTN budget, not spending it.
On NASA
HQ:
-------------------
>Currently in disneyworld.
Do
you mean that you are [at] NASA-HQ?
Thank you for the chance
to pass along a few fond memories of Adrian.
-Ed
You might want to skip to the end of this one for the picture there.
Subject: IOAG Announcement: Commemorating Adrian Hooke's Contributions Though the CCSDS Hall of Fame
CCSDS Founder and Lifetime Leader Active in CCSDS 1982-2012
Adrian Hooke dedicated his career to advancing the abilities of our international space agencies to work together, through development of data/communications technology and standards that enable multinational missions and bring many other benefits to the aerospace industry. He is credited with initiating the coordination that would eventually bring CCSDS into existence, and with providing not only technical and management leadership, but also the conscience, heart and soul of CCSDS for the three decades of his CCSDS participation.
From 1966-1969 Adrian worked in US industry as a member of the Kennedy Space Center launch team for the Apollo 9, 10, 11 and 12 Lunar Modules. Joining JPL in 1969, he was a member of the flight control teams for the Mariner 9 and 10 missions to Mars, Venus and Mercury. He worked on the Voyager onboard data system and led the design of the SEASAT end-to-end data system. In 1976, he took a position with the European Space Agency working on the flight operations architecture for ESA’s role in the Shuttle-SpaceLab program. Rejoining JPL in 1977, he focused on the development of new technology in the area of standardized space data communications protocols.
During this early period, Adrian worked on the development new approaches for space data communications. In 1974, he co-authored a new technology study on “Block Telemetry”, which actually flew on a later mission. With Adrian’s help, this work was expanded within NASA in 1977 to a JPL/GSFC collaboration, the NASA End to End Data System (NEEDS). Then, in 1979, Adrian used contacts from his time in the European Space Agency (ESA) to evolve NEEDS to an international collaboration; the NASA/ESA Working Group (NEWG). The NEWG would pioneer international usage of the “Packet Telemetry” scheme, the foundational telemetry scheme that would later become the bread-and-butter of the Consultative Committee for Space Data Systems (CCSDS). By 1982, Adrian and NASA HQ had expanded the NEWG to include other agencies, and the CCSDS was officially formed. Over the next 30 years, Adrian would perform a multitude of CCSDS leadership roles both in the highly technical and management arenas. Adrian served as the “technical conscience” of CCSDS, working towards the interests of both NASA and the whole international community, and forging a groundbreaking path for multi-agency spaceflight missions.
Adrian also brokered the agreement between the International Standards Organization (ISO) and CCSDS which would put CCSDS standards on a “fast track” to become ISO standards, by designating the CCSDS organization as ISO Technical Committee 20 Subcommittee 13 “Space Data and Information Transfer Systems”. Adrian also chaired the US Technical Advisory Group 13 (USTAG13) which formulates the US inputs into ISO TC20/SC13.
On the technical side, Adrian was instrumental in developing the Space Communications Protocol Specifications (SCPS), which were precursors to the advanced Delay Tolerant Networking (DTN) protocols. He also provided a major technical leadership and Project Management roles for both DTN and Data Standards within NASA. At the peak of his leadership, Adrian served as the chairman of the CCSDS Engineering Steering Group (CESG) and as the NASA Project Lead and Technical Lead for the Data Standards project and DTN project in the Space Communications and Navigation office at NASA Headquarters.
Managing CCSDS overall, Adrian executed innumerable innovative management strategies, such as reorganizing CCSDS (in 2000), modeling it after the successful Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) processes. His technical vision and leadership drove the standards community as he executed and relentlessly promoted the adoption of standards by the international community. As of this writing, the adoption of CCSDS standards by over 600 missions, both US and international, is a testament to the broad influence that Adrian’s work has had on humankind’s spaceflight programs. Adrian’s leadership, vision, wit and wisdom was a principal driver for the first three decades of CCSDS accomplishments. Adrian will be sorely missed by his NASA and international friends and colleagues.
Adrian held a B.Sc. (Honours) in Electronic and Electrical Engineering from the University of Birmingham, England. He was registered as a Chartered Engineer (C.Eng.) with the IEE in London and as a European Engineer (Eur. Ing.) with FEANI in Paris. He was awarded two NASA Exceptional Service Medals and the NASA Exceptional Achievement Medal. He was also awarded a one-of-a-kind special CCSDS award for his lifetime leadership, in April 2012.
http://public.ccsds.org/about/HallofFame/AdrianHooke.aspx
From Stephen Farrell, Trinity College Dublin
Hi
Merle,
I just head the sad news today about Adrian. I've
worked at a distance with him on and off for the last decade and
he'll be sorely missed in the DTN community. His leadership
in
this area was hugely significant.
And aside from work, I'll
personally miss his occasional snarky but hilarious emails - I got a
bunch of laughs out of them over the years, even the ones that took
the piss
out of the Irish:-)
My deepest sympathies,
Stephen
Farrell
Trinity College Dublin,
co-chair of the IRTF DTN
research group
From Philippe Schoonejans, ESA
Dear
Madam (dear Merle),
Via our NASA contacts I got your email
address and heard that you would be
interested to hear from
Adrian's colleagues around the world.
In the European Space
Agency ESA, we have a cooperation with NASA on
robotics
tele-operation and telecommunication, which is called
METERON. Adrian was the
champion on the NASA side for development
of new communications techniques
like DTN, so we had a lot to deal
with him. Ad what can I say other than that we will thoroughly miss
him. His dedication and enthusiasm was always incredible, and he was
a real ally for us. Adrian also told me that long ago he has been
working in Estec, just
before I came to Noordwijk. So perhaps ESA
was special for him too.
Of course this email can not do
anything to lessen your loss, but maybe it is nice to know that also
on the other side of the Atlantic there were many people who
appreciated Adrian and enjoyed working with him.
On behalf of
the METERON team in ESA (Noordwijk Netherlands and Darmstad,
Germany), I would want to pass our condolences, deepest sympathy and
best
wishes to you and Adrian's other loved ones.
Kind
regards,
Philippe Schoonejans, Head of Robotics, Human Spaceflight
and Operations, ESA
(METERON project manager)
From Chris Taylor, Area Director of CCSDS’s Spacecraft Onboard Interfaces Area
Dear Merle, I write
with sadness to hear of Adrian. I have worked with him
for over 20
years and was privileged to call him a friend. We worked together
on
many standards over the years and although we did not always agree,
we
always came to an amicable agreement in the end. His knowledge
was vast and I
was always so impressed by how he kept a handle on
so many things at once.
He was the NASA standards Programme
and he will be missed by all of us in
Europe.
My sincere
condolences to you,
Chris Taylor
----
European Space Agency lead to CCSDS
-----Original
Message-----
From: Juan.Miro@esa.int
[mailto:Juan.Miro@esa.int]
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2013 2:33 PM
To: Kearney, Mike W.
(MSFC-EO01)
Cc: 'CESG -- CCSDS-Engineering Steering Group'; 'CCSDS
Management Council'; cmc-bounces@mailman.ccsds.org
Subject:
Re: [CMC] Very sad news
Dear Mike and all,
This is a terrible shock for all of us;
Adrian had won our deep admiration and respect.
He displayed a remarkable professionalism and stamina to even participate in the recent meeting by teleconference despite his health problems.
Please let me know where we can send our condolences
Regards
Juan
----
From:
sunhuixian [mailto:shxian@nssc.ac.cn]
Sent:
Monday, January 07, 2013 6:53 PM
To:
Kearney, Mike W. (MSFC-EO01); 'CCSDS Management Council'; 'CESG
--CCSDS-Engineering Steering Group'
Subject:
Re: [CMC] Very sad news
Dear Mr. Mike Kearney and all:
This is the big sad news, indeed. We met him a few times only but he gave us very deep impressions for his remarkable professionalism and kindness. It seems that his voice by teleconference is still echoed in the meeting room.
Wish him sedateness and happy in other world with our deep admiration and respects.
Huixian Sun
NSSC/CAS
----
From:
ndssc-bounces@mailman.ccsds.org
[mailto:ndssc-bounces@mailman.ccsds.org]
On
Behalf Of Nichols,
Kelvin F. (MSFC-EO50)
Sent:
Monday, January 07, 2013 11:47 PM
To:
Tuttle, Karen L. (GRC-MSC0)
Cc:
ndswg; NDSSC
Subject:
Re: [Ndssc] Sad News
I know I have been out of the loop for about a year on CCSDS and DTN while supporting a special assignment but I must say that this has truly come as a shock and left me with a heavy heart. I have always respected him and he has been a very positive influence on me. I will truly miss him and only hope that I can help support and carry out his visions for what he put most of his time and effort into and make sure that his goals and visions for CCSDS and DTN will be carried out. You will be missed Adrian but you will never be forgotten.
----
Russian lead delegate to CCSDS
From:
mutafyan [mailto:mutafyan@tsniimash.ru]
Sent:
Wednesday, January 09, 2013 5:22 AM
To:
Kearney, Mike W. (MSFC-EO01)
Cc:
'CCSDS Management Council'; 'CESG -- CCSDS-Engineering Steering
Group'
Subject:
RE: [CMC] Very sad news
Dear Mike and all CCSDS members,
Please accept our condolences on the untimely death of one of the most active CCSDS member - Adrian Hooke. Adrian stood at the origins of CCSDS and brought a huge contribution to the development of CCSDS.
It is an irreplaceable loss for all of us. His name will remain in our hearts forever.
The Head of the Russian delegation,
Valery Zaichko,
And all members of the Russian delegation.
----
From Tsutomu SHIGETA, JAXA representative for the CCSDS Management Council, and other JAXA CCSDS Members
Dear
Ms. Merle McKenzie,
This is from members of the Consolidated
Space Tracking and Acquisition Department of JAXA (Japan Aerospace
Exploration Agency). We are secretariat members of JAXA CCSDS,
as well as JAXA representative for the CCSDS Management Council.
Our
colleagues of JAXA DTN team members shared your contact address. If
you may allow us, we would like to express our deepest condolence and
that we regret to have lost such a great pioneer.
We are a
part of people who praise and honor the achievements Dr. Adrian Hooke
had earned in the field of space communication and space
development.
We recognize that our responsibility is to
fulfill his will to the greatest extent possible by further promoting
CCSDS standardization activities.
Most respectfully,
JAXA
representative for the CCSDS Management Council
Tsutomu
SHIGETA
JAXA CCSDS Secretariat
Yoko FUJITA,
Nobuhito NOMURA, and
Yuta KIMURA
From Enrico Vassallo, European Space Agency, ESOC Frequency Coordination Office, Head
Dear
Mrs. Merle,
The
news of Adrian's departure has left me in shock and grief. I saw him
last April here in Darmstadt where he had his normal good temper and
did not hesitate to make jokes of the Mayor on his bicycle. He looked
OK at that time.
I
have known Adrian for more than 10 years, since my participation to
CCSDS started. Although we met only twice per year, we would not have
to wait longer than a couple of weeks for exchanging business related
emails.
Adrian
was CCSDS. He was very competent but also reasonable and able to work
out compromises between both sides of the Atlantic. I called on him
several times to sort out very distant positions and he never failed.
He would find a solution to any non-conventional request we might
have had.
I
will sorely miss him.
Sincerely,
Enrico
From Dave Israel, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
Merle,
At first I thought sending a sympathy e-mail was inappropriate, but I realized that sending this message over a network is especially appropriate. I thought about how to send it over a space-link, but couldn’t come up with a plan I could implement immediately…
I was glad to see you briefly yesterday, when you stopped by the DTN meeting. That meeting would not have been happening, in fact the whole DTN effort would not be happening, if not for Adrian’s talents, passion, and persistence. I’m so thankful that I had the opportunity to meet and work with him. I learned a great deal from him about all of the non-technical aspects relating to bringing technologies, standards, and organizations into existence and keeping them going through all of the challenges. I viewed him as a highly respected and admired colleague and mentor, but, perhaps, more importantly a friend and kindred spirit. I will greatly miss the opportunities to meet with him, witness his one-of-a-kind presentations, receive his e-mails, and hear his unique turns of phrase and characterizations.
He has created a great legacy and I’m certain that me and many others are even more committed now to keeping it going.
Deepest Sympathies,
Dave Israel
From Gian Paolo Calzolari, European Space Agency ESA/ESOC
Dear Merle,
The
sad news about Adrian did shock all of us.
I
have been knowing Adrian since 1996 when I joined CCSDS and he has
always been a clear guidance and example for me as (at that time) a
young engineer.
Going
ahead in the years I think I had the invaluable opportunity for
appreciating not only Adrian's technical excellence and vision but
also his exquisite politeness, friendly manners and honesty.
I will miss greatly
Adrian example and guidance in the CCSDS and thinking about the
sorrow this sad news caused to me, I guess that the suffering for
Adrian's family shall really be something of unthinkable magnitude.
Please accept -
together with your family - my deepest condolences for this
mourning.
Gippo
Gian Paolo
Calzolari
Systems Engineer, HSO-OST
European Space Agency
ESA/ESOC
From Mike Kearney, NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, Lead Technology Manager, Mission Operations Laboratory
Everyone may have seen this already, but this is the video of the award presentation in Darmstadt.
All the best to you and the rest of Adrian’s family, Merle.
Mike Kearney, Lead Technology Manager, Mission Operations Laboratory
From Howie Weiss, Technical Director, Sparta
From:
<Weiss>,
Howie Weiss <Howard.Weiss@sparta.com>
Date:
Tuesday,
January 8, 2013 10:49 AM
To:
SEA-Sec
<sea-sec@mailman.ccsds.org>
Subject:
[Sea-sec]
FW: Sad News
I
knew and worked with Adrian for the past 20 years and this is a great
personal loss to me. He was responsible for introducing me and
pulling me into NASA and CCSDS. He will be sorely missed by the
entire community as a visionary, a man with unbounded energy and
vitality, and a good human being.
Regards,
Howie
From Nick Shave, Logica
From:
<Shave>,
Nick <nick.shave@logica.com>
Date:
Tuesday,
January 8, 2013 11:41 AM
To:
Howie
Weiss <Howard.Weiss@sparta.com>,
SEA-Sec <sea-sec@mailman.ccsds.org>
Subject:
Re:
[Sea-sec] FW: Sad News
Dear
Howie,
What very sad news.
Adrian will be sorely missed this
side of the pond. He was the leading light in international space
standardisation, providing such positive guidance and insight (from
our perspective giving great support effective protocol security),
and all with a sense of humour that made working with him such
fun.
You said it very well - a good human being.
Best regards,
Nick
From Jane Marquart (GSFC-5820)
Dear Merle,
I thought I would wait a bit before sending you this note as I am sure you received so many e-mails after the news of Adrian's passing. I met Adrian about 10 years ago when I become involved in the Standards program at Goddard and eventually was the GSFC rep as well as the lead for the 'beloved' DTN project. You and I have met briefly several times, most recently in January when you were at JPL to meet Vint and were gracious enough to stop by the DTN working group meeting to say hello.
That took so much courage, I wanted to jump up and give you a big hug but I guessed that wasn't the proper venue! But it was a nice gesture and enabled those of us that hadn't seen Adrian in quite a while to digest the news just a little bit more, so thank you.
I learned so much from Adrian, as the Standards program was my first foray into the international arena (as well as working with HQ). Diplomacy and tenacity are two words that come to mind quickly when I recall Adrian in action. Unlike many in the DTN group, my relationship with Adrian was primarily professional, as he didn't talk much about his personal life. We'd chat about your place in Colorado (I have a house in South Carolina), and topics along those lines. However, two things I will always remember that I wanted to share with you. First, was the smile on his face when he spoke of being a grandfather (and actually babysat, right?). So proud he was! And second, was an e-mail I received announcing that your book had been published. Again, seemed like a very exciting event for him. For some reason, these just brought a smile to my face, maybe because after so many years of the 'professional' Adrian, I got a glimpse of the man who loved his family so much.
We'll all miss him tremendously.
Sincerely,
Jane Marquart
From Larry Freudinger, NASA Dryden Flight Research Center
Merle:
Thank you so much for calling today – I pray that you are coping well. I spent some time this evening reviewing the tributes on the Internet to Adrian, and I cried. Many tributes out there assert that Adrian touched many lives. My life is one of them.
I first met Adrian at his “Internets in Emerging Mixed Environments” workshop. I was neither a space guy nor a protocol guy, but I did share with this audience an understanding of the latent value in reliable vehicular network communications. My interest was and is networking amongst aircraft.
So there I was, waving my arms about and pontificating about how great life would be once we got network access to and from instrumentation networks on aircraft.
After I finished my talk, this guy who I later discovered to be Adrian raises his hand and asks “Whose job is it to deliver that networking service for aircraft?” I replied with something to the effect of “you guys, I think”.
If a technology gap could make a sound, it would be the silence that followed my reply. We all listened to the silence and then I said “Oh. We have a long way to go, don’t we?”
I suppose I became one of many that Adrian took under his wing or was otherwise nudged by him in the right direction. Over the next few years we successfully helped lobby for investments to develop telemetry networks in the aircraft testing world. Then he asked me to be his technical chairman for the International Telemetering Conference which, quite frankly, was a watershed event in my career. He was a fantastic mentor; a sage with a brilliant, quick, and often acerbic wit that I simply wish I had.
We all know his work is incomplete, and we continue to strive for the vision which is now officially passed on to us, his heirs.
With Deep Sympathy and Best Regards
Larry Freudinger