Waterline 092415

September 24, 2015

The WaterlineThe WaterlineVol. XXXII No. 37

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NEWS AND INFORMATION FOR THE NATIONAL CAPITAL REGION

www.cnic.navy.mil/nsaw

2 Thursday, September 24, 2015Waterline

The WaterlineCommander, Naval Support Activity Washington

Capt. Monte Ulmer

NSAW Public Affairs OfficerBrian Sutton

NSAWDeputy Public Affairs OfficerPatrick Gordon

Waterline StaffWriter

Whitney Anderson

Page DesignerComprint Military Publications

Matthew Getz

All stories must be submitted by 4 p.m. theThursday prior to publication. E-mail stories to:

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All submissions must also include the author’s nameand office or telephone number where they can bereached. If you have further questions, call or contactthe editor at (202) 433-9714, fax (202) 433-2158.

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By Whitney AndersonNSAW public affairs

Whenever the utilities we use on a daily basis go hay-wire, our immediate reaction is to panic. “Fix it now! It’san emergency because in some way our day has beeninconvenienced.” However, we often fail to think aboutthe large amount of people experiencing similar incon-veniences or about the people who have to find ways toremedy these problems.

In an attempt to alleviate the frequency of servicecalls while spacing out the work load for installationcontractors, Naval Support Activity Washington has aservice ticket protocol under the base operating con-tract to prioritize service tickets accordingly. Theseservice calls have been broken down into the three cat-egories:

-Emergency: 30 minute response. Work until emer-gent condition is arrested.

- Any facility deficiency that immediately compro-mises the mission or life, health, and safety. Examplesinclude-failure of any utility, fire protection, environ-mental control, or security alarm systems.

- Urgent: 2 working days to complete.- Any deficiency that does not immediately endanger

personnel or property, but extended delays or repairscould result in damage to government property, or soonaffect the security, health or well-being of personnel orthe continued operation of a service or system.

- Routine: 10 working days to complete.- Any deficiency that does not qualify as emergency

or urgent, but is needed to maintain the facility condi-tion. The maintenance performed restores the deficien-cy to the item’s intended purpose and normal workingcondition. Does not include improvements.

Lt. j.g. Laura Hess, NSAW public works officer, saidthat while the definition of each service call may seemclear, they still have to be evaluated on a case-by-casebasis.

“While a broken lock on an average door would typi-cally be classified as routine maintenance, if it’s a se-cure space and the lock is broken then that turns intoan emergency,” said Hess.

“EMCOR [installation government contracting servic-es] has 30 minutes to respond when an emergency ser-vice ticket comes in, and by respond I mean they get thecall, they are on the site within 30 minutes and startingto work to arrest the emergency,” Hess said.

Hess said that a broken water pipe immediately be-comes an emergency call to shut off the source of the wa-ter. However, any additional maintenance or repair oncethe water has been stopped becomes routine, and workwill be scheduled and performed within 10 days. Hesssaid that the timeline given for each service to occur is aprecise one and the contractors are bound to each timeframe by their contract unless otherwise specified.

“There are only certain limits that a service ticket cancover,” said Hess. She said that each service ticket canonly cover $2,500 and 32 hours of manual labor, afterthat time if the work exceeds the limit it is passed on tothe public works department as a task order.

“[Public works] acquire additional funding, and in

that case the work is not going to be completed in 10days, but the contractors still did their part and areabiding by the contract.” said Hess. “We’ll go throughand get the money so that we can pay EMCOR the ad-ditional amount they need to complete the work andrework the time limit in that instance.”

Hess said that it is important personnel understandthese service call descriptions, and that above all theyexercise patience.

“EMCOR today has over 100 open service tickets,whereas the normal average is 60,” said Hess.

Hess said the spike in service tickets filed during the

summer months is due to a rise in air conditioning calls,but she said the fall months will likely bring some reliefbefore the start of winter.

Hess added that those wishing to file a service tickethave options to do so.

“There are two different ways to call in a service tick-et,” said Hess, “one is to call the FMS-facility mainte-nance specialist-but they can also call the public worksservice desk directly if it’s an emergency.”

For more information on service call descriptions orto enter a service ticket, call (202) 433-3101 or visit thepublic works department in building 166 suite 100.

Service calls: are they emergent, urgent, or routine?

U.S. Navy photo

Naval Facilities Engineering Command Washington Plant Manager Larry Gray inspects equipmentatop a cooling tower at the Naval Research Laboratory, Washington, D.C. Equipment such as this isregularly maintained, but should a service call need to be placed, NSAW public works wants person-nel to know the difference between emergency, urgent, and routine items.

Thursday, September 24, 2015 3Waterline


Has your office waste become an un-sightly nuisance?

Starting Oct. 1 Commander, NavyInstallations Command will be imple-menting new janitorial all facility ser-vices from current standing commonoutput level 4 to common output level3, or from COL 4 to COL 3, as used as thegeneral installation terms. Under COL 3,many services will now be administeredmore frequently.“COL 4 doesn’t allowfor trash pickup desk side,” said Cole-man. “As we go to COL level 3 we’ll see areinstitution of some of those things thata lot of people are more familiar with.”

Coleman remarked that despite theincrease in service, it does not negatethe need for individuals to supplementcleaning measures in between profes-sional cleanings.

“ I t ’ s probably st i l l incumbentamongst the tenants to do some level ofcare themselves,” said Coleman.

Coleman added that under COL 3 highvolume areas such as restrooms, whichwere only cleaned once a day under COL4, will now be serviced once every shift.

“If you have a watch floor that has a24-hour service, instead of the bathroombeing cleaned once that day, if it’s threeshifts, it will be cleaned three times,”Coleman said.

Coleman explained that some of theproblem with leaving areas such as theflooring solely up to tenants to clean isthat if the act isn’t being done enough ittends to wear down the flooring and out-date the carpet. Replacing flooring canbe much more expensive than extendingits life with regular cleaning.

“Sweeping and vacuuming becomemonthly under COL 3, whereas underCOL 4 it was something the tenants hadto do themselves,” said Coleman.

Although under COL 3 no area is leftup to the tenant to clean, Coleman ex-pressed that it is still imperative for peo-

ple to have enough respect for a sharedworkplace to clean up after themselveson a regular basis.

“The goal here is to not only maintainthe things we have through janitorialcontracts, but to also instill a workplacepride for the people that work here so

that they’re in tune to take care of thefacilities as well,” said Coleman.

Coleman said he believes this to be apositive change for the installation be-cause it will take some of the burden offof the individual, but it will not excusethem from all responsibility.

“It’s important that we rememberthe same way we decorate or personal-ize our cubes or office space with paint-ings and pictures as a form of pride, it’simportant we pick up and take out thetrash in that same way,” said Coleman.

Ensign Samuel Reimer, FMFS branchhead, said buildings on base that seemore public traffic will be cleaned morefrequently than what is outlined for COLbase level 3, and are looked at on an in-dividual basis.

Reimer explained that those com-mands that had a need for additionaljanitorial services, outside of what isto be provided in COL 3, would fund allother expenses themselves.

“The region funds for up to COL level3 base measure and anything additionalthe individual command funds that dif-ference,” Reimer said.

COL level 3 janitorial services havebeen funded at this time for the dura-tion of FY16 and will start Oct. 1.

Janitorial Services-01 October, all CNIC facilities in-

crease to COL 3:- Restroom cleaning - once every

shift- Drinking fountain cleanings - daily- Desk side trash pickup - once a

week- Sweeping and vacuuming - monthly- Floor stripping, coating, and buff-

ering - annually- Carpet & rug deep cleaning - every

two years

CNIC janitorial services increased to COL 3

U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Gordon

Gerald Watson collects his office trash in building 101 for disposal at a cen-tral collection point. Starting Oct. 1 Commander, Navy Installations Com-mand will be implementing new janitorial services increasing all facilityservices, including weekly desk side trash pickup.


Traffic safety initiatives continue to be pushed as apriority on the Washington Navy Yard. Naval SupportActivity Washington will persist in upholding all traf-fic laws for personnel on the installation as the issueof traffic in the surrounding the D.C. continues to af-fect commutes and parking.

The traffic safety committee, overseen by Capt.Monte Ulmer, NSAW commanding officer, and Lt.Cmdr. John Liddle, NSAW executive officer, is com-posed of representatives from each tenant commandand meets quarterly to discuss various traffic hazardson the installation.

Edward Lewis, NSAW safety specialist, said thecommittee has been taking its duties on the Washing-ton Navy Yard seriously, and measures have alreadybeen put into place to lessen the burden of traffic vio-lations in the previous months.

Lewis explained the committee was created to gen-erate and maintain an active interest in occupationalsafety and health, providing program assistance tocommanding officers, while proposing policy andprogram objectives to minimize the number of traffic-related mishaps and injuries surrounding the instal-lation.

“The traffic safety committee is a venue which pro-vides an opportunity for various groups and individu-als to express multiple viewpoints and interests,” saidLewis. “The goal is to enhance traffic safety awarenessfor NSAW personnel and tenant command personnelas well as dependents.”

One safety measure that has come as a result ofthe committee is that of the pedestrian crosswalksign at the 9th Street gate. Lewis said the crosswalksign serves to show the commitment of the committee

to make efforts to ensure the safety of everyone thatcomes onto the installation.

One protocol the traffic committee has decided toreinstate on the installation is that of towing enforce-ment for parking violators. Vehicles that impede trafficflow, get in the way of first responders or block firehydrants will be towed at the driver’s expense.

“The hope is to enhance traffic safety awarenessand improve the effectiveness of the Navy Occupa-tional Safety and Health Program,” said Lewis.

Chief of Police Michael McKinney, Naval DistrictWashington Regional Police, said that parking vio-lations on the installation have gotten increasinglyworse, emphasizing the need for traffic enforcement.

“One of the largest things we’re running into here,particularly in our parking garage areas, people areparking on the end of rows where there is not a space,or they’re parking on the side walls as you would turnto go up to the next level, reducing the roadway,” saidMcKinney. “Illegal parking like that endangers vehicleand pedestrian traffic in the garage both coming andgoing.”

Another problem police have come across on theyard are drivers parking in spaces that don’t belong tothem or using items to illegally block spaces for theirpersonal use later.

“We’ve found people who are attempting to usetheir own cones or otherwise block a space withsome type of furnishing-we’ve had to move a coupleof chairs and stuff of that nature placed in spaces-and it’s amazing that people are willing to go to thatlength,” said McKinney.

To hear more on the traffic safety committee ormake your voice heard on the traffic matters affectingyou and your individual command, check out www.dcmilitary.com/waterline or www.Facebook.com/Na-valSUpportActivityWashington to find the date of thenext quarterly tenant command council meeting.

NSAW traffic safety committee improving safety

U.S. Navy photo by Patrick Gordon

Lt. Dan Jensen uses a crosswalk to safely crossthe street at WNY. The NSAW traffic safety com-mittee was created to generate and maintain anactive interest in occupational safety and healthwhile proposing policy and program objectivesto minimize the number of traffic-related mishapsand injuries surrounding the installation.


By Mass Communication Spe-cialist 2nd Class Tyler CaswellUSNA public affairs

With the recent release of ALNAV065/15, the United States Naval Academyis now accepting motivated sailors andMarines, active and reserve, for admis-sion to the Class of 2020.

Successful candidates will be top-quality sailors and Marines with a com-petitive academic and military profile.

Preparation begins as early as highschool. Typically, fleet applicants whoranked in the top 40 percent of their highschool class are considered good candi-dates.

Additional requirements include SAT/ACT scores taken within the last twoyears, four years of high school mathe-matics and English and on year of chem-istry. Two years of a foreign language ishighly recommended.

A candidate’s application can bestrengthened with demonstrated strongleadership and command recognition.

Candidates must be of good moralcharacter and have no record of disciplin-ary action during the three years preced-ing application for admission. Packageswill not be reviewed without the com-manding officer’s endorsement.

The process of application to USNAcan seem daunting while serving your

country. It is highly recommended to seekout a mentor at your command, especial-ly one who attended USNA.

Mentors can guide and help articulatewhy the individual wants to attend USNAin preparation for the interviews neededfor the CO’s endorsement, which standsin place of the nomination.

“It was definitely huge having an offi-cer mentor help me through the process,”said Midshipman 1st Class Andrew Whis-ner, a former enlisted hospital corpsman.“My executive officer was a USNA gradu-ate, and he went as far as to help me fin-ish the last pieces of my application thatI couldn’t physically do myself while Iwas deployed to Afghanistan. Chancesare there is an academy graduate at yourcommand.”

Beyond academics and military bear-ing, physical fitness is a top priority atUSNA.

Applicants are required to possess out-standing physical fitness, as determinedby the Candidate Fitness Assessment andrecent command Physical Fitness Assess-ments.

“Everyone is in shape here at the acad-emy,” said Midshipman 1st Class AnnaWade, a prior enlisted mass communica-tion specialist. “My time period beforegetting ready to come here was a lot ofphysical training. I knew I was going to bepitted against people four years youngerthan myself, and I knew I wanted to be

in better shape than I was at the time. Iwould suggest to anyone to do an honestself-assessment and make the improve-ments you need to.”

Changing from a military-focused en-vironment to an academic-focused onecan be a challenge. Applicants are en-couraged to enroll in college courses inhigher math and science while at theircommand in order to strengthen theiradmission application and to help themadapt to an academic environment.

“A major challenge for enlisted andreservists is transitioning back to an aca-demic environment,” said Chief LogisticsSpecialist Maximo Regino, coordinatorfor USNA Fleet Naval Academy Prepara-tory School. “Often they have to attendthe Naval Academy Preparatory School,and the environment of NAPS replicatesthat of USNA. We know these servicemembers are out in the fleet training,performing and focused on their mission.NAPS is here to encourage the transition.I would tell potential candidates takea college-level mathematics or sciencecourse to get yourself back into the aca-demic groove.”

Up to 170 regular and reserve person-nel may be appointed to USNA each year.The experience they bring to the Brigadeof Midshipmen is invaluable.

“Our prior [enlisted] midshipmen pro-vide a unique and important perspective.They are able to relate lessons from the

fleet back to what they are doing here atthe academy and they are able to conveythose lessons to their fellow midship-men,” said Col. Steve Liszewski, com-mandant of midshipmen. “One of thereasons I am a Marine today is because Ihad a squad leader during Plebe Summerwho had been a prior enlisted Marine. Hisinspirational leadership and the examplethat he set helped guide my decision tobecome a Marine.”

The four years at USNA are challengingin order to develop midshipmen morally,mentally and physically. For enlisted can-didates who are accepted the change canbe a humbling experience.

“You’ve been in two years, made rankand now you are coming to USNA andyou’re taking orders from a second yearmidshipman who has no [fleet] experi-ence. It’s hard for a lot of ‘priors’,” saidWhisner. “You might have more fleet ex-perience, but that individual has moreacademy experience and that’s what mat-ters here. I see people struggle with thatpride. This is a very humbling place andyou have to adapt or you won’t make it.”

The deadline to apply to the Class of2020 is December 31, 2015. The deadlinefor all completed application documentsis January 31, 2016. Individuals interestedin applying can find a list of needed re-sources at www.usna.edu/Admissions/

For more news from U.S. Naval Acad-emy, visit www.navy.mil/local/usna/.

Bluejacket to blue and gold: USNA seekingenlisted applicants for the Class of 2020

Naval Research Lab Public Affairs Office

Created in 2004 by the American Astronautical Society and American Institute ofAeronautics and Astronautics, the Texas CanSat Competition is an undergraduateand graduate level design-build-launch event simulating the end-to-end life cycleof a complex engineering project.

Since its start in 2004, the CanSat competition has become an annual event pro-viding a unique opportunity for university and college student teams to design,

build, and launch a soda can-size satellite designed to meet specific mission objec-tives. Teams must be able to design and build a space-type system following theapproved competition guide, and then compete against each other at the end of twosemesters to determine the winners.

The 2015 mission simulates a science vehicle traveling through a planetary at-mosphere, sampling the atmospheric composition during descent. The CanSat iscomposed of two primary components, a science vehicle and a re-entry containerthat protects the vehicle during descent.

When deployed from the rocket the re-entry container must descend, via para-chute, with the science vehicle secured in the container. When released, the sciencevehicle should utilize a passive helicopter/auto gyro recovery method to reduce itsdescent rate to less than 10 meters per second. The vehicle must then stabilize anddescend at a minimum altitude of 300 meters. During descent the science vehicleshould record video (pointing at Earth) until it lands, and must collect telemetrydata during the descent at a 1 hertz (or one cycle per second) rate to a ground sta-tion. When the vehicle lands it should hold one large hen’s egg, unbroken from thefall.

Spanning a decade long commitment by the U.S Naval Research Laboratory andother federal and commercial sponsors, the goal of CanSat is to foster student growthin multiple disciplines of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics.

“Competition sponsors like NASA Goddard, AAS, JPL, Kratos, and the NRL, con-tinue to help make this competition successful year after year,” said Ivan Galysh,NRL engineer and organizer of the CanSat competition. “In adding to this year’s suc-cess, I additionally appreciated the help of NRL team members Dhiman Sengupta,Jim Yen, Ashley Wall, Dmitriy Bekker, Jamie Hartman, and Peggy Newman who, onshort notice, pulled together 400 certificates for the event.”

Beginning in October, student teams from around the nation, as well as SouthAmerica, Europe, and Asia, enter to design and build a space-type system. With pre-liminary design reviews held in February and critical design reviews held in April,the competition culminates in June on the donated property of Texas landowner,Mr. Jim Burkett.

“Thanks to Mr. Burkett and other volunteers from Texas, such as Gary Stricklandand his students from Coleman High School, and Pat Gordzelik’s team for providingfood and launch support for more than 100 attendees, this annual event continuesto be rewarding, providing opportunity for students to learn, hands-on, the funda-mentals and challenges necessary for successful real world missions.”

Of the 59 original teams, 42 attended the launch competition with first placebeing won by Team AGH Space Systems from AGH University of Science and Tech-nology, Poland; second place went to Team Ground Pounder University of AlabamaHuntsville, USA; third place was Team Raven Knights Carleton University of Ottawa,Canada; fourth place, Team MetuSat from Middle East Technical University, Turkey;and fifth place was Team Vaimaanix from SRM University, India; and the TenderfootAward was The Preachers from Seth Jai Parkash Mukand Lal Institute of Engineering& Technology, North India.

NRL, aerospace industry host CanSat student challenge

U.S. Naval Research Laboratory photo by Jamie Hartman

Co-sponsored by the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory, the CanSat competi-tion is a design-build-fly competition that provides international collegesand universities an opportunity to experience the design lifecycle of anaerospace system.


By Jim GaramoneDoD NewsDefense Media Activity

The commander of U.S. CyberCommand described the role of deter-rence in the cyber world, the problemsof defending against cyber enemies,and “operationalizing” cyber capabil-ities in the Defense Department dur-ing a discussion at the Woodrow Wil-son International Center for ScholarsSept. 8.

Navy Adm. Michael S. Rogersstressed that these cyber challengesface all Americans. Wilson CenterPresident Jane Harmon demonstratedthe truth of that statement by askinganyone in the audience who had notbeen hacked to raise his or her hand.Not a soul did.

Defense of the cyber realm requiressolving the challenge of “bringing to-gether a broad expanse of organiza-tions with different expertise, differentcapabilities, different perspectives in-side the government, outside, whetherthey wear the uniform or in civilianclothes,” Rogers said. “How do webring this together in a coherent wayas a nation to deal with problems thatare only growing in their complexity?”

Cybercom is tasked with defendingDoD networks from attacks, and thecommand is at war 24/7, the admiralsaid. The command also responds tocyberattacks and develops the capa-bilities that provide options to civilianleaders and combatant commanders.

Cybercom “must learn, even as webuild capabilities of the future,” Rog-ers said. “This is a long-term effort.

It always reminds me of the counter-terrorism piece in that regard. It willrequire a sustained focus at multiplelevels.”

The admiral emphasized the needfor legislation governing the cyberworld, noting that it is not a panacea,but necessary to establish “rules of theroad.” He also emphasized the needfor public and private entities to worktogether.

Americans Expect CyberattacksHarmon asked Rogers if there was

the danger of a “cyber Pearl Harbor.”The admiral said the image of the PearlHarbor attack that precipitated U.S.entry into World War II was “a boltfrom the blue” that America did notexpect and had little defense against.

Americans expect cyberattacks,and the potential targets of those at-tacks -- both public and private --have defenses, the admiral said.

“I expect in my time as the com-mander of United States Cyber Com-mand, the command will be calledabout its mission of responding tocyber incidents of significant con-sequence,” he said. “It’s not ‘if,’ it’s‘when.’ All of us, we’ve got to generateaction and not just talk. Because in theend this is about a very real set of ca-pabilities and circumstances out therethat aren’t something imaginary.”

The Sony attack, the Office of Per-sonnel Management hack and the at-tacks on Aramco in Saudi Arabia allshow the capabilities of cyberattacks,Rogers said. “There isn’t a segmentin our society that hasn’t had to dealwith this,” he said.

Defense and prevention efforts incyberspace must abide by the rule

of law, the admiral said. U.S. CyberCommand and the National SecurityAgency operate in a free and open re-public, he added. “We cannot attemptto override [the laws] or pretend thatthey are not relevant to what we do,”Rogers said. “If we can’t engendertrust in the nation we are serving, weare doomed to failure.”

The Role of DeterrenceThe admiral said deterrence in the

cyber realm has an offensive aspect toit, but defense also plays a role. Classicmeans of deterrence rely on convinc-ing an opponent that they will fail de-spite their best efforts.

“That’s one reason in the depart-ment we are investing a lot of capabil-ity … to make it harder for opponentsto actually penetrate our networks,”he said.

The second idea is convincing op-ponents that, even if they succeed,the cost they would pay would far out-weigh any value that would be gener-ated, he said.

“It’s part of the reason that whenwe came up with the [DoD cyber]strategy -- in an attempt to deter be-havior -- we would talk about the de-partment’s intent to generate a spec-trum of capability from the defensiveto the offensive,” he said.

Deterrence works with nationstates, but will it work against non-state actors? Rogers doesn’t have ananswer for that, but noted that “everygroup, every individual, values some-thing. There’s a way that we can high-light that which you value and poten-tially threaten if you continue to pur-sue destabilizing courses of actions.”

Rogers outlines cyber challenges facing DoD, U.S.

From Chief of Naval OperationsPublic Affairs Office

Adm. John Richardson relieved Adm. Jonathan Greenert asthe chief of naval operations in a ceremony, Sept. 18, at theU.S.Naval Academy in Annapolis, Md.

Richardson became the 31st CNO, the Navy’s most seniorofficer and, as amember of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, a principleadvisor to the secretary of the Navy, secretary of the defenseand the president.

Secretary of the Navy RayMabus spoke tomark the signifi-cance of the event.

“We are here today tomark the change of command in oneof the most storied, most historic and iconic posts in our mili-tary or anymilitary-the chief of naval operations,” saidMabus.“This job has been held by Leahy and King and Nimitz andBurke and Zumwalt-the very title implies action. It’s the chiefof naval operations.”

Mabus added, “It is fitting that this ceremony takes placehere at the Naval Academy, where the Navy legacy and legendfor both our outgoing and incoming CNO began.”

Secretary ofDefense AshtonCarter, the senior Pentagonof-ficial in attendance, presided over the event. Carter spoke ofthe Navy’s many accomplishments during Greenert’s tenure.

“With Adm. Greenert standing the watch, America’s sailorsandMarines have been where it matters, when it matters - re-balancing to the Asia-Pacific, where much of America’s futurewill be written; reinforcing our longstanding NATO allies; sup-porting our forces ashore in the turbulent Middle East; andprovidinghumanitarian assistance anddisaster relief theworldover, in a way that only America can and does do,” said Carter.

Before concluding, Carter’s remarks turned to the future,adding “Continuing andbuildingonall thisworkwill be criticalgoing forward, and Adm. John Richardson was a clear choiceto carry it out.”

During the ceremony,Richardson took thepodiumto thankGreenert and his wife Darleen.

“To have the chance to work with Adm. Greenert - to havehe and Darleen as friends andmentors, is like being an imme-

diate familymember.”The newCNObriefly discussed his worldview and the opti-

mism he has for the future.“I think that deep in our guts we sense a shift in the world,

andwe sense that once again it will be vitally important to pro-tect our interests on the seas,” said Richardson. “As an Ameri-can and as your CNO, I am very optimistic. Because this is ex-actly the environment in which Americans thrive, and we willthrive.”

In his farewell speech, Greenert, after four years as CNOand 40 years of honorable service as a naval officer, thankedthose who served with him during his tenure, his friends,family and the men and women serving in the U.S. Navy.

“People are this country’s asymmetric advantage,” saidGreenert. “We talk a lot about the sailors, but it’s also thecivilians-It’s also the families. It’s great American willing to

do the job. They are our advantage.”Greenert also praised his successor.“Challenges remain,

but we have the right team,” saidGreenert. “Adm. Richardsonhas all that it takes, but he also has what it takes, and that isDana [his wife], and they are ready tomeet those challenges.”

TheOffice of theChief ofNaval Operations has establishedthe following socialmedia accounts for sailors and citizens tocommunicate with and get information from the new CNO:

- Facebook (http://www.facebook.com/CNORichard-son)

- Twitter (http://twitter.com/CNORichardson)- Flickr (http://flickr.com/CNORichardson)- Instagram (http://instagram.com/CNORichardson)

Richardson relieves Greenert as CNO

U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Nathan Laird

Chief of Naval Operations Adm. Jonathan Greenert is relieved by Adm. John Richardson at a changeof office ceremony held at the U.S. Naval Academy.

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Naval Research LabPublic Affairs Office

Karl Battams -- a computational scien-tist at the U.S. Naval Research Laboratory-- confirmed the discovery of the 3,000thnear-sun comet using an NRL instrumentSept. 15.

“The comet was very small and only vis-ible for a few hours before being vaporizedby the sun’s intense radiation,” said Bat-tams. “But despite their small size, thesecomets really present real science value ina multitude of ways.”

The comet images come from NRL’sLarge Angle and Spectrometric Corona-graph Experiment instrument, which orbitson the Solar & Heliospheric Observatory.

“We are taking images of the region ofspace that surrounds the sun,” said Bat-tams, “and this allows us to see small ob-jects very near the sun that would otherwisebe invisible from earth.”

SOHO is a collaboration between NASAand the European Space Agency.

NRL has been sharing LASCO data onlinesince 1995; as a result, volunteers and citizenscientists discover most of the LASCO comets.

“I could make a fulltime job out of look-ing for comets and I still wouldn’t find a frac-tion of the ones that these guys have found,”says Battams. “So, for me, the 3000th cometis mostly their achievement.”

Worachate Boonplod, a science writerfrom Thailand, discovered the 3,000thcomet in data recorded by the spacecraft onSept. 13 and 14.

Russ Howard, who first started looking atcomets through coronagraphs in the 1970s,is the NRL principal investigator for LASCO.After unexpectedly observing the first sun-grazer, “We saw probably one a year for fiveyears,” he said. But now, thanks to LASCOand crowd-sourcing, “We’ve gone from onea year to one every few days.”

“From a science perspective,” said Bat-tams, “it’s more than doubled the popula-tion of known comets on record. More thanhalf of all known comets now carry SOHO’sname.” And that’s changed the science.

“It allows you to rethink things, howmuch material there is entering our world,”said Howard.

The SOHO satellite hovers in force bal-ance between the sun and our planet.

“SOHO is always right there, it’s alwayslooking right down the barrel of the gun,”said Battams. And when the sun takes aimat earth, in the form of powerful solar erup-tions, it can directly impact daily life andili-tary operations.

“The mission was looking for these bigeruptions from the sun, called coronal massejections, or CMEs,” said Howard. A majorCME, like one that NRL watched just barelymiss earth in 2012, could cause an estimated$2 trillion in damages and take 4-10 years forrecovery. Even more normal space weathercan disrupt satellite communications andradar, and blow out power transformers; soforecasting space weather is hugely impor-

tant and many NRL programs are devoted toimproving these capabilities.

The three-day predictions of CMEs thatLASCO provides from SOHO give time forutilities to disconnect transformers from thegrid, for airplanes to reroute away from thepoles, and for satellites to be switched intosafe mode.

Battams also studies the chemistry of thecomets themselves to learn about how ourplanets formed. “Comets are the leftoverbuilding blocks of when the solar systemwas formed,” he said, “and what we hope todo is learn about the initial conditions andearly composition of the very early solar sys-tem, and from that try and piece togetherhow everything came together to form theplanets and everything we have now.”

In December 2015, SOHO will mark 20years in space. “I think the longevity of it isa testament to all these people who buildthe spacecraft, operate the observatory, andwork on the data,” said Howard. “There’s re-ally a dedication.”

Sungrazers probe near the sun to pre-dict space weather

In studying sungrazers, NRL has learneda lot about the sun and how its activity af-fects us here on earth.

“We can treat the comets as mini-probesof the solar wind and near sun conditions,”says Battams. “You can look at their behav-ior, how their tails are reacting to the solarenvironment-it’s like a wind sock on an airfield.”

These data points help scientists under-stand and better forecast space weather.

“It’s almost like dropping a rock in apond,” said Battams. “So we have a modelof how we think the pond’s going to behave,but when we drop the rock in a pond we cancompare our model to what we actually ob-serve.”

Sungrazing comets can, on rare occa-sion, also help us learn about the magneticfields around the sun. In 2011, “We had abig comet that went right near the sun,”said Battams. “For a short time, it kind oflit up the magnetic field lines near the sun.”These events help scientists better under-stand CMEs, and how they impact spaceweather.

“SOHO has really shown that CMEsare the cause of the major geomagneticstorms,” said Howard. “What happens isthis huge amount of material is headed outinto space. And if it hits the earth’s magne-tosphere, this protective envelope of mag-

netic fields, it causes the atmosphere toring-to sort of move in and out.”

CMEs affect us more than one mightthink for a sun almost one million milesaway.

“That causes sub-storms to develop inthe earth, it causes the atmosphere to heatup-and so that increases drag on space-craft, it induces a field in the earth’s crust,”said Howard. “And if you have a long trans-mission line, you get what’s called a back-wards [electromotive force], which canburn up transformers in power substations.It’s an amazing event.”

Scientists still don’t fully understandwhat causes CMEs.

“The holy grail is to try to predict it,”said Howard. But for now, at least, “youcan have a few days advance warning. Lightgets here in eight minutes, but the materialtravels more slowly: it takes one to threedays.”

Do comets hold the keys to earth’s ori-gins?

In addition to space weather, studyingthe chemistry of the comets themselvesmay lead to a better understanding of howour delicate blue planet came to be.

“One of the biggest questions we havenow is, where did earth get its water?” saidBattams. “When earth was very young,it was kind of like this big molten ball-sowhere did all the water come from?”

Collisions, before gravity helped sweepthings up, used to be much more frequent.“The solar system is a lot cleaner and tidierplace now than it was if you go back, say,3.5-4 billion years,” he said. At that time, “alot of this debris would have impacted theprimitive earth”-including, possibly, water.

“You have to keep going backwards intime, and at some point you reach the pointof where comets were formed,” said Bat-tams. “We know that comets are mostlymade of frozen water and frozen gas.” Theyalso have amino acids, complex molecules,carbon-many of the basic ingredients forlife.

“There’s a ton of question marks aboutour origins,” said Battams. “So you studywhat’s left over from that time and see whatyou can figure out from there.”

Most of the comets LASCO sees, about85 percent, are the smaller remnants of alarger comet that’s broken apart. “What willhave happened is, several millennia ago, abig comet went near the sun and, due tothe sun’s gravity, it basically crumbled andformed a small family of comets,” said Bat-tams. This comet group continued to or-bit the sun-crumbling further each time itcame back around. “After that happened afew times, we were left with this long stringof comets, and that’s a lot of what we’reseeing with SOHO.”

LASCO’s revelations could tell us asmuch about our future as they do aboutour past.

“That gives us information about theevolution of objects in the inner solar sys-tem, and the way their orbits evolve and theway they might fall apart,” said Battams.

3000th ‘Sungrazer’ comet imaged byNRL space coronagraph instrument

Photo courtesy of Naval Research Lab

Seen in an image taken by LASCO, a U.S. Naval Research Laboratory co-ronagraph instrument, in 2002 a powerful coronal mass ejections, like thisone, can impact space weather and disrupt military missions; NRL scien-tists Russ Howard and Dr. James Chen were the first to define their struc-ture, using LASCO and other data.

For more news from other bases around the Washington, D.C. area,

visit www.dcmilitary.com.

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