October 4, 2023
6 minutes reading
Key points
Glen Nagle has enjoyed a front row seat to some of the world’s most exciting moments in space exploration. In addition to its practical contributions, he values space exploration for the transformative perspective it can offer. Glen said what we have achieved shows our capacity to overcome the biggest challenges such as climate change.
Glen Nagle will always remember the moment he met Neil Armstrong. Backstage at an event, Glen knelt next to the iconic astronaut, and watched Neil leaf through a book Glen had brought. It includes profiles of people who have made it to space.
Neil paused to sign relevant photos in the book – not once, but twice. That in itself is something rare. Neil stopped giving autographs when he realized how many people saw him as a commodity to be sold as soon as the opportunity arose. However, Neil definitely recognized Glen’s true fan.
It helps that the book is filled with autographs of other astronauts Glen has met, including Buzz Aldrin and David Scott. It was clearly cherished by its owner and not for sale.
“The entire exchange lasted 10 minutes. I didn’t even shake hands with him or anything. But I touched his left leg. “That was my flaw showing,” said Glen.
“I was the seven-year-old watching in awe as he walked across the Moon. That moment set me on my life journey and all the things I have done to get to this point.”
Australia’s important role in space exploration
Glen remembers July 21, 1969 like it was yesterday. He is among an estimated 600 million people around the world, who sit glued to black and white televisions. Everything is timed to a historical moment, ‘one giant leap for humanity’ that occurred on the Moon. And Australia also has a role to play.
The folks at NASA’s Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station and our Parkes radio telescope Murriyang are hard at work. They are responsible for taking that ‘one small step’ and helping share it with the world.
The antenna at the Honeysuckle Creek Tracking Station was then moved to the Canberra Deep Space Communication Complex (CDSCC), which we manage for NASA. In a beautiful twist of fate, Glen now goes to work every day.
As our Visitor Center Manager (among many other things), Glen is responsible for sharing his love of science and astronomy with thousands of visitors each year.
Glen has managed the Canberra Space Communications Complex Visitor Center since 2002.
It was also at CDSCC that Glen occasionally experienced the so-called ‘seven minutes of terror’.
That is the time it takes for a spacecraft to enter the Martian atmosphere, and land on its surface. Nobody has control. All scientists and engineers at NASA could do was wait for the signal to come through the CDSCC control room.
As with the Moon landings, CDSCC played a vital role in communicating with spacecraft on behalf of countries around the world. And whether it’s a Mars rover getting caught in a sand trap, a Voyager lost in the dark, a spacecraft colliding with an asteroid or casually giving away a sample, we’re never sure how it will turn out.
“Ultimately, it always depends on the spacecraft. Even the engineers who had worked on it didn’t know if we would succeed. “That’s part of the beauty of the exploration work we do,” Glen said.
Out of this world return from space research
Glen’s work not only brings him great joy, but is also a source of inspiration. At a time when many of us are struggling with the impacts of climate change, Glen knows that we are also working to overcome it.
“Today, there are more spacecraft in Earth orbit studying our planet than we have ever seen in the history of space exploration. “In fact, most of our space exploration is concentrated here, to explore our home,” he said.
Our team at the Canberra Space Communications Complex provides two-way contact with more than 40 space missions exploring our Solar System and beyond for NASA and other international space agencies.
© David Howe
The resulting findings help us understand changes to the environment such as sea level rise, deforestation, ocean salinity, global temperatures and greenhouse gas concentrations. We can even map changes in Earth’s gravity, tracking subtle variations in mountains, valleys, underground caves, oceans and glaciers. The satellites that report these findings back to Earth are critical to understanding things like ocean circulation and sea level rise.
“We can really benefit from the perspective of looking at our world and understanding the changes we are making to it,” says Glen.
Space research is responsible for many of our greatest technological advances, and we can see the real benefits in everything from WiFi (which we can appreciate) to the smartphone in your hand. However, practicality aside, Glen argues that the greatest benefit of space travel actually lies in the perspective it offers.
The overview effect: an examination of cosmic perspective
“Astronauts describe something called the ‘overview effect’. It’s what you see when you look at Earth from orbit. Before you is this fragile world, with a very thin layer of blue that is our atmosphere,” said Glen.
He says our atmosphere allows us to breathe, stores water in the oceans, and even prevents our blood from boiling as it does in the vacuum of outer space. From our exploration of Mars and Venus, we can see what might happen if we didn’t have them or change them . Both planets were once more hospitable to life, but Mars is now a cold and dry desert planet. And on Venus, a runaway greenhouse effect causes surface temperatures to become very hot.
“There are no boundaries there, no politics, and you realize, all we have is a thin veil of atmosphere that protects every living thing on the planet. If we screw it up, that’s it,” Glen said.
“We are all here. We have to share it, take care of it, and we can do it.”
A thin line of Earth’s atmosphere and a setting sun are shown in this image photographed by the crew of the International Space Station when the space shuttle Atlantis on mission STS-129 docked at the station.
©NASA
Celebrating a great Australian team
Even in the face of something as big as climate change, Glen remains hopeful. What we have achieved shows him that we can rise to this challenge.
The ozone layer is a prime example. By identifying the damage caused by chemicals such as chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs), and then banning them, we have seen the ozone layer slowly begin to heal itself.
Glen’s day job also gives him a unique perspective. Sure, he met Neil Armstrong – but he also got to know some of the hundreds of Australians (and their families) who helped get astronauts to the Moon.
“There are two things that are most important about CDSCC and the work we do. It’s the history we make every day. We went places and did things that no one had ever done before. Australians should be very proud of the role we played,” Glen said.
“But for me, the second important thing is the people I work with. It makes my job easy, because I get to talk about the great things they do every day. And that’s something I really enjoy.”
2023-10-22 20:11:45
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