Charley
Kohlhase
Ambassador to the planets
By Chris Starr, FRAS MBIS
Charley Kohlhase officially ‘retired’ from NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory in 1998. At his retirement party, a
recording was played of Carl Sagan, who had died two
years previously. ‘…. His voice suddenly, pleasingly rang
through the room. From the afterlife, Sagan implored,
“Charley Kohlhase’s name should be as well known as
Michael Jordan’s!”’ (from ‘Ambassadors from Earth’
– Jay Gallentine, Nebraska University Press, 2009).
Sporting heroes today are celebrated with much
media pomp and circumstance. On the other hand
those who contribute to the advancement of science
and technology generally remain unknown outside
their field. Rocket scientists are among these real,
unsung heroes of human progress. As rocket scientists
go, Sagan was certainly right about Charley!
Charles E. ‘Charley’ Kohlhase, Jr. is one of the most
accomplished and revered figures in unmanned
spaceflight and solar system exploration. He worked
for forty years at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
(JPL), leading the mission design and management of
many of their greatest successes, from the early days
of Ranger and Mariner missions, through Viking, the
Voyager ‘Grand Tour’ and Cassini. Since ‘retiring’ in 1998
he has continued to advise JPL until 2014, serving as a
technical consultant for the Cassini, Mars Sample Return
and other future Mars missions, Genesis, Kepler and the
planned Jupiter Europa Orbiter, as well as participating in
the choice of landing sites for the twin Mars Exploration
Rovers and working on risk assessments for a variety
of future programmes. He is also on the Advisory
Council of the Planetary Society, an accomplished
writer, speaker, digital artist, photographer and a
committed environmentalist – a true Renaissance Man.
Charley spoke on the Voyager Panel at this year’s
Spacefest, and I had the opportunity to speak with him
afterwards about his long and distinguished career at
James Blinn (far left) and Charles Kohlhase working at JPL on
the revolutionary computer animations of the planned Voyager
encounters with the outer planets. Credit: Charles Kohlhase
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