It isn’t every day that you get to work with a man who rose from modest beginnings in Britain to become the director of the Planetary Exploration Program for NASA in the United States. That, however, was my privilege as I helped Geoffrey Briggs to compose his extraordinary life story.
Geoffrey’s achievements are too many to list here, but his story of leaving England (almost on a whim) and building a hugely successful career in the US space programme is one of the most interesting and poignant projects that I have been fortunate enough to be involved with.
Born in 1941 and one of six siblings raised in Stoneleigh, Surrey, Geoffrey grew up wanting to be a pilot and to fly for the Royal Air Force. Unfortunately, his eyesight was deemed inadequate, so he went instead to Durham University to study physics. He received his bachelor’s degree in 1961, and his PhD followed four years later. He was then offered a two-year fellowship in the physics department at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville, and he headed off to the US. His fiancée, Rita, followed him a few weeks later, and they married the day after her arrival in Charlottesville.
Working to protect the Apollo astronauts
Geoffrey’s initial research included the use of a particle accelerator at NASA’s Space Radiation Effects Laboratory with the intention of obtaining a better understanding of the effects of radiation on Apollo astronauts.
At the end of Geoffrey’s first year, NASA withdrew the grant funding from his fellowship. After considering a return to the UK, he successfully applied to Bellcomm, a subsidiary of Bell System that was recruiting scientists to support the Apollo programme. The Apollo project was in development, and Geoffrey played his role in helping to solve the many issues that the programme faced, including the identification of potential lunar landing sites.
In addition to planning the Apollo missions, Bellcomm played a significant role in supporting NASA’s planning of the Mariner and Viking Mars programmes at its centre in Langley, Virginia. There, Geoffrey focused on the data-acquisition plans of the first two Mars orbiters.
NASA’s most successful projects
In 1969, Geoffrey moved to the Jet Propulsion Lab in California to join a NASA Mariner project team producing high-resolution images of the surface of Mars. Among other missions he worked on were the 1971 Mariners, the 1976 Vikings and the two Voyagers launched in 1977, all of which ranked among NASA’s most spectacular successes.
When the project manager of the Viking mission, Tom Young, was appointed director of the Planetary Exploration Program at NASA’s headquarters in Washington, he asked Geoffrey to join him as the deputy director. Geoffrey says, “Had I been smart, I would have stayed with JPL, where all the fun was”, but he felt he could not refuse the offer.
Appointed to the Planetary Exploration Program
Within a few years, following a rapid turnover of staff, Geoffrey was appointed director. Among his many achievements in the role was to formulate closer American–Russian co-operation in space.
Much of the good work done by Geoffrey and others was threatened when Ronald Reagan became president and announced plans to end the space-exploration programme in favour of the Space Defense Initiative. Geoffrey recalls reactions to “this baffling change in policy” ranging from shock and anger to grief.
Geoffrey was appointed as the executive director of the Solar System Exploration Committee formed to oppose Reagan’s plans. He successfully worked to persuade the president to change his mind, albeit with some programmes still being scrapped.
Innovative technologies for Mars exploration
Geoffrey was awarded NASA’s Meritorious Service Medal in 1987, but the politics of Washington had taken its toll, and, after taking a sabbatical in 1989, he decided to leave his post. He was then asked to become the scientific director of a new Mars-centred programme at the Ames Research Center in California, where he helped develop innovative technologies for Mars exploration, including rotorcraft that have since been deployed. He also investigated the possibility of sending men to the planet and successfully landing them on its surface.
Geoffrey, however, was still drawn to the Moon. He became involved with a project to crash a spacecraft into the ice deposits of its polar regions so that a following spacecraft could fly through the gaseous plume created and measure the water content. This was something that would be of benefit to mankind in the future.
During this period, Rita worked for the World Health Organization and completed her PhD, while also later working at Ames. On retirement, they returned to the UK and settled in Bath, where Geoffrey wrote two histories of space exploration.
Where else in the universe supports intelligent life?
Space remains a preoccupation for a man who did so much to improve our understanding of what happens beyond our small planet. As Geoffrey says, “Probably the most significant question we have been working to answer is whether planet Earth can really be the only planet in the entire universe to support intelligent life. There are a zillion stars, each with dozens of planets, so what is the likelihood that our small planet is so unique?”
With NASA due to return men to the Moon in 2025, for the first time since 1972, space exploration is once again in the spotlight. It is thanks to the ingenuity and dedication of people like Geoffrey Briggs that this continues to be possible.
Written by Stephen Pitts, LifeBook Memoirs editor
