| Acronym | Meaning |
| HMC | Halley Multicolor Camera |
| RME | Radiation Monitoring Experiment |
| COBE | COsmic Background Explorer |
| DAC | Delayed Action Command |
| SSME | Space Shuttle Main Engine |
| DCA | Defense Communications Agency |
| KTB | Cretaceous-Tertiary Boundary |
| CGRO | Compton Gamma Ray Observatory |
| PI | Principal Investigator |
| CARA | Center For Astrophysical Research In Antarctica |