Subject: [SLR-Mail]  No.2862: 1884 Passing of Jorge del Pino
From: Kalvis Salmiņš <kalvis.salmins@lu.lv>

Author: Kalvis Salmins

 I regret to inform you that our colleague and friend Dr. Jorge del Pino, a long-term member of laser ranging community, passed away on Friday, January 17, 2025.
Born 1949 in Havana, his lifelong career in satellite observations started in the 1970ies at the satellite tracking station Santiago de Cuba which operated a 1st generation laser system since 1977. In 1985 he defended his PhD dedicated to the efficient second-harmonic generation for laser ranging at the Czech Technical University in Prague.
Jorge del Pino became the Cuban manager of the Intercosmos project of a 2nd generation SLR system which was operated between 1985 and 1998 in cooperation between ZIPE/GFZ Potsdam and CENAIS in Santiago de Cuba. He also contributed major parts of the real-time tracking software for the 3rd generation SLR systems in Potsdam.
Since 2013 he worked at Institute of Astronomy University of Latvia. J. del Pino contributed to the renewal of the SLR station Riga and improving its performance. He participated in the station operations until the last days of his life. We will miss him greatly.
Kalvis Salmins,  Ludwig Grunwaldt