Science and the Human Spirit


 

About two weeks ago, the crew of seven astronauts that is preparing for the Hubble servicing mission (SM4) invited me to come to the Johnson Space Center (JSC) to give them a series of talks on Hubble science. I was, of course, very happy to oblige. I arrived to JSC on October 20, and the entire morning of October 21 was reserved for my presentation. The fact that the crew were able to accommodate such a presentation in their busy schedule was the result of the delay in SM4, which was originally planned to take off on October 14.

So here I was, arriving on a date on which if all would have gone right the crew would have been in space!

Even though I believe that I give reasonably good talks, I thought that the crew must regard my presentation as a rather poor consolation prize. Still, I was extremely happy to see again Scott Altman, Gregory Johnson, Megan McArthur, Michael Good, Andrew Feustel, and my old friends John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino. These are a real life “magnificent seven.”

As expected, the crew members did not hide at first their disappointment from the fact SM4 had to be postponed, and neither did I. Yet, as my presentation of a series of recent HST results went on, they became more and more engaged. They started bombarding me with questions about how the new instruments (that will be installed on board HST during SM4) would contribute to the scientific questions I was discussing. By the time I finished, none of us was looking back. We were all again sharing the excitement of the grand things that the telescope would do after SM4.

On the way to the airport Massimino told me that my presentation helped renew the enthusiasm of the crew towards the mission. I could not have asked for a bigger compliment.

Hubble: Symbol of Scientific Excellence


 

On September 10, 2008, the largest and highest-energy particle accelerator known as the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) ran its first test. This gigantic experiment, which contains a tunnel that is 17 miles in circumference, is expected to investigate the validity (and limitations) of our current model for the basic forces of nature and for the most fundamental particles.

I was delighted to read in the description of the experiments, the two paragraphs that I enclose below, one from the New York Times, and the other from the Washington Post.

New York Times

“Eventually, the collider is expected to accelerate protons to energies of seven trillion electron volts and then smash them together, recreating conditions in the primordial fireball only a trillionth of a second after the Big Bang. Scientists hope the machine will be a sort of Hubble Space Telescope of inner space, allowing them to detect new subatomic particles and forces of nature.” (Read full article)

Washington Post

“…astrophysicists have observed that visible matter accounts for only 4 percent of the universe. By looking at gravitational effects — for instance, how fast galaxies spin — they can guess that there is more stuff out there than they can see. But what is this “dark matter?” Could dark matter be composed of “supersymmetric” particles, which might pop up in the collisions at CERN? For this reason, some people have called the Large Hadron Collider the ‘Hubble telescope of inner space’.” (Read full article)

Once again, the Hubble Space Telescope, is given here as a symbol of scientific excellence, and as the discovery machine that EVERYONE can recognize.

Hubble's 100,000th Orbit


 

Today the Hubble Space Telescope will be orbiting the Earth for the 100,000th time!

To celebrate this special milestone, I have actually submitted a proposal, for the telescope to observe NGC 2074, a star-forming region in our neighboring galaxy, the Large Magellanic Cloud.  From previews of that region, taken by ground-based telescopes, I am expecting the image to be quite spectacular, but we will not know for sure until the data are in hand, and the image has been properly processed.

Usually, when the odometer in your car shows 100,000, you know that this may be the time to buy a new car. With Hubble things are very different. During the servicing missions, the astronauts not only make necessary repairs, they also install entirely new instruments. In terms of its discovery potential, Hubble after Servicing Mission 4 will be the best it has ever been. In other words, this coming fall, Hubble’s 100k something orbit, will only be the FIRST orbit in the life of the new Hubble.

The image of NGC 2074 has now been published. Read the full press release

This nebula, imaged by the Hubble Space Telescope on August 10, is about 170,000 light-years away. Credit: NASA, ESA, and M. Livio (STScI)

Pieces of the Puzzle

Since I last wrote, the crew of STS-124 successfully completed their mission and returned to earth. Translation: we’re up next! The team here at Goddard couldn’t be more excited—two weeks ago, we shipped 3 of our 4 carriers (those are the large building blocks that make up the payload for STS-125) to Kennedy Space Center and have begun the process of integrating our hardware to the shuttle’s payload bay.

It’s really hard to believe how much time, effort, and energy goes into preparing for a launch. There are so many people that need to work together in order to make things “go”; from the folks who design the parts to those who run the final checkouts, everyone’s role is important to the success of the mission and program in general. I was thinking about this the other day—in my day-to-day life here at Goddard, I interact with upwards of 20-30 people beyond a casual “hello” in the hallway….and that’s just the folks working on one sub-system! When you propagate that number over a vehicle the size of the space shuttle that contains thousands of subsystems, you really get an appreciation for just how big this all really is.

As the launch gets closer, this team has really come together to meet all of our goals. I won’t lie—the hours and days are getting long for all of us right now; but we’re coming down the home stretch. Systems are coming together, final rounds of testing are being completed, and piece by piece, our hardware is coming to the end of its preparatory journey. Over the last two and a half years working here at Goddard, I’ve gotten to see several of these designs go from initial concepts on a meeting room whiteboard to a physical systems that I’ve gotten to help build and test. To see everything come full circle like this has been absolutely incredible.

Lately, my part of the “circle” has been to support the last of our testing efforts….a process we affectionately refer to as “shake and bake”. Space is a pretty unforgiving place – the launch/landing loads and temperatures experienced once on orbit are far greater than those you’d see in your day-to-day life here on Earth. Because of this, we need to perform a variety of tests in order to qualify the hardware for flight. We develop plans—similar to a lab report you’d write at school—outlining the test we’d like to perform, why we’d like to perform it, and what we expect to happen. From there, we shake, pull, push, heat, and cool the system until we’re certain that it will behave the way that we expect it to. This often results in getting to perform some pretty neat, hands-on activities in order to get the measurements that we need. For me, this is probably one of the most exciting parts of my job.

So what’s up next? After I finish my work here in Maryland, I’ll be headed down to Kennedy Space Center to help with payload integration work. NASA’s already started an official web site documenting our team’s efforts at the Cape. You can check it out here: http://mediaarchive.ksc.nasa.gov/search.cfm?cat=180

Until next time (from Florida!).

Dream BIG!
Meg

Introducing Blogger Megan Meehan

Hello, my name is Meg and I’m a member of the team of engineers helping to prepare for STS-125—the fifth and final Hubble Servicing Mission. Over the next few months, I hope to give you some insight into my job at the Goddard Space Flight Center as well as to share some general information about the mission itself.

While I’m an aerospace engineer by education, my official title here at Goddard is mechanical systems engineer for the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier (ORUC). I help to ensure that all of the pieces of the ORUC—roughly a third of the shuttle’s payload for this mission—fit together properly and function in the way that they’ve been designed. Day to day, my job is rarely the same (which is exactly how I like it!) since I’ve been able to get involved in all phases of hardware design, development, and testing.

I hope to update this blog at least once a month. Feel free to leave any comments or questions and I’ll do my best to answer them.

Until then, dream big!

-Meg

This blog can also be viewed on the Challenger Center web site.

Introducing Blogger Dr. Mario Livio

picture of Dr. Mario Livio

I am Dr. Mario Livio, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) in Baltimore, MD, Head of the Office of Public Outreach, and an author of popular books on science and mathematics. I have been at the STScI for seventeen years. I am definitely what has become known as a “Hubble hugger” – passionate about the Hubble Space Telescope and its achievements. Through this blog, I hope to bring my personal observations about the upcoming Hubble servicing mission and what it will mean to astronomers, the general public, and myself.

In 2000, Time Magazine chose Albert Einstein as the “Person of the Century.” Some people were surprised that a scientist was chosen over world political leaders, authors, artists, and economists. I wasn’t. Einstein’s achievements have crossed the boundaries between science and culture, and have penetrated into every area of human intellectual endeavor. Just enter “Albert Einstein” at the Amazon.com webpage and you’ll find more than 35,000 results. Einstein changed our view of the universe in a fundamental way.

The Hubble Space Telescope has SHOWN us Einstein’s universe. And when I say “us” I don’t mean just the scientists. Hubble has literally brought the wonders of the cosmos into homes worldwide. You now find Hubble images not only in astronomy textbooks, but also on the covers, variously, of a book of music for the trumpet, a German art magazine, a book that teaches English to Japanese children, and an album of a rock group. And here comes the best part. After eighteen years of operation, Servicing Mission 4 can bring Hubble to the richest moment in its life in terms of scientific capability!

Sometimes people ask me if I don’t feel depressed by the apparently diminishing role of humans in the universe. After all, we are not at the center of the cosmos, or even the center of the Milky Way Galaxy. Even the stuff of which we are made is only four percent of the matter in the universe, and everything we can observe is but a speck of all there is. But notice that the apparent decrease in our physical presence is only a consequence of the tremendous increase of our knowledge. And Hubble played a crucial role in that expansion of our horizons of understanding. I am truly proud to have been a part of this incredible scientific adventure called the Hubble Space Telescope, and I am looking forward to an even brighter future.

Response to Information Request

Dear Kelly and Colleagues,

First, its great to hear from folks like you that are always trying to learn something new in their professions. Its not easy to work full-time and go to school, but you can grow and meet new friends, which is a pretty wonderful reward for the effort.

Over the years, I’ve noticed that the best design engineers share some key characteristics with fortune-tellers. The design phase really is like gazing into a crystal-ball — if you can anticipate the future, you will guarantee a successful mission. So much easier to say than to do.

Hubble’s design went through its own evolution. In fact, at one point the plan was to return Hubble to Earth for an upgrade on the ground followed by a re-launch!

I’ll look for someone who might be able to discuss the Hubble design phase a bit further with you.

Good luck on your project!

Colleen

Introducing Blogger Colleen Hartman

picture of Colleen Hartman(Written July 1, 2008)

Two FBI agents appeared at my small inner office door at NASA Headquarters and flashed their badges. It was 1984. They asked to see my financial files on the Space Telescope. Congress had initiated an investigation of NASA’s financial records on the Great Observatory. As the twenty-eight year-old Space Telescope financial analyst, this shocking visit was not the welcome I had wished for from Washington. Yet this event, great in my young life, was miniscule compared to the journey that we who worked on Hubble would be taking.

Fast-forward twenty-four years to today at the Goddard Space Flight Center. The Hubble Space Telescope has had eighteen incredibly successful years of science. Hubble pictures of our Universe are in textbooks and on dorm walls all across the world.  Hubble is the first and only space telescope that has become an American icon. As Matt Mountain, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, proudly stated today, Hubble is now producing twelve scientific discoveries a week!  However, it may be that Hubble is so loved by Americans because it was almost the ugly duckling story in reverse. The faulty mirror was corrected with additional optics–optics that could only have been placed inside the orbiting Hubble by astronauts.

Now, after four repair missions successfully upgraded the observatory over the years, Hubble will be repaired one last time, but what a doozie this last time will be!

Of course, as with all things Hubble, there has to be some drama, and the story of Servicing Mission 4 is no exception. It was a seemingly never-ending series of on-again, off-again, flip-flops.

This final repair mission was originally approved for 2002. Then in February 2003, we had the Columbia disaster. In April 2004, then NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe canceled the repair mission due to Shuttle safety considerations. After intense public pressure, O’Keefe approved the study of an alternative approach using an autonomous robotic mission. Although autonomous repair will one day be common to spacecraft designed from the get-go for robotic upkeep, Hubble had no such birthright.  Hubble’s robotic repair was clearly possible, but it would certainly be expensive.  Initial cost estimates put it at $1.3 B. The initial Goddard robotic design was completed in November 2004.  An independent look that same month by National Academy of Sciences concluded the robotic mission too complex and recommended a Shuttle repair mission for Hubble. But O’Keefe said the Shuttle mission was too risky, and the robotic repair was too expensive, so he canceled the mission again. Two months later, O’Keefe resigned as NASA Administrator and left the Agency. When Mike Griffin, NASA’s new Administrator took over, he ordered a second look, and bolstered with new ways to ensure Shuttle safety, the repair mission was back on.

On this mission – – repair mission four (note, this is called repair 4 because NASA counts the other missions in an odd way: 1, 2, 3A, 3B) — the schedule is crowded with EVAs or extra-vehicular activities.  Six gyroscopes used to maintain the telescope’s orientation will be replaced, two scientific instruments will be installed along with new batteries, guidance sensors, and blankets, and –for the first time ever – two instruments will be repaired. How ironic that this mission will also remove the corrective “eyeglasses” put in place on the very first Hubble repair mission.  All the new instruments themselves now contain corrective optics that will compensate for the spherical aberration in Hubble’s primary mirror.

Shuttle Atlantis will carry a seven member crew into orbit on the nominal 11-day mission. The commander is a Hubble veteran. The pilot and flight engineer will be making their first flights.  Astronauts Scott Altman, Gregory C. Johnson and Megan McArthur will handle the tasks inside the Shuttle.  Megan will “man” the Shuttle’s robotic arm, grappling Hubble and placing it in the Shuttle’s cargo bay, where it will wait for four astronauts to give it the overhaul of its long life.

The four astronauts on tap to perform the space-walking feats are John Grunsfeld, Andrew Feustel, Michael Good, and Mike Massimino. Over the years, close collaboration between engineers and astronauts has resulted in significant advances. For instance, in the case of one of the science instruments to be repaired (the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph or STIS), cleverly designed tools will allow the astronauts to remove one hundred and eleven screws from a cover over the instrument. Now, this might be tedious on the ground, but at least it’s not dangerous. In the weightless environment of space, floating screws could be a menace. Engineering tricks are called for so that all the pieces are captured, and after the instrument is repaired, a new cover will be installed that easily latches, even with large astronaut gloves. The pictures below show how busy the largest clean room in the free world can be.

Figure 1. The large silver tube lined with yellow on your right is a mock-up of the Hubble instrument bay. Figure 2. A good look at some of the bunny suits used in the largest clean room in the world – 1.3 million cubic feet of pristine, contaminant-free working space.

The hardware will be shipped to the Cape in thirteen days, so there’s no time to lose. Today, the four EVA astronauts are in the clean room familiarizing themselves with the new tools designed for this mission. The clean room you see here has the maximum allowable number of human beings in it. We humans are the source of much of the potential contamination to space hardware. The ‘bunny suits’ you see here cover as much of the human and her/his clothes as possible. As the Integration and Test Manager, Joe Reed, said today, the safety of humans in the clean room is first priority. Then comes the safety and cleanliness of the hardware. In the left image below,the large silver tube lined with yellow on your right is a mock-up of the Hubble instrument bay. The image on the right shows a good look at some of the bunny suits used in the largest clean room in the world—1.3 million cubic feet of pristine, contaminate-free working space.

For myself, helping to plan the Great Observatories (Hubble, Chandra, and Spitzer) early in my career emboldened me to return to school for a PhD in physics. Of course, there was no way I would forgo my day-job working for NASA in astrophysics. Today, I’m teaching at the Elliott School at George Washington University and enjoying writing about space and Earth science and how they intersect with politics.

So I’m hoping that my years of tenure at NASA will help me to serve as your tour guide to activities leading up to the ultimate Hubble repair mission. I’ll introduce you to the individuals who are working on Hubble and on this mission.  These folks live in almost every state of the union. They do more than spend their working life on Hubble, but during the coming weeks leading up to the flight on the 8th of October, their personal lives will be placed on hold while they ensure another 5 years of science from the world’s premier telescope. I hope you’ll join me on this journey to the stars.

Oh, and the consequences of that little visit from the FBI? You’ll have to check future blogs to find that out!

Til then,

Colleen