2002 SPACE SCIENCE VIDEOTAPES |
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Tape Title | Record ID |
Date Produced | TRT: |
Synopsis |
| ASTRONAUTS WILL ONCE AGAIN VISIT THE HUBBLE SPACE
TELESCOPE DURING SM3B | G02-001 | 2/11/02 |
00:40:53 | The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
explored the beauty and grandeur of our universe for over a decade.
It answered key questions about space, but it also created many new
questions to ask and gave us new frontiers to explore. The space
shuttle will revisit HST on the 2nd part of this servicing mission,
where astronauts will make spacewalks to refurbish the observatory,
upgrade it's technology, and perform maintenance. Why was this
mission split into 2 parts? One reason was the urgency to replace
the failing gyroscopes in late 1999. The revised launch date meant
some hardware would not be flight ready and the number of tasks to be
performed would have been too great.
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TAPE CONTENTS: |
| ITEM (1): The New And
Upgraded Space Telescope - The Hubble Space Telescope (HST)
was designed to be modular so it could be recovered in space,
replaced with new or improved instruments, have maintenance
performed, and then released. Hubble will get a brand new look with
its new and third set of solar wings. One-third less solar cell area
than the first two pairs, they will produce 20% more power.
Radiation and space debris take their toll on sensitive electronics,
but the new set should ensure uninterrupted service for the remainder
of the mission. Presently, four large flexible panels have provided
power for over 8 years to the observatory.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (2): Greater Science
With The ACS Animation - A new science instrument called the
Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) will be installed. This instrument
will study and look at the inner regions of galaxies, and study the
weather on planets. The ACS will have 10 times more discovery power
in the same amount of time as the current camera. This animation
begins with a ground-based view of the nebula 30 Doradus. It then
zooms into the nebula, where it stops to see a simulated WFPC2
field-of-view. To note the difference, a simulated view of the new
ACS field-of-view fades in that has twice the area and roughly 6
times as many pixels. The animation then zooms out to reveal one of
ACS' other superior features - its data rate.
Courtesy: NASA/STScI
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| ITEM (3): The Cryocooler A
Refrigerator In Space - The existing, but dormant, instrument
called the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer
(NICMOS) will get a new and experimental cooling system. This
super-quiet cooler, called a cryocooler, uses ultrahigh speed
micro-turbines designed to spin at about 7,000 revolutions per
second. NICMOS was placed on HST in 1997, but became inactive 2
years later after its block of solid nitrogen evaporated. The goal
is to restore the detectors to their operating temperature of -203
degrees C (334 degrees F or 70 Kelvin). The cryocooler was
previously tested aboard the STS-95 mission in 1998.
The animation begins with the installation of the NICMOS Cryocooler.
The Cryocooler has two main pieces---the cooler itself which was
installed and plugged into NICMOS inside telescope, and a radiator
that is strapped on the outside of HST. Neon gas, shown in green,
begins circulating between the cooler and the NICMOS drawing heat
away from NICMOS. A second loop of neon, shown in blue, draws heat
out of the first loop. Ammonia, shown in red, is the third loop,
which draws heat out of the second loop and transfers the heat into
the radiator, shown on the outside of HST. As the telescope begins
to move away, an exaggerated red glow is shown around the radiator,
indicating that the heat is being dispersed into space.
Courtesy: NASA/Skyworks Digital
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| ITEM (4): HST's Evolution
Animation - The Hubble Space Telescope was troubled soon
after launch with the discovery that its primary mirror was flawed.
In addition, there were instability problems as the solar panels
flexed when the spacecraft passed from the Earth's shadow into
sunlight. Luckily, making changes to the observatory, performing
maintenance, and updating technologies were always in the grand plan
for HST. New instruments were added to enable scientists to study
space in the visible and invisible light. Each servicing mission has
improved HST's performance in space, making it the greatest
astronomical observation platform in the history of mankind.
Courtesy: NASA/Skyworks Digital
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| ITEM (5): HST
Accomplishments - Since its launch in April 1990, the Hubble
Space Telescope has acquired more than 100,000 images of the universe
with astronomical research being profoundly affected. Highlights of
Hubble's scientific achievements to date are:
a. The deepest views ever made of the visible universe revealing
galaxies dating back to within a billion years of the Big Bang.
b. Measuring that the universe is expanding and accelerating,
apparently driven by "dark energy" - a mysterious repulsive form of
gravity that is pervasive among the galaxies.
c. Finding powerful explosions, called gamma-ray bursts, in
distant galaxies where massive new stars are rapidly forming, linking
them to the catastrophic deaths of super-massive stars.
d. Discovering super-massive black holes that dwell in the core
of most galaxies.
e. Providing the clearest views ever of the births and the
deaths of stars.
f. Showing the first embryonic steps of planet formation, common
around many stars, in the form of vast disks of gas and dust that
should rapidly precipitate planets.
g. Providing the first visual evidence of major climate changes
on the outer planets, Uranus and Neptune, and the first coarse map of
the surface of Pluto.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (6): Astronauts Train
- B-Roll - Training the astronauts for the primary servicing
mission is a vital role for NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center
(GSFC). Goddard is also responsible for various areas of the mission
such as developing the new science instrument called the ACS,
building the NICMOS cooling system, the new solar arrays, and the
carriers that go into the shuttle, as well as mission planning.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (7): STOCC
B-Roll - The Space Telescope Operations Control Center
(STOCC) located at Goddard Space Flight Center is the focal point of
all HST operations during servicing missions. Controllers constantly
monitor the telescope's health while directing its movements and
science activities. It operates 24/7. Shortly after launch, Hubble
will be instructed to stop normal science operations. The team will
command Hubble's aperture door to close and its high-gain antennas to
be stowed. After the instruments are connected to Hubble, the STOCC
team immediately tests everything before approving release of the
telescope.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (8): HST Operations
Center B-Roll - The Science Institute Mission Operations
Room (SIMOR) at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore,
Maryland controls the Hubble Space Telescope in real-time during
normal operations.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (9): STOCC
B-Roll - The Space Telescope Operations Control Center
(STOCC) located at Goddard Space Flight Center is the focal point of
all HST operations during servicing missions. Controllers constantly
monitor the telescope's health while directing its movements and
science activities. It operates 24/7. Shortly after launch, Hubble
will be instructed to stop normal science operations. The team will
command Hubble's aperture door to close and its high-gain antennas to
be stowed. After the instruments are connected to Hubble, the STOCC
team immediately tests everything before approving release of the
telescope.
Courtesy: NASA/STScI
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| ITEM (10): HST
Accomplishments - Since its launch in April 1990, the Hubble
Space Telescope has acquired more than 100,000 images of the universe
with astronomical research being profoundly affected. Highlights of
Hubble's scientific achievements to date are:
a. The Release of HST into Orbit (STS-61) - Launched on April
24, 1990, NASA's Hubble Space Telescope was designed to be the most
powerful astronomical observatory ever built. The keys to Hubble's
power are its location in space, far above the interference of the
Earth's atmosphere, and to the unique instruments it carries as it
orbits the planet. In addition, HST was the first observatory
designed for extensive on-orbit maintenance and
refurbishment.
b. HST First Servicing Mission (STS-61) - In June 1990,
scientists and engineers discovered that the HST's primary mirror was
flawed. In December 1993, astronauts successfully installed a new
camera called the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC-2), which
had its corrective optics built right in, and a special instrument
called the COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial
Replacement) that would properly refocus light from the flawed main
mirror to the other instruments.
c. HST Second Servicing Mission (STS-82) - Every few years, the
telescope is visited by a Space Shuttle to allow astronauts to switch
old instruments for new. In February 1997, during HST's second
servicing mission, astronauts removed the Goddard High Resolution
Spectrometer and the Faint Object Spectrograph and installed the
Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the Near Infrared
Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS).
d. HST Third Servicing Mission 3A (STS-103) - On December 19,
2000, the Space Shuttle Discovery and its seven astronauts blasted
off on the last human space flight of the 20th century to refurbish
the Hubble Space Telescope. Astronauts installed six new gyroscopes,
six Voltage/Temperature Improvement Kits, a new and more efficient
computer, and a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor.
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (11): Interview -
Preston Burch, Program Manager
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (12): Interview - David
Leckrone, Sr. Project Scientist
Courtesy: NASA
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| ITEM (13): Interview -
Edward Cheng, HST Development Project Scientist
Courtesy: NASA
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Space Science Gallery