WEBVTT FILE

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-Last name.
-Diaz.

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-Okay, thank you.
-Go, Don.

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-Good afternoon.

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Welcome to NASA Headquarters

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and today's STS-103
preflight briefings.

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The continuation today,
we will be talking

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about the Hubble payload

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as with our panel
of experts here,

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and we'll lead off
with Dr. Ed Weiler,

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who is
the associate administrator

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for NASA's office
of Space Science,

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followed by Dr. John Campbell,

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who is the program manager
for the Hubble Space Telescope

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at Goddard Space
Flight Center.

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Next to him is Debra Henretty,

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who is an engineer
at the Engineering

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and Navigation
and Guidance Center

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at Goddard Space
Flight Center,

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and rounding out the panel
is Dr. Anne Kinney, the ...

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Pardon me ... the director
for NASA's Origins program

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at NASA Headquarters.

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Ed.

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-Good morning, Don.
Three space shuttle flights

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and the talents
of about 16 astronauts

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and the combined talents
of thousands of engineers

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and scientists have combined
over the past 10 years

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to make HST,
the Hubble Space Telescope,

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the most successful
science mission in history.

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Hubble is the best example
ever of the successful marriage

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of the human space program
and space science.

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Astronauts have deployed,

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repaired and maintained
the Hubble and enabled it

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to peer to the farthest reaches
of the early universe,

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to prove the existence
of supermassive black holes,

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to observe young solar systems
in the process of formation

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and much, much more.

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But perhaps most importantly,

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Hubble has brought science
to the American people

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on a regular basis through
the mass media and the Internet.

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To ensure that this large
taxpayer investment

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continues to pay
excellent science

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dividends well
into the next decade,

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if not the millennium,
NASA will launch a third Hubble

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servicing mission
in a few weeks.

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It will be a mission of both
repair and improvement.

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Astronauts
will install six new gyros

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and perform a brain transplant

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by replacing a 1960s computer
with a 1990s model.

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Hubble will also get new skin
in places, insulation

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and an improved battery
charging system.

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I did a calculation last night,

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and we're well beyond
a billion miles yet,

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but we are still on our original
quart of oil and oil filter,

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so we want to change those,
just kidding,

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but I think about my own car,

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which has over
100.000 miles on it.

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I think the reason I keep it
is I figure

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if Hubble can go a billion,

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maybe my car
can go a few more miles.

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To give you specific details
on this mission,

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I'll turn it over
to Dr. John Campbell,

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who is our program manager at
the Goddard Space Flight Center.

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-Thank you, Ed.
Good morning, everyone.

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This mission, as Ed said,
is to repair and improve Hubble.

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Hubble continues to produce
this spectacular science,

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and our job is to keep Hubble
going by repairing it.

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Our job is also,
whenever possible,

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to produce improvements
that can open up

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new areas
of scientific investigation.

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Now, to give you some context
of servicing mission 3A,

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it is 1/3
of the missions

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with a planned total
five missions for Hubble.

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Hubble was launched in 1990.

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There was a servicing mission
in 1993,

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one in 1997,
the one coming up in December.

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There will be another one
about a year and a half later

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in the summer of 2001
and 2 years after that,

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the last servicing mission
in 2003,

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and then we'll extend
Hubble's life until about 2010,

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and that will be
the end of the mission.

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Now, for this mission, I'm going
to show you a bird's-eye view

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with Hubble
docked to the shuttle.

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The docking device there is
called a flight support system.

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It's a lazy Susan thing
that latches on

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to the aft end of Hubble.

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It allows Hubble to be rotated
and tilted,

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and this allows the astronauts
for easy access

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into any of the compartment bays
that Hubble has to have open.

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The lazy Susan device
also has an umbilical

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so that Hubble can be powered
by the shuttle,

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and you will have seen that

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in front of that flight
support system

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is another carrier,
forward in the bay,

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and it's called ORU carrier,
orbital replacement unit.

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That's just jargon
for black boxes, ORUs,

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and that carrier
has several containers

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that those black boxes
are placed in.

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It gives a soft ride.

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There's foam in some of
those carriers,

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and also it's
thermostatically heated

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so that the boxes coming up
are kept warm

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and kept safe
during the launch process.

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Now, the most important thing
that we're doing on this mission

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is to change the gyros,

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and these gyros
that are in Hubble

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are the most accurate
that have ever been produced,

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and they are required
to get the kind of science

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that we get from Hubble.

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One example is that Hubble
has looked at the same target

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in the sky for up to 10 days,
a very, very long time exposure,

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and without those gyros,

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the stars would just be
fuzzy points of light.

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The gyros are what help to keep
Hubble stable and day after day

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recording points of light
and sharp images of galaxies.

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Now, to give you more
information about those gyros,

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Debbie,
my colleague here,

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will tell you
some more about them.

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-Okay, thank you, John,
as Dr. Campbell stated,

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one of the main focuses
of the servicing mission

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is to replace
the gyros on Hubble.

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The controller uses gyros
for maneuvers

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and high-accuracy pointing.

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This high-accuracy pointing
is necessary for science.

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The controller uses a minimum of
three gyros for this pointing.

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So far, out of the six gyros
on Hubble, we have lost three.

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If we lose another gyro, we will
go into a zero-gyro safe mode.

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While this does not pose
a threat to Hubble itself,

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it does mean loss of science
until the gyros can be replaced.

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I would like to note, however,
that while we are operating off

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only three gyros,
the science program

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is proceeding
perfectly well at this point.

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The next thing I'd like to do

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is take you on a journey
inside of Hubble

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so that you can see
where the gyros are located.

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The gyros are on the back end
of Hubble.

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There are six gyros in three
boxes with two gyros per box,

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and you're going to see
one of those boxes coming up.

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The gyros are
cylindrically shaped,

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and you'll see
a single gyro coming up,

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and the blue
that you're about to see

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is fluid that's inside
of the gyro,

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and now we're going to zoom in
on a flexible wire.

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It's shown broken here
because we believe

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that this is the cause
of the failures in the gyros.

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Now, I have a real gyro here,
and I want to show you.

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You're really not going to be
able to see this,

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but inside of here,
there are those wires.

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They're about the thickness
of a strand of hair,

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and you can't see them,
but they are inside of here.

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After the gyros are assembled,
and the cap is back on,

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this gyro is filled with fluid.

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This fluid has a corrosive
effect on the wire inside

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and can cause it to break.

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The wire is composed of a silver
copper alloy

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that is 85 percent silver.

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The fluid corrodes the copper
and leaves only silver.

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Once the wire is in this state,
it is considered to be brittle,

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and it can break.

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To give you an illustration
of what this means,

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we use a bigger example,
a larger-scale example,

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of a stone wall.

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The silver is like stone,
and the copper is like mortar.

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In a stone wall, if the mortar
is washed away,

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the stone wall may remain
standing, or it may not.

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In a similar fashion, this wire,
once the copper is corroded,

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the wire may break,
or it may not.

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There's a great deal
of uncertainty.

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These wires have lasted
in this state for many years,

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or they have broken,
as seen on Hubble.

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To prevent this from happening,
a new and improved manufacturing

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process has been developed
to try to prevent the fluid

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from interacting with the wire
and corroding the copper.

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This new process has been used
on five of the six gyros

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that are replacement units
for this mission,

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and you may ask why only five
and not all six,

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and the answer is simply
because we ran out of time.

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There was not enough time
to assemble the sixth gyro.

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There will be no gyros replaced
on servicing mission 3B

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unless,
of course, we have failures,

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but then again,
on servicing mission four,

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we will replace all six gyros.

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All six will have the new and
improved manufacturing process.

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They will all be replaced
in an effort

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to ensure that we will
maintain science until 2010.

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Now, I'd like to conclude
by showing you

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footage of the astronauts

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in the clean room at Goddard
handling the gyro boxes.

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There's the three boxes,
and here is an astronaut

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lifting out one of the boxes
out of the Hubble mock-up,

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and he will replace that
with a replacement box.

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That concludes my discussion
on the gyros,

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and now John is going
to continue with the remainder

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of the servicing mission.

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John.
-Thank you, Debbie.

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An improvement that we're doing

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is to replace the old-style
computer with a modern computer.

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This computer is stored
in one of 10 equipment bays

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that circle the spacecraft,
and a graphic coming up now

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is showing how the astronauts
have the door open

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in one of these equipment bays
to install the computer.

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The computer is shown
in the picture there,

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and it's just truly
just a black box.

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The computer is based on a 486
Intel unit,

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and there are three different
separate computers in that box,

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each one independent,

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and at any given time,
we only use one,

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so there are two different
strings,

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then, or two different computers

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that are redundant in case
we should need them.

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This computer gives us greatly
increased on-orbit capability.

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During the first
servicing mission,

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we installed what we called
a coprocessor,

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which was Intel 386-based,
and that did some improvement,

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and now,
when we install this computer,

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we will have increased
the central computer memory

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by a factor of 31 times

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and processing power
by 40 times.

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What that does for us
is it allows us a little ...

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It allows us to move
some function in one orbit

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to reduce operating cost
and allow us, as Hubble agents,

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to do operational workarounds
if need be on the computer,

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and maintenance costs
are greatly decreased

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because the computer
is now programmed

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in a modern
programming language,

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which makes it easier to program
and faster to program.

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To be able to keep Hubble
steady along with the gyros

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are fine guidance sensors.

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There are three fine
guidance sensors on board.

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The way we target a star
or a galaxy,

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we place the star or galaxy

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in the aperture of one
of the science instruments,

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but before we do that and when
we do the science planning,

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we have to find two stars
that are nearby that galaxy

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or that star
that we want to look at,

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and those two stars are then

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placed in two different
guidance sensors,

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and the guidance sensors
lock on to those stars

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and then with the gyros
keeping everything stable,

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and we're able to home in
on that target and stay there.

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In servicing mission one,
we removed a fine guidance

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sensor,
replaced it with a spare,

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00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:36.400
and you saw the picture
of astronauts in servicing ...

243
00:17:36.400 --> 00:17:37.834
Sorry, I said
servicing mission one.

244
00:17:37.834 --> 00:17:42.200
I meant servicing mission two,
and you can see the picture here

245
00:17:42.200 --> 00:17:45.367
with the astronaut handling
the fine guidance sensor.

246
00:17:45.367 --> 00:17:49.734
It's about 5 1/2 feet long,
weighs around 500 pounds,

247
00:17:49.734 --> 00:17:53.133
so we had a spare on the ground,
placed that in Hubble,

248
00:17:53.133 --> 00:17:54.467
and the one
that was brought back

249
00:17:54.467 --> 00:17:56.968
after servicing mission two,
we've refurbished.

250
00:17:56.968 --> 00:18:00.667
We will install that in this
upcoming servicing mission.

251
00:18:00.667 --> 00:18:03.434
The one that we take out
will refurbish

252
00:18:03.434 --> 00:18:06.267
and finally install that
in servicing mission four,

253
00:18:06.267 --> 00:18:08.234
so as we get into
the later years of Hubble,

254
00:18:08.234 --> 00:18:10.300
we'll have three fine
guidance sensors

255
00:18:10.300 --> 00:18:11.567
that have been refurbished,

256
00:18:11.567 --> 00:18:13.934
and they should last
for the life of the mission.

257
00:18:17.968 --> 00:18:21.467
Now, when Hubble collects
science data,

258
00:18:21.467 --> 00:18:26.834
it stores it on board,
next graphic, please,

259
00:18:26.834 --> 00:18:31.300
and eventually transmits
through a radio transmitter

260
00:18:31.300 --> 00:18:34.601
the science data
to a geosynchronous satellite,

261
00:18:34.601 --> 00:18:37.801
one of NASA's tracking data
and relay satellites,

262
00:18:37.801 --> 00:18:41.567
and then the science data
is beamed down to the ground,

263
00:18:41.567 --> 00:18:43.167
ends up at Goddard Space
Flight Center

264
00:18:43.167 --> 00:18:45.634
and then finally up to the Space
Telescope Science Institute

265
00:18:45.634 --> 00:18:49.834
in Baltimore, where
the science data is processed.

266
00:18:49.834 --> 00:18:52.334
One of the two radio
transmitters has failed,

267
00:18:52.334 --> 00:18:54.133
and we plan to replace that.

268
00:18:54.133 --> 00:18:58.834
In the meantime, the one good
radio transmitter is doing

269
00:18:58.834 --> 00:19:00.567
the job perfectly well

270
00:19:00.567 --> 00:19:03.000
in terms of being able
to transmit science data,

271
00:19:03.000 --> 00:19:07.501
and there hasn't been
any impact on the science.

272
00:19:07.501 --> 00:19:10.534
Now, our most important product
is really science data

273
00:19:10.534 --> 00:19:12.767
and science data production,

274
00:19:12.767 --> 00:19:14.367
and since the early years
of Hubble,

275
00:19:14.367 --> 00:19:17.067
we've been steadily
improving Hubble

276
00:19:17.067 --> 00:19:20.067
and gaining more and more
science data to today.

277
00:19:20.067 --> 00:19:22.467
We're actually producing
11 times more than

278
00:19:22.467 --> 00:19:24.434
when we started out.

279
00:19:24.434 --> 00:19:26.300
The science data
has to be staged on board

280
00:19:26.300 --> 00:19:29.467
before it can find
a transmission time

281
00:19:29.467 --> 00:19:33.501
to go down to the ground,
and it is stored on recorders.

282
00:19:33.501 --> 00:19:35.100
When Hubble was first launched,

283
00:19:35.100 --> 00:19:38.367
there were three mechanical tape
recorders on board,

284
00:19:38.367 --> 00:19:40.701
and these mechanical recorders
are much like

285
00:19:40.701 --> 00:19:45.267
the reel-to-reel tape recorders
that some of us still remember,

286
00:19:45.267 --> 00:19:49.234
and they don't store a lot data.

287
00:19:49.234 --> 00:19:50.534
They're unreliable.

288
00:19:50.534 --> 00:19:53.300
You have to rewind them
after you put data on them

289
00:19:53.300 --> 00:19:55.167
before you can dump them,

290
00:19:55.167 --> 00:19:57.968
and they don't do the job
anymore.

291
00:19:57.968 --> 00:19:59.434
In servicing mission two,

292
00:19:59.434 --> 00:20:02.300
we installed a solid-state
recorder

293
00:20:02.300 --> 00:20:04.200
that's just composed
of computer chips,

294
00:20:04.200 --> 00:20:07.501
a factor 10 greater
than storage capacity

295
00:20:07.501 --> 00:20:12.200
of the mechanical recorders,
and that's working very well,

296
00:20:12.200 --> 00:20:15.133
and it's handling the science
data that we're getting down,

297
00:20:15.133 --> 00:20:16.634
and we're putting up its twin

298
00:20:16.634 --> 00:20:19.234
to replace one of the other
two mechanical recorders,

299
00:20:19.234 --> 00:20:22.300
so we have it to help us store
science data

300
00:20:22.300 --> 00:20:23.901
and improve production.

301
00:20:27.601 --> 00:20:29.801
Now,
Hubble is in low earth orbit,

302
00:20:29.801 --> 00:20:32.234
and around every 97 minutes,

303
00:20:32.234 --> 00:20:34.701
it goes through first
a day cycle

304
00:20:34.701 --> 00:20:36.067
and then a night cycle.

305
00:20:36.067 --> 00:20:39.234
During the day,
Hubble is powered by solar cells

306
00:20:39.234 --> 00:20:42.567
that are on solar rays,
and during the night,

307
00:20:42.567 --> 00:20:46.133
Hubble is powered
by six batteries.

308
00:20:46.133 --> 00:20:48.434
Now, these batteries, of course,
have to be recharged,

309
00:20:48.434 --> 00:20:51.334
as they come back out
into the sun,

310
00:20:51.334 --> 00:20:53.767
and the batteries are almost
10 years old now.

311
00:20:53.767 --> 00:20:54.767
They've aged.

312
00:20:54.767 --> 00:20:56.634
They still do the job,

313
00:20:56.634 --> 00:20:58.000
but they've become
more sensitive

314
00:20:58.000 --> 00:21:00.501
to the way they are charged,

315
00:21:00.501 --> 00:21:03.467
and they're susceptible
to overheating,

316
00:21:03.467 --> 00:21:08.934
and what we're planning to do
is put a battery voltage

317
00:21:08.934 --> 00:21:12.701
charging improvement kit
on each of these batteries,

318
00:21:12.701 --> 00:21:13.968
looks like this.

319
00:21:13.968 --> 00:21:15.934
The astronauts will go up,

320
00:21:15.934 --> 00:21:20.033
disconnect the connector
from each of the six batteries

321
00:21:20.033 --> 00:21:21.467
and then put this in line.

322
00:21:21.467 --> 00:21:23.934
There's a wing tab connector.
You can see this.

323
00:21:23.934 --> 00:21:28.400
That is for ease of astronaut
gloves to handle that,

324
00:21:28.400 --> 00:21:30.968
and then in this box
is just simple circuitry

325
00:21:30.968 --> 00:21:35.767
that helps the charging cycle
not be so hard

326
00:21:35.767 --> 00:21:39.734
and keeps the batteries
at a cooler temperature.

327
00:21:45.033 --> 00:21:48.033
As Hubble goes through its day
night cycle,

328
00:21:48.033 --> 00:21:51.200
it, of course,
is full in the sun,

329
00:21:51.200 --> 00:21:54.868
and the skin of Hubble
can reach around 180 degrees

330
00:21:54.868 --> 00:21:56.100
Fahrenheit.

331
00:21:56.100 --> 00:21:58.667
As it goes into night,
that same skin can reach

332
00:21:58.667 --> 00:22:00.734
a temperature of minus
130 degrees

333
00:22:00.734 --> 00:22:04.567
Fahrenheit, an excursion
of almost 300 degrees.

334
00:22:04.567 --> 00:22:08.200
Now, boxes, instruments,
computers, of course, don't work

335
00:22:08.200 --> 00:22:11.400
well when they go through
those kinds of excursions,

336
00:22:11.400 --> 00:22:13.200
and so the thermal skin
that's on

337
00:22:13.200 --> 00:22:16.434
Hubble, composed
of multilayer insulation,

338
00:22:16.434 --> 00:22:19.868
is there to keep the temperature
inside Hubble constant.

339
00:22:19.868 --> 00:22:22.868
In fact, it's kept at nearly
room temperature

340
00:22:22.868 --> 00:22:26.434
with very small excursions,
and once boxes are put in

341
00:22:26.434 --> 00:22:30.601
Hubble, they're in
a very comfortable environment.

342
00:22:30.601 --> 00:22:36.067
Now, over the years that sun
radiation, ultraviolet

343
00:22:36.067 --> 00:22:38.067
and also the local
radiation environment

344
00:22:38.067 --> 00:22:40.334
has degraded the skins.

345
00:22:40.334 --> 00:22:45.334
I heard a question earlier
that said, did we expect this?

346
00:22:45.334 --> 00:22:46.534
And the answer was no,

347
00:22:46.534 --> 00:22:50.767
that Hubble is really leading
the pack here

348
00:22:50.767 --> 00:22:55.434
in terms of spacecraft
that have been in orbit,

349
00:22:55.434 --> 00:22:58.234
and samples have been
brought back

350
00:22:58.234 --> 00:23:01.534
so that we can understand
what's going on.

351
00:23:01.534 --> 00:23:05.968
Outside of the Russian Space
Station, it's really only ...

352
00:23:05.968 --> 00:23:08.000
Hubble is really
the oldest spacecraft

353
00:23:08.000 --> 00:23:10.133
from which we've
brought materials back

354
00:23:10.133 --> 00:23:12.133
and understood what's going on

355
00:23:12.133 --> 00:23:15.701
and what happens over
a long period of time,

356
00:23:15.701 --> 00:23:19.334
so the insulation has cracked
and peeled,

357
00:23:19.334 --> 00:23:24.400
and we're going to install
corrective action on that.

358
00:23:24.400 --> 00:23:27.200
There's two particular things
we're doing.

359
00:23:27.200 --> 00:23:29.767
On the equipment bays,
on the doors,

360
00:23:29.767 --> 00:23:31.234
the insulation has degraded,

361
00:23:31.234 --> 00:23:36.200
and we're placing stainless
steel sheets on those doors,

362
00:23:36.200 --> 00:23:40.000
and now I want to roll
a little animation

363
00:23:40.000 --> 00:23:43.434
that will help you
better understand

364
00:23:43.434 --> 00:23:46.434
what we're doing
with the remainder.

365
00:23:46.434 --> 00:23:50.601
This is a cartoon of a stainless
steel sheet

366
00:23:50.601 --> 00:23:58.501
going on one of the payload
bay doors, equipment bay doors,

367
00:23:58.501 --> 00:24:01.968
and now you see
several rolls of insulation

368
00:24:01.968 --> 00:24:06.367
unrolling to cover the light
shield and the forward shell.

369
00:24:06.367 --> 00:24:09.767
There's four vertical rolls,
three horizontal rolls.

370
00:24:09.767 --> 00:24:14.033
The largest one is 18 feet
long and 5 feet wide.

371
00:24:14.033 --> 00:24:18.234
Now, following immediately
is a little video clip

372
00:24:18.234 --> 00:24:22.200
that shows the astronauts
in street clothes

373
00:24:22.200 --> 00:24:24.601
around a mock-up
at Goddard Space Flight Center

374
00:24:24.601 --> 00:24:27.100
that's a full-size mock-up

375
00:24:27.100 --> 00:24:31.467
where they're training to do
this insulation repair.

376
00:24:31.467 --> 00:24:35.100
There's a roll, and here
is Claude Nicollier

377
00:24:35.100 --> 00:24:38.434
unrolling one of
the horizontal rolls.

378
00:24:38.434 --> 00:24:43.167
Notice the words and lettering
all over that insulation.

379
00:24:43.167 --> 00:24:45.300
Those are installation
instructions,

380
00:24:45.300 --> 00:24:48.634
so that says where things go,
how to align things.

381
00:24:48.634 --> 00:24:50.667
There's arrows all over
the place

382
00:24:50.667 --> 00:24:55.734
to keep those rolls,
wallpaper-like rolls, aligned,

383
00:24:55.734 --> 00:24:59.934
so one of the things that
we kind of get a kick out of

384
00:24:59.934 --> 00:25:03.033
is that a creative engineer
came up with the idea

385
00:25:03.033 --> 00:25:05.567
of how to install
a stainless steel plate.

386
00:25:05.567 --> 00:25:08.567
It turns out that there's four
holes in the corner

387
00:25:08.567 --> 00:25:11.067
of each one of those equipment
bay doors,

388
00:25:11.067 --> 00:25:15.033
which were used to let
the air vent out at launch,

389
00:25:15.033 --> 00:25:18.801
and our engineers came up with
a simple bottle stopper idea

390
00:25:18.801 --> 00:25:22.634
to just plug that
into the hole of the vent door,

391
00:25:22.634 --> 00:25:26.501
and then that holds
the stainless sheet there

392
00:25:26.501 --> 00:25:30.334
on that door,
and then here is a life-size.

393
00:25:30.334 --> 00:25:32.934
You can just see it just clicks
down and locks right on,

394
00:25:32.934 --> 00:25:37.200
so that's kind of neat,
so that completes the story

395
00:25:37.200 --> 00:25:41.868
now of the various things
that we're planning to do.

396
00:25:41.868 --> 00:25:44.501
As I said, we're repairing
some equipment.

397
00:25:44.501 --> 00:25:46.200
We're improving some equipment,

398
00:25:46.200 --> 00:25:48.434
and we hope to continue
to do great science

399
00:25:48.434 --> 00:25:50.167
until the next servicing mission

400
00:25:50.167 --> 00:25:52.167
rolls around another year
and a half,

401
00:25:52.167 --> 00:25:55.467
and now Anne will talk to you
some more about this science.

402
00:25:55.467 --> 00:25:59.100
-Thanks, John, so at this stage,
we're about 10 years

403
00:25:59.100 --> 00:26:01.067
into the life
of Hubble Space Telescope,

404
00:26:01.067 --> 00:26:04.567
and everything that you've heard
about today is to help ensure

405
00:26:04.567 --> 00:26:07.934
that we'll have an additional
10 years to be able to continue

406
00:26:07.934 --> 00:26:11.000
to do these
wonderful science observations.

407
00:26:11.000 --> 00:26:13.300
What I'd like to talk about
today

408
00:26:13.300 --> 00:26:18.067
is my personal list
of observations

409
00:26:18.067 --> 00:26:20.167
where Hubble Space
Telescope observations

410
00:26:20.167 --> 00:26:23.767
have changed the way
that we think about the world,

411
00:26:23.767 --> 00:26:27.601
not just a nice science result
but actually had an effect

412
00:26:27.601 --> 00:26:29.701
on the way
that we think about the world,

413
00:26:29.701 --> 00:26:32.434
and then in the end, I'd like
to show you a new science result

414
00:26:32.434 --> 00:26:34.901
that comes from Jeff Hester,

415
00:26:34.901 --> 00:26:37.367
a really beautiful image
of a nebula,

416
00:26:40.400 --> 00:26:42.133
so number one on my list

417
00:26:42.133 --> 00:26:44.767
would be the comet collision
with Jupiter.

418
00:26:44.767 --> 00:26:48.901
Now, this was an example
where we ...

419
00:26:48.901 --> 00:26:50.901
I didn't actually
want the video yet.

420
00:26:52.968 --> 00:26:56.701
The comet collision is
an example where a comet

421
00:26:56.701 --> 00:26:58.400
is approaching the Earth,

422
00:26:58.400 --> 00:27:03.067
and we see the comet break up,
and we can predict

423
00:27:03.067 --> 00:27:05.467
that it's going to run into
the body of Jupiter,

424
00:27:05.467 --> 00:27:07.634
and then it smacks
into the body of Jupiter,

425
00:27:07.634 --> 00:27:12.267
and we actually see something
that we consider a cosmic event

426
00:27:12.267 --> 00:27:13.767
happening in our lifetimes

427
00:27:13.767 --> 00:27:17.868
and in front of our eyes
with Hubble Space Telescope.

428
00:27:17.868 --> 00:27:20.000
The size of the debris
left afterwards

429
00:27:20.000 --> 00:27:22.868
is
the size of the body of Earth.

430
00:27:22.868 --> 00:27:26.033
The small part of the debris is
the size of the body of Earth,

431
00:27:26.033 --> 00:27:31.033
so that is sort of an object
lesson that is pretty profound.

432
00:27:31.033 --> 00:27:33.534
We live in a universe
where things happen,

433
00:27:33.534 --> 00:27:36.367
and they can actually happen
on a pretty short timescale.

434
00:27:36.367 --> 00:27:40.834
There was about 2 years' notice
with that particular comet,

435
00:27:40.834 --> 00:27:44.067
and that was a spectacular
Hubble Space Telescope result.

436
00:27:44.067 --> 00:27:47.601
Another example, I think,
of the way

437
00:27:47.601 --> 00:27:50.133
Hubble Space Telescope
images have changed the way

438
00:27:50.133 --> 00:27:54.534
we think about things
is with the Supernova 1987A.

439
00:27:54.534 --> 00:27:58.234
Now, this went off, obviously,
in 1987,

440
00:27:58.234 --> 00:28:02.234
and then Hubble
was launched in 1990

441
00:28:02.234 --> 00:28:05.334
and started looking at it
and very quickly observed

442
00:28:05.334 --> 00:28:06.534
something
we'd never seen before:

443
00:28:06.534 --> 00:28:09.567
triple rings illuminated
by this explosion.

444
00:28:09.567 --> 00:28:12.767
Now, this is a massive explosion
that's going off.

445
00:28:12.767 --> 00:28:17.100
In the past, all we've ever been
able to watch is the decay time

446
00:28:17.100 --> 00:28:19.234
as these things
get fainter and fainter,

447
00:28:19.234 --> 00:28:23.934
but now we can actually see
the anatomy of a supernova

448
00:28:23.934 --> 00:28:26.701
explosion,
and what we're waiting for now

449
00:28:26.701 --> 00:28:30.868
is for that really powerful
blast wave

450
00:28:30.868 --> 00:28:34.901
to hit into those rings,
and we will have a blow-by-blow

451
00:28:34.901 --> 00:28:39.868
of how a supernova explosion
proceeds in the universe,

452
00:28:39.868 --> 00:28:43.033
and this is really something
very important to us

453
00:28:43.033 --> 00:28:44.501
because this type of explosion

454
00:28:44.501 --> 00:28:47.868
is what disperses oxygen
in the galaxy,

455
00:28:47.868 --> 00:28:50.934
and I don't think
I have to go into why oxygen

456
00:28:50.934 --> 00:28:53.601
is important to us,
so that's another example

457
00:28:53.601 --> 00:28:55.601
where I think
Hubble Space Telescope images

458
00:28:55.601 --> 00:29:01.033
really impact the way
that we look at the world.

459
00:29:01.033 --> 00:29:03.334
Another one of my
personal favorites

460
00:29:03.334 --> 00:29:07.467
is that Hubble Space Telescope
identified the sources

461
00:29:07.467 --> 00:29:10.434
that host the gamma-ray bursts.

462
00:29:10.434 --> 00:29:13.000
Gamma-ray bursts
have been an enigma

463
00:29:13.000 --> 00:29:15.701
for about 20-odd years,

464
00:29:15.701 --> 00:29:20.601
and astronomers didn't even know
if they were local or cosmic.

465
00:29:20.601 --> 00:29:23.033
They didn't know if they were
within, you know,

466
00:29:23.033 --> 00:29:24.701
multiple light-years

467
00:29:24.701 --> 00:29:26.968
or if they were outside
the galaxy,

468
00:29:26.968 --> 00:29:28.934
and Hubble Space Telescope
identified them

469
00:29:28.934 --> 00:29:32.968
as being hosted
in distant galaxies,

470
00:29:32.968 --> 00:29:36.534
and that was a result
that we'll hear more about

471
00:29:36.534 --> 00:29:38.701
as the years go on
and that I think is going to be

472
00:29:38.701 --> 00:29:43.100
a very, very interesting story
to follow.

473
00:29:43.100 --> 00:29:47.033
Another of my personal favorites
is that Hubble Space Telescope

474
00:29:47.033 --> 00:29:52.400
provided definitive proof
for black holes in galaxies,

475
00:29:52.400 --> 00:29:55.200
and not only in quasars
and active galaxies,

476
00:29:55.200 --> 00:29:59.767
but also in normal galaxies
and even small galaxies.

477
00:29:59.767 --> 00:30:04.033
In fact, Hubble discovered
so many black holes

478
00:30:04.033 --> 00:30:08.167
that Art Buchwald had a column
one day where he listed articles

479
00:30:08.167 --> 00:30:10.834
that he never wanted to read
in the newspaper again,

480
00:30:10.834 --> 00:30:12.667
and one of them
was "Hubble Space Telescope

481
00:30:12.667 --> 00:30:16.234
discovers another black hole,"

482
00:30:16.234 --> 00:30:21.167
but that has really affected
our vision of galaxies

483
00:30:21.167 --> 00:30:24.033
that it appears
that most galaxies

484
00:30:24.033 --> 00:30:28.868
are actually the hosts of black
holes in their very center,

485
00:30:28.868 --> 00:30:33.000
and then finally,
I think probably the topic

486
00:30:33.000 --> 00:30:34.634
that you'd have to say
Hubble Space Telescope

487
00:30:34.634 --> 00:30:38.567
has had the most impact on
is galaxy formation

488
00:30:38.567 --> 00:30:41.501
and a view
of the very deep universe,

489
00:30:41.501 --> 00:30:43.734
and this, of course,
was a spearheaded

490
00:30:43.734 --> 00:30:45.601
by the Hubble Deep Field,

491
00:30:45.601 --> 00:30:50.167
which was Bob Williams'
discretionary proposal

492
00:30:50.167 --> 00:30:52.067
that was really
quite unprecedented

493
00:30:52.067 --> 00:30:53.200
in the world of astronomy.

494
00:30:53.200 --> 00:30:56.400
Ten days were spent
observing this field

495
00:30:56.400 --> 00:31:00.234
with the help of a team
of astronomers working on it.

496
00:31:00.234 --> 00:31:02.000
The data was reduced
as quickly as possible.

497
00:31:02.000 --> 00:31:07.167
It was released, I think,
within a month to the world,

498
00:31:07.167 --> 00:31:09.033
and it's probably
the single field

499
00:31:09.033 --> 00:31:12.534
that has had the most
scientific results on one field,

500
00:31:12.534 --> 00:31:14.801
and it's impacted
everything about the way

501
00:31:14.801 --> 00:31:18.834
we think about galaxy formation,
and it actually also changed

502
00:31:18.834 --> 00:31:21.234
some of the sociology
of astronomy

503
00:31:21.234 --> 00:31:26.400
because people started
exchanging results on the Web,

504
00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.667
and it really fomented
a lot of activity

505
00:31:31.667 --> 00:31:33.033
in that field that's been ...

506
00:31:33.033 --> 00:31:34.868
that really has paid off
beautifully.

507
00:31:34.868 --> 00:31:39.701
And now if you could roll
the film of the greatest hits.

508
00:31:39.701 --> 00:31:41.067
Here you see Jupiter,

509
00:31:41.067 --> 00:31:44.434
and the smallest central debris
is the size of the Earth.

510
00:31:44.434 --> 00:31:48.100
This is the Orion Nebula,
host to formation of stars.

511
00:31:48.100 --> 00:31:51.434
This is a globular cluster,
planetary nebula,

512
00:31:51.434 --> 00:31:52.968
end of a star's life.

513
00:31:52.968 --> 00:31:58.434
This is one of those beautiful
galaxies, M87 active galaxy,

514
00:31:58.434 --> 00:32:02.033
and proof for a black hole,
a velocity dispersion.

515
00:32:02.033 --> 00:32:04.534
Here is a colliding galaxy,
Sen-A,

516
00:32:04.534 --> 00:32:06.868
and finally from
the Hubble Deep Field,

517
00:32:06.868 --> 00:32:09.334
just a snippet
from the Hubble Deep Field.

518
00:32:09.334 --> 00:32:11.634
So of course if we were to show
you all the greatest hits,

519
00:32:11.634 --> 00:32:15.367
you'd have to sit here
for another hour or so.

520
00:32:15.367 --> 00:32:17.200
But now let me show you
a new result

521
00:32:17.200 --> 00:32:19.200
that comes from Jeff Hester,

522
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:21.667
and let me just talk about it
a little bit first.

523
00:32:21.667 --> 00:32:24.434
This is a nebula that,
let's see, we've been discussing

524
00:32:24.434 --> 00:32:28.200
all morning how to pronounce it:
Trifid, the Trifid Nebula.

525
00:32:28.200 --> 00:32:29.634
Let's try that?

526
00:32:29.634 --> 00:32:35.734
The Trifid Nebula, okay, so this
is a region of star formation

527
00:32:35.734 --> 00:32:39.701
that you could call it
a birthing region for stars.

528
00:32:39.701 --> 00:32:44.534
Stars really tend to like to be
born together in gaseous clouds,

529
00:32:44.534 --> 00:32:46.200
but then what happens

530
00:32:46.200 --> 00:32:50.133
is that the most
massive stars form first,

531
00:32:50.133 --> 00:32:54.767
and they turn on, and they're
powerful, bright stars,

532
00:32:54.767 --> 00:32:58.100
and they start to blast holes
out of the nebula,

533
00:32:58.100 --> 00:33:01.634
and when we show the video,
you'll see what I mean by that.

534
00:33:01.634 --> 00:33:03.434
There's actually bright paths

535
00:33:03.434 --> 00:33:06.033
where the thing has started
to blast out,

536
00:33:06.033 --> 00:33:08.701
and this is another area
where I think Hubble has really

537
00:33:08.701 --> 00:33:13.601
had a nice impact on the way
we think about star formation

538
00:33:13.601 --> 00:33:17.067
because what happens is
that the massive stars

539
00:33:17.067 --> 00:33:22.667
start to impact the way
the less massive stars form,

540
00:33:22.667 --> 00:33:24.901
in that they blast away
at the nebula,

541
00:33:24.901 --> 00:33:27.534
and I think the way
Jeff Hester put it was

542
00:33:27.534 --> 00:33:30.734
that it's like a blowtorch
on a block of ice

543
00:33:30.734 --> 00:33:32.734
when that hot star turns on.

544
00:33:32.734 --> 00:33:34.634
So let's take a look
at that video.

545
00:33:34.634 --> 00:33:36.467
This starts with
a ground-based image

546
00:33:36.467 --> 00:33:40.934
from the 1.5-meter at Palomar,
and here you see a nebula.

547
00:33:40.934 --> 00:33:43.167
You see those spots
that have been blown out.

548
00:33:43.167 --> 00:33:47.033
We zoom in on the area
of observation,

549
00:33:47.033 --> 00:33:49.167
and you can see
that bright red shows

550
00:33:49.167 --> 00:33:51.267
you the direction
of the brightest stars

551
00:33:51.267 --> 00:33:55.067
is about 8 light-years
from the really bright star,

552
00:33:55.067 --> 00:33:58.734
and here you can see
several different features,

553
00:33:58.734 --> 00:34:05.234
a kind of a spiral jet
from a very young star

554
00:34:05.234 --> 00:34:09.434
and then a pillar where
the light has been blasted away

555
00:34:09.434 --> 00:34:11.868
by the central star.

556
00:34:11.868 --> 00:34:14.734
So this is just an example
of very recent,

557
00:34:14.734 --> 00:34:18.234
very excellent science going on
with Hubble Space Telescope.

558
00:34:18.234 --> 00:34:23.300
And we all very much look
forward to be telling you about,

559
00:34:23.300 --> 00:34:26.334
you know, 10 more years
of great science

560
00:34:26.334 --> 00:34:29.234
from Hubble Space Telescope.

561
00:34:29.234 --> 00:34:31.067
Don?
-Thank you, Anne and panelists.

562
00:34:31.067 --> 00:34:33.067
Okay, we'll start
taking questions

563
00:34:33.067 --> 00:34:34.534
from reporters
here at headquarters,

564
00:34:34.534 --> 00:34:37.701
then go to Johnson Space Center
and Kennedy Space Center.

565
00:34:37.701 --> 00:34:39.434
Please wait for the mic
and give us your name

566
00:34:39.434 --> 00:34:40.901
and affiliation, Paul.

567
00:34:40.901 --> 00:34:43.334
-Yeah, Paul Hoversten,
USA Today.

568
00:34:43.334 --> 00:34:45.467
A couple questions: For Debra,

569
00:34:45.467 --> 00:34:48.200
what's the fluid
in the gyros, please?

570
00:34:48.200 --> 00:34:55.267
-The fluid
is bromotrifluoroethylene, BTFE.

571
00:34:55.267 --> 00:34:56.634
-You'll get the...

572
00:34:56.634 --> 00:34:58.200
-Okay.
All right.

573
00:34:58.200 --> 00:35:01.734
Okay, thank you,
and for Dr. Campbell,

574
00:35:01.734 --> 00:35:07.701
if the original computers
are like the Intel 486,

575
00:35:07.701 --> 00:35:09.267
would you say
what you're putting in

576
00:35:09.267 --> 00:35:11.267
is sort of like a Pentium III?

577
00:35:11.267 --> 00:35:14.334
Can you think of an analogy
we can use for that?

578
00:35:14.334 --> 00:35:18.934
-Well, it's like between
a factor of 30 and 40 times.

579
00:35:18.934 --> 00:35:20.734
I guess that's probably right.

580
00:35:20.734 --> 00:35:23.434
I would have guessed the Pentium
was a factor of 10

581
00:35:23.434 --> 00:35:27.601
maybe than a 46,
but something like that, yeah.

582
00:35:27.601 --> 00:35:32.133
-Okay, and finally for Ed,
can you talk a little bit about

583
00:35:32.133 --> 00:35:35.701
how critical this mission
is to the science of Hubble

584
00:35:35.701 --> 00:35:39.200
and whether or not
you're hearing from astronomers

585
00:35:39.200 --> 00:35:41.767
all around the world
and they're very expectant,

586
00:35:41.767 --> 00:35:44.934
and, I mean, can you just sort
of elaborate on the importance

587
00:35:44.934 --> 00:35:51.167
of a successful mission
here to the telescope?

588
00:35:51.167 --> 00:35:52.367
-Well, as you know, Paul,
you know,

589
00:35:52.367 --> 00:35:54.801
Hubble was designed
with servicing in mind.

590
00:35:54.801 --> 00:35:57.467
I mean, it was not designed
to last 15 or 20 years

591
00:35:57.467 --> 00:36:01.367
without any astronaut servicing,
so parts are failing.

592
00:36:01.367 --> 00:36:04.067
We've lost a, you know, wideband
transmitter without a ...

593
00:36:04.067 --> 00:36:05.868
You know, we have ...
Of course, we anticipated

594
00:36:05.868 --> 00:36:07.267
losing one
at some point in time,

595
00:36:07.267 --> 00:36:10.434
so we had two of them,
and we're using the backup now.

596
00:36:10.434 --> 00:36:12.067
Slightly important because
without a transmitter,

597
00:36:12.067 --> 00:36:13.601
you have no data.

598
00:36:13.601 --> 00:36:15.467
This mission is really
to protect ...

599
00:36:15.467 --> 00:36:17.267
We're really not making
any scientific

600
00:36:17.267 --> 00:36:18.868
improvements in this mission.

601
00:36:18.868 --> 00:36:20.801
That's going to be the one
in about a year and a half

602
00:36:20.801 --> 00:36:22.167
when we put on
an advanced camera,

603
00:36:22.167 --> 00:36:26.400
when we hopefully revive
the NICMOS, etc.

604
00:36:26.400 --> 00:36:28.868
This mission is really
to protect the science,

605
00:36:28.868 --> 00:36:30.367
to protect that investment.

606
00:36:30.367 --> 00:36:33.000
You know, we have a large amount
of money invested in this.

607
00:36:33.000 --> 00:36:35.434
We've gotten very used
to our nice big fat checks

608
00:36:35.434 --> 00:36:38.467
every month
from our mutual funds, etc.,

609
00:36:38.467 --> 00:36:42.968
and the sciences
are those dividend checks.

610
00:36:42.968 --> 00:36:45.234
We're down to three gyros,
but we're lucky.

611
00:36:45.234 --> 00:36:46.934
Back in February,
if you asked me

612
00:36:46.934 --> 00:36:49.567
if we could have
made it to December,

613
00:36:49.567 --> 00:36:52.200
I would have probably
not taken that bet.

614
00:36:52.200 --> 00:36:55.067
I would have probably bet that
we'd have had a gyro failure,

615
00:36:55.067 --> 00:36:56.634
and if we had
one more gyro failure

616
00:36:56.634 --> 00:36:58.000
between February and now,

617
00:36:58.000 --> 00:36:59.934
we would have lost
all science on Hubble

618
00:36:59.934 --> 00:37:02.934
until we went up there
with a shuttle to fix it.

619
00:37:02.934 --> 00:37:05.133
So we've been kind of lucky
for a change on Hubble.

620
00:37:05.133 --> 00:37:08.801
It's kind of a nice
experience for a change.

621
00:37:08.801 --> 00:37:11.100
How long that luck would last
is anybody's guess.

622
00:37:11.100 --> 00:37:14.234
I mean, the remaining
three gyros could go 5 years.

623
00:37:14.234 --> 00:37:16.968
They could go 10 years,
or they could fail tomorrow.

624
00:37:16.968 --> 00:37:18.367
One could fail tomorrow.

625
00:37:18.367 --> 00:37:20.667
I think IUE, the International
Ultraviolet Explorer

626
00:37:20.667 --> 00:37:21.701
went 18 years.

627
00:37:21.701 --> 00:37:23.767
One of the gyros
lasted 18 years.

628
00:37:23.767 --> 00:37:25.934
-Two of them.
-Two of them.

629
00:37:25.934 --> 00:37:27.267
We won't speak to the other two.

630
00:37:27.267 --> 00:37:29.267
That's failed.

631
00:37:29.267 --> 00:37:31.901
So it's ...
The analogy is very good.

632
00:37:31.901 --> 00:37:33.467
You know, you've got that
brick and mortar wall.

633
00:37:33.467 --> 00:37:35.667
When the mortar starts
peeling away,

634
00:37:35.667 --> 00:37:37.434
that wall could fall
right on top of you,

635
00:37:37.434 --> 00:37:43.100
or it could last like, you know,
the ones in Stonehenge had last.

636
00:37:43.100 --> 00:37:47.133
So this is making sure
we keep the dividends flowing.

637
00:37:47.133 --> 00:37:50.033
That's really the way
to describe this mission.

638
00:37:50.033 --> 00:37:52.534
As I said, we spent billions
on this program,

639
00:37:52.534 --> 00:37:56.434
and this mission will continue
the dividends,

640
00:37:56.434 --> 00:37:58.234
scientific dividends flowing.

641
00:37:58.234 --> 00:38:00.300
So the gyros are the most
critical element.

642
00:38:00.300 --> 00:38:02.033
The batteries are becoming
a worry.

643
00:38:02.033 --> 00:38:04.400
They're not really a major
concern, but they're a worry,

644
00:38:04.400 --> 00:38:07.601
so we're going to take care
of that heating problem also.

645
00:38:07.601 --> 00:38:09.567
And the insulation again
is a long-term thing.

646
00:38:09.567 --> 00:38:10.767
You know, is it going to cause
the mission

647
00:38:10.767 --> 00:38:12.367
to fail tomorrow
or the day after?

648
00:38:12.367 --> 00:38:14.634
Of course not, but by taking
care of it now,

649
00:38:14.634 --> 00:38:16.234
hopefully we won't have to worry
about it again

650
00:38:16.234 --> 00:38:18.200
for a long time to come.

651
00:38:18.200 --> 00:38:19.801
So we're doing
some short-term ...

652
00:38:19.801 --> 00:38:21.267
I want to go ...

653
00:38:21.267 --> 00:38:22.934
This is not a routine
servicing mission.

654
00:38:22.934 --> 00:38:24.334
It's not an emergency mission.

655
00:38:24.334 --> 00:38:27.300
It's somewhere in between,
so we're taking care

656
00:38:27.300 --> 00:38:28.634
of some long-term concerns,

657
00:38:28.634 --> 00:38:30.868
taking care of some
short-term concerns,

658
00:38:30.868 --> 00:38:33.267
and we're really leaving
the upgrading of science

659
00:38:33.267 --> 00:38:36.000
to the mission
in about 18 months.

660
00:38:36.000 --> 00:38:37.100
-Okay.

661
00:38:37.100 --> 00:38:37.968
We've got a question
in the back,

662
00:38:37.968 --> 00:38:40.200
and then Kathy Sawyer in front.

663
00:38:40.200 --> 00:38:44.667
State your name and affiliation.

664
00:38:44.667 --> 00:38:47.601
-The gyros used in aviation
don't have any fluid in it,

665
00:38:47.601 --> 00:38:53.067
so can you explain why
you need fluid in those gyros?

666
00:38:53.067 --> 00:38:54.901
And second question is,
what's going to happen

667
00:38:54.901 --> 00:38:59.901
after 2010 to Hubble Telescope?

668
00:38:59.901 --> 00:39:02.267
-Take it first.
-Okay, the gyros

669
00:39:02.267 --> 00:39:06.067
have fluid in them
because they're floating gyros.

670
00:39:06.067 --> 00:39:12.701
The fluid is necessary
as a part of the ...

671
00:39:12.701 --> 00:39:17.667
for the mechanism
inside to rotate.

672
00:39:17.667 --> 00:39:25.634
It's ... I don't think I could
make it too simple.

673
00:39:25.634 --> 00:39:30.467
It would be pretty technical,
but very simply just to say

674
00:39:30.467 --> 00:39:35.901
that the fluid is necessary
for the mechanism of the gyro

675
00:39:35.901 --> 00:39:40.067
spinning for that to work.

676
00:39:42.934 --> 00:39:47.133
-On the "What do we do
with Hubble after 20 years?"

677
00:39:47.133 --> 00:39:48.467
there are two options.

678
00:39:48.467 --> 00:39:50.200
One we're really not
too seriously considering.

679
00:39:50.200 --> 00:39:53.501
One option would be to somehow
attach a rocket to it

680
00:39:53.501 --> 00:39:55.601
and then blast it up
to a very high orbit

681
00:39:55.601 --> 00:39:58.467
so that it would be safe
for eons.

682
00:39:58.467 --> 00:40:00.033
I don't think we've really
figured

683
00:40:00.033 --> 00:40:02.367
out an easy way to do that.

684
00:40:02.367 --> 00:40:04.934
The most likely option
that in 2010,

685
00:40:04.934 --> 00:40:08.601
which corresponds to the next
maximum of the solar cycle,

686
00:40:08.601 --> 00:40:09.968
at maximum of the solar cycle,

687
00:40:09.968 --> 00:40:11.934
the atmosphere of the Earth
spreads out,

688
00:40:11.934 --> 00:40:14.200
expands, will slow down Hubble,

689
00:40:14.200 --> 00:40:16.234
and without
any shuttle interaction,

690
00:40:16.234 --> 00:40:18.033
the Hubble would
wind up coming down,

691
00:40:18.033 --> 00:40:20.701
and that might not be
a good day for where it lands.

692
00:40:20.701 --> 00:40:23.968
So we intend to ...
Right now the current plan

693
00:40:23.968 --> 00:40:26.667
would be to bring it
back to Earth in 2010.

694
00:40:26.667 --> 00:40:28.434
We haven't made arrangements
with anybody,

695
00:40:28.434 --> 00:40:31.067
but I'm sure the Smithsonian
would be interested

696
00:40:31.067 --> 00:40:34.300
in an exhibit
that would stand 40 feet tall

697
00:40:34.300 --> 00:40:38.467
and may make a very interesting
exhibit for kids to see.

698
00:40:41.033 --> 00:40:42.234
Kathy?

699
00:40:42.234 --> 00:40:43.868
-Kathy Sawyer,
The Washington Post,

700
00:40:43.868 --> 00:40:46.434
for Dr. Weiler.

701
00:40:46.434 --> 00:40:50.601
You've had some slip
in the schedule of this mission,

702
00:40:50.601 --> 00:40:53.767
and I was wondering,
have any science missions

703
00:40:53.767 --> 00:40:58.334
that were time-critical been
unsettled or ruined or delayed?

704
00:40:58.334 --> 00:41:02.934
Has there been much
scheduling problem

705
00:41:02.934 --> 00:41:07.767
with any of the users
of this telescope?

706
00:41:07.767 --> 00:41:11.467
-Specific to Hubble or other
space science missions, Kathy?

707
00:41:11.467 --> 00:41:13.801
-Well, I had in mind specific
to Hubble,

708
00:41:13.801 --> 00:41:16.968
people who had scheduled
observations for the time

709
00:41:16.968 --> 00:41:20.601
during which the mission was
supposed to occur in October,

710
00:41:20.601 --> 00:41:24.501
and then during the time when it
is now occurring in December.

711
00:41:24.501 --> 00:41:25.734
Both of those ...
-I got you.

712
00:41:25.734 --> 00:41:27.734
-... time periods
might have been a bit unsettled

713
00:41:27.734 --> 00:41:30.434
by the changes
and uncertainties.

714
00:41:30.434 --> 00:41:32.634
-Well, it goes both ways.

715
00:41:32.634 --> 00:41:34.367
Those scientists who were
anticipated

716
00:41:34.367 --> 00:41:36.834
not getting their observations
done back in October

717
00:41:36.834 --> 00:41:38.300
when we were supposed
to fly have now

718
00:41:38.300 --> 00:41:40.667
gotten their observations,
so they're the winners.

719
00:41:40.667 --> 00:41:42.534
The ones that had planned to get
their observations

720
00:41:42.534 --> 00:41:44.868
in early December
are the losers.

721
00:41:44.868 --> 00:41:46.100
To the best of my knowledge,

722
00:41:46.100 --> 00:41:48.734
and somebody from the institute
could correct me,

723
00:41:48.734 --> 00:41:52.067
I'm not aware of any
time-critical observations

724
00:41:52.067 --> 00:41:53.200
that will be lost.

725
00:41:53.200 --> 00:41:54.567
The way we work with Hubble
is that

726
00:41:54.567 --> 00:41:59.000
if you lose your observation,
it will be rescheduled.

727
00:41:59.000 --> 00:42:01.467
That's not to say there aren't
time-critical observations,

728
00:42:01.467 --> 00:42:02.968
but again,
to the best of my knowledge,

729
00:42:02.968 --> 00:42:04.234
no comets are hitting Jupiter

730
00:42:04.234 --> 00:42:07.801
this walk and no supernovae
have just gone off.

731
00:42:07.801 --> 00:42:10.667
So the answer is probably no,

732
00:42:10.667 --> 00:42:13.567
no critical things
are really lost by this.

733
00:42:13.567 --> 00:42:16.167
I mean, and we're not losing
any science in essence

734
00:42:16.167 --> 00:42:19.868
because instead of taking off
a week or two back in October

735
00:42:19.868 --> 00:42:22.601
for the servicing mission,
we'll be doing that December,

736
00:42:22.601 --> 00:42:26.801
so that time was
"already lost" anyway.

737
00:42:26.801 --> 00:42:28.968
-Earl Lane with Newsday.

738
00:42:28.968 --> 00:42:33.834
Just to clarify Paul's question
on the computer,

739
00:42:33.834 --> 00:42:36.567
it is a 486 that's being put in
as a replacement,

740
00:42:36.567 --> 00:42:39.334
right, not a Pentium,
and I guess the question is,

741
00:42:39.334 --> 00:42:43.167
why wouldn't you go
for a Pentium class?

742
00:42:43.167 --> 00:42:44.167
-All right.

743
00:42:44.167 --> 00:42:48.934
The new computer
is Intel 486-based,

744
00:42:48.934 --> 00:42:51.901
and the main reason
why it isn't Pentium

745
00:42:51.901 --> 00:42:56.000
is that a computer
for a space application

746
00:42:56.000 --> 00:42:58.100
takes on the order of 4 years

747
00:42:58.100 --> 00:43:00.534
to develop
from start to scratch,

748
00:43:00.534 --> 00:43:03.634
and for us, there's two
major reasons why that's true.

749
00:43:03.634 --> 00:43:09.000
One is that the design
has to fit in the Hubble.

750
00:43:09.000 --> 00:43:10.434
There can be no mistake.

751
00:43:10.434 --> 00:43:14.033
When that computer is plugged
into Hubble, it has to work,

752
00:43:14.033 --> 00:43:15.734
and it has to communicate
with the rest

753
00:43:15.734 --> 00:43:17.467
of Hubble's data system.

754
00:43:17.467 --> 00:43:19.067
And so this isn't
a plug-and-play thing

755
00:43:19.067 --> 00:43:22.601
where you can just plug
in a printer

756
00:43:22.601 --> 00:43:24.067
like
we're used to on the ground,

757
00:43:24.067 --> 00:43:25.267
so that takes a long time.

758
00:43:25.267 --> 00:43:28.934
We do model ...
We do first models

759
00:43:28.934 --> 00:43:32.200
and make sure that works,
and then test that,

760
00:43:32.200 --> 00:43:34.601
and then eventually
build flight units.

761
00:43:34.601 --> 00:43:37.100
The other thing that's different
from us on the ground

762
00:43:37.100 --> 00:43:39.634
is that their radiation
environment

763
00:43:39.634 --> 00:43:43.400
is a lot more
severe up in space.

764
00:43:43.400 --> 00:43:46.501
An example is that some
commercial laptops

765
00:43:46.501 --> 00:43:50.334
are frequently brought up
into the ...

766
00:43:50.334 --> 00:43:52.868
on the shuttle flights
by the astronauts,

767
00:43:52.868 --> 00:43:57.067
and those laptops
come to a halt once or twice,

768
00:43:57.067 --> 00:44:01.467
sometimes three times a day
because of radiation hits,

769
00:44:01.467 --> 00:44:04.033
and that's unacceptable, too.

770
00:44:04.033 --> 00:44:07.300
The computer has to operate day
in, day out,

771
00:44:07.300 --> 00:44:12.601
so we had to select
the processing unit

772
00:44:12.601 --> 00:44:16.400
to be sure that
it withstood the radiation.

773
00:44:16.400 --> 00:44:20.400
We have memories in there
that are not commercial memories

774
00:44:20.400 --> 00:44:23.767
like on your standard computer
but are radiation-hardened.

775
00:44:23.767 --> 00:44:26.701
And then finally, we actually
tested this computer,

776
00:44:26.701 --> 00:44:28.534
the one that
we planned to install.

777
00:44:28.534 --> 00:44:32.434
We tested it last fall
a year ago

778
00:44:32.434 --> 00:44:34.601
on the flight
that John Glenn flew on.

779
00:44:34.601 --> 00:44:36.434
We took it up into space.

780
00:44:36.434 --> 00:44:38.767
We ran it for 7 days.

781
00:44:38.767 --> 00:44:40.033
That's really not a life test,

782
00:44:40.033 --> 00:44:41.934
but that was kind of
a dummy check

783
00:44:41.934 --> 00:44:46.801
to make sure that we hadn't
overlooked anything.

784
00:44:46.801 --> 00:44:49.367
So it takes 4 years to develop,

785
00:44:49.367 --> 00:44:52.400
and Pentium really wasn't
in the cards.

786
00:44:52.400 --> 00:44:55.534
-Well, let me add two
short things to that.

787
00:44:55.534 --> 00:44:57.868
In fact, we are working
with the Pentium people,

788
00:44:57.868 --> 00:45:01.033
and JPL is involved to ...

789
00:45:01.033 --> 00:45:02.901
We're currently working
to get the Pentium

790
00:45:02.901 --> 00:45:05.133
up to space
qualification standards,

791
00:45:05.133 --> 00:45:07.200
hopefully in less than 4 years,

792
00:45:07.200 --> 00:45:08.667
but that's in progress
because you have ...

793
00:45:08.667 --> 00:45:11.300
As John pointed out, you have to
start early to radiation-harden

794
00:45:11.300 --> 00:45:16.100
these things and design them
for space radiation environment.

795
00:45:16.100 --> 00:45:19.801
Not to downplay the 486, I mean,
remember what it's replacing.

796
00:45:19.801 --> 00:45:23.133
It's replacing what we call
a DF-224.

797
00:45:23.133 --> 00:45:26.033
That was NASA's and
the military's standard computer

798
00:45:26.033 --> 00:45:28.067
back in the '60s.

799
00:45:28.067 --> 00:45:30.601
It's not quite like
going from a, you know,

800
00:45:30.601 --> 00:45:33.567
a slide rule to a McIntosh
or whatever, IBM.

801
00:45:33.567 --> 00:45:37.434
It's close.
-All right.

802
00:45:37.434 --> 00:45:40.467
We'll go to the Johnson
Space Center for questions now.

803
00:45:40.467 --> 00:45:42.234
Go ahead, please.

804
00:45:42.234 --> 00:45:45.100
-This is Marcia Dunn of
the Associated Press for Ed.

805
00:45:45.100 --> 00:45:48.801
What's the latest cost attached
to this mission,

806
00:45:48.801 --> 00:45:51.100
both Hubble program costs
and shuttle costs?

807
00:45:51.100 --> 00:45:54.534
-Oh, I'm sorry.
I missed the question.

808
00:45:54.534 --> 00:45:55.601
-What are the costs
for the mission,

809
00:45:55.601 --> 00:45:58.834
the Hubble and he shuttle costs?

810
00:45:58.834 --> 00:46:01.567
-The Hubble-related cost
is $26 million,

811
00:46:01.567 --> 00:46:03.767
roughly $26 million,

812
00:46:03.767 --> 00:46:05.868
and the cost for
the extra shuttle mission

813
00:46:05.868 --> 00:46:10.968
is about $110 million
for a total of about 136.

814
00:46:10.968 --> 00:46:13.100
-Yes, and I was wondering,

815
00:46:13.100 --> 00:46:16.501
when did the radio transmitter
fail and why,

816
00:46:16.501 --> 00:46:18.467
and could you give
a little status report

817
00:46:18.467 --> 00:46:22.267
of the three remaining
functional gyros?

818
00:46:22.267 --> 00:46:28.267
I know there was some quirks in
one of them about a month ago.

819
00:46:28.267 --> 00:46:31.133
-I can't remember exactly
when the transmitter failed.

820
00:46:31.133 --> 00:46:34.300
I believe it's been
almost 2 years now.

821
00:46:34.300 --> 00:46:36.501
We don't know why it failed.

822
00:46:36.501 --> 00:46:38.601
We did a lot
of telemetry analysis.

823
00:46:38.601 --> 00:46:41.400
We think one of the power
transmitters,

824
00:46:41.400 --> 00:46:46.801
power transistors on the power
side of that transmitter failed.

825
00:46:46.801 --> 00:46:49.267
The telemetry seemed
to indicate that.

826
00:46:49.267 --> 00:46:51.100
We won't know until we bring it
back to the ground

827
00:46:51.100 --> 00:46:54.133
and take it apart.

828
00:46:54.133 --> 00:46:57.868
The three gyros
are doing their job.

829
00:46:57.868 --> 00:47:01.133
They're working.

830
00:47:01.133 --> 00:47:02.601
We're doing all the kinds
of science

831
00:47:02.601 --> 00:47:04.334
that we've always been able
to do with the gyros,

832
00:47:04.334 --> 00:47:08.267
so they are healthy.

833
00:47:08.267 --> 00:47:10.334
-Todd Halvorson of space.com.

834
00:47:10.334 --> 00:47:16.801
On the radio transmitter,
have you guys done any studies

835
00:47:16.801 --> 00:47:21.167
on the meantime between failures
or have any predictions on

836
00:47:21.167 --> 00:47:24.000
when the one unit
that you do have good up

837
00:47:24.000 --> 00:47:27.968
there might go bad on you?

838
00:47:27.968 --> 00:47:30.300
-Well, we're anxious to get
that transmitter back.

839
00:47:30.300 --> 00:47:33.501
We expected the transmitter
to last for 15 years,

840
00:47:33.501 --> 00:47:39.934
and so it failed it must be
around 8 years of operation.

841
00:47:39.934 --> 00:47:43.767
Until we get it back to see
why it failed,

842
00:47:43.767 --> 00:47:47.300
we won't know whether that was
just a random part failure

843
00:47:47.300 --> 00:47:50.367
and won't affect
the other transmitter,

844
00:47:50.367 --> 00:47:51.934
but in fact,
what we're planning to do

845
00:47:51.934 --> 00:47:55.033
is when we bring this one back,
we'll refurbish it,

846
00:47:55.033 --> 00:48:00.501
and if necessary,
we can replace the original one,

847
00:48:00.501 --> 00:48:04.267
the one that we're using right
now, in servicing mission four,

848
00:48:04.267 --> 00:48:07.100
so another advantage
of being able to service,

849
00:48:07.100 --> 00:48:08.501
to find out what goes wrong,

850
00:48:08.501 --> 00:48:13.267
fix it and then replace
a box for long life.

851
00:48:13.267 --> 00:48:16.534
-And just a quick one
on the voltage improvement kits,

852
00:48:16.534 --> 00:48:17.968
I'm wondering
if you can tell me

853
00:48:17.968 --> 00:48:22.567
what the upshot is of batteries
overheating on the Hubble?

854
00:48:22.567 --> 00:48:25.367
-Okay.

855
00:48:25.367 --> 00:48:27.567
First, let me say
that under normal ...

856
00:48:27.567 --> 00:48:32.534
When we normally operate Hubble,
it's under computer control,

857
00:48:32.534 --> 00:48:36.300
and the computer controls
the charging cycle.

858
00:48:36.300 --> 00:48:39.701
The one thing we're concerned
about is that

859
00:48:39.701 --> 00:48:42.868
when Hubble goes into
its deepest hardware safe mode,

860
00:48:42.868 --> 00:48:44.834
there's a computer
that takes over

861
00:48:44.834 --> 00:48:48.267
from the other
programmable computer,

862
00:48:48.267 --> 00:48:51.367
and it controls the spacecraft.

863
00:48:51.367 --> 00:48:54.501
What it does is, it takes,
disconnects all the load,

864
00:48:54.501 --> 00:48:55.834
turns off all kinds of boxes

865
00:48:55.834 --> 00:48:59.434
to be sure that the Hubble
is power safe,

866
00:48:59.434 --> 00:49:02.033
and that's
the extended safe mode.

867
00:49:02.033 --> 00:49:07.100
Now, the batteries are used
lightly then,

868
00:49:07.100 --> 00:49:09.501
so when they get charged,
they start to warm up.

869
00:49:09.501 --> 00:49:10.701
That's the problem.

870
00:49:10.701 --> 00:49:13.734
Now, if the worst case is,

871
00:49:13.734 --> 00:49:19.067
is that if over
a period of a day or two,

872
00:49:19.067 --> 00:49:21.467
if we couldn't restore
communications,

873
00:49:21.467 --> 00:49:23.901
then the batteries
would slowly warm up,

874
00:49:23.901 --> 00:49:26.601
and then finally,

875
00:49:26.601 --> 00:49:29.534
if that should happen
and the batteries got too warm,

876
00:49:29.534 --> 00:49:35.534
then the seals would break
and the hydrogen in the battery

877
00:49:35.534 --> 00:49:37.868
would then
just be dispersed into space.

878
00:49:37.868 --> 00:49:46.434
-This is Miles O'Brien with CNN,
for Ed Weiler, I suppose.

879
00:49:46.434 --> 00:49:51.200
Ed, has Hubble answered all of
the big questions

880
00:49:51.200 --> 00:49:54.767
that it set out to answer?

881
00:49:54.767 --> 00:49:58.100
I seem to recall a top-10 list
at least,

882
00:49:58.100 --> 00:50:00.200
and as you look forward
to the next 10 years,

883
00:50:00.200 --> 00:50:01.868
what are the
outstanding questions

884
00:50:01.868 --> 00:50:04.968
you hope to see answered?

885
00:50:04.968 --> 00:50:06.300
-Well, Miles,
on the second question,

886
00:50:06.300 --> 00:50:07.834
we could probably spend
the next hour.

887
00:50:07.834 --> 00:50:10.300
I don't think we want
to do that.

888
00:50:10.300 --> 00:50:12.133
Let's see.

889
00:50:12.133 --> 00:50:16.968
Certainly
Hubble has answered most

890
00:50:16.968 --> 00:50:19.300
if not all of the top questions

891
00:50:19.300 --> 00:50:22.567
that we talked about back
in the 1970s.

892
00:50:22.567 --> 00:50:24.801
You know, it certainly has given
us the Hubble Constant,

893
00:50:24.801 --> 00:50:27.634
the age of the universe
to a 10 percent accuracy.

894
00:50:27.634 --> 00:50:33.467
It's proven the existence
of supermassive black holes,

895
00:50:33.467 --> 00:50:35.000
but we can go through that list,

896
00:50:35.000 --> 00:50:37.167
but I think what's more
important is all the questions

897
00:50:37.167 --> 00:50:40.934
it's enabled us
to ask for the first time,

898
00:50:40.934 --> 00:50:42.400
and the questions it's also ...

899
00:50:42.400 --> 00:50:44.534
and the things that we thought
we knew that we found out

900
00:50:44.534 --> 00:50:46.734
we didn't know very accurately.

901
00:50:46.734 --> 00:50:49.601
Anne Kinney talked about
one of them in terms

902
00:50:49.601 --> 00:50:51.868
of the Hubble Deep Field.

903
00:50:51.868 --> 00:50:54.567
When many of went
to graduate school, the models,

904
00:50:54.567 --> 00:50:56.334
the belief was that galaxies,

905
00:50:56.334 --> 00:50:59.601
which are the largest forms
of matter in the universe,

906
00:50:59.601 --> 00:51:02.934
tens of thousands of light-years
across,

907
00:51:02.934 --> 00:51:05.167
they were formed out of
the uniform hydrogen

908
00:51:05.167 --> 00:51:07.801
and helium cloud that was
expanding after the Big Bang,

909
00:51:07.801 --> 00:51:11.300
and the thought was that such
big structures took a long time

910
00:51:11.300 --> 00:51:13.901
to form after that Big Bang,
perhaps a billion,

911
00:51:13.901 --> 00:51:16.901
perhaps 2 billion
or perhaps even more years.

912
00:51:16.901 --> 00:51:18.200
So we thought when we launched
Hubble,

913
00:51:18.200 --> 00:51:19.601
knowing that we had
the capability

914
00:51:19.601 --> 00:51:22.601
to see back at least that far,
that we would see galaxies

915
00:51:22.601 --> 00:51:24.534
basically in
the act of formation,

916
00:51:24.534 --> 00:51:27.767
in the act of being born,
and we were quite surprised

917
00:51:27.767 --> 00:51:31.968
because what we saw
was pretty well-formed objects

918
00:51:31.968 --> 00:51:33.601
1 billion years
after the Big Bang,

919
00:51:33.601 --> 00:51:37.267
perhaps as little as 800 million
years after the Big Bang,

920
00:51:37.267 --> 00:51:39.968
which meant that the epoch
of galaxy formation

921
00:51:39.968 --> 00:51:45.200
occurred much earlier than most
theoretical models predicted.

922
00:51:45.200 --> 00:51:48.801
This is a problem, and Hubble is
not going to solve that problem.

923
00:51:48.801 --> 00:51:50.667
It doesn't have
the light-gathering capability.

924
00:51:50.667 --> 00:51:54.868
It doesn't have the aperture
to see back even further,

925
00:51:54.868 --> 00:51:57.667
and thus was born
one of the prime driving forces

926
00:51:57.667 --> 00:52:00.367
for the next generation
space telescope

927
00:52:00.367 --> 00:52:03.367
was the fact that we would like
to go back

928
00:52:03.367 --> 00:52:05.367
and not just see the infants
and the toddlers.

929
00:52:05.367 --> 00:52:07.400
We'd like to go see
the act of birth,

930
00:52:07.400 --> 00:52:09.834
that is, how did this universe
get started after the Big Bang?

931
00:52:09.834 --> 00:52:12.100
How did we go from a uniform
cloud of hydrogen

932
00:52:12.100 --> 00:52:16.234
and helium into the complex
universe that we live in today?

933
00:52:16.234 --> 00:52:18.367
Hubble has given us a lot
of answers to that question,

934
00:52:18.367 --> 00:52:21.601
but it's posed some even
more serious questions

935
00:52:21.601 --> 00:52:24.334
about that process.

936
00:52:24.334 --> 00:52:26.834
Another thing I think Hubble is
going to play a major role in,

937
00:52:26.834 --> 00:52:29.234
along with a lot
of other telescopes,

938
00:52:29.234 --> 00:52:31.067
is another thing
that Anne mentioned,

939
00:52:31.067 --> 00:52:33.067
is the whole issue
of gamma-ray bursts.

940
00:52:33.067 --> 00:52:36.000
These are the most powerful
explosions in the universe.

941
00:52:36.000 --> 00:52:37.567
For a few seconds,
they're more powerful

942
00:52:37.567 --> 00:52:40.100
than the Big Bang itself.

943
00:52:40.100 --> 00:52:42.267
Just until a few years ago,
it wasn't known whether

944
00:52:42.267 --> 00:52:44.033
these things
were occurring right next door

945
00:52:44.033 --> 00:52:47.300
to us
or billions of light-years away.

946
00:52:47.300 --> 00:52:49.767
Through a combination
of high-energy satellites,

947
00:52:49.767 --> 00:52:52.367
ground-based telescopes
and Hubble,

948
00:52:52.367 --> 00:52:53.934
we've now shown more
or less definitively

949
00:52:53.934 --> 00:52:56.000
that these objects
seem to be occurring ...

950
00:52:56.000 --> 00:52:58.767
these explosions seem to be
occurring in galaxies.

951
00:52:58.767 --> 00:53:00.934
But what are these explosions?

952
00:53:00.934 --> 00:53:02.767
Are they neutron stars
coming together?

953
00:53:02.767 --> 00:53:05.434
Are they black holes eating
a whole star all at once,

954
00:53:05.434 --> 00:53:07.334
and we're seeing the burst?

955
00:53:07.334 --> 00:53:10.234
We still have no idea, and I
think with the advanced camera

956
00:53:10.234 --> 00:53:11.767
which will be launched in a year

957
00:53:11.767 --> 00:53:14.434
or two
with the other instruments

958
00:53:14.434 --> 00:53:16.367
we're planning
to put up on Hubble

959
00:53:16.367 --> 00:53:18.901
and in combination with
the other great observatories

960
00:53:18.901 --> 00:53:20.968
like Chandra,
the X-ray observatory

961
00:53:20.968 --> 00:53:24.200
and the space
infrared telescope facility,

962
00:53:24.200 --> 00:53:26.834
I think within the next decade,
it's not unfair to say

963
00:53:26.834 --> 00:53:28.501
that we probably will get
a pretty good answer

964
00:53:28.501 --> 00:53:30.901
as to what
these explosions might be.

965
00:53:30.901 --> 00:53:33.934
And it's not just Hubble.

966
00:53:33.934 --> 00:53:35.868
It's Hubble in combination
with all these other programs.

967
00:53:35.868 --> 00:53:37.501
We are really in ...

968
00:53:37.501 --> 00:53:41.667
We're not entering, we are in
a renaissance for astronomy.

969
00:53:41.667 --> 00:53:44.701
Over the last 10 years,
the leaps we've taken in

970
00:53:44.701 --> 00:53:47.100
answering basic questions
and again,

971
00:53:47.100 --> 00:53:52.234
more importantly, sometimes
it's more important to know

972
00:53:52.234 --> 00:53:55.467
the things you don't know,
if that makes any sense.

973
00:53:55.467 --> 00:53:57.667
And I think Hubble has done
a real good job

974
00:53:57.667 --> 00:53:59.501
in just putting us
in our place.

975
00:53:59.501 --> 00:54:02.968
That is, we don't know all there
is to know about this universe,

976
00:54:02.968 --> 00:54:07.601
even though a lot of astronomers
thought they knew most of it.

977
00:54:07.601 --> 00:54:10.734
-A question for Dr. Kinney,
I think.

978
00:54:10.734 --> 00:54:13.934
It's obviously a very sensible
and valuable instrument

979
00:54:13.934 --> 00:54:16.133
which has provided
an awful lot of science,

980
00:54:16.133 --> 00:54:19.801
which you just went through
your personal top-10 list.

981
00:54:19.801 --> 00:54:23.100
When the space walks are
occurring and the space walkers,

982
00:54:23.100 --> 00:54:26.601
as well-trained as they are,
are near that instrument,

983
00:54:26.601 --> 00:54:29.567
is that a nervous time
for scientists and astronomers?

984
00:54:29.567 --> 00:54:32.300
-That's terribly nerve-racking.

985
00:54:32.300 --> 00:54:35.534
Probably the most nerve-racking
for any of us

986
00:54:35.534 --> 00:54:40.033
was the original refurbishment
when COSTAR was put in,

987
00:54:40.033 --> 00:54:42.400
and at that time,
I was an instrument scientist

988
00:54:42.400 --> 00:54:43.834
with the Faint
Object Spectrograph,

989
00:54:43.834 --> 00:54:49.567
and there were booms that had
to be moved out with the mirrors

990
00:54:49.567 --> 00:54:51.968
in place to correct
the Faint Object Spectrograph,

991
00:54:51.968 --> 00:54:53.868
and if they didn't move
to the correct position,

992
00:54:53.868 --> 00:54:57.033
you would block the apertures
instead of correcting them,

993
00:54:57.033 --> 00:54:59.501
and, boy, we didn't get
any sleep at all

994
00:54:59.501 --> 00:55:02.968
for that whole period because
the space walks were at night,

995
00:55:02.968 --> 00:55:05.100
and of course we were
working in the daytime,

996
00:55:05.100 --> 00:55:06.434
so we'd get up
in the morning, go to work.

997
00:55:06.434 --> 00:55:08.400
We'd go home, have dinner, rest,

998
00:55:08.400 --> 00:55:11.234
and then we'd go in
and watch the space walk.

999
00:55:11.234 --> 00:55:14.367
And honestly, there are some
people who couldn't sit down.

1000
00:55:14.367 --> 00:55:16.667
You couldn't ...
It was sort of ...

1001
00:55:16.667 --> 00:55:18.000
Europeans have
the same response

1002
00:55:18.000 --> 00:55:20.567
when they're watching
a world soccer match.

1003
00:55:20.567 --> 00:55:24.834
They can't sit down, but it was
incredibly nerve-racking,

1004
00:55:24.834 --> 00:55:27.334
and some of it is
very difficult to watch.

1005
00:55:27.334 --> 00:55:29.100
You watch with your heart
in your mouth

1006
00:55:29.100 --> 00:55:32.634
basically because, you know,
it really ...

1007
00:55:32.634 --> 00:55:34.000
People live
and breathe this stuff.

1008
00:55:34.000 --> 00:55:35.300
I mean, it really means
a lot to you.

1009
00:55:35.300 --> 00:55:38.901
I'm sure John would say
the same thing.

1010
00:55:38.901 --> 00:55:40.033
-Oh, yeah.

1011
00:55:40.033 --> 00:55:42.067
That's true, but also,
you have ...

1012
00:55:42.067 --> 00:55:44.534
When we're actually doing that,
you have to suppress that

1013
00:55:44.534 --> 00:55:48.067
because you have to try to keep
thinking of what might go wrong

1014
00:55:48.067 --> 00:55:49.601
and how you would react to it,

1015
00:55:49.601 --> 00:55:54.934
so it's necessary to stay cool
as much as possible.

1016
00:55:54.934 --> 00:55:56.567
-Bill Harwood, CBS.

1017
00:55:56.567 --> 00:55:58.767
Two questions, one for Ed
and one for John Campbell,

1018
00:55:58.767 --> 00:56:02.000
but, Ed, on the cost,
following Marcia's question,

1019
00:56:02.000 --> 00:56:04.167
just to review my memory,
can you tell me

1020
00:56:04.167 --> 00:56:07.734
what the projected cost
is through 2010 of Hubble,

1021
00:56:07.734 --> 00:56:10.868
what that grand total comes to,
and I was wondering what ...

1022
00:56:10.868 --> 00:56:12.901
I see you shaking your head,
but I was just curious

1023
00:56:12.901 --> 00:56:15.000
as to what number to put on it,
and I was curious

1024
00:56:15.000 --> 00:56:17.934
as to what the yearly
operational costs are right now

1025
00:56:17.934 --> 00:56:21.934
and what they will be after
the final servicing mission.

1026
00:56:21.934 --> 00:56:24.334
-Okay, we'll have to do this
in real time, Bill,

1027
00:56:24.334 --> 00:56:26.667
so I hope you have
your slide rule with you

1028
00:56:26.667 --> 00:56:29.467
or your Pentium, whatever.

1029
00:56:29.467 --> 00:56:34.100
The Hubble development
cost was about $1.6 billion.

1030
00:56:34.100 --> 00:56:38.067
The annual operating
cost roughly

1031
00:56:38.067 --> 00:56:40.167
is about 200, counting science,

1032
00:56:40.167 --> 00:56:44.300
about $250 million a year
through to '05,

1033
00:56:44.300 --> 00:56:46.934
so that's 15 times 250.

1034
00:56:46.934 --> 00:56:49.434
That's about 4 billion,
plus 1.6,

1035
00:56:49.434 --> 00:56:52.567
that's about 5 billion,
5 1/2 billion.

1036
00:56:52.567 --> 00:56:56.267
And then the last 4 or 5 years,
we'll be down to an annual cost

1037
00:56:56.267 --> 00:57:00.567
as low as maybe 60 or 70,
so that's another 300 million.

1038
00:57:00.567 --> 00:57:02.300
So what does that all add up to,
about 6 billion?

1039
00:57:02.300 --> 00:57:04.000
-Six billion, that's right.
-Boy, oh, boy.

1040
00:57:04.000 --> 00:57:05.234
See?

1041
00:57:05.234 --> 00:57:08.000
We can actually do math
in real time at NASA.

1042
00:57:08.000 --> 00:57:09.434
So that's about $6 billion

1043
00:57:09.434 --> 00:57:13.400
spread over 1980
through two-thousand ...

1044
00:57:13.400 --> 00:57:17.767
to 30 years, that's an average
cost of $200 million a year

1045
00:57:17.767 --> 00:57:23.801
from 1980 to 2010,

1046
00:57:23.801 --> 00:57:29.033
and that equates to about
2 cents a week per American

1047
00:57:29.033 --> 00:57:30.334
over that period of time.

1048
00:57:30.334 --> 00:57:33.567
So that's what they're paying
for the Hubble.

1049
00:57:33.567 --> 00:57:36.067
-Well, that's pretty good
off the top of your head.

1050
00:57:36.067 --> 00:57:37.534
-Without a slide,
without a Pentium, I might add.

1051
00:57:37.534 --> 00:57:38.767
-This is for John Campbell
or maybe Debra.

1052
00:57:38.767 --> 00:57:40.133
I'm not sure which.

1053
00:57:40.133 --> 00:57:43.200
On the gyros, I was hoping
you could refresh my memory.

1054
00:57:43.200 --> 00:57:45.801
I know it's an age-related
failure

1055
00:57:45.801 --> 00:57:48.567
and not a runtime-related
failure

1056
00:57:48.567 --> 00:57:49.968
was my understanding anyway,

1057
00:57:49.968 --> 00:57:52.167
and I was curious
what the operating times

1058
00:57:52.167 --> 00:57:54.100
are on the three
that are still cooking,

1059
00:57:54.100 --> 00:57:56.567
I mean, age and/or
operating time on the three

1060
00:57:56.567 --> 00:57:58.167
that are still working.

1061
00:58:00.434 --> 00:58:03.467
-Actually, it's runtime
and not age.

1062
00:58:03.467 --> 00:58:06.834
The two of the gyros
that are working right now

1063
00:58:06.834 --> 00:58:08.434
are 14 years old,

1064
00:58:08.434 --> 00:58:12.133
but they only have 4 to 6 years
of runtime on them right now.

1065
00:58:17.334 --> 00:58:19.434
-Yeah, well, just a quick
follow-up, I ...

1066
00:58:19.434 --> 00:58:20.734
The embrittlement
that's occurring

1067
00:58:20.734 --> 00:58:22.834
because, I guess,
of the oxygen in the fluid

1068
00:58:22.834 --> 00:58:26.033
affecting the flex wire,

1069
00:58:26.033 --> 00:58:28.868
I was assuming they were exposed
to that fluid all the time,

1070
00:58:28.868 --> 00:58:29.901
whether they were
running or not.

1071
00:58:29.901 --> 00:58:31.234
So I guess I had it backwards.

1072
00:58:31.234 --> 00:58:33.868
I'm just trying to make sure
I understand it.

1073
00:58:33.868 --> 00:58:36.901
-The wires are exposed
to that fluid at all times.

1074
00:58:36.901 --> 00:58:40.501
It's also a temperature issue.

1075
00:58:40.501 --> 00:58:41.901
When the gyros are not on,

1076
00:58:41.901 --> 00:58:44.467
they are stored
at a lower temperature

1077
00:58:44.467 --> 00:58:49.234
than when they are operating,
and it's ...

1078
00:58:49.234 --> 00:58:53.100
The turn-on of the gyro
is what causes the most strain

1079
00:58:53.100 --> 00:58:56.067
on the flexible wire,
and also

1080
00:58:56.067 --> 00:59:02.000
the increased temperature
causes more strain on the wire.

1081
00:59:02.000 --> 00:59:06.801
Being stored is ...
They have to remain stored

1082
00:59:06.801 --> 00:59:10.167
and in this condition
and still operate,

1083
00:59:10.167 --> 00:59:12.968
so that is not
really causing a lot ...

1084
00:59:12.968 --> 00:59:15.634
as much stress on the wire.

1085
00:59:18.067 --> 00:59:19.901
-Hi, Mark Crowe from the Houston
Chronicle.

1086
00:59:19.901 --> 00:59:24.434
For Dr. Weiler,
could you sort of review

1087
00:59:24.434 --> 00:59:27.467
what happened
with the NICMOS camera,

1088
00:59:27.467 --> 00:59:31.734
when it finally lost its cooling
and you couldn't use it anymore,

1089
00:59:31.734 --> 00:59:37.901
and include in that your work on
the replacement cooling system

1090
00:59:37.901 --> 00:59:40.901
and how confident you are now
that when it's installed,

1091
00:59:40.901 --> 00:59:42.200
I gather on the next mission,

1092
00:59:42.200 --> 00:59:45.667
that you'll revive
this instrument?

1093
00:59:45.667 --> 00:59:46.934
-Okay.

1094
00:59:46.934 --> 00:59:48.300
I think I'm going to turn
that over to John

1095
00:59:48.300 --> 00:59:50.234
because he's much closer
to that currently than I am.

1096
00:59:52.434 --> 00:59:53.801
-Right, and I'm trying ...
Okay.

1097
00:59:53.801 --> 00:59:56.067
The ... and Anne, I think
I may need some help there.

1098
00:59:56.067 --> 01:00:00.567
That if I remember right,
the solid nitrogen

1099
01:00:00.567 --> 01:00:04.167
ran out in January of 1998.
Is that right?

1100
01:00:04.167 --> 01:00:06.467
-That's right.
-Yeah, okay, so that's ...

1101
01:00:06.467 --> 01:00:09.901
So since then,
NICMOS has been dormant.

1102
01:00:12.234 --> 01:00:19.033
Around that time, in around
the February/March time frame,

1103
01:00:19.033 --> 01:00:25.467
we began the design
of a refrigerator that is based

1104
01:00:25.467 --> 01:00:26.701
on a high-speed turbine

1105
01:00:26.701 --> 01:00:31.367
that runs around 300,000
to 400,000 RPMs,

1106
01:00:31.367 --> 01:00:36.300
and that refrigerator
was actually tested

1107
01:00:36.300 --> 01:00:38.033
on that same flight

1108
01:00:43.033 --> 01:00:47.534
that we ran with John Glenn

1109
01:00:47.534 --> 01:00:50.567
on the flight
where we tested the computer,

1110
01:00:50.567 --> 01:00:55.801
and it ran there for 7 days,
and we brought it back,

1111
01:00:55.801 --> 01:00:57.734
and it's being refurbished,

1112
01:00:57.734 --> 01:01:02.901
and we have confidence
that it will work,

1113
01:01:02.901 --> 01:01:06.000
but it really is pushing
the technology,

1114
01:01:06.000 --> 01:01:08.734
and the way we're going
to address that,

1115
01:01:08.734 --> 01:01:11.300
and we'll be talking about it as
we come onto this next mission,

1116
01:01:11.300 --> 01:01:17.133
is that if it works then
we're going to be really happy,

1117
01:01:17.133 --> 01:01:18.701
and we'll restore NICMOS.

1118
01:01:18.701 --> 01:01:22.467
If it doesn't, then we hope to
get some technology testing done

1119
01:01:22.467 --> 01:01:27.000
that can help build
other refrigerators

1120
01:01:27.000 --> 01:01:30.167
that can be used in space.

1121
01:01:30.167 --> 01:01:32.834
-That's an important point
because this technology

1122
01:01:32.834 --> 01:01:34.868
is really critical
for telescopes

1123
01:01:34.868 --> 01:01:37.734
like the next-generation
space telescope.

1124
01:01:37.734 --> 01:01:39.234
That will have infrared
instruments,

1125
01:01:39.234 --> 01:01:40.334
and it will need ...

1126
01:01:40.334 --> 01:01:42.868
Those instruments
will need to be cooled.

1127
01:01:42.868 --> 01:01:45.067
Since the next-generation space
telescope

1128
01:01:45.067 --> 01:01:48.367
is planned to be at a Lagrangian
point around the Earth,

1129
01:01:48.367 --> 01:01:50.167
about 1 million miles
away from Earth.

1130
01:01:50.167 --> 01:01:53.234
It's not going to be visited by
astronauts on the space shuttle,

1131
01:01:53.234 --> 01:01:55.501
so the idea
of using solid cryogens,

1132
01:01:55.501 --> 01:01:57.801
which might have a lifetime
of 1 or 2 or 3 years,

1133
01:01:57.801 --> 01:02:00.601
just doesn't make
a lot of sense.

1134
01:02:00.601 --> 01:02:05.868
So whether the mechanical cooler
for Hubble for the NICMOS works

1135
01:02:05.868 --> 01:02:08.300
or doesn't work, we will at
least make a lot of progress

1136
01:02:08.300 --> 01:02:11.467
toward realizing
that technology in the future.

1137
01:02:11.467 --> 01:02:14.934
-My colleague corrected me
on when the cryogen ran out.

1138
01:02:14.934 --> 01:02:17.534
It really was January 1999,

1139
01:02:17.534 --> 01:02:22.234
and it was such a blur
that between that time

1140
01:02:22.234 --> 01:02:25.033
and the host flight in October
there was actually ...

1141
01:02:25.033 --> 01:02:29.400
developed this model
and tested it, flown it.

1142
01:02:29.400 --> 01:02:32.467
So it was really
a rapid development.

1143
01:02:32.467 --> 01:02:33.968
Thanks.

1144
01:02:33.968 --> 01:02:35.834
-Okay, we'll take one
more question

1145
01:02:35.834 --> 01:02:38.067
or two more questions that
is from Johnson Space Center.

1146
01:02:38.067 --> 01:02:39.968
Then we'll go to
the Kennedy Space Center.

1147
01:02:39.968 --> 01:02:42.200
So go ahead please.

1148
01:02:42.200 --> 01:02:44.300
-Todd Halvorson, Space.com
again,

1149
01:02:44.300 --> 01:02:47.133
I was wondering,
Ed or Dr. Campbell,

1150
01:02:47.133 --> 01:02:49.934
if you could refresh my memory
on whether the advanced camera

1151
01:02:49.934 --> 01:02:53.501
for surveys is the last
scientific instrument

1152
01:02:53.501 --> 01:02:55.534
that will be going aboard Hubble

1153
01:02:55.534 --> 01:02:57.734
or if you could just
kind of lay out for us

1154
01:02:57.734 --> 01:03:02.334
real quickly the 3B mission
and then what's beyond that.

1155
01:03:02.334 --> 01:03:03.667
-In terms of this,
I'll do the science.

1156
01:03:03.667 --> 01:03:06.434
John can add
the engineering part.

1157
01:03:06.434 --> 01:03:09.801
On the 1999 mission
we'll be taking up to NICMOS ...

1158
01:03:09.801 --> 01:03:12.200
'99 mission which will now
be the 2001 mission.

1159
01:03:12.200 --> 01:03:14.567
-Right.
-The June 2001 mission

1160
01:03:14.567 --> 01:03:17.133
will have two
major scientific advances.

1161
01:03:17.133 --> 01:03:20.000
One is the advanced camera
for surveys,

1162
01:03:20.000 --> 01:03:22.267
which has a combined increase
in capability

1163
01:03:22.267 --> 01:03:26.200
over the Wide Field Camera
2 of about a factor of 10.

1164
01:03:26.200 --> 01:03:29.634
In addition, we'll be taking up
to NICMOS a cryocooler kit,

1165
01:03:29.634 --> 01:03:32.133
which if it works will restore

1166
01:03:32.133 --> 01:03:36.067
basically a dead instrument
back to life.

1167
01:03:36.067 --> 01:03:37.701
In 2003,

1168
01:03:37.701 --> 01:03:40.267
we'll be doing the final
servicing mission of Hubble,

1169
01:03:40.267 --> 01:03:43.834
and we'll be flying
the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph,

1170
01:03:43.834 --> 01:03:45.901
which is a far more
capable spectrograph

1171
01:03:45.901 --> 01:03:48.100
in terms of reaching very
faint objects in the universe

1172
01:03:48.100 --> 01:03:49.467
than we've had before,

1173
01:03:49.467 --> 01:03:52.234
and we'll also be installing
an insurance policy

1174
01:03:52.234 --> 01:03:56.300
for continued
high-quality imaging

1175
01:03:56.300 --> 01:03:59.868
via the Wide Field Planetary
Camera 3.

1176
01:03:59.868 --> 01:04:04.133
So having the advanced camera
surveys put up there in 2001

1177
01:04:04.133 --> 01:04:07.067
and the Wide Field
Camera 3 in 2003,

1178
01:04:07.067 --> 01:04:11.100
we should ensure our ability
to take pictures with Hubble

1179
01:04:11.100 --> 01:04:14.334
through the 2010
planned end of life.

1180
01:04:14.334 --> 01:04:16.501
John, you want to talk about
some of the other hardware,

1181
01:04:16.501 --> 01:04:18.334
solar panels, et cetera?

1182
01:04:18.334 --> 01:04:21.467
-Yes, and in this next coming
mission after this one,

1183
01:04:21.467 --> 01:04:24.801
we plan to replace
the solar rays

1184
01:04:24.801 --> 01:04:27.300
and to add
some cooling capability

1185
01:04:27.300 --> 01:04:29.200
to the aft end of the telescope

1186
01:04:29.200 --> 01:04:32.767
so that we can run
more instruments together,

1187
01:04:32.767 --> 01:04:36.300
and we cool those instruments
so they don't get too warm.

1188
01:04:36.300 --> 01:04:38.334
That will get us even
more science data

1189
01:04:38.334 --> 01:04:39.567
than what we've seen to date.

1190
01:04:39.567 --> 01:04:41.634
We're looking forward to that.

1191
01:04:41.634 --> 01:04:46.167
In the final servicing mission,
we're replacing those batteries,

1192
01:04:46.167 --> 01:04:51.367
and then we'll have a fresh set
for the rest of Hubble's life,

1193
01:04:51.367 --> 01:04:54.501
and the instruments
and as Debby told you

1194
01:04:54.501 --> 01:04:57.667
in the final servicing mission,
we'll change out all six gyros

1195
01:04:57.667 --> 01:05:01.367
to be sure that they last
for the rest of Hubble's life.

1196
01:05:01.367 --> 01:05:03.534
-And obviously at the last
possible minute,

1197
01:05:03.534 --> 01:05:06.133
which will probably be
roughly a year or so

1198
01:05:06.133 --> 01:05:09.400
before the 2003 final
servicing mission,

1199
01:05:09.400 --> 01:05:11.634
we'll take a close look at every
piece of hardware on there

1200
01:05:11.634 --> 01:05:13.868
and see what we should replace

1201
01:05:13.868 --> 01:05:16.534
if we can to again
do the best job

1202
01:05:16.534 --> 01:05:18.934
we can to keeping
this thing going to 2010

1203
01:05:18.934 --> 01:05:22.634
because after 2003 there will be
no other servicing missions,

1204
01:05:22.634 --> 01:05:26.734
and what we have
is what we'll have.

1205
01:05:26.734 --> 01:05:29.868
-Clint Houston with
Discovery News for Dr. Weiler,

1206
01:05:29.868 --> 01:05:33.367
do you still consider
this mission an emergency?

1207
01:05:33.367 --> 01:05:35.400
-I don't think I ever called it
an emergency.

1208
01:05:35.400 --> 01:05:38.467
It's not a routine-maintenance
mission,

1209
01:05:38.467 --> 01:05:42.133
and it's not an emergency
mission as NASA defines it.

1210
01:05:42.133 --> 01:05:44.300
An emergency mission for Hubble
would be

1211
01:05:44.300 --> 01:05:48.467
where we are one failure away
from losing the spacecraft.

1212
01:05:48.467 --> 01:05:51.701
Okay, we are not one failure
away from losing the spacecraft.

1213
01:05:51.701 --> 01:05:54.601
We are one gyro failure away
from losing science,

1214
01:05:54.601 --> 01:05:55.968
so that's called a ...

1215
01:05:55.968 --> 01:05:59.133
In our jargon, it's called
a contingency mission.

1216
01:05:59.133 --> 01:06:00.801
So it's somewhere between
an emergency

1217
01:06:00.801 --> 01:06:04.634
and a routine-servicing mission.

1218
01:06:04.634 --> 01:06:07.234
-We'll go to the Kennedy Space
Center for questions now.

1219
01:06:07.234 --> 01:06:08.200
Go ahead please.

1220
01:06:08.200 --> 01:06:10.801
Give us your name
and affiliation.

1221
01:06:10.801 --> 01:06:12.767
-This is Mike Cabbage
with the Orlando Sentinel,

1222
01:06:12.767 --> 01:06:15.667
and I have a couple of sort
of big picture questions

1223
01:06:15.667 --> 01:06:17.634
for Dr. Weiler.

1224
01:06:17.634 --> 01:06:20.434
First, could you put into
perspective

1225
01:06:20.434 --> 01:06:22.033
where Hubble's contributions

1226
01:06:22.033 --> 01:06:25.033
fit into humankind's
understanding of the universe

1227
01:06:25.033 --> 01:06:27.601
as it's evolved
over the past millennium,

1228
01:06:27.601 --> 01:06:31.334
and secondly, why do you think
Hubble's images have attracted

1229
01:06:31.334 --> 01:06:36.000
the attention from the public
and the media that they have?

1230
01:06:36.000 --> 01:06:37.133
-Those are great questions.

1231
01:06:37.133 --> 01:06:38.968
Remind me to come back
to the first one.

1232
01:06:38.968 --> 01:06:41.534
In terms of the public interest
in Hubble,

1233
01:06:41.534 --> 01:06:43.334
I think it's something
as basic as this.

1234
01:06:43.334 --> 01:06:44.734
Astronomy is unique science.

1235
01:06:44.734 --> 01:06:46.400
I've always enjoyed being
an astronomer

1236
01:06:46.400 --> 01:06:48.334
as opposed to a chemist
or a biologist

1237
01:06:48.334 --> 01:06:52.934
or a microbiologist, whatever,
because the real people,

1238
01:06:52.934 --> 01:06:55.300
that is people
who aren't scientists,

1239
01:06:55.300 --> 01:06:56.734
can appreciate what you do.

1240
01:06:56.734 --> 01:06:59.167
All they have to do is go out on
a clear night away from cities

1241
01:06:59.167 --> 01:07:02.501
and look up in the sky
and wonder a little bit.

1242
01:07:02.501 --> 01:07:05.434
If we can get them that far,
they'll like astronomy.

1243
01:07:05.434 --> 01:07:07.667
You cannot ... No thinking human
being can look up

1244
01:07:07.667 --> 01:07:08.934
at the sky in Arizona

1245
01:07:08.934 --> 01:07:11.834
on top of a mountain
on a clear night

1246
01:07:11.834 --> 01:07:15.267
and not wonder about
their place in all this.

1247
01:07:15.267 --> 01:07:17.000
How did he get there?
Why is it there?

1248
01:07:17.000 --> 01:07:18.667
Are we alone?

1249
01:07:18.667 --> 01:07:20.868
That's what astronomy
is all about.

1250
01:07:20.868 --> 01:07:22.767
These are not science questions.

1251
01:07:22.767 --> 01:07:24.234
How did it all begin?

1252
01:07:24.234 --> 01:07:25.934
How did we get here?
Are we alone?

1253
01:07:25.934 --> 01:07:29.567
These are human questions,
basic philosophical

1254
01:07:29.567 --> 01:07:31.801
human questions
that people have asked

1255
01:07:31.801 --> 01:07:35.701
since the days that cavemen
and women got up from the fire

1256
01:07:35.701 --> 01:07:37.100
and walked outside at night

1257
01:07:37.100 --> 01:07:40.601
if there weren't any
saber-toothed tigers outside.

1258
01:07:40.601 --> 01:07:43.334
So that's why I think
astronomy attracts people.

1259
01:07:43.334 --> 01:07:46.334
I think Hubble images
because of the fact that ...

1260
01:07:46.334 --> 01:07:47.734
Well, first of all,
they're the best images

1261
01:07:47.734 --> 01:07:50.501
ever returned
to the universe.

1262
01:07:50.501 --> 01:07:52.300
Certainly, there's
an added advantage

1263
01:07:52.300 --> 01:07:53.934
of not using
black-and-white film

1264
01:07:53.934 --> 01:07:56.467
like astronomers
used to use 20, 30 years ago.

1265
01:07:56.467 --> 01:08:02.100
Color does sell, and the fact
that the universe is pretty big,

1266
01:08:02.100 --> 01:08:05.067
it has a variety
of things that,

1267
01:08:05.067 --> 01:08:07.501
you know, some of them
are very beautiful.

1268
01:08:07.501 --> 01:08:09.734
I mean, even pictures of comets
hitting Jupiter

1269
01:08:09.734 --> 01:08:11.901
are beautiful in a sense.

1270
01:08:11.901 --> 01:08:13.767
They certainly make you think.

1271
01:08:13.767 --> 01:08:15.133
They put you in your place.

1272
01:08:15.133 --> 01:08:16.968
I mean, this could happen here.

1273
01:08:16.968 --> 01:08:18.534
It may have happened
when the dinosaurs

1274
01:08:18.534 --> 01:08:20.033
were happily living here,

1275
01:08:20.033 --> 01:08:23.767
and a comet or an asteroid hit
the Earth 65 million years ago,

1276
01:08:23.767 --> 01:08:26.133
and the dinosaurs
disappointed along

1277
01:08:26.133 --> 01:08:28.100
with a lot of other things.

1278
01:08:28.100 --> 01:08:33.434
So astronomy teaches us
about our past and teaches us

1279
01:08:33.434 --> 01:08:37.667
perhaps if we're smart enough
about our future,

1280
01:08:37.667 --> 01:08:41.801
and in terms ...
I forgot your first question.

1281
01:08:41.801 --> 01:08:44.167
I answered your second question
I hope,

1282
01:08:44.167 --> 01:08:45.567
why does Hubble, you know ...

1283
01:08:45.567 --> 01:08:47.834
-In the context
of the millennium,

1284
01:08:47.834 --> 01:08:50.901
how does this mission stand up?

1285
01:08:50.901 --> 01:08:53.400
-In the context of
the millennium, I don't ...

1286
01:08:53.400 --> 01:08:56.534
Well, I thought the question
was more of, you know ...

1287
01:08:56.534 --> 01:08:58.534
Well, let me ...
Why don't you ask

1288
01:08:58.534 --> 01:09:00.067
your first part
of your question again

1289
01:09:00.067 --> 01:09:01.734
so I don't answer
the wrong question.

1290
01:09:01.734 --> 01:09:03.734
-The first part
of my question was,

1291
01:09:03.734 --> 01:09:07.434
could you put into perspective
where Hubble's contributions

1292
01:09:07.434 --> 01:09:09.767
fit into humankind's
understanding of the universe

1293
01:09:09.767 --> 01:09:13.100
as it's evolved
over the past millennium?

1294
01:09:13.100 --> 01:09:15.067
How does it stack up to ...

1295
01:09:15.067 --> 01:09:16.601
How do Hubble's discoveries
stack up

1296
01:09:16.601 --> 01:09:18.434
against some of the discoveries
from people like

1297
01:09:18.434 --> 01:09:21.601
Galileo, Kepler and Herschel
as you look at the big picture

1298
01:09:21.601 --> 01:09:23.701
of how our understanding
of the universe

1299
01:09:23.701 --> 01:09:26.734
has changed over
the last 1,000 years?

1300
01:09:26.734 --> 01:09:28.701
-Well, that's a big-picture
question,

1301
01:09:28.701 --> 01:09:30.868
and I'll try not to give you
a big-picture answer

1302
01:09:30.868 --> 01:09:32.300
because it would take too long,

1303
01:09:32.300 --> 01:09:36.234
but first of all it's hard
to compare Hubble to a Galileo,

1304
01:09:36.234 --> 01:09:38.100
to different instruments

1305
01:09:38.100 --> 01:09:41.601
because they're all part
of the scientific quest

1306
01:09:41.601 --> 01:09:43.534
of understanding
our place in the universe.

1307
01:09:43.534 --> 01:09:44.934
That's the one common theme,

1308
01:09:44.934 --> 01:09:47.734
what is our place
in the universe,

1309
01:09:47.734 --> 01:09:49.200
and let me just use
a little analogy

1310
01:09:49.200 --> 01:09:54.467
to try to put Hubble's stance
in that analogy.

1311
01:09:54.467 --> 01:09:56.133
Back when humans first
started thinking

1312
01:09:56.133 --> 01:09:58.534
when there wasn't TV
and they actually, you know,

1313
01:09:58.534 --> 01:10:02.234
thought about things 2,000,
3.000 years ago.

1314
01:10:02.234 --> 01:10:03.934
they figured out
that this universe,

1315
01:10:03.934 --> 01:10:05.734
these stars they
all rotate around ...

1316
01:10:05.734 --> 01:10:06.834
revolve around the Earth,

1317
01:10:06.834 --> 01:10:08.801
and humans are the center
of the universe.

1318
01:10:08.801 --> 01:10:11.300
Obviously, the universe
was created for humans.

1319
01:10:11.300 --> 01:10:13.367
The Earth was at the center,
and everything in the universe

1320
01:10:13.367 --> 01:10:15.901
rotated around it.

1321
01:10:15.901 --> 01:10:18.400
Well, a few thousand years
later, along came that guy.

1322
01:10:18.400 --> 01:10:20.167
You mentioned Galileo
and Copernicus

1323
01:10:20.167 --> 01:10:23.467
and Kepler and Tycho Brahe,
and through their work,

1324
01:10:23.467 --> 01:10:25.367
especially when Galileo
just had the nerve

1325
01:10:25.367 --> 01:10:28.334
to build a telescope
and look at Jupiter

1326
01:10:28.334 --> 01:10:30.968
as one of his first targets,
he saw little dots,

1327
01:10:30.968 --> 01:10:32.934
and they were moving
around Jupiter.

1328
01:10:32.934 --> 01:10:34.801
Every night, they would be
in a different position,

1329
01:10:34.801 --> 01:10:37.200
and when he plotted it out,
they were moving around Jupiter.

1330
01:10:37.200 --> 01:10:38.767
This of course was impossible.

1331
01:10:38.767 --> 01:10:39.701
Right?

1332
01:10:39.701 --> 01:10:41.100
Well, it wasn't.

1333
01:10:41.100 --> 01:10:42.367
Things did move around
Jupiter,

1334
01:10:42.367 --> 01:10:44.634
namely its moons.

1335
01:10:44.634 --> 01:10:47.033
Well, humans found
another way to solve the problem

1336
01:10:47.033 --> 01:10:48.801
of having a special place
in the universe.

1337
01:10:48.801 --> 01:10:50.467
We then admitted the fact

1338
01:10:50.467 --> 01:10:52.801
that maybe the Earth
wasn't at the center,

1339
01:10:52.801 --> 01:10:55.133
but obviously
the Sun had to be,

1340
01:10:55.133 --> 01:10:58.801
so we relegated ourselves
just to being one planet.

1341
01:10:58.801 --> 01:11:01.267
However, the Sun was the most
special thing in the universe,

1342
01:11:01.267 --> 01:11:03.400
and everything
rotated around it.

1343
01:11:03.400 --> 01:11:06.367
To speed up the story,
we found out that wasn't right,

1344
01:11:06.367 --> 01:11:08.934
that our sun was
just another star,

1345
01:11:08.934 --> 01:11:11.534
but we made it
a very special star

1346
01:11:11.534 --> 01:11:15.000
perhaps at the center of the
universe, center of the galaxy.

1347
01:11:15.000 --> 01:11:16.300
We found out that wasn't right.

1348
01:11:16.300 --> 01:11:21.534
Our Sun was just sort of
in the suburbs of the galaxy.

1349
01:11:21.534 --> 01:11:23.400
Then we discovered
that there were hundreds

1350
01:11:23.400 --> 01:11:25.367
of billions of galaxies.

1351
01:11:25.367 --> 01:11:27.734
So here we were,
just a lousy little star

1352
01:11:27.734 --> 01:11:29.234
on a little speck of dust

1353
01:11:29.234 --> 01:11:32.467
in a galaxy that's pretty
darn routine in a universe

1354
01:11:32.467 --> 01:11:35.033
with hundreds and hundreds
of billions of galaxies.

1355
01:11:35.033 --> 01:11:37.701
So what do we have left?

1356
01:11:37.701 --> 01:11:40.601
We've got the only solar system,

1357
01:11:40.601 --> 01:11:42.501
and most astronomers
would have ...

1358
01:11:42.501 --> 01:11:48.033
Most people would have accepted
that 50, 60, 70 years ago.

1359
01:11:48.033 --> 01:11:49.200
Well, then these ground-base

1360
01:11:49.200 --> 01:11:51.267
astronomers came along
3 years ago

1361
01:11:51.267 --> 01:11:53.801
and had the nerve to find
that there were other planets

1362
01:11:53.801 --> 01:11:58.200
out there around other stars,
in fact a lot of them.

1363
01:11:58.200 --> 01:12:00.300
Admittedly, they're not
nice places to live.

1364
01:12:00.300 --> 01:12:04.200
They're five times the size
of Jupiter, gaseous atmospheres,

1365
01:12:04.200 --> 01:12:06.567
too close to a star,
too far away.

1366
01:12:06.567 --> 01:12:08.434
They weren't what Goldilocks
would say

1367
01:12:08.434 --> 01:12:12.167
was just right like the Earth,
but there were other planets.

1368
01:12:12.167 --> 01:12:13.300
So here we go again.

1369
01:12:13.300 --> 01:12:14.968
There are other solar systems
out there.

1370
01:12:14.968 --> 01:12:16.467
What's the final thing we have?

1371
01:12:16.467 --> 01:12:18.033
And by the way, Hubble,
that's where Hubble

1372
01:12:18.033 --> 01:12:20.067
has really played
a major role.

1373
01:12:20.067 --> 01:12:21.901
The ground-base astronomers
have actually found

1374
01:12:21.901 --> 01:12:23.334
some of these planets.

1375
01:12:23.334 --> 01:12:26.434
What Hubble has done is seen
these planetary disks

1376
01:12:26.434 --> 01:12:29.701
around very,
very many young stars,

1377
01:12:29.701 --> 01:12:31.434
so called protoplanetary
disks,

1378
01:12:31.434 --> 01:12:34.334
and Hubble's role in that
is showing that the process,

1379
01:12:34.334 --> 01:12:37.300
the process of creating
solar systems,

1380
01:12:37.300 --> 01:12:40.133
the formation of solar systems
is probably

1381
01:12:40.133 --> 01:12:43.868
very, very, very common.

1382
01:12:43.868 --> 01:12:46.434
In the Orion nebula,
which is just one gas cloud

1383
01:12:46.434 --> 01:12:47.734
in our galaxy,

1384
01:12:47.734 --> 01:12:50.000
we looked at something
like 56 young stars

1385
01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:51.300
a few million years old.

1386
01:12:51.300 --> 01:12:54.567
Half of those stars
had these disks around them,

1387
01:12:54.567 --> 01:12:57.300
which may probably
will form solar systems

1388
01:12:57.300 --> 01:12:59.434
someday in the future.

1389
01:12:59.434 --> 01:13:01.567
So what do we have left?

1390
01:13:01.567 --> 01:13:03.634
We're the only life
in the universe.

1391
01:13:03.634 --> 01:13:06.100
That's the last thread
we're holding onto

1392
01:13:06.100 --> 01:13:08.801
for our special place
in the universe,

1393
01:13:08.801 --> 01:13:10.801
and if I can be so bold
I will predict

1394
01:13:10.801 --> 01:13:13.400
if NASA continues to get
a reasonable budget

1395
01:13:13.400 --> 01:13:15.334
for the next 10 or 20 years

1396
01:13:15.334 --> 01:13:19.133
we will build systems
which will definitively show

1397
01:13:19.133 --> 01:13:22.133
that we are not the only life
in the universe,

1398
01:13:22.133 --> 01:13:24.968
that life sprung up
on other places.

1399
01:13:24.968 --> 01:13:28.734
Certainly, my kids, your kids
will live to see that day

1400
01:13:28.734 --> 01:13:32.434
because I don't think
that one star in 100 billion

1401
01:13:32.434 --> 01:13:33.667
in our galaxy,

1402
01:13:33.667 --> 01:13:35.634
one galaxy in
100 billion galaxies

1403
01:13:35.634 --> 01:13:39.167
is the only place
that a few cells got together

1404
01:13:39.167 --> 01:13:42.267
and started reproducing.

1405
01:13:42.267 --> 01:13:44.200
Everything we know
about biology tells us

1406
01:13:44.200 --> 01:13:47.000
that if you've got water,
if you've got organic chemistry

1407
01:13:47.000 --> 01:13:50.834
and you've got energy life
seems to find a way to form,

1408
01:13:50.834 --> 01:13:52.234
and we see that kind of stuff

1409
01:13:52.234 --> 01:13:54.367
every place we look
in the universe,

1410
01:13:54.367 --> 01:13:59.434
those three things:
water, energy and organics.

1411
01:13:59.434 --> 01:14:00.801
So I don't know if that answers
your question,

1412
01:14:00.801 --> 01:14:06.567
but it was fun
telling you about it.

1413
01:14:06.567 --> 01:14:09.434
-Robin Siriano with Florida
Today and Space Online,

1414
01:14:09.434 --> 01:14:11.734
I have a couple questions
about the insulation repairs

1415
01:14:11.734 --> 01:14:13.434
for John I guess.

1416
01:14:13.434 --> 01:14:15.501
Just how important
are these repairs,

1417
01:14:15.501 --> 01:14:18.167
and if they couldn't be
carried out for some reason,

1418
01:14:18.167 --> 01:14:19.934
do you have thermal concerns

1419
01:14:19.934 --> 01:14:24.300
that could lead to performance
degradation or anything?

1420
01:14:24.300 --> 01:14:28.267
-Well, first, let me say on the
forward part of the telescope

1421
01:14:28.267 --> 01:14:33.400
where that wallpaper goes that
we can detect no change

1422
01:14:33.400 --> 01:14:35.167
in Hubble's operation.

1423
01:14:35.167 --> 01:14:39.267
That tells us that
this insulation has degraded.

1424
01:14:39.267 --> 01:14:43.834
So we're really putting it on
as a preventive measure

1425
01:14:43.834 --> 01:14:47.033
rather than
as fixing a problem.

1426
01:14:49.868 --> 01:14:53.601
The insulation on the equipment
base has degraded

1427
01:14:53.601 --> 01:14:58.801
and some of the components in
those bays have warmed up a bit.

1428
01:14:58.801 --> 01:15:05.267
We could without a problem
go through say until 2003

1429
01:15:05.267 --> 01:15:08.400
without having to do anything,
and then the solution to that

1430
01:15:08.400 --> 01:15:10.400
if we could never fix
that insulation

1431
01:15:10.400 --> 01:15:15.400
would just be to turn things off
more often than we would like.

1432
01:15:15.400 --> 01:15:19.901
So right now, we're not affected
by any thermal concerns,

1433
01:15:19.901 --> 01:15:21.767
and so we just
want to prevent that,

1434
01:15:21.767 --> 01:15:25.767
and whatever insulation
we are unable to put on

1435
01:15:25.767 --> 01:15:28.334
during this mission we can
put on in the next mission,

1436
01:15:28.334 --> 01:15:32.434
and I don't think
we'll be affected at all.

1437
01:15:32.434 --> 01:15:33.934
-Okay, thank you,
and also for John,

1438
01:15:33.934 --> 01:15:36.667
you mentioned that two
of the gyros are 14 years old

1439
01:15:36.667 --> 01:15:39.501
and have 4
to 6 years of runtime.

1440
01:15:39.501 --> 01:15:41.467
What is ... How old
is the third one?

1441
01:15:41.467 --> 01:15:42.767
How much runtime does it have,

1442
01:15:42.767 --> 01:15:45.667
and what is the expected runtime
out of one of these?

1443
01:15:49.000 --> 01:15:52.434
-The third gyro was installed
during Servicing Mission One

1444
01:15:52.434 --> 01:15:59.400
in late 1993,
so it must be 6 years old.

1445
01:15:59.400 --> 01:16:04.167
It's runtime is about the same.

1446
01:16:04.167 --> 01:16:09.400
Operating life, as explained
by Debbie, is quite uncertain.

1447
01:16:09.400 --> 01:16:12.234
We have experienced
that these gyros will run

1448
01:16:12.234 --> 01:16:15.834
typically from 4 to 6 years,
but as we mentioned earlier

1449
01:16:15.834 --> 01:16:18.000
we've got experience
with other spacecraft

1450
01:16:18.000 --> 01:16:22.000
where they can last
much longer than that.

1451
01:16:22.000 --> 01:16:24.934
-Okay, thank you, and one
last question from me for Ed,

1452
01:16:24.934 --> 01:16:27.667
I know you say it's not
an emergency mission,

1453
01:16:27.667 --> 01:16:31.400
but I wonder how the launch
delays might have increased

1454
01:16:31.400 --> 01:16:34.934
anxiety among scientists
who are maybe a little concerned

1455
01:16:34.934 --> 01:16:36.968
because you are sort of
running on your last legs

1456
01:16:36.968 --> 01:16:38.567
with these three gyros.

1457
01:16:41.534 --> 01:16:42.901
-I really can't answer
the question

1458
01:16:42.901 --> 01:16:45.367
because I haven't detected
any great anxiety.

1459
01:16:45.367 --> 01:16:49.033
I mean, there are so many other
things to worry about in life.

1460
01:16:49.033 --> 01:16:52.934
You know, if we get up there
in the next, you know,

1461
01:16:52.934 --> 01:16:55.200
couple weeks as we plan,

1462
01:16:55.200 --> 01:16:58.100
as I said, we're not going
to lose any science at all.

1463
01:16:58.100 --> 01:17:00.734
If for whatever reason we'd have
to slip until January

1464
01:17:00.734 --> 01:17:03.834
or February,
you know, the odds are ...

1465
01:17:03.834 --> 01:17:05.934
Nobody can calculate the odds
of whether the gyro

1466
01:17:05.934 --> 01:17:09.501
is going to fail or not,
so it's a toss-up.

1467
01:17:09.501 --> 01:17:11.667
If we lose science, that'll be
extremely regrettable,

1468
01:17:11.667 --> 01:17:14.801
but on the other hand safety of
the shuttle is our number-one,

1469
01:17:14.801 --> 01:17:17.501
you know, number-one concern,

1470
01:17:17.501 --> 01:17:19.767
and until we're absolutely sure
the shuttle is safe

1471
01:17:19.767 --> 01:17:22.968
we're going to, you know,
risk a gyro failing on Hubble.

1472
01:17:22.968 --> 01:17:26.234
That's not even a trade-off.

1473
01:17:26.234 --> 01:17:27.734
-This is Phil...for John.

1474
01:17:27.734 --> 01:17:30.801
Let me follow up on Robin's
question about the insulation.

1475
01:17:30.801 --> 01:17:33.267
What kind of concerns
do you have of the insulation

1476
01:17:33.267 --> 01:17:35.300
if it flakes off?

1477
01:17:35.300 --> 01:17:37.601
Is there any serious concerns
of any particular area

1478
01:17:37.601 --> 01:17:40.901
where somebody touching it wrong
or something else

1479
01:17:40.901 --> 01:17:43.267
might cause it to flake off
while you're surfacing,

1480
01:17:43.267 --> 01:17:44.767
and what's
the worst-case scenario

1481
01:17:44.767 --> 01:17:48.334
if the insulation does get
in either some optics?

1482
01:17:48.334 --> 01:17:50.601
How much would it
affect performance

1483
01:17:50.601 --> 01:17:53.901
if something like
that did happen?

1484
01:17:53.901 --> 01:17:55.901
-Well, first, let me say

1485
01:17:55.901 --> 01:17:59.300
that this degradation
of the insulation

1486
01:17:59.300 --> 01:18:01.267
is because of
the external environment.

1487
01:18:01.267 --> 01:18:04.400
The insulation that's inside
the telescope,

1488
01:18:04.400 --> 01:18:08.601
inside the doors in the aft
shroud is absolutely pristine.

1489
01:18:08.601 --> 01:18:12.000
There's never been any
indication of any degradation,

1490
01:18:12.000 --> 01:18:14.467
and the astronauts
were working back

1491
01:18:14.467 --> 01:18:17.734
inside the back of the telescope
where the gyros

1492
01:18:17.734 --> 01:18:19.634
are when they installed
the two instruments

1493
01:18:19.634 --> 01:18:22.000
in Servicing Mission Two.

1494
01:18:22.000 --> 01:18:25.701
So that's perfectly okay.

1495
01:18:25.701 --> 01:18:29.601
Now, we are opening the doors
for the gyros,

1496
01:18:29.601 --> 01:18:32.100
and we're opening the door
to put

1497
01:18:32.100 --> 01:18:34.501
the Fine Guidance Sensor in,
but we're doing that

1498
01:18:34.501 --> 01:18:37.033
before we're doing
any insulation at all.

1499
01:18:37.033 --> 01:18:40.701
So we'll have those doors open
and closed,

1500
01:18:40.701 --> 01:18:42.267
the aperture doors closed.

1501
01:18:42.267 --> 01:18:45.267
So there's no reason that
any of the insulation

1502
01:18:45.267 --> 01:18:48.300
could ever get
inside the telescope.

1503
01:18:51.400 --> 01:18:53.734
-Okay, and a couple people,

1504
01:18:53.734 --> 01:18:55.567
I guess Ed and Ann,
have both talked about the fact

1505
01:18:55.567 --> 01:18:57.367
that you're not improving
science on this mission.

1506
01:18:57.367 --> 01:18:59.133
You're just improving
the telescope.

1507
01:18:59.133 --> 01:19:01.334
Any thoughts about the fact
that when it was launched

1508
01:19:01.334 --> 01:19:03.067
Hubble had five instruments,

1509
01:19:03.067 --> 01:19:05.868
and then with the First
Servicing Mission it had four,

1510
01:19:05.868 --> 01:19:08.167
and now it's down to only
two operational instruments,

1511
01:19:08.167 --> 01:19:13.300
the STIS and the WFPC2,
about a third of the number

1512
01:19:13.300 --> 01:19:15.634
of instruments
you had when it was launched?

1513
01:19:15.634 --> 01:19:21.133
-Well, Phil, I wish science were
simple numerology, but it isn't.

1514
01:19:21.133 --> 01:19:22.267
You know,
you should have asked me,

1515
01:19:22.267 --> 01:19:24.367
would I rather have
the two 1990s

1516
01:19:24.367 --> 01:19:25.767
instruments I have operating now

1517
01:19:25.767 --> 01:19:28.534
or the original
five 1970s instruments.

1518
01:19:28.534 --> 01:19:30.133
That's not even a trade-off.

1519
01:19:30.133 --> 01:19:31.968
The science capabilities
of these instruments

1520
01:19:31.968 --> 01:19:34.200
we have up there right now
and the ones we're going

1521
01:19:34.200 --> 01:19:36.467
to launch
are orders of magnitude greater

1522
01:19:36.467 --> 01:19:39.667
than the old technology
we had originally launched with.

1523
01:19:39.667 --> 01:19:41.334
You've got to keep in mind

1524
01:19:41.334 --> 01:19:43.234
the reason there's a renaissance
in astronomy

1525
01:19:43.234 --> 01:19:45.801
is because there's been
a renaissance in technology,

1526
01:19:45.801 --> 01:19:47.234
not just in computer technology

1527
01:19:47.234 --> 01:19:49.901
but
in detection technology, etc.

1528
01:19:49.901 --> 01:19:52.734
The instruments we're flying now
produce reams of data ...

1529
01:19:52.734 --> 01:19:54.100
If you remember John's chart

1530
01:19:54.100 --> 01:19:55.300
where we're now collecting ...
What is it?

1531
01:19:55.300 --> 01:19:57.801
Eleven times the amount
of science data

1532
01:19:57.801 --> 01:19:59.601
that we did in the early days?

1533
01:19:59.601 --> 01:20:02.667
So just saying we had five
in the early days

1534
01:20:02.667 --> 01:20:05.901
and we only have two now
is totally meaningless.

1535
01:20:05.901 --> 01:20:09.000
-Well, another way to address
the question is to look

1536
01:20:09.000 --> 01:20:11.801
at the oversubscription rate
of the number of astronomers

1537
01:20:11.801 --> 01:20:14.767
proposing per amount
of telescope time,

1538
01:20:14.767 --> 01:20:19.868
and there's anywhere from five
to seven times as many proposals

1539
01:20:19.868 --> 01:20:21.734
as there
is time on the telescope,

1540
01:20:21.734 --> 01:20:23.934
and that number
has only increased,

1541
01:20:23.934 --> 01:20:25.801
and I think that's also due to,

1542
01:20:25.801 --> 01:20:27.601
you know, the quality
of the instrumentation

1543
01:20:27.601 --> 01:20:29.133
and the quality of the science

1544
01:20:29.133 --> 01:20:32.834
that can be done
with a telescope.

1545
01:20:32.834 --> 01:20:35.801
-Okay, back you mentioned

1546
01:20:35.801 --> 01:20:37.367
the International
Ultraviolet Explorer.

1547
01:20:37.367 --> 01:20:40.434
Back in the 1970s, we were able
to launch a spacecraft

1548
01:20:40.434 --> 01:20:45.501
where a gyro switch could last
18 years and only failed

1549
01:20:45.501 --> 01:20:48.701
because they failed to be able
to survive the budgets.

1550
01:20:48.701 --> 01:20:50.901
Why could we build gyros
that were so good back then,

1551
01:20:50.901 --> 01:20:53.601
and we can't build gyros
as good now?

1552
01:20:53.601 --> 01:20:55.501
I realize of course Hubble
is much more precise,

1553
01:20:55.501 --> 01:20:58.601
and it's much more strenuous
in a lower-orbit environment,

1554
01:20:58.601 --> 01:21:01.100
but it seems strange
that expendable spacecraft

1555
01:21:01.100 --> 01:21:03.734
don't seem to have as many
problems with components

1556
01:21:03.734 --> 01:21:05.200
as Hubble does.

1557
01:21:05.200 --> 01:21:08.601
-Go ahead, John.
-Well, we used the IUE,

1558
01:21:08.601 --> 01:21:10.434
International
Ultraviolet Explorer,

1559
01:21:10.434 --> 01:21:13.267
as an example because
it's the same manufacturer

1560
01:21:13.267 --> 01:21:14.734
and the same class of gyro,

1561
01:21:14.734 --> 01:21:17.400
so what we were
trying to communicate

1562
01:21:17.400 --> 01:21:21.567
was that sometimes a gyro
can last for years and years,

1563
01:21:21.567 --> 01:21:23.767
and sometimes it'll fail early.

1564
01:21:23.767 --> 01:21:25.801
So that was the message
that we were trying to get,

1565
01:21:25.801 --> 01:21:27.100
and it's the same class,

1566
01:21:27.100 --> 01:21:31.300
and in fact those gyros
that were on IUE in fact

1567
01:21:31.300 --> 01:21:36.667
were improved to be quieter
and more accurate for Hubble.

1568
01:21:36.667 --> 01:21:38.300
-Yeah, and the improvements
that were made

1569
01:21:38.300 --> 01:21:40.033
to the gyros are unique.
Remember.

1570
01:21:40.033 --> 01:21:42.801
Phil, I'm sure you know
among all people

1571
01:21:42.801 --> 01:21:46.501
that IUE's requirements
on stability were factors of 10

1572
01:21:46.501 --> 01:21:50.234
or even 100 less stringent
than they are on Hubble.

1573
01:21:50.234 --> 01:21:52.234
These are the highest-tech gyros
ever built.

1574
01:21:52.234 --> 01:21:54.701
They're one of a kind,

1575
01:21:54.701 --> 01:21:58.334
and you don't run those often
on an assembly line.

1576
01:22:00.601 --> 01:22:03.734
-Okay, and I seem to remember
when Hubble was launched

1577
01:22:03.734 --> 01:22:05.167
there were comments
from astronomers

1578
01:22:05.167 --> 01:22:08.734
that it would be as much as of
an improvement for astronomy

1579
01:22:08.734 --> 01:22:11.934
over Galileo as Galileo
was over the human eye.

1580
01:22:11.934 --> 01:22:13.334
How much more of an improvement

1581
01:22:13.334 --> 01:22:15.100
does Hubble have
now versus Hubble

1582
01:22:15.100 --> 01:22:18.000
when it was launched in 1990
in terms of performance?

1583
01:22:18.000 --> 01:22:19.968
Is there any way
to quantify that?

1584
01:22:19.968 --> 01:22:23.467
-Well, again, the qualitative
statement is still correct.

1585
01:22:23.467 --> 01:22:26.968
I mean, the analogy was based
on the fact that the human eye

1586
01:22:26.968 --> 01:22:31.334
has about roughly 3 arcminutes
of resolution capability,

1587
01:22:31.334 --> 01:22:33.167
and Galileo's telescope
being crude

1588
01:22:33.167 --> 01:22:35.868
had roughly 10 times
better than that,

1589
01:22:35.868 --> 01:22:43.167
and Hubble's improvement over
a typical ground-based telescope

1590
01:22:43.167 --> 01:22:46.334
over the white field
is about a factor of 10.

1591
01:22:46.334 --> 01:22:48.701
The mirror, the capability
of the mirror on Hubble

1592
01:22:48.701 --> 01:22:51.167
is the same as it was in 1990.

1593
01:22:51.167 --> 01:22:55.300
The difference is the ability
to utilize the photons.

1594
01:22:55.300 --> 01:22:58.200
The light from that mirror
has increased dramatically

1595
01:22:58.200 --> 01:23:00.434
with the increases
in ray detectors,

1596
01:23:00.434 --> 01:23:02.467
infrared detectors, etc.

1597
01:23:02.467 --> 01:23:04.501
When we launched Hubble in 1990,

1598
01:23:04.501 --> 01:23:07.334
we had spectrographs
that had linear detectors.

1599
01:23:07.334 --> 01:23:11.000
They had 512 detectors
all individual.

1600
01:23:11.000 --> 01:23:15.200
Now we launch spectrographs
with 1,000-by-1,000 elements

1601
01:23:15.200 --> 01:23:18.000
or a million detection devices,

1602
01:23:18.000 --> 01:23:22.067
so the quantity of the science
has dramatically increased.

1603
01:23:22.067 --> 01:23:23.300
The quality of the science,

1604
01:23:23.300 --> 01:23:24.934
the quality of the capability
of Hubble

1605
01:23:24.934 --> 01:23:26.467
is the same as it was in 1990

1606
01:23:26.467 --> 01:23:28.901
in terms of its
basic capabilities.

1607
01:23:31.834 --> 01:23:34.567
-Okay, we'll come back here
to headquarters to wrap up.

1608
01:23:34.567 --> 01:23:37.000
First of all, we'll see if there
are any follow-up questions

1609
01:23:37.000 --> 01:23:41.300
from our reporters here,
and seeing none indicated

1610
01:23:41.300 --> 01:23:43.968
I think we'll go ahead
and wrap up the briefing,

1611
01:23:43.968 --> 01:23:47.567
and I want to bring
your attention to the screen.

1612
01:23:47.567 --> 01:23:50.734
We'll have a website
listed there.

1613
01:23:50.734 --> 01:23:53.901
This is the new Hubble website
for this mission.

1614
01:23:53.901 --> 01:23:55.534
Set your browsers
and check that out.

1615
01:23:55.534 --> 01:23:59.267
We have animation pictures,
interactive video.

1616
01:23:59.267 --> 01:24:01.934
We'll have daily mission updates
during the mission

1617
01:24:01.934 --> 01:24:04.067
and links
to the space-flight pages.

1618
01:24:04.067 --> 01:24:06.167
In addition to that,
we have all of our fact sheets

1619
01:24:06.167 --> 01:24:10.133
and the media guide
in that site,

1620
01:24:10.133 --> 01:24:12.701
so lots of good stuff
there for this mission.

1621
01:24:12.701 --> 01:24:15.234
Thank you for joining us today
and thank you, panelists,

1622
01:24:15.234 --> 01:24:17.033
and we're looking forward
to the mission,

1623
01:24:17.033 --> 01:24:19.501
and the rest of the briefing
is coming up later today.

1624
01:24:19.501 --> 01:24:22.100
Immediately following this
or shortly thereafter,

1625
01:24:22.100 --> 01:24:24.901
we will have today's video file
on NASA TV.