WEBVTT FILE

1
00:00:02.000 --> 00:00:02.300
To understand a changing climate

2
00:00:02.300 --> 00:00:05.400
scientists need sophisticated tools.

3
00:00:05.400 --> 00:00:07.000
So, how do you develop

4
00:00:07.000 --> 00:00:09.100
advanced technologies to study

5
00:00:09.100 --> 00:00:11.600
essential aspects of the climate

6
00:00:11.600 --> 00:00:13.500
during a global pandemic?

7
00:00:13.500 --> 00:00:15.100
With teams socially distant

8
00:00:15.100 --> 00:00:16.000
they’re working from

9
00:00:16.000 --> 00:00:19.000
spare bedrooms and at tables in their backyards.

10
00:00:19.000 --> 00:00:20.700
It's tough!

11
00:00:20.700 --> 00:00:23.200
It’s not easy to turn a wrench from home.

12
00:00:23.200 --> 00:00:25.200
But, uh, we also work with some

13
00:00:25.200 --> 00:00:28.100
very clever, some very innovative people

14
00:00:28.100 --> 00:00:30.400
who have figured out

15
00:00:30.400 --> 00:00:34.300
methodologies to actually test things--

16
00:00:34.300 --> 00:00:36.200
really!-- from home, you know, remotely.

17
00:00:36.200 --> 00:00:39.700
So the longer we’re stuck at home

18
00:00:39.700 --> 00:00:41.900
and the itchier we are to get back to work

19
00:00:41.900 --> 00:00:43.900
the more creative we can get to

20
00:00:43.900 --> 00:00:45.900
finding ways to perform those tests.

21
00:00:45.900 --> 00:00:48.500
We have electrical ground support

22
00:00:48.500 --> 00:00:50.600
equipment that we hook up to the network--

23
00:00:50.600 --> 00:00:52.100
—the computer networks at Goddard--

24
00:00:52.100 --> 00:00:53.200
and we VPN into them…

25
00:00:53.200 --> 00:00:54.700
and we can actually

26
00:00:54.700 --> 00:00:55.460
turn on power supplies

27
00:00:55.460 --> 00:00:57.800
and power up the components from home.

28
00:00:57.800 --> 00:01:00.500
What they’re powering up…is this.

29
00:01:00.500 --> 00:01:02.010
It’s the spacecraft

30
00:01:02.010 --> 00:01:03.370
that headlines NASA’s mission

31
00:01:03.370 --> 00:01:04.600
called PACE.

32
00:01:04.600 --> 00:01:05.920
From orbit it will study

33
00:01:05.920 --> 00:01:09.500
Earth’s oceans, biogeochemistry, ecology,

34
00:01:09.500 --> 00:01:12.730
the carbon cycle, aerosols, and clouds.

35
00:01:12.730 --> 00:01:16.480
PACE is a climate change observatory...

36
00:01:16.480 --> 00:01:17.400
…and climate change continues

37
00:01:17.400 --> 00:01:20.000
even during the pandemic,

38
00:01:20.000 --> 00:01:21.400
so the mission’s research goals

39
00:01:21.400 --> 00:01:22.900
can’t wait.

40
00:01:22.900 --> 00:01:24.400
But that said…

41
00:01:24.400 --> 00:01:25.700
Progress is being made,

42
00:01:25.700 --> 00:01:28.400
but not in the way one typically

43
00:01:28.400 --> 00:01:31.100
thinks about construction of

44
00:01:31.100 --> 00:01:32.500
a satellite observatory.

45
00:01:32.500 --> 00:01:33.900
The technological advances

46
00:01:33.900 --> 00:01:37.000
are great, and they really do help us

47
00:01:37.000 --> 00:01:39.200
but they’re still not as good

48
00:01:39.200 --> 00:01:40.400
as a face-to-face.

49
00:01:40.400 --> 00:01:41.500
It’s been lovely

50
00:01:41.500 --> 00:01:42.070
being home with my wife

51
00:01:42.070 --> 00:01:43.000
and my daughter.

52
00:01:43.000 --> 00:01:45.700
I can’t complain about that!

53
00:01:45.700 --> 00:01:46.800
But it’s not the same

54
00:01:46.800 --> 00:01:47.700
as getting out to work

55
00:01:47.700 --> 00:01:48.800
and seeing everybody.

56
00:01:48.800 --> 00:01:51.600
There’s going to be, probably,

57
00:01:51.600 --> 00:01:53.300
a meaningful cultural shift

58
00:01:53.300 --> 00:01:56.050
in how a project of this size

59
00:01:56.050 --> 00:01:57.570
y’know, somewhere between 400

60
00:01:57.570 --> 00:02:02.020
and 500 people right now

61
00:02:02.020 --> 00:02:03.200
learn how to interact with each other

62
00:02:03.200 --> 00:02:04.140
going forward.

63
00:02:04.140 --> 00:02:05.040
I don’t think meetings will be

64
00:02:05.040 --> 00:02:06.200
structured the same way

65
00:02:06.200 --> 00:02:07.400
and that might actually make us

66
00:02:07.400 --> 00:02:08.400
more productive.

67
00:02:08.400 --> 00:02:11.000
There’s that serendipity

68
00:02:11.000 --> 00:02:15.300
that’s disappeared, and also that

69
00:02:15.300 --> 00:02:17.700
everything has to be planned

70
00:02:17.700 --> 00:02:18.900
ahead of time.

71
00:02:18.900 --> 00:02:23.850
Nothing beats the personal interaction

72
00:02:23.850 --> 00:02:27.800
especially when you’re having to

73
00:02:27.800 --> 00:02:31.200
describe the type of engineering

74
00:02:31.200 --> 00:02:33.740
features that we’re talking about.

75
00:02:33.740 --> 00:02:37.930
It’s really hard sometimes to point out

76
00:02:37.930 --> 00:02:42.980
small pins that we’re referring to.

77
00:02:42.980 --> 00:02:45.600
We really have to be face-to-face

78
00:02:45.600 --> 00:02:47.000
to show you, no, I’m talking

79
00:02:47.000 --> 00:02:48.600
about this specific one.

80
00:02:48.600 --> 00:02:50.100
Virtual meetings do not

81
00:02:50.100 --> 00:02:53.480
take over the importance of that.

82
00:02:53.480 --> 00:02:55.700
I think that me and my co-lead

83
00:02:55.700 --> 00:02:57.500
have been equally productive

84
00:02:57.500 --> 00:02:59.600
because we can do absolutely 100%

85
00:02:59.600 --> 00:03:01.700
of our work remotely.

86
00:03:01.700 --> 00:03:02.900
And I think that moving forward

87
00:03:02.900 --> 00:03:05.400
it’s going to lend to, you know, instead

88
00:03:05.400 --> 00:03:07.300
of just working remotely one day a week

89
00:03:07.300 --> 00:03:09.600
maybe I try doing two days a week.

90
00:03:09.600 --> 00:03:12.100
because it really is working out well.

91
00:03:12.100 --> 00:03:13.600
Eventually we will come to a point

92
00:03:13.600 --> 00:03:15.900
where we need to get back in there

93
00:03:15.900 --> 00:03:17.850
and put things together…the hardware.

94
00:03:17.850 --> 00:03:20.150
The team has done, I would say,

95
00:03:20.150 --> 00:03:22.700
a Herculean effort. There is

96
00:03:22.700 --> 00:03:25.300
a large aspect of the mission

97
00:03:25.300 --> 00:03:27.300
that is more than just

98
00:03:27.300 --> 00:03:28.800
hands-on labor.

99
00:03:28.800 --> 00:03:31.300
There’s a lot of people who are doing that.

100
00:03:31.300 --> 00:03:33.000
But there’s also a lot of people

101
00:03:33.000 --> 00:03:35.900
that have to do paperwork.

102
00:03:35.900 --> 00:03:38.000
You know, drawings, work orders,

103
00:03:38.000 --> 00:03:41.700
procedures, software development,

104
00:03:41.700 --> 00:03:43.700
access to these computer systems

105
00:03:43.700 --> 00:03:45.500
for testing.

106
00:03:45.500 --> 00:03:49.800
It’s just hard-- emotionally, mentally.

107
00:03:49.800 --> 00:03:51.800
This is a difficult thing

108
00:03:51.800 --> 00:03:53.000
to overcome.

109
00:03:53.000 --> 00:03:55.800
True. Spaceflight and scientific research

110
00:03:55.800 --> 00:03:58.000
are all about teamwork,

111
00:03:58.000 --> 00:04:01.300
and this is a tough time to be part of a team.

112
00:04:01.300 --> 00:04:03.100
But this team knows why

113
00:04:03.100 --> 00:04:05.600
this mission matters so much.

114
00:04:05.600 --> 00:04:06.800
The biggest uncertainty in our future

115
00:04:06.800 --> 00:04:09.000
is our climate. And understanding the ocean

116
00:04:09.000 --> 00:04:11.700
that controls a large percentage of that

117
00:04:11.700 --> 00:04:14.600
climate behavior is crucial

118
00:04:14.600 --> 00:04:16.400
and that’s what PACE is going

119
00:04:16.400 --> 00:04:17.300
to bring us, better understanding

120
00:04:17.300 --> 00:04:19.300
of ocean that controls our climate

121
00:04:19.300 --> 00:04:20.500
which is pretty much our house.

122
00:04:20.500 --> 00:04:23.200
And that’s why, pandemic or no pandemic,

123
00:04:23.200 --> 00:04:25.700
this team isn’t slowing down.

124
00:04:25.700 --> 00:04:28.600
I think it’s very challenging to make

125
00:04:28.600 --> 00:04:31.100
any of these people stop work, right?

126
00:04:31.100 --> 00:04:35.500
It goes so much against our natural

127
00:04:35.500 --> 00:04:38.800
desire to want to build, want to achieve,

128
00:04:38.800 --> 00:04:41.200
want to innovate.

129
00:04:41.200 --> 00:04:43.850
I mean, we’re creative people!

130
00:04:43.850 --> 00:04:44.150
That’s why we work at NASA, right?

131
00:04:44.150 --> 00:04:51.968
(music)