[ Oran/NASAChatHost
- 7 - 09:42:22 ]
Hello to our early arriving chatters. Today's NASA Quest Deep Space
Online chat with John Wood from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center will
begin at 10:00 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. Be sure you have read John's
profile at http://quest.nasa.gov/dso/team/wood.html
to prepare your questions. We will chat with you in approximately
20 minutes. Stay tuned!
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 10 - 10:00:35
]
For those of you online, we're ready to begin taking questions for
Dr. John Wood from NASA Goddard Space Flight Center. Please begin
sending your questions in!
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 12 - 10:04:23
]
John, while we're waiting for questions, could you please update
us on some of your latest work involving the HST?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 15 - 10:07:22
]
RE: [HJW]
Thanks, Oran. We are building new instruments for the next two
servicing missions to Hubble
Could you tell us a bit about these instruments?How will they be
used for the next servicing missions, and how will they be tested
before then?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 17 - 10:08:38
]
RE: [HJW]
I was recently at a review in Boulder, CO for the Advanced Camera
for Surveys. It is being built at Ball Aerospace
Will this camera be installed on the HST, or will it be used for
different purposes?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 18 - 10:09:09
]
RE: [HJW]
The ACS as it is called will have a much wider field of view
than the current camera.
OK, looks like you've answered my question!
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 20 - 10:10:55
]
RE: [HJW]
The testing goes on at Ball and at Goddard. One of the tests
done here is a thermal - vacuum test to see if it works cold and
without air.
How much of a role do you play in the development of hardware and
other technologies for the HST?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 22 - 10:14:43
]
RE: [HJW]
Maybe I should clarify - the cameras on HST use the HST optics
like a single-lens reflex camera has a removable back. With HST
we have a giant optics system 2.4m in diameter and we have replacable
"camera backs".
OK, thanks for clearing that up, John.
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 24 - 10:17:28
]
RE: [HJW]
While I remain the "optics lead engineer" for HST, I am less
actively involved directly with the hardware. My involvement was
very intense before the launch of STS-61 the first servicing mission
to correct the optics.
How did you feel as the astronauts performed the fist servicing
mission on the Hubble?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 26 - 10:22:53
]
RE: [HJW]
I was very pleased. Thought the release of the damaged solar
array was pretty dangerous for Kathy Thornton
Thanks, John. Your biography mentions your involvement with K-12
students in science outreach. Does that affect how you approach
or feel about your everyday work?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 28 - 10:27:53
]
RE: [HJW]
I really enjoy meeting kids and telling them about the work we
do at NASA. I was a professor at U of Va for 6 years earlier but
3rd graders are the best
When you are speaking to younger children, what advice do you offer
them about pursuing a career such as yours, or other career in NASA?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 32 - 10:36:35
]
RE: [HJW]
I got hooked on astronomy at age 10 because a neighbor in Baltimore
built a telescope on his house. Just seeing the moon and planets
up close made me want to go there. Later in college since I couldn't
become an astronaut right away, I studied astronomy. Then I realized
that Astronomy was the most rewarding thing I could do. Astronomy
in NASA is great.
John, that's great! What have been some of the more memorable (positive
and/or negative) experiences you've had during your career with
NASA?
[ HJW - 33 - 10:42:43 ]
+1) Getting the two versions of the Rx for HST to agree within their
error bars. One came from measurements on the flawed Null Corrector
at Perkin-Elmer. The other from the star images sent down for HST.
+2) Seeing that the corrective optics we had made for the new camera
indeed did correct the aberration.
[ HJW - 34 - 10:44:22 ]
-3) hearing that the Challenger had exploded killing the astronauts
[ HJW - 35 - 10:47:51 ]
+4) Seeing COBE orbiting over my house in Maryland after working
on it for 4 years building the DIRBE photometric instrument.
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 36 - 10:47:58
]
John, thanks so much for sharing the "pluses and minuses" about
your career. How long will the HST be able to take pictures of the
universe over the coming years? Will continuous advancements in
it's technology be necessary, or just maintained?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 37 - 10:48:22
]
RE: [HJW]
4) Seeing COBE orbiting over my house in Maryland after working
on it for 4 years building the DIRBE photometric instrument.
That sounds cool! :-)
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 39 - 10:54:06
]
RE: [HJW]
HST will be kept in orbit for 20 years and brought down in 2010.
Advancement will be continued through the 4th mission - then it
will be allowed to "run down" using up its redundancy. The savings
in resources are being used to begin the next generation space telescope
slated for launch in 2009.
Any "insider's scoop" you can give us about the new space telescope,
in comparison to the HST?
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 41 - 10:59:23
]
RE: [HJW]
NGST will be an 8m diameter telescope which is passively cooled
so it can work in the Infrared. The goal is to see young galaxies
forming between 300,000 and 2,000,000 years after the big bang.
HST can see back to 2M years after the big bang but we don't know
how the first galaxies got together.
John this sounds very exciting. Thanks for giving us a preview!
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 42 - 10:59:30
]
John, thank you so much for sharing your expertise about the HST
and personal thoughts about your career with NASA with us today.
We hope to schedule you for another chat, where we will be able
to connect you with many more K-12 chatters! :-)
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 43 - 11:00:30
]
Today's chat will be archived and linked in our Deep Space Online
chat archives, at http://quest.nasa.gov/dso/chats/archive We invite
you to send us your feedback about today's chat at http://quest.nasa.gov/activities/chats/feedback.html.
[ HJW - 44 - 11:01:44 ]
My pleasure - by the way I saw the shuttle from 6 to 8 minutes MET
last evening. MECO was very abrupt! Then HST could be seen low on
the southern horizon followed by ISS straight overhead at 8:10.
What a night!
[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 45 - 11:02:11
]
Thanks again to John Wood for chatting with us for today. Have a
great day, John!
[ HJW - 46 - 11:03:25 ]
Thanks, Oran: This was a very fast hour. I'll look forward to [another
chat].
