1 00:00:00,000 --> 00:00:01,435 [background music] 2 00:00:01,435 --> 00:00:04,171 Welcome to mission control for the iconic Hubble Space 3 00:00:04,171 --> 00:00:08,575 Telescope. This is a virtual 360 degree tour of the facility, so 4 00:00:08,575 --> 00:00:11,745 look around. You are currently in the lobby outside of the 5 00:00:11,745 --> 00:00:15,382 Space Telescope Operations Control Center at NASA’s Goddard 6 00:00:15,382 --> 00:00:18,518 Space Flight Center where the day to day operations for Hubble 7 00:00:18,518 --> 00:00:23,190 are conducted. The tour starts next to a 1/5th scale model of 8 00:00:23,190 --> 00:00:26,426 Hubble. The real telescope is about the size of a large 9 00:00:26,426 --> 00:00:31,498 school bus, and would weigh 27,000 pounds on earth. Hubble 10 00:00:31,498 --> 00:00:35,202 works like many backyard telescopes. It has two main 11 00:00:35,202 --> 00:00:37,671 mirrors to gather light from the Universe and bring it into 12 00:00:37,671 --> 00:00:42,609 focus: a primary mirror almost 8 feet across, and a secondary 13 00:00:42,609 --> 00:00:47,147 mirror that is one foot across. Light that enters the telescope 14 00:00:47,147 --> 00:00:49,783 hits the main mirror and gets reflected toward the smaller 15 00:00:49,783 --> 00:00:53,787 secondary mirror. The secondary mirror then reflects the light 16 00:00:53,787 --> 00:00:57,024 back through a small hole in the primary, where it enters 17 00:00:57,024 --> 00:00:59,826 Hubble’s science instruments housed in the back part of the 18 00:00:59,826 --> 00:01:04,097 spacecraft. Hubble has three types of instruments that 19 00:01:04,097 --> 00:01:09,102 analyze light from the universe: Cameras such as its main camera 20 00:01:09,102 --> 00:01:13,574 – the Wide Field Camera 3; spectrographs such as Hubble’s 21 00:01:13,574 --> 00:01:17,444 newest one, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph; And 22 00:01:17,444 --> 00:01:22,049 interferometers which are called Fine Guidance Sensors. In the 23 00:01:22,049 --> 00:01:25,085 middle of the spacecraft there are four 100-pound reaction 24 00:01:25,085 --> 00:01:29,423 wheels used to reorient the observatory. Based upon Newton’s 25 00:01:29,423 --> 00:01:32,626 Third Law of Motion — for every action there is an equal and 26 00:01:32,626 --> 00:01:36,630 opposite reaction — turning a reaction wheel in one direction 27 00:01:36,630 --> 00:01:40,100 causes Hubble to turn the opposite way. Because Hubble is 28 00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:43,637 so massive, it only turns at the speed of a minute hand on a 29 00:01:43,637 --> 00:01:48,308 clock. On the wall you see two images of an incredible star 30 00:01:48,308 --> 00:01:51,278 nursery in the Eagle Nebula nicknamed the Pillars of 31 00:01:51,278 --> 00:01:56,049 Creation. These images, among Hubble’s most famous, reveal how 32 00:01:56,049 --> 00:01:58,585 different the pillars appear in visible light and in 33 00:01:58,585 --> 00:02:01,989 near-infrared light. The visible-light image shows small 34 00:02:01,989 --> 00:02:04,691 tips that contain newborn stars and budding stars. The 35 00:02:04,691 --> 00:02:07,294 near-infrared light can see through much of the gas and 36 00:02:07,294 --> 00:02:10,731 dust, revealing thousands of stars behind the nebula and 37 00:02:10,731 --> 00:02:15,135 inside the pillars. Further over, you see another image on 38 00:02:15,135 --> 00:02:19,139 the wall of astronauts in space servicing Hubble. These 39 00:02:19,139 --> 00:02:22,309 servicing missions included numerous spacewalks to help fix 40 00:02:22,309 --> 00:02:26,013 and upgrade the telescope. The astronauts left Hubble in 41 00:02:26,013 --> 00:02:29,983 outstanding condition in 2009 during the final servicing 42 00:02:29,983 --> 00:02:32,319 mission and it is still at the peak of its scientific 43 00:02:32,319 --> 00:02:37,657 capability today. Over by the windows is a tool box that was 44 00:02:37,657 --> 00:02:41,795 used to transport tools into space.  Known as the Auxiliary 45 00:02:41,795 --> 00:02:45,732 Transport Module, it provided storage for the tools and safe 46 00:02:45,732 --> 00:02:47,734 passage to and from orbit, protecting the tools from the 47 00:02:47,734 --> 00:02:49,903 extreme cold of space. Two similar enclosures flew aboard 48 00:02:49,903 --> 00:00:00,000 the final Hubble servicing mission.