[background music]
You are now in the Mission Operations Room. This is the
command center where flight engineers communicate with
Hubble. Every day they send commands to Hubble’s computers
to perform daily tasks, such as coordinating the science
instruments. They also retrieve all of Hubble’s science and
engineering data and make sure that none of it is missing or
corrupted. The flight engineers are also responsible for
monitoring the 10,000 plus items in that engineering data to make
sure that Hubble is operating safely and properly. If
something isn’t working correctly, they follow prepared
contingency plans. Right now the team is doing routine activities
that include uplinking orbit information and clearing memory
on the spacecraft for new messages. Prior to 2011, this
room was staffed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. But now most of
the daily functions are automated and it is only staffed
8 hours a day, 5 days a week. If a problem comes up while the
team is not present, they receive notifications on their
cell phones, which they can use to access some of the spacecraft
information and determine how serious the issue is. Depending
on the severity, they may have to come into this room to
address the issue. As you look around the room you will see a
large screen with a graphical display of Hubble that is driven
with real-time data. It includes accurate star charts, the
Earth’s position, the Sun’s location, and other
environmental data to allow the team to see how Hubble is
oriented. An operations clock in the corner of the room can be
set to track the length of an event, or simply display the
current time, in Universal Time - a standard time used in
astronomy and spacecraft operations. A model of the main
spacecraft computer sits in the back of the room. The actual
computer on Hubble manages the spacecraft’s daily functions
such as its power, communications, and pointing,
and it monitors the health of the spacecraft. It’s also
programmed to put Hubble in a safe state and be ready to talk
to the ground if a major problem occurs. An engineering model of
the spacecraft is also in the back of the room, which flight
engineers can use for reference if they need to.