1 00:00:00,041 --> 00:00:07,340 [ INTENSE MUSIC ] 2 00:00:07,340 --> 00:00:11,469 -We have lock, and are good to send that command. We have thirty-one minutes and thirty-two 3 00:00:11,469 --> 00:00:15,557 seconds for our support. 4 00:00:15,557 --> 00:00:22,063 Go for status buffer dump. 5 00:00:22,063 --> 00:00:22,105 -Since the retirement of the space shuttle, the engineering team is 6 00:00:22,105 --> 00:00:25,692 -Since the retirement of the space shuttle, the engineering team is 7 00:00:25,692 --> 00:00:27,694 absolutely critical for Hubble. 8 00:00:27,694 --> 00:00:30,572 It always has been. 9 00:00:30,572 --> 00:00:34,409 -Without the shuttle going up to replace any equipment failures that we have, we have to 10 00:00:34,409 --> 00:00:39,247 make do with what we have. What we really are concentrating on is just keeping the telescope 11 00:00:39,247 --> 00:00:41,708 working and to keep the science going. 12 00:00:41,708 --> 00:00:46,838 -And everything looks excellent. And we have no reason not to expect that Hubble will last 13 00:00:46,838 --> 00:00:49,132 until the late 2020s and beyond. 14 00:00:49,132 --> 00:00:54,095 Hubble Eye In The Sky 15 00:00:54,095 --> 00:00:56,222 Episode 1: Driving The Telescope 16 00:00:56,222 --> 00:00:57,682 Episode 1: Driving The Telescope 17 00:00:57,682 --> 00:00:59,851 -My name is Mike Wenz, and I'm the lead 18 00:00:59,851 --> 00:01:01,770 systems engineer for what's known as the 19 00:01:01,770 --> 00:01:04,814 optical telescope assembly of the Hubble Space Telescope. 20 00:01:04,814 --> 00:01:07,859 I'm in charge of what's known as the fine guidance sensors. 21 00:01:07,859 --> 00:01:11,279 These are the instruments that actually help Hubble do the exquisite and 22 00:01:11,279 --> 00:01:13,656 precise pointing that it does. 23 00:01:13,656 --> 00:01:16,785 Right now, we're getting ready to perform an observation. The telescope is going to 24 00:01:16,785 --> 00:01:21,039 be trying to go to acquire some guide stars in just a few minutes here. 25 00:01:21,039 --> 00:01:25,794 The STOCC is the Space Telescope Operations Control Center, where we send commands to 26 00:01:25,794 --> 00:01:30,090 the spacecraft. On a daily basis, we have to send up what's known as command loads. 27 00:01:30,090 --> 00:01:32,842 -Accepted. The TMR is good. Step 3 is complete. 28 00:01:32,842 --> 00:01:37,347 -Because the computers on Hubble are very old and they have very little memory — in fact, 29 00:01:37,347 --> 00:01:41,851 most of your memory sticks today are 20, 30, 100 times bigger than Hubble — we have 30 00:01:41,851 --> 00:01:47,607 to send up essentially a load of all the commands Hubble is going to be doing for the next 24 hours. 31 00:01:47,607 --> 00:01:50,735 -On a routine basis we always keep 24 hours of 32 00:01:50,735 --> 00:01:53,279 instructions on board. So it's routinely 33 00:01:53,279 --> 00:01:56,366 updating from the new sequence 24 hours in advance. 34 00:01:56,366 --> 00:02:00,286 -We’ll start with doing our ephemeris uplink. 35 00:02:00,286 --> 00:02:04,332 -Hubble is always working, it's always doing something, it's always doing some sort of 36 00:02:04,332 --> 00:02:07,502 observation or calibration or getting ready for the next task. 37 00:02:07,502 --> 00:02:11,089 -We’ll be locked on our board at 14, 33, 17. 38 00:02:11,089 --> 00:02:17,846 -Hubble is truly a 24/7, 365-day-a-year instrument. So Hubble can keep on going. It never stops. 39 00:02:17,846 --> 00:02:20,765 -And we are configured. It's been verified. 40 00:02:20,765 --> 00:02:23,017 -Now we do have to, because of this low Earth 41 00:02:23,017 --> 00:02:25,603 orbit we're in, the actual observations when we're taking 42 00:02:25,603 --> 00:02:27,981 a picture of something or doing a science observation, 43 00:02:27,981 --> 00:02:32,110 we actually have to wait because sometimes the Earth gets in the way. So we have to pause, wait 44 00:02:32,110 --> 00:02:37,699 until the Earth gets out of the way as we go back around, and start the observation back up. 45 00:02:37,699 --> 00:02:42,078 -You have constraints. You don't want the optics pointing at the Sun, and you don't want the 46 00:02:42,078 --> 00:02:44,164 instruments to have their shutters open 47 00:02:44,164 --> 00:02:45,582 when you're looking at the Earth, 48 00:02:45,582 --> 00:02:47,041 because the Earth is bright for them. 49 00:02:47,041 --> 00:02:52,172 And then we have the South Atlantic Anomaly, the SAA, which is a portion of the Earth 50 00:02:52,172 --> 00:02:56,426 where we get proton hits that will affect the electronics in Hubble, 51 00:02:56,426 --> 00:02:58,595 and can also affect the instruments 52 00:02:58,595 --> 00:03:04,225 in Hubble. And so we have to plan out very carefully our targets and observations. 53 00:03:04,225 --> 00:03:09,022 We have a timeline that's laid out to maximize the efficiency of it. 54 00:03:09,022 --> 00:03:11,149 Hubble can actually take observations 55 00:03:11,149 --> 00:03:13,359 during day and night passes. 56 00:03:13,359 --> 00:03:16,487 Every 95 minutes we go around the Earth. 57 00:03:16,487 --> 00:03:20,950 The batteries will charge from the solar arrays during the day pass, and then at night batteries 58 00:03:20,950 --> 00:03:26,456 power the observatory so we can continue observing. The scheduling with Hubble, we're trying to 59 00:03:26,456 --> 00:03:30,460 put it together as efficiently as possible, minimize our gaps. 60 00:03:30,460 --> 00:03:33,254 The goal is to constantly keep it busy. 61 00:03:33,254 --> 00:03:40,720 -We're constrained to a certain extent, but whenever we have visibility, we are observing. 62 00:03:40,720 --> 00:03:43,848 -The demand for use of the Hubble Space Telescope 63 00:03:43,848 --> 00:03:46,976 from scientists around the world is very high. 64 00:03:46,976 --> 00:03:51,481 -Hubble is at its most productive. It's got some of the best instruments that have 65 00:03:51,481 --> 00:03:56,778 ever been on board it. There’s a very high demand. Hubble’s performing exceptionally well. 66 00:03:56,778 --> 00:04:02,992 -Two, one, and liftoff of Space Shuttle Atlantis, 67 00:04:02,992 --> 00:04:08,164 the final visit to enhance the vision of Hubble into the deepest grandeur of our universe. 68 00:04:08,164 --> 00:04:12,919 -Since the final space shuttle servicing mission, we're using Hubble to get the best kind of 69 00:04:12,919 --> 00:04:18,716 science return we can from the suite of instruments that we have. So, our focus now is on making 70 00:04:18,716 --> 00:04:23,638 sure we get the best science while it's still operating so well. 71 00:04:23,638 --> 00:04:28,476 -Luckily at the end of the last servicing mission, we were actually left with a telescope in 72 00:04:28,476 --> 00:04:33,106 great condition. But Hubble is getting older and older. It's a very old telescope. 73 00:04:33,106 --> 00:04:39,821 -Now, 10 years after the last servicing mission, we can't rely upon servicing missions to fix 74 00:04:39,821 --> 00:04:45,034 things, so we have to rely upon our own ingenuity to be able to figure out if something does 75 00:04:45,034 --> 00:04:48,538 fail what are the alternative paths that we have. 76 00:04:48,538 --> 00:04:53,918 -For the telescope to keep giving us this peak science, we need lots of things to be working 77 00:04:53,918 --> 00:04:59,340 together very well on the telescope. We need a pointing accuracy system that is outstanding 78 00:04:59,340 --> 00:05:04,762 and keeping that whole system healthy and functioning so that we can point Hubble very 79 00:05:04,762 --> 00:05:10,059 accurately, even while it's whizzing around Earth in its orbit. 80 00:05:10,059 --> 00:05:15,398 -For the telescope to be able to do the science it needs to do, we have to hold it very, very steady. 81 00:05:15,398 --> 00:05:18,234 There is actually a little bit of motion. I mean, it's hard. We're zooming around the 82 00:05:18,234 --> 00:05:22,739 Earth at 17,000 miles an hour, so it's hard to hold the telescope perfectly like that. 83 00:05:22,739 --> 00:05:24,282 The gyros are working really good. 84 00:05:24,282 --> 00:05:25,658 -The gyroscopes can sense motion in each direction. And so, because of the gyroscopes that we 85 00:05:25,658 --> 00:05:29,954 have onboard and how sensitive they are in terms of sensing motion that we can keep our 86 00:05:29,954 --> 00:05:31,497 cameras steady. 87 00:05:31,497 --> 00:05:35,752 have onboard and how sensitive they are in terms of sensing motion that we can keep our 88 00:05:35,752 --> 00:05:37,503 cameras steady. 89 00:05:37,503 --> 00:05:41,716 -Gyros are very good at measuring these very small rates. The fine guidance sensors are 90 00:05:41,716 --> 00:05:45,845 actually sort of used, I always like to describe it, as backseat drivers, and they constantly 91 00:05:45,845 --> 00:05:50,600 tap on the gyros' shoulders. It's about once a second. They keep saying, turn left, a little 92 00:05:50,600 --> 00:05:55,480 bit right, little bit left, little bit right. It must be driving the gyros nuts. The fine 93 00:05:55,480 --> 00:06:00,902 guidance sensors allow you that really fine control, but actually it’s the gyroscopes 94 00:06:00,902 --> 00:06:01,903 driving the telescope. 95 00:06:01,903 --> 00:06:06,240 They're doing a perfectly good job here. Everything looks good. Our star is the right brightness. 96 00:06:06,240 --> 00:06:10,328 The reason that is, we need to make sure we have the correct guide stars. One of the things 97 00:06:10,328 --> 00:06:13,956 we look at is the brightnesses, and that's what we're measuring here. Those are about 98 00:06:13,956 --> 00:06:18,127 right for what the stars were. But also, we wanted to make sure they were exactly as far 99 00:06:18,127 --> 00:06:22,632 apart as we thought they were going to be. And it did. It did a check and passed a very, 100 00:06:22,632 --> 00:06:27,178 very tight tolerance check to make sure that those were the right stars. So, we know we're 101 00:06:27,178 --> 00:06:29,472 locked up on the stars. We've got a good lock here. 102 00:06:29,472 --> 00:06:33,726 The gyroscopes are very critical because to be able to move from one position to another position, 103 00:06:33,726 --> 00:06:37,814 the gyroscopes are the only thing that can tell us how we can do that. 104 00:06:37,814 --> 00:06:43,194 We have six gyroscopes onboard Hubble. Currently three of them are still working, and three 105 00:06:43,194 --> 00:06:46,989 is sort of what people used to think of as the minimum number, but we have developed 106 00:06:46,989 --> 00:06:50,159 a science mode where we only need one gyro. 107 00:06:50,159 --> 00:06:56,082 -A big part of our job is to make sure that we can extend the life of Hubble and continue 108 00:06:56,082 --> 00:07:00,586 doing the high-performance science that we're doing for many more years. 109 00:07:00,586 --> 00:07:04,298 -And what we've done is we've gone through all the critical components of Hubble, and 110 00:07:04,298 --> 00:07:07,885 said, you know, how can we potentially make them last longer? As you might do with your 111 00:07:07,885 --> 00:07:10,304 own car as it’s getting more miles on it. 112 00:07:10,304 --> 00:07:15,726 The gyroscopes have been our most problematic piece of hardware. So I helped lead an effort 113 00:07:15,726 --> 00:07:22,066 to develop a two-gyro science mode, and we were able to use that mode on orbit and be 114 00:07:22,066 --> 00:07:28,197 able to perform science. And then learning from that, we actually developed a one-gyro 115 00:07:28,197 --> 00:07:32,160 science mode that we've been able to test on orbit, but we haven't been called on to 116 00:07:32,160 --> 00:07:37,081 use. But in the end, possibly 5 to 10 to 15 years from now when we're down to potentially 117 00:07:37,081 --> 00:07:39,500 our last gyroscope, that is the mode we'll be in. 118 00:07:39,500 --> 00:07:44,714 Before we do anything on orbit for the first time, we have to test it out on the ground. 119 00:07:44,714 --> 00:07:49,594 And we're very lucky to have what we call the VEST, the Vehicle Electrical System Test 120 00:07:49,594 --> 00:07:55,266 facility. And the key with the Vehicle Electrical System Test facility is it's an exact copy 121 00:07:55,266 --> 00:07:58,519 of the main part of the telescope where all the electronics are. 122 00:07:58,519 --> 00:08:04,358 And it has the mechanical bays. It has the computers, the electronic boxes installed 123 00:08:04,358 --> 00:08:08,488 in there. And it has the cables and harnesses in there. And in fact, when we were building 124 00:08:08,488 --> 00:08:12,658 the VEST, we had the quality engineers came to us and said you're not doing 125 00:08:12,658 --> 00:08:16,704 these cables exactly the way you should be doing them, you know, we've got better standards 126 00:08:16,704 --> 00:08:21,125 now. And our thing was we're trying to build a copy of what we have on orbit. 127 00:08:21,125 --> 00:08:26,923 And so what you have in the VEST is an exact electrical copy of the Hubble Space Telescope. 128 00:08:26,923 --> 00:08:30,468 Every orbit, as we come around the Earth, to be able to get our attitude correct, to 129 00:08:30,468 --> 00:08:35,181 get ourselves steady and locked on, the fine guidance sensors and the gyroscopes are key 130 00:08:35,181 --> 00:08:39,352 to that. And that's why those are two of the subsystems that are on the top of our list 131 00:08:39,352 --> 00:08:44,148 as far as having contingency plans for and monitoring the health and safety of those 132 00:08:44,148 --> 00:08:46,901 and making sure we have them in peak performance. 133 00:08:46,901 --> 00:08:50,947 When something fails on Hubble, when we have an anomaly, something we don't understand, 134 00:08:50,947 --> 00:08:56,619 one of my jobs is to bring together the experts, which may be a thermal engineer, a mechanical 135 00:08:56,619 --> 00:08:59,914 engineer, an electrical engineer, a software engineer, all these different people. And 136 00:08:59,914 --> 00:09:04,502 we'll say, you know, how do we deal with this issue and how can we work around it and return 137 00:09:04,502 --> 00:09:05,836 back to peak science? 138 00:09:05,836 --> 00:09:09,382 What you do is you come up with a list of what is available to you on the telescope 139 00:09:09,382 --> 00:09:14,512 in terms of potential. I could close this relay or open that relay or turn on this box. 140 00:09:14,512 --> 00:09:20,268 And, I am continually amazed, when you have a telescope on orbit that you can't even see, 141 00:09:20,268 --> 00:09:24,146 and all you're doing is looking at the data coming down to you, from the ground, these 142 00:09:24,146 --> 00:09:29,819 experts are able to use their ingenuity and come up with ways to continue to operate Hubble. 143 00:09:29,819 --> 00:09:34,282 And everything looks excellent. And we have no reason not to expect that Hubble will last 144 00:09:34,282 --> 00:09:38,494 until the late 2020s and beyond. 145 00:09:38,494 --> 00:09:44,750 -I personally am extremely grateful to the Hubble operations team. These people who work 146 00:09:44,750 --> 00:09:53,301 day and night to keep Hubble operating, providing exquisite science return, giving us the information 147 00:09:53,301 --> 00:09:58,055 that we need to know how Hubble is doing. Is it doing the kind of accurate pointing 148 00:09:58,055 --> 00:10:02,893 that we need? Is it getting the sensitivity in the various wavelengths of light, in the 149 00:10:02,893 --> 00:10:07,982 various instruments that we need to have to do the science? Are we able to calibrate those 150 00:10:07,982 --> 00:10:13,738 observations in an accurate way? We couldn't do any of those scientific analyses if we 151 00:10:13,738 --> 00:10:20,161 didn't have this team of operations experts behind the scenes making sure that the details 152 00:10:20,161 --> 00:10:25,958 of Hubble's technical operations are being monitored, being handled, being managed, being 153 00:10:25,958 --> 00:10:29,545 planned in a near-perfect way. 154 00:10:29,545 --> 00:10:35,509 Hubble Eye In The Sky 155 00:10:35,509 --> 00:10:42,475 [ INTENSE MUSIC ]