[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 2 - 09:38:51 ]
Hello to our early arriving chat participants. Today's chat with Joyce Dever from NASA Glenn Research Center will begin in approximately 20 minutes. Be sure you have read Joyce's profile at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/women/bios/jd.html to prepare your questions.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 3 - 09:39:14 ]
During moderation, DON'T WORRY if you don't see your questions immediately. We will post a few questions in the chat room at every few minutes for Joyce to answer. At the conclusion of the chat, please share your thoughts with us at http://quest.arc.nasa.gov/qchats. We look forward to hearing from you!

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 4 - 10:04:13 ]
Joyce, while we're waiting for our participants, perhaps you can tell us about current projects you are working on.

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 5 - 10:08:57 ]
Hi Everyone, Thanks for joining in this chat. Let me tell you about some things I've been working on lately. The next Space Shuttle mission will launch on December 6. During this mission, astronauts will be replacing some equipment on the Hubble Space Telescope. I have worked with a large team of researchers over the last few years on some of Hubble's problems with insulation on the outside of the telescope that has become severely degraded due to almost 10 years in space. The team I worked on has studied pieces of insulation that astronauts brought back during the last mission (in 1997), and we have recommended replacement material that the astronauts will put into place on Hubble next month. I will be on hand here at Glenn Research Center during the mission to answer any questions that come up while the astronauts are installing the new insulation. Astronauts will bring back more material that has been in space on Hubble, and our team of researchers here at Glenn and at Goddard (in Maryland) will be studying it.

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 6 - 10:11:42 ]
Joyce, that sounds fascinating. What information do you hope to find by studying the degraded material the astronauts will bring back to Earth?

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 7 - 10:17:25 ]
Hi Oran, The Teflon on Hubble has gone from being very stretchy and flexible (in its "pristine" condition) to being very brittle and cracking due to the exposure on Hubble. Because astronauts have been visiting Hubble, the Hubble has provided us with a unique opportunity to gather aluminized Teflon (the insulation material) at 3.6 years, 6.8 years, and now 9.5 years. By making plots of strength, "strechiness", changes in chemistry and chemical structure, etc. as a function of time in space, we stand to learn a lot about the effects of the space environment on Teflon. It is hoped that it will help in the development of more durable spacecraft materials, in developing methods to prevent degradation, and in developing methods to do ground laboratory testing to simulate the damage in space to determine if new materials are durable.

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 9 - 10:29:02 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Joyce, thanks for your explanation about understanding the effects of space on Teflon. Have you been part of the HST science teams since it was first sent into space? If so, what would you say have been significant changes you've seen in your last 10 years with NASA?
Oran, I was not involved in Hubble from launch (1990), but I have been involved since 1992 when Teflon insulation was needed for the solar arrays.

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 11 - 10:35:49 ]
RE: [JoyceDever/GRC] Oran, I was not involved in Hubble from launch (1990), but I have been involved since 1992 when Teflon insulation was needed for the solar arrays.
In my last 10 years with NASA, I have noted many changes in myself regarding career development and the things in my job that are important to me. I have worked for NASA since 1989. I have grown to greatly appreciate working on true team efforts, such as Hubble, where collaboration and sharing thoughts and ideas has been critical to the success of projects. There are so many brilliant minds within NASA, to be associated with that "collective" of brilliant minds is a real privilege! I enjoy working with other companies outside of NASA to solve problems where our expertise is needed. Again, these efforts often require NASA and the company to sit down together and come up with creative solutions to problems that no one has dealt with before. I also greatly enjoy working with students to try to share the excitement and enthusiasm I feel in my job.

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 12 - 10:38:18 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Joyce, thanks. What is the anticipated "life span" of the HST, and how often will it need to be serviced to reach that span?
The planned lifetime of the Hubble Space Telescope is 20 years from 1990 to 2010. It will be serviced in December 1999, in 2001, and in 2003. There may be one more mission between 2003 and 2010, but I am not sure.

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 14 - 10:46:57 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Joyce, did the recent Leonid Meteor shower affect the HST? Did we receive any pictures of the shower from the telescope?
Oran, that's a good question. the upcoming Shuttle mission to service Hubble was supposed to be launching in October. It has been delayed several times, and the Shuttle program was purposely avoiding this period in November. Also, unfortunately, you may have heard news that Hubble is now "sleeping." One of the repairs the astronauts will do is to replace the gyroscopes that help Hubble "point" to the stars. On Saturday morning, the last gyroscope necessary for pointing failed, and Hubble can do no more science until the December 6 mission. I'm not sure what was on Hubble's agenda with the Leonids... But I understand they were very visible from Earth (at least in the Mid-West)

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 15 - 10:53:09 ]
Joyce, thanks again for your last response. As a final question in our "interview" today, will the upcoming development of the International Space Station (ISS), orbit, and maintenance schedule affect the orbit and maintenance schedule of the HST, respectively?

[ JoyceDever/GRC - 16 - 11:04:40 ]
RE: [Oran/NASAChatHost] Joyce, thanks again for your last response. As a final question in our "interview" today, will the upcoming development of the International Space Station (ISS), orbit, and maintenance schedule affect the orbit and maintenance schedule of the HST, respectively?
Oran, that's a good question. Actually HST is at an altitude of around 600 km. ISS is nominally at an altitude of around 400 km. HST and ISS are also at different inclinations. In short, they will not get in each others' way :) I'm sure there will be occasions where the ISS assembly missions and HST servicing missions require some juggling. It has already happened, as a decision needed to be made on how to order the most recent HST servicing and ISS assembly missions due to Shuttle maintenance delays. I enjoyed chatting with you Oran, and I look forward to the next chat :)

[ Oran/NASAChatHost - 17 - 11:07:14 ]
Joyce, we are at the end of our session today, and would like to extend our gratitude to you for sharing your time with us today. We have learned much about your career, how space affects our manmade satellites orbiting Earth, and the future of projects such as the HST. We have enjoyed chatting with you, too, and look forward to having you online with us again. We will be sure to share today's information with our audience members in an archive of today's chat session. Have a great day!