NASAdventures

I'm out at Goddard (in Greenbelt, MD) again for work, and I thought I'd post some pictures showing what my days are like. We are out here to replace a couple parts on our telescope, and then re-mount it onto the satellite, which is shown tilted down 90 degrees in the photos below. The big blue table that the spacecraft is mounted on can rotate it between vertical and horizontal, and also rotate it about the long axis so the different instruments can be put on or taken off, worked on at human height, etc. The next three pictures show the SDO spacecraft (in it's current non-final state) before, during, and after rotating.

First, here's the spacecraft with the AIA instrument (that Dustin works on) on the bottom (but you can't see it very well because it's bagged), the EVE instrument at the top right, and HMI (my telescope) on the top left just after we put it back on the satellite after doing our work. It gets lifted on with a crane and some straps from the top, and we have to stand on scaffolding and a man-lift cart to manually guide it into where it bolts down.

Next up is a mid-rotation picture, as the spacecraft is rotating so we can reach HMI while standing on the floor. It's pretty amazing that this whole thing is cantilevered out some 25 feet, especially with all the important stuff way out at the end. Sometimes it seems like it should just bend over and hit the floor. The wires you see running along the floor are ground straps, so whenever we're working on something we can clip a grounding wrist strap onto one to make sure we don't shock any electronics with static electricity.

Lastly, here it is having completed a 90 degree rotation. HMI is the one on the bottom left, not covered in bagging. The red items are covers that protect certain parts that we don't want to accidentally bump; they get removed before launch.

Anyways, I'll keep this post short as we've been working long hours out here and it's past my bedtime. Hope you enjoyed getting to see the inside of a NASA cleanroom without having to wear the annoyingly stifling bunny suit, booties, hood, gloves, wrist strap, and facemask. And in case you were wondering, that's the holiday beard on my face mostly hidden behind my face mask, not a giant mud smear. We'll see how long it lasts.