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hi there and welcome to nasa's goddard
space flight center in greenbelt
maryland home to the nation's largest
organization of scientists engineers and
technologists our work encompasses the
core disciplines of earth science
planetary science heliophysics which is
the study of sun and space weather and
astrophysics which covers the whole
cosmos these lines of businesses have
helped guide the success of several
notable missions including the hubble
space telescope the mars atmosphere and
volatile evolution mission osiris-rex
which is on its way back to earth with a
sample of an asteroid and a host of
other satellites that monitor earth our
changing climate and the dynamic
universe
my name is travis walrab and i'm an
engagement officer here at goddard and
i'm courtney lee a video producer here
at the flight center
our campus at greenbelt contains 34
buildings over 1200 acres which
translates to over 3 million square feet
of research base but goddard consists of
more than just a greenbelt campus we
have five other locations the waltz
flight facility in virginia the goddard
institute for space studies in new york
the katherine johnson independent
verification and validation facility in
west virginia the columbia scientific
balloon facility in texas and the white
sands complex in new mexico
today we're going to take a tour of some
of our facilities a substantial amount
of work is required to get a mission off
the ground goddard is unique in that
every element of a mission can be
facilitated here from designing
manufacturing launching controlling and
ultimately gathering and analyzing data
this nasa facility is a one-stop shop
our first stop is at the visitor center
where everyone can come and learn about
what we do from strolling through our
rocket gardens to immersing yourself in
our solarium which explores our sun
through art and technology the visitor
center has multiple interactive exhibits
for people to learn more about goddard's
research
but the visitor center isn't the only
place where you can see our research on
display
we're going to take you behind the gates
on an exclusive tour of our facilities
come on let's go
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before any mission becomes reality it
goes through several stages of
development and planning
at building 34 scientists think of
problems that need to be solved and get
funding to develop practical solutions
for example the employees at the sample
analysis at mars suite investigation
also known as sam examined the
habitability of mars
i'm here at the sam lab and as you can
see it's quite a tight space due to the
temporary clean tent but every day
scientists conduct experiments and
investigations to determine if ancient
mars provided a habitable environment
where microbial life might have thrived
sam was built on mass spectrometer
technologies that have been developed to
explore the atmospheres of jupiter venus
and saturn's moon titan
in addition to measuring atmospheric
gases sam also measures gases released
from rocks and soils on mars
let's hear more about sam from the sam
deputy principal investigator charles
malespin
here we have the sam test bed which is
an exact working replica of sam which is
located in the curiosity rover on gale
crater mars
sam took about seven years to complete
from a proposal in 2004 to a 2011 launch
and required 150 people in his creation
after landing on mars in august of 2012
it is still operating on the surface
after eight and a half years
scientists and engineers solved problems
that arose as sam was being developed
for example when the company that was
providing the 52 micro valves in sam
went out of business
goddard stepped up to reinvent the
valves which are still being used in
missions today
in another situation the turbomolecular
pumps weren't reaching their planned
lifetimes a goddard team worked with the
commercial provider to redesign the
pumps and they are still operating on
mars
with sam and other missions we focus on
solving problems to create instruments
that will help answer the questions we
have about the universe beyond our
planet
thank you charles with missions like sam
and others we implement a project life
cycle
where we use scientific findings from
current missions to develop new missions
we head to the planetary environment
laboratory where a new spacecraft
element is being developed
the planetary environments laboratory
studies the atmospheres and surfaces of
planetary bodies
scientists there participate in all
phases of planetary investigation from
developing instruments to analyzing data
sent back to us from spacecraft
the planetary environments laboratory is
home to a key instrument on dragonfly a
rotorcraft scheduled to land on titan
which is saturn's largest moon in 2034.
the team is currently working to design
every detail of the craft and the
instruments on its scientific payload
here with us is project lead dr melissa
traynor who will tell us more about
dragonfly while we've already presented
the mission concept to the rest of nasa
now our engineering team is hard at work
making sure we've thought through all
the potential problems in the design
in this phase it's a lot like going from
an architect sketch of a house to a
blueprint where every beam and outlet
are clearly marked
we end up spending a lot of time in this
stage where we test prototypes and plan
details because we want to get it right
before we actually build the spacecraft
and the instruments
an example of one design change we've
experienced comes with the instrument
that drills samples from the titan
surface and how it brings them to the
dragonfly mass spectrometer which is the
instrument we're building here
at first the delivery system was
designed to look like a funnel to dump
samples onto a tray
but then we realized there were a couple
of problems with that model
first tightened samples can be sticky
especially if you warm them up compared
to the tightened surface and it would be
hard to clear them off the tray before
more samples are taken
second the gravity on titan is low
compared to earth and we can't rely on
the samples settling easily on the tray
so instead we came up with a new design
that catches particles from a stream
into a cup and moves them into a chamber
we've also worked a detailed design
where the sample chamber side stays cold
like the surface of titan
while the mass spectrometer side stays
warmer
this interface is critical to getting
the best measurements of titan surface
samples and it has already been through
testing here at goddard now our team is
continuing the work to make sure that
everything fits into the rotorcraft
lander in a way that makes sense and
allows us to accomplish our science
mission at titan thanks melissa now
let's head over to another part of
campus which will help us further
prepare the spacecraft for launch
once a spacecraft component has been
developed it has to be cleared for
launch in one of our clean rooms which
can range in size up to almost 37 000
cubic meters all of this occurs in the
integration and testing or int complex
which is comprised of four buildings
goddard's environmental test engineering
and integration facility ensures every
craft is space ready by putting it
through a series of high stress tests
built in 1989 the spacecraft systems
development and integration facility or
sistiff is the largest clean room in
north america it has an entire wall of
1600 air filters to help protect
equipment from contaminants that means
the air gets recycled every 60 to 90
seconds to tell us more about the clean
room we're here with delaney burkhardt
an integration engineer the assistive
clean room is like a surgeon's operating
room it prevents dirt
dust and other contaminants from
damaging spacecraft components the
largest source of this contamination is
us the personnel working on those
components
to enter the room you first must pass
through an air shower then wear a
sterile body suit head cover boots
gloves
and face mask which takes about 10
minutes to put on
unlike a speck of dirt on a camera a
speck on a telescope lens cannot be
easily removed if the spacecraft is far
away studying distant stellar objects
once the spacecraft is built we move on
to testing getting it ready for
spaceflight conditions
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to make sure the spacecraft can
withstand the sounds it might encounter
during its flight scientists test the
craft in a 13 meter tall acoustic
testing chamber we're here with test
engineer yan louis to tell us more about
how the chamber works in this chamber
here our scientists use altering flows
of gaseous nitrogen to produce sounds as
high as 150 decibels in other words 20
decibels louder than the raw of a jet
engine using six foot speakers the sound
is blared in a two-minute test to make
sure instruments can withstand such
noises
after the acoustics test we need to
replicate the conditions the craft might
encounter in space which is right around
the corner
the space environment simulator
operational since 1962 is a thermal
vacuum chamber designed to expose
spacecraft components to space like
conditions but what do those conditions
look like we're talking about an almost
400 degree temperature range from
negative 233 degrees celsius to 150
degrees celsius
the range is achieved by passing liquids
through thermal shrouds for cold
temperatures or using thermal lamps for
high temperatures our simulator is
roughly 12 meters tall and 8 meters
across
it operates with massive mechanical
vacuum pumps which are like huge
versions of the vacuum cleaners people
use at home we have cryo pumps to
condense remaining gases out of the
chamber the mechanical pumps and the
cryo pumps work together to eliminate
almost all of the air in the chamber
you wouldn't want to be inside while
that's happening it is just a billionth
of earth's normal atmospheric pressure
it takes up to 12 hours to pump the
chamber down to that pressure and two to
four days to go back to room temperature
and we're not done yet
next the instruments get tested in the
high capacity centrifuge built in 1965
this used to be an all-in-one machine
it's not designed for astronauts however
it used to be able to test environmental
vibration acoustic and g-force
conditions as our spacecraft grew in
size it had to be modified
the centrifuge now only simulates the
acceleration level of a rocket during
the launch phase typically about 10 g's
this allows scientists to see how stress
affects the craft structures and verify
that it can withstand launch it can
rotate at 155 miles per hour our test
limit is 30 g's or 30 times the gravity
we have on earth the centrifuge draws
one gigawatt of electricity and when in
use generates 200 mile per hour winds
it's been used for more than just
spacecraft testing
in 2002 nasa partnered with the ntsb to
test suvs and analyze the tipping point
for manufactured models
once a spacecraft has passed all testing
phases it's go for launch
for many goddard launches we head to the
beaches of virginia wallops flight
facility is nasa's only owned and
operated launch range for a variety of
vehicles including research aircraft
sounding rockets scientific balloons
orbital vehicles and unmanned aerial
vehicles
it's america's oldest continuously
operating rocket range with launch
operations dating back to the summer of
1945.
wallops provides low-cost opportunities
to conduct scientific experiments and
for engineers to test their technologies
ahead of their main missions
many services support these tests
including integration and testing
facilities launchers and runways as well
as tracking and data services let's head
to the launch viewing area where sam
henry is going to tell us more about the
launch cycle
there are many moving parts that go into
a mission so everything can come
together on launch day depending on the
vehicle technicians may arrive anywhere
from four to eight hours ahead of t
minus zero to begin testing on the
vehicle and support systems to make sure
everything is ready
public safety is a top priority so we
launch our rockets over the ocean
surveillance teams will monitor boat and
air traffic before the rocket can take
flight
weather also plays an important role on
launch day meteorologists give weather
updates from 72 hours until just minutes
before launch so teams can be as
prepared as possible winds severe
weather and cloud thickness are the
biggest concerns on launch day when
conditions align we are at go for launch
and ready to safely conduct our range
operations
i'll head back to the control room where
courtney and i will tell you more about
other wallops missions and
responsibilities
wallace conducts research here on earth
as well as in a near space environment
looking deep into the cosmos
waltz manages nasa's scientific balloon
and sounding rockets program which are
launched not only from the flight
facility in virginia but from areas
across the globe as far north as norway
and as south as antarctica
on average we fly 10 to 20 scientific
balloon launches each year these
platforms allow researchers a chance to
gather data with flights in the
stratosphere a near space environment
flights can run up to weeks at a time
depending on science mission
requirements
sounding rockets are manufactured tested
and launched from wallops in remote
locations
many of these technology missions we
support end up being integral to larger
missions like artemis with around 20
missions a year the sounding rocket
program is one of wallace's most active
platforms
we also open our facilities to
industries for space and aeronautics
research in the past 25 years we've
collaborated with over 50 established
and emerging aerospace companies we also
support other government agencies with
their tests missions and training
exercises we look forward to partnering
with these groups and others in coming
years
as you can see waltz provides a large
range of options when it comes to
testing equipment or conducting
near-earth research
and you can often watch their launches
online and join in on the action
once the vehicle has been launched we
jet back to goddard to run
communications with the craft
when the craft is finally in space how
do we communicate with it goddard has
over 60 years of communications and
navigation support going back to the
mercury gemini and apollo eras
goddard's near space network coordinates
all space to ground communications for
missions near earth the near space
network enables missions to send back
significant amounts of data for
investigation and discovery these
include missions like the hubble space
telescope and the international space
station
in fact the network plays a crucial role
in nasa's human space exploration effort
it provides the international space
station with constant communications
letting astronauts working and living
there to always have a connection back
home
we are here with rosa avalos warren a
human space flight mission manager to
tell us more about the near space
network gutters exploration and space
communication division oversees the near
space network the network plans
commercial providers and government
assets to support missions from earth's
orbit up to 2 million kilometers away
these missions include launch vehicles
robotics and science satellites
technology demonstrations and human
spaceflight missions
to communicate with astronauts and
spacecrafts we download signals from
satellites and translate them into
recognizable data this data ensures
mission success for nasa the network is
involved in a variety of missions
including nasa's commercial crew program
which provides communications and
navigation support to companies like
spacex and boeing as we go to the moon
as part of the artemis program the
network will provide telemetry command
and tracking support to the missions as
they launch into space
in doing so we work alongside the jet
propulsion laboratory's deep space
network we're here with brandon bethune
the deputy project manager for the near
space network who will tell us more
about some of the recent projects
scientists are working on
with missions like the laser
communications relay demonstration and
the orion artemis ii optical
communication system we are infusing
optical communications into our mission
architectures we are also advancing our
radio frequency capabilities and
integrating ka band capabilities into
our network so missions can communicate
more data increasing our capacity for
discovery
and that's not all we're even
implementing a delay disruption tolerant
networking which is a building block for
nasa's lunanete a communications and
navigation architecture at the moon
our support to both human exploration
and science investigation is always
evolving and adapting to the needs of
missions and empowering nasa's vision
thanks for joining us on this tour of
goddard space flight center we've seen
exhibits at the visitor center explored
the sam lab investigated how spacecraft
are tested at the int complex launched a
rocket at wallops flight facility and
coordinated communications at the near
space operation control center
we hoped you enjoyed your tour of
goddard if you want to learn more you
can visit our website or follow us on
social media we hope the rest of your
day is out of this world and keep
looking up