[X] My Assistant

[Stu]

Detailed here...

[elakdawalla]

They got the notice out a full 26 minutes before the media call-in time for questions so I didn't get to listen in Did anybody else manage to call in?

--Emily

[Del Palmer]

They got the notice out a full 26 minutes before the media call-in time for questions so I didn't get to listen in :angry: Did anybody else manage to call in?

Yes, I listened in and also recorded it too, but the output was so loud (peaking at +12 dB!) that it was badly distorted.

However, I made some notes during the briefing:

Total loss of Side B electronics (fuse blown)

ACS is now running on Side A electronics in order to maintain thermal control

WFC and HRC cannot be restored on Side A since the Side A CCD Electronics Box stopped working in June 2006 (and the reason why ACS was switched to Side B)

SBC has separate power supply and likely will be restored in mid-Feb in order to support New Horizons (SBC was regularly monitoring Jupiter and Saturn's auroral activity in the FUV)

SM4 is still targeted for Sep 2008 and will not be brought forward by this issue

SM4 will not repair ACS since the electronics control box is difficult for the astronauts to access (they would have to remove the NICMOS cryocooler control system, power off other systems etc. to reach ACS electronics) - that would take two days out of the five available - not worth deleting other tasks to do that - besides the new instrument WFC3 will largely replace ACS capability

SM4 team will take heed of any review board recommendations concerning power supply issues that may affect WFC3 and COS in the same way

Loss of capability after SM4:

ACS WFC was optimized for far-red (600-900 nm) - WFC3 is better in the UV but poorer in the far-red - WFC3 would have to double exposure times to reach same depth as ACS/WFC UDF - however interest in far-red studies is waning amongst astronomy community (interest is now in Near-IR high-z studies)

HRC coronagraph most flexible and powerful ever used on HST - SM4 hope to restore STIS which has good coronagraph for protoplanetary disk studies - but not as good as HRC which opened up a whole new field of study