STS-109 Hubble Servicing Mission/ESA TV Exchanges/15 & 16 FEB 2002
The next transmission of the ESA TV Service will be:
15-Feb-02 10:15 – 10:30 GMT
STS-109 Hubble Servicing Mission
ESA TV Exchanges
Background information on the transmission:
Replay I: 15 Feb 02 19:45 – 20:00 GMT
Replay II: 16 Feb 02 08:00 – 08:45 GMT
Space Shuttle Columbia’s launch preparations continue at Kennedy Space Center for lift off as of 28 February 2002 for STS-109, the fourth Servicing Mission of the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope.
Nearly 12 years after its launch, the Hubble Space Telescope will receive new instruments to increase its capabilities and extend the longevity of the observatory.
ESA has a particular role to play in this Servicing Mission. One of the most exciting events will come when the current ESA-built solar panels are replaced by new ones. These, though built in the US, are equipped with ESA developed drive mechanisms and were tested at ESA’s Technical Centre ESTEC in the Netherlands.
The new Advanced Camera for Surveys ACS is going to replace the Faint Object Camera FOC built by ESA. The FOC has functioned perfectly over 12 years as a key instrument to get the best out of the Hubble Space Telescope. It was a state-of-the-art instrument in the 1980s, but with progress of digital imaging in the past 20 years this ESA flagship on Hubble is chivalrously giving way to newer technology.
Hubble is expected to continue to explore the sky during the next decade, after which its work will be taken over by its successor, the powerful Next Generation Space Telescope, in which ESA is also participating. NGST’s main focus will be observations of the faint infrared light from the first stars and galaxies in the Universe. An ESA TV Exchange in the near future will focus on this project.
The 5-minute A-roll contains split audio with an English guide track and is complemented by a B-roll with international sound only. The script is on-line as of the day of transmission, as a PDF document under http://television.esa.int/photos/EbS23887.pdf
This ESA TV Exchanges feed is transmitted by the European Commission’s “Europe by Satellite” (EbS) service. You can find the complete transmission schedule and download scripts and shot lists, also for ESA TV items, from the EbS Web site at http://europa.eu.int/comm/ebs/index.html
More background information can be found on http://sci.esa.int.
Transmission details:EUTELSAT HOT BIRD at 13° East (DVB/MPEG-2)
Horizontal, F=12,476 MHz (MCPC, Europe by Satellite)
SR=27,500 MS/sec, FEC=3/4
For further information, visit our website at http://television.esa.int. For other enquires, contact Claus Habfast, Tel +31 71 565 3838, Fax +31 71 565 6340, e-mail claus.habfast@esa.int.
