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OST Scientist Network & ASciNA Activities Print E-mail
bridges vol. 22, July 2009 / News from the Network: Austrian Researchers Abroad

The OST network of Austrian scientists & scholars abroad was established by the Office of Science & Technology (OST) at the Austrian Embassy in Washington, DC, and focuses on the outreach of government-related agencies to Austrian scientists in North America. Its main objective has been to support the scientific community with information and specific advice wherever necessary and requested.

Encouraged by the OST, an independent association - ASciNA (AustrianScientists and Scholars in North America) - was founded in 2002 with local chapters being established throughout the US and Canada. For further information about ASciNA please visit: www.ascina.at


Austrian Scientist Helmut Jenkner Gives Presentation on Hubble Space Telescope        

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Dr. Helmut Jenkner
Helmut Jenkner , deputy head of the Hubble Mission Office at the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), gave a lecture hosted by the Embassy of Austria in cooperation with the American-Austrian Cultural Society. Jenkner's presentation outlined the history of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) from the first idea to Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) this past May, during which astronauts aboard the Space Shuttle Atlantis completed the upgrades on the telescope during five space walks. Jenkner, on assignment from the European Space Agency, is generally responsible for maximizing the science return from Hubble, and most recently for coordinating the STScI activities leading up to the servicing mission.

On May 11, Jenkner was present at the launch of Atlantis from the Kennedy Space Center in Florida. For him, it was the first space shuttle launch he had attended - and it will probably also be the last. Currently, there are no plans for other missions to upgrade or repair Hubble after SM4 and the telescope will be allowed to degrade.

With the revitalizations made during SM4, Hubble is expected to carry on its mission until at least 2014.  "It's wonderful," said Jenkner to bridges, explaining the excitement of watching the launch three miles away - the closest you can
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The Hubble Space Telescope as seen from the Space Shuttle Discovery
get to the launch site. "It's so immediately gripping. At the same time, you feel for your astronaut colleagues because you're frightened for them. There's no doubt about it - it's dangerous. On the other hand, the launch signals the culmination of what we have been preparing for seven years since the last servicing mission."

The Atlantis crew returned safely from Hubble on May 24, after their 13-day mission. The Hubble project has not been without its difficulties and setbacks, yet with all the challenges it faced, Hubble has produced some of the most iconic science results and images of space that the world has ever seen: the "Crab Nebula ," the "Pillars of Creation ," and the "Sombrero Galaxy ."  Although the last servicing mission is over, Jenkner's work with Hubble is not yet finished: Currently Jenkner and his colleagues are going through the three-month program, Servicing Mission Observatory Verification (SMOV), that is the gradual testing and calibration of HST's instruments to make sure everything is in order for the continuation of the telescope's science program. With its new and repaired instruments Hubble will now be at the peak of its capabilities.

Once Hubble degrades to a point where it stops functioning, it will be taken out of orbit. "One of the things that was put on the telescope during SM4 was a fixture on the back end of it called a soft capture mechanism that will allow a small spacecraft to attach to the telescope to take it out of orbit safely," said Jenkner. "To prevent the telescope from falling out of orbit in an uncontrolled way and landing on someone, it will be brought down somewhere in the Pacific Ocean where it can fall safely into the water." Current planning suggests that Hubble's return to Earth will not occur until the 2020s.
 



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