Talk:Goddard Space Flight Center

Chronology highly confused

Was it established on May 1, 1959, or was it renamed on May 1, 1959? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.68.94.86 (talk) 07:20, 15 April 2018 (UTC)

Major edit

Major edit of GSFC article:

• Based changes and format on other NASA center articles
• Left wiki links to existing missions intact, added Discovery program
• Expanded overview section
• Added GSFC logo
• Added facilities section
• Listed external GSFC facilities separately
• Added wiki links to the other NASA centers in toolbar, might be better as a 3 column list
• Added relevant external links
• Removed space stub tag
• article text size is 12 K

Still needs:

• find out about the test ranges
• verify style
• look for better logo
• spacecraft names in italics
• spell out spacecraft name?
• add SMEX and MIDEX missions

Comments/edits welcome. Rob 01:53, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

I should add some history. Bullet points are nice, but they're bulleted points. Rob 12:09, 20 March 2006 (UTC)

Center Logos Not Official

Since early 2000, NASA Centers have not had any official logo to represent them other than the use of the NASA meatball per several memos from NASA HQ. (see http://www.nasawatch.com/worm/05.31.00.ulrich.html for one example). Since the logos are no official and not in use on anything publically sent out from NASA, why are they in use on Wikipedia? jtowns 04:50, 21 February 2007 (UTC)

Add-in of old material or add to new page

This edit was definately a great improvement, the only thing is it stripped out some information that I think was good. How about we add some of it back in or add some of it to start a new artcile Goddard Space Flight Center Facilities or List of facilities of the Goddard Space Flight Center or something like that. Comments? Here is the material that was taken out on that edit:

West Campus

The West Campus contains buildings that support administration, research, design and construction of spacecraft, operation of spacecraft, information storage and archival, and data analysis. The buildings generally are two to three stories high, often brick, and simply detailed. Amenities include two cafeterias, a base exchange operated by the Goddard Employees Welfare Association (GEWA), a library, a health services unit, a post office, and recreation areas. West Campus facilities include:

• The Diffraction Grating Evaluation Facility (DGEF) was developed at Goddard to evaluate optical components such as diffraction gratings, mirrors, and filters as well as detection systems used in space instrumentation.
• The Flight Dynamics Facility (FDF) provides engineering services to missions including orbit determination, attitude determination, maneuver planning, spacecraft navigation systems, and attitude sensor performance analysis. Currently, FDF provides orbit and attitude determination for more than 15 NASA spacecraft, and also supports Space Shuttle operations and expendable launch vehicles.
• The High Capacity Centrifuge located in Building 15 is a 30 g rotary accelerator capable of rotating 5,000 pound payloads at up to 30 RPM and is housed in its own circular building. Tilt fixtures allow the orientation of test articles in a wide range of attitudes and angles.
• The NASA Communications Network (NASCOM) is a global system that provides communications support to all NASA projects. Voice, data, and teletype links are available through the network for connecting the Tracking and Data Relay Satellite System (TDRSS) with user spacecraft control centers. Land lines, submarine cables, and microwave/satellite links make up this communications system.
• The Network Control Center (NCC) manages the total Space Network. The NCC schedules and configures the TDRSS and monitors the status of ongoing scheduled services. Operators schedule emergency services, isolate any problems in the system, and restore faulty user services. The Control Center communicates with other stations through the NASCOM network.
• The Building 3/13/14 Payload Operations Control Centers (POCC) are facilities that provide support to one or more spacecraft missions. Some are operated from GSFC, for example SOHO, and some are operated from offsite, for example Swift. Equipment located in control centers handles all data, generates commands, and interfaces with other stations. The control centers also process experiment commands and telemetry, and control payload and instrument operations. The Hubble Space Telescope Control Center (STOCC) in Building 3 is the facility where Hubble Space Telescope (HST) managers and engineers monitor and control the orbiting observatory. Past missions operated at GSFC include the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory, COBE, and IUE.
• The Space Environment Simulator is a three-story high thermal-vacuum chamber (nicknamed "The SES") located in Building 10 that features an 8.2 meter diameter by 12.2 meter high vacuum chamber capable of simulating temperature and vacuum conditions for virtually any launch or orbital environment condition. Shroud temperatures within the chamber can be controlled to -180 °C to +100 °C.
• The National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC) at GSFC provides online and offline access to a wide variety of astrophysics, space plasma and solar physics, lunar and planetary, and Earth science data from NASA space flight missions. NSSDC also provides access to online information for the spacecraft and experiments that have or will provide public access data.
• The Spacecraft Fabrication Facility where Goddard technicians and engineers manufacture components used for spacecraft assembly. This includes the tools which the astronauts use in space as well as the spacecraft themselves.
• The Building 29 Spacecraft Systems Development and Integration Facility is a 7990 m² facility that contains one of the largest cleanrooms in the world. The High Bay Cleanroom is a 1,161 square metres (12,500 sq ft), class 1,000 (M4.5), horizontal flow cleanroom measuring 30.5 x 38 x 27 meters (100'x125'x89'). Its five 250 horsepower (190 kW) fans are capable of moving 25,388 m³/min (900,000 ft³/min). It has been designed to support the integration and testing of flight hardware and has the capacity to accommodate two full-sized shuttle payloads simultaneously and plays a major role in preparations for the Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions.
• The Building 7/10 Spacecraft Test and Integration Facility contains cleanrooms for spacecraft integration and special chambers for environmental test of spacecraft. Nine thermal-vacuum chambers, four large vibration platforms("shakers"), and an acoustic test chamber capable of 150 decibels are located in this facility. There is also a full-scale model of the Hubble Space Telescope.
• Building 11/30 contains the Detector Development Laboratory (DDL), a world class semiconductor processing facility. Some of the worlds most distinctive microelectronic devices have been fabricated at the Goddard facilities and many have flown on space missions over the past 35 years. The second floor of building 11 houses the Workshop for Advanced Navigation Technology (WANT), an award winning facility that develops next generation navigation and communication avionics for spacecraft.

East Campus

The northern area of the East Campus contains several buildings that support maintenance, utilities, or tracking and communication operations. Antennas and other communication equipment that support the operations are located in this area. The southern area of the East Campus contains facilities for NASA's Mission to Planet Earth. The rest of the East Campus is still in a relatively undeveloped state. Amenities include a small convenience store, a recreation center, and hiking trails. East Campus facilities include:

• The Central Chilled Water and Generator Plant in Building 31 provides utilities to the East Campus.
• The Earth Observing System Data Information System (EOSDIS) in Building 32. The EOSDIS in contains the operations centers where the Earth Observing System (EOS) and Landsat program spacecraft and instruments are monitored and controlled. EOS data are processed, archived and distributed from this location.
• The Earth Systems Science Building (ESSB) in Building 33. The ESSB contains offices and facilities for the analysis of earth observation data.

Outlying sites

NASA owns 1,121 acres (4.54 km²) of land at Greenbelt. The remaining 149 acres (0.60 km²) are the outlying adjacent sites and are leased from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). Amenities include softball fields for Goddard intramural teams and an asphalt runway for radio controlled aircraft. The outlying sites include:

• The Antenna Performance Measuring Range (Area 100)
• The Optical Tracking and Ground Plane Facilities (Area 200)
• The Magnetics Test Facility (Area 300), located in a magnetic-quiet area, uses large coil magnets operated from a single control building to calibrate and align both instrumentation and spacecraft attitude control systems, and determine of the dipole moment of spacecraft. This facility is the only facility in NASA's inventory that makes it possible to determine and to minimize the magnetic movement of even the largest unmanned spacecraft and observatories.
• The Propulsion Research Site (Area 400)

Bill Nye visits Goddard Space Flight Center

Bill Nye visits Goddard Space Flight Center

Suggested file for use in this article. — Cirt (talk) 15:54, 7 October 2015 (UTC)

Article structure and due weight

The Facilities section currently lists the Visitor Center first; this promotes the amateurish view that Goddard is primarily a tourist attraction. This is not true; it is primarily a NASA facility for designing, building, and testing unmanned space probes. The visitor center (like those of all NASA centers) is a secondary public relations function. I'm moving the Visitor Center nearer to the end of this section, just before the external facilities. JustinTime55 (talk) 13:08, 13 July 2016 (UTC)

External links modified

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External links modified

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