R2D2 and Rob |
I worked 6 hours of the event with the DSCOVR scientists (and helped get them set up to talk to the crowds), helped out my friends Rebecca and Dee who were managing the info desk for the Earth Sciences building we were in, and took some reporters around.
The crowd was overwhelming at times. The tours of the Operations area where engineers control and manage satellites was packed.
Rebecca and Dee |
Star Wars Characters were there! |
DSCOVR Satellite scientists |
GOES Satellite table |
Dann at the GOES-R Table |
Large bus lines! |
Huge crowds around the Greenland Ice Core |
MORE ABOUT THE DAY:
Visitors participated in more than 130 science, engineering and technology activities; heard from Goddard’s brightest minds, including Nobel laureate John Mather; and even interacted with astronauts like Hubble servicing mission veteran John Grunsfeld.
Attendees also had a chance to see Goddard’s High Bay Clean Room. In this, the largest facility of its kind in the world, engineers are currently constructing the James Webb Space Telescope, successor to the Hubble Space Telescope.
Hundreds of the center’s staff were on hand to explain their work to attendees.
"It's totally amazing," said Nancy Curran, visiting from Indianapolis, Indiana. "It's wonderful to see so many families here. The social media tent was cool because kids could wear astronaut helmets and take pictures with inflatable planets."
"I loved getting to see the NASCOM operations center," said Aresa Harewood, of Lanham, Maryland. NASCOM (short for NASA Communications) is where Goddard monitors communications with orbiting missions. "We got to see all the numbers going across the screen and the data coming in."
Other highlights included a look at robots used to develop new satellite servicing technology, a visualization of Earth science data gathered in the last few hours, a live production by Goddard thespians, exhibits by companies like Tesla and LEGO, and more than 15 food trucks with diverse offerings.
Writer; Ashley Morrow, NASA Goddard
SEE WHAT YOU MISSED!! http://www.nasa.gov/explorenasagoddard-2015