Gaia/Hipparcos: project interviews
Hipparcos is the first time since Sputnik in 1957 that a major new development in space science has come from outside the United States.
Freeman Dyson (Infinite in All Directions, 1988)
Starting in 2021, I have been recording interviews with some of the people that played a part in shaping the developments of space astrometry.
These include some of the engineers and managers from the European Space Agency and its industrial teams involved in the Hipparcos and Gaia projects, some of the leading scientists, and just a few of the individuals at the forefront of ground-based astrometry in the years leading up to the move to space. Several others are planned.
Amongst these, it is interesting to hear that two senior people, with key roles in the development of Gaia, both initially considered that the measurement goals targeted by the mission were not achievable!
My thanks to all those who have taken part, and to Moby for the use of his unreleased track Morning Span in their introduction (https://mobygratis.com). The order below follows the date of the interview.
Enjoy!
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2. Managing the Hipparcos payload in ESA
René Bonnefoy (St Etienne, France, 1947) was head of the payload section of ESA's Hipparcos project team between 1981–1987. Here, he describes his responsibilities in the team, the organisation of scientific projects in ESA, and how they interface with the industrial development of these advanced space missions. We hear his views on the challenges posed by the Hipparcos telescope in the 1980s, and his perspective looking back on the Hipparcos and Gaia missions from his leading roles elsewhere in ESA.
René Bonnefoy
21 Jul 2021
Interview:
1. The global iterative solution: implementation
ESA's ground station outside Madrid hosts the substantial computer network responsible for the first step in the Gaia data processing – the Global Iterative Solution. William O'Mullane, lead architect of the system, joins me to explain the challenges. He gives some insights into the enormous complexity of the numerical problem, the computational hardware selected, and the challenges in working to a fixed schedule, but at the same time taking account of changing requirements as the project developed.
William O'Mullane
20 May 2021
Interview:
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