Weekly Space Hangout: January 22, 2020 – Dr. Kenneth Carpenter of HST and WFIRST

Hosts: Fraser Cain (universetoday.com / @fcain)

Allen Versfeld (https://www.urban-astronomer.com/ / @uastronomer)

Carolyn Collins Petersen (TheSpaceWriter.com / @spacewriter)

Michael Rodruck (@michaelrodruck)

This week we welcome Dr. Kenneth Carpenter to the Weekly Space Hangout.

Ken is the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) Operations Project Scientist and the Ground System Scientist for WFIRST. He leads the Stellar Imager Vision Mission concept development, and provides scientific guidance to the OpTIIX ISS-based technology demonstration project. He is also a member of the “Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory” at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. Ken studies the chromospheres, transition regions, winds, and circumstellar shells of cool stars. He is also interested in the development and operations of UV spectroscopic instruments and large baseline space interferometers. Ken earned his PhD in astronomy from Ohio State University and enjoys photography. He is an enthusiastic fan of all things Joss Whedon, Star Trek and Disney. Ken credits both Star Trek and the 1964-65 New York World’s Fair, which he attended as a child, with fueling his desire to work for NASA. You can learn more about Ken, his interests, and career by viewing his NASA biography here: https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/sed/bio/kenneth.g.carpenter You can learn more about WFIRST by visiting https://wfirst.gsfc.nasa.gov/ To learn about the Exoplanets and Stellar Astrophysics Laboratory visit https://science.gsfc.nasa.gov/astrophysics/exoplanets/

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