Dr. William Thompson has been a member of the Solar Physics
Laboratory since he first came to Goddard in 1984. He is
currently Chief Observer for NASA's Solar and Terrestrial
Observatory (STEREO) mission. As Chief Observer, he runs the
STEREO Science Center, which is responsible for archiving the
science data, processing the real-time space weather beacon data,
and general science coordination between the instruments and with
other missions and observatories.
While in graduate school at the University of Massachusetts at
Amherst, Dr. Thompson worked on the measurement of azimuthal
brightness variations in Saturn's A ring, and used Monte Carlo
simulations to study the possible physical interpretation of
these variations for his doctoral thesis.
After recieving his Ph.D., and before coming to Goddard,
Dr. Thompson spent two years as a lecturer in the Department of
Physics and Astronomy at San Francisco State University.
In his inital years at Goddard, Dr. Thompson worked on the Solar
Extreme-ultraviolet Rocket Telescope and Spectrograph sounding
rocket experiment, and analyzed data from the Ultraviolet
Spectrometer and Polarimeter instrument on NASA's Solar Maximum
Mission. This work led to him becoming involved in the
development and subsequent operations of the Coronal Diagnostics
Spectrometer instrument for the NASA/ESA Solar and Heliospheric
Observatory (SOHO) mission.
Later, Dr. Thompson worked on the development of the optics for
the COR1 coronagraph on the STEREO mission, and continues to
monitor the performance of the instrument in flight. Along with
the COR1 work for STEREO, Dr. Thompson designed the STEREO
Science Center (SSC), and wrote most of the software that allows
it to function. The SSC archives all the science data from the
instruments, along with ancillary data from the Mission
Operations Center. Ephemeris data for the two spacecraft are
organized to assist the instrument teams with their science
planning and data analysis. In addition, real-time beacon
telemetry data from the two spacecraft are processed within
minutes for use in space weather forecasting. Higher resolution
data are also processed into images and movies as browse
products. These beacon and browse products have gone on to
become incorporated into other venues such as Science-on-a-Sphere
and other spherical projection systems in museums, and the 3D Sun
app for the iPad.
In addition to his duties for STEREO, Dr. Thompson is involved in two aspects of the European Space Agency's Solar Orbiter program. Dr. Thompson was part of the team which developed the detector for the Spectral Imaging
of the Coronal Environment (SPICE) instrument, and is part of the SPICE team at Goddard. One of his duties is helping to keep track of any changes in the detector response. He also maintains a NASA mirror of the official Solar Orbiter archive.