The Hubble's Fate In Debate at NASA

FortKnox writes: "Well, it looks like NASA is trying to determine what to do with the Hubble. 2004 is supposed to be the last transmission, but NASA might keep'er up till 2010. Also, they are considering maybe putting it in higher orbit. If they are going to retire it, I say we need a replacement. It has really shown the beauty of space, and given scientists closer looks into the cosmos. We can't just let that "die", we need to continue studying!"

Comments

Re:Hubble has SEVERAL proposed replacements

[bph]

Of course, NONE of these is actually a replacement for Hubble. Each one of these satellites is built to study one problem. The TPF is suppose to look for planets around other stars by monitoring a thousand or so nearby stars. SIM is suppose to measure the positions of stars very accurately using an intereferometer. By measuring the position of a star as the earth moves around the sun, you figure out how far away the star is using simple trig. And LISA is a gravity wave experiment. None of these will ever take picture like Hubble does.

So, to reiterate the artcle, unless the Next Generation Space Telescope flies, there will be no optical telescope in space taking pictures. As a huge amount of good science has come out having an optical/ultra-violet/near infrared imager in space, I hope NASA either keeps Hubble flying, or, better yet, flies NGST.

IAPA (I Am a Paid Astronomer)