Slashdot Mirror
Hubble Getting an Upgrade
instinctdesign writes: "The New York Times (free registration of course) is running a story on the planned upgrades to the one of NASA's greatest successes, the Hubble Space Telescope. Here is a quote from the article about the plans: 'Tasks include adding a new primary camera, replacing the telescope's electricity-generating solar arrays, replacing the main power switching controller, replacing a critical pointing device and installing an experimental cooling system in hopes of reviving a dormant instrument.'"
This is good news. Yes, Hubble is indeed one of NASA's greatest successes. Remember when it was first launched, though? Everyone was talking about what a lemon it was. What a turnaround.
By the way, isn't NASA supposed to launch a successor to the Hubble in 2006? Is that still in the plans? The Hubble is wonderful, but it was built in something like 1981 (after which it sat in storage for a decade, deforming the mirrors). Just think what can be done with technology from the 2000's.
--Be human.
So, Is The New One An Opitcal, Or Wireless Mouse?
`Lex - Find Me Here: Text Appeal
...mirrored?
You are being MICROattacked, from various angles, in a SOFT manner.
The Next Generation Space Telescope (NGST) is the successor to Hubble. It is scheduled to launch in 2009.
I hold it, that a little rebellion, now and then, is a good thing. -- Thomas Jefferson
While I'm pretty sure that was a joke, I feel obligated to point out (since there is often confusion on this point) that HST cannot look at the Earth's surface. First of all, it isn't designed to handle looking through an atmosphere. Secondly, and more importantly, the brightness of the Earth would send it into safe mode instantly. As it is, HST can't look at the Sun or Moon, and Earth is much more reflective than the Moon.
Actually the entire NASA Budget for the last two years has been just under $15B with a full $15B budgeted for FY2003.
If you we take the US Census Bureau as an authority then the current US Population is about 286.5 Million.
$15,000,000,000 / 286,500,000 = $52.36, or almost exactly $1/week per American.
Plus, I find these statistics of cost per American pretty irrelevant, since the poorest 20% of Americans don't pay income tax and therefore are contributing nothing to run NASA. On the other hand, the Bush tax cuts passed last year by repealing the inheritance tax gave Bill Gates a $30B tax cut, enough to pay NASA's whole budget for two straight years!
Work for Change & GET PAID!