Experts Recommend Keeping Hubble Operational

foolishtook writes " The New York Times is reporting that a panel of experts is recommending NASA to keep the Hubble Space Telescope operating past 2010 when its replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, is currently slated for launch. NASA had stated that it wanted to bring the Hubble down in 2006 to make room in its budget for the Webb, but astronomers said that it still has a viable future and the launch date for the Webb is likely to be delayed."

Comments

More info

[mjmalone]

I heard a piece on NPR about this yesterday. They said that there were three options, one was to send two more maned space missions to the hubble for repares and to attach a propulsion system to the unit so that it can safely be brought back to earth in 2010. The second was to go along with the current plan, send one more maned mission, that will do some minor upgrades and bring hubble down in 2006. The third option is to not send any more maned missions, and develop a robotic device that could be sent up and would attach the propulsion system to the unit.

NASA said that it was worried about sending more maned missions up to the hubble since it is in a different orbit than the space station and if the mission is botched the shuttle would not be able to reach the station in an emergency.

More information

[introverted]

Here's a link to a white paper (PDF format) prepared by the Space Telescope Science Institute's Scientific Staff with their input to NASA on why they feel Hubble's mission should be extended.