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Saving Hubble
tassii writes "In this article on Space.com, Hubble Space Telescope operators plan to ask Russia for help in keeping the observatory alive and will even consider accepting private donations, which have already been offered. The upgrades are already built, waiting for installation. The Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph cost a combined $167 million and will provide unprecedented peeks into the formation of the cosmos, astronomers say. Maybe there is still some hope for the Hubble."
Situation doesn't sound completely hopeless:
It's a nice peice of equipment, but it's not going to last for decades to come.
Parts are wearing out (two of the 6 gyros have already failed - and that's AFTER some of them have been replaced on shuttle missions), and it actually uses consumables (like orientation thruster propellant), so it always HAD a limited lifespan. In fact - it's projected life span is just about up.
There WERE plans to capture it, bring it home, 'refurbish' it, and redeploy, but the shuttle is required for this. It looks like Hubble will limp along for a little, but it's not expected to survive past 2007.
In fact, NASA has been planning on replacing it for decades - that was always the original plan. I don't know how much the James Webb Space Telescope has been affected by the shake up in NASA, but it's been meant to replace the HST for a while now.
I believe that HST and ISS is in a very different orbit angle. Getting one or the other to change would be a huge delta-v (meaning a lot of enery). Not very practical. ISS is constantly losing altitude. It would require a shuttle nudging more often, and with the combined mass of HST and ISS, this would be more difficult. Plus, what would be the point? The cost of maintaining HST is in the support facilities (communications, engineering, science) on the ground, not where its orbit lies.
Um... the LaGrange points?
A little knowledge is a dangerous thing...
Check this.
"They lie at equal distance from Earth and Moon, in the Moon's orbit..."
The stable L-points are as far away as the MOON!!! L4 and L5 are the stable ones - in that they are 'self-correcting' - put something in L4 or L5, knock it out of position, and as long as you didn't knock it TOO hard, it will return to the L-point. The others are like balancing on a pin. If you 'slip' you keep getting pushed AWAY from the L-point.
The shuttle program is NOT making spacecraft capable of trans-lunar orbit burns!
It's really not hard to check these things. Google is an adequate tool to check your facts.
The James Webb Space Telescope is destined to go up in 2011.. so its not like losing hubble (eventually) will be the end of the great astrophysical observatories.
The problem with Hubble is its size.. if it comes back into the atmosphere in a de-orbit, the mirror and the titanium ring holding it will probably make it to terra firma in pretty much one piece.
I _REALLY_ dont want that landing on my house!
At the very least, they need to keep nudging the sucker.. or put a controllable burn-pod on it so they can bump it up remotely, rather than doing the catch and release job they have been with teh Shuttles.
The main reason.. according to a couple of sites I read.. is if something fails on the shuttle while it as at the ISS, they can get home in the "lifeboat". If it fails while they are at Hubble, they are skrewed.
man..can you imagine if cars, or trains, or airplanes were held to the same safety measures as NASA is now holding itself to?
You wouldnt be allowed to leave the house without a bubble on.
Maeryk
Feminine Protection? What is that? A chartreuse flame thrower?
Hubble is going to run out of gyros (you know, the Greek rolled up sandwich) in about 3-4 years. They are looking at ways to conserve them, shut some down for long term storage and such, but other consumables such as batteries have limited life and eventually it will just die. I doubt that a service mission could be done without the shuttle. There are way too many issues with the servicing missions (not to mention the size of the boxes that they want to install in it) that the Russians wouldn't be able to do it for us. It's quite an extensive undertaking. I do object to the cancelation though, I think they should do one more mission and include a pre-orbited return booster so that the final kit of instruments can be used, keep it going till the Webb 'scope comes online, and then splash it. The risk of having astronauts doing the service without the station as a long term refuge appears to be too high for NASA. Marc
To service Hubble, NASA would need to have 14 astronauts and two shuttles on the pad ready to launch at the same time. For the cost of that, you could launch another Hubble or two. That is the primary common sense reason they decided to cancel the mission, including the fact that a replacement will be available in only a few years.