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Canadian Robot Could Rescue Hubble

Posted by timothy on from the mounties-in-space dept.

NETHED writes "We have all seen Stories about The Hubble Space Telescope and its current problems. Since then, NASA has okayed the fix of the HST. It seems that America's neighbor to the North has some answers. Dextre to the rescue. The mission would not be decided upon until next summer says Sean O'Keefe. It seems that NASA saw this as a good way to listen to the public for about 1.6 billion dollars." Update: 08/11 15:45 GMT by T : Reader Michael Mol dug up a link with a more technical explanation of Dextre, noting "It looks like Dextre's normally supposed to be attached to something before it performs work."

8 of 298 comments (clear)

  1. Popular opinion wins out? by MarkEst1973 · · Score: 4, Interesting
    I'm quite glad that public outcry over abandoning Hubble has changed NASA's plan for the space telescope.

    It was poor timing on NASA's part, really, because just when the latest and greatest pics from Hubble were gaining mass popularity, they wanted to pull the plug. Maybe O'Keefe isn't the savviest politician?

    The HST is one of the coolest tools we have for exploration. I'm rather glad that it will be serviced, and thanks to our country's hat (Canada) for stepping up.

  2. Taking Apart Hubble by Short+Circuit · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Great, but will it be able to service a device that wasn't built to be taken apart?

    The Hubble wasn't designed to be entirely serviceable...that led to problems with previous servicing missions, most notably replacing the old defective mirror.

    It looks like Dextre is supposed to be mounted to something before operating. Perhaps they're planning on a free controlled platform?

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  3. Robotic vs. manned service mission by hcg50a · · Score: 4, Interesting

    O'Keefe is going to have to ask Congress for an extra $1.6B, which isn't budgeted. Isn't this about 5 times the amount a manned mission costs to do the same thing?

    Is it worth it?

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    1. Re:Robotic vs. manned service mission by niall2 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Each shuttle launch used to cost between 500 and 1000 million. This one would cost more as to satisfy the CAIB report a second shuttle and team would have to be on the pad, ready to go just in case there was a problem. They would have to train the second crew in rescue and have its support team prepped and ready to go. So really the cost of going to Hubble with a shuttle and with DEXTER is about the same in the end.

      The benefit of DEXTER is that it is out of the loop of the CIAB and the refit of the shuttles. As the shuttle refit is largely being done for IIS, it would probably take some priority over HST. Then you start bumping into the end of life for HST. If the batteries fail you cannot control the telescope and hence cannot dock with it. So really the slight extra cost is outweighed by the benefits.

      Now the question if can the robot really install the COS is a different question (the hardest part of the proposed mission). But thats what the next year of studies are about.

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  4. Cool by pHatidic · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Dextre is a clever name for a two armed robot. In classical latin Dexter is the right hand and Sinister is the left hand. That is why we call people who have "two right hands" ambi-dexterous. I'm not going to make any jokes about left handed people being sinister in case they ended up with all the mod points today.

  5. Re:Repairs by missing000 · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I'm just happy that they decided not to ditch the Hubble.

    Ditching it may be stupid, but this is crazy. 1.6 billion for what? It's replacement is only slated to cost $824.8 million

    Gimmy a freaking break.

  6. MD Robotics by NeoCode · · Score: 4, Interesting

    MD Robotics has played a vital role in NASA space programs. It's the same company that has built the CanadaArm and CanadaArm2 and is now providing with Special Purpose Dexterous Manipulator for HST.

    I am very proud to see Canada (and MD Robotics, since it has a development lab in my hometown) play a vital role in ISS (with CanadaArm and CA2) and now the HST.

  7. Replacement by Engineer-Poet · · Score: 4, Interesting
    Since we have another mirror for it (better than the one in orbit), why not just build another unit of the same design and loft it on an expendable rocket? If we have a replacment in orbit we don't have to worry about the old one, except if we want to put it in a museum instead of the ocean.

    This would also set a precedent for adding new capability instead of spending huge sums to maintain the old stuff. Why shouldn't we have several Hubble-type scopes instead of just one, anyway?

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