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Hubble Camera Shuts Down
Maggie McKee writes "Hubble's main camera is offline again, but the problem does not appear to be with its power supply, like it was this summer. This time, the issue seems to be the electronics on the sharpest of its three camera-like channels, the High Resolution Channel. NASA says the worst-case scenario is that the ACS could lose half the channel's field of view, so it would take longer to observe its targets. If the problems are truly unrelated, it's been an especially unlucky few months for this instrument!"
Main screen turn on.
Actually, I've observed the opposite. A large portion of slashdot dislikes the spaceshuttle, regularly saying something along the lines of, "If only we used disposable rockets like we used to, like the Russians, we'd be better off"
Also, remember that it was the Russian space station that the oil drilling crew docked to when blasting off to save the world. It's too bad that the thing exploded, though. Stupid made in Taiwan parts.
Maybe the camera got smacked by a lost bolt from the International Space Station?
Why blame anyone when leading edge technology has a problem? It happens. The Russian's deserve our hats off to them for their dependable rides to the ISS. The US deserves a hat tip for the brilliant images brought to us of space, from space. Though different, it is all high tech and subject to the problems that always happen when we're pushing the envelope. I just don't see how we would blast the Russians anymore than we would blast the US, if the US has a failure in one of their most publicized systems.
I bet NASA has some sweet solar vaporizers. Cosmic weed...? Did someone call p-funk or something?
Die when you die -GG Allin
When you do though, ask a simple reality check question. With shuttle trips running on the order of a billion dollars these days, what will generate more actual scientific data? Squander those kind of funds on a rocket ride to fix the aging hubble, or, invest half of it in modern ground based observing infrastructure, then take the other half and feed it into the scientific welfare system known as grants over a period of 20 years.
Like the article says, its not that big a deal until we know if this malfunction is fixable. From TFA:
In other words, stay tuned for next exciting installment of 'Hubble, the incredible cyclops.'
my capcha was condom
Two space shuttles have been lost; one of them exploded (or at least that's how it looked on tv), and the other burned up in the atmosphere. RIP to the astronauts. As far as I remember, the great evil in the world at the time when the ISS was being built wasn't the chinese, it was rogue states and criminal gangs. That, at least, was the justification for a bunch of make-work programs for former soviet rocket and nuclear scientists. Regarding building the thing, you american's didn't just rely on russian heavy-lift, you also relied on a good deal of russian space-station technology that was developed and refined for the Mir. Things like CO2 converters and such. Remmeber, the russians had spent a hell of a lot more time in space stations than the americans did when the ISS was being built. And, an orbit friendlier to the american launch locations woudn't have made any difference when the shuttle was grounded for however many months it was during these past few years.
The English word fart is one of the oldest words in the English vocabulary.
Hubble is and has been an amazing scientific instrument. While I do love the idea of sending people into space, I feel more and more that the money is far better spent on unmanned missions, including satellites like Hubble. Instead of figuring out how to send humans to Mars (and back to the moon), pour 25% of that budget into Hubble II and Hubble III (or whatever you'd want to call them) and the rest into unmanned probes/missions to Mars. It just feels to me like money well spent. Build two or three identical satellites. Yea, that's expensive, but if one goes south, you figure out why, fix it in the one sitting on the ground (if it's something that can be fixed/improved) and fire it up into orbit.
The Mars rovers and Hubble have been absolute bargains as far as new knowledge gained. That seems like the right model to follow.
-S
--- What parts of "shall make no law", "shall not be infringed", and "shall not be violated" don't you understand?
The problem isn't leading edge technology. It's 80's technology wearing out long after it's design life. Hubble is old, it is long past the time that we should have launched a new one.
And if you live in America, you can thank Europe for providing bases, backing your armies up and generally helping out a hell of a lot in WW2. You can also thank Europe for funding the expeditions that got to America in the first place, giving birth to your ancestors, providing the armies that got rid of the native Americans, and giving you a good third, if not half, of scientific advancement over the millennia. And know why the Russians don't have enough money to get to space on their own? Because you ruined their economy by dragging them into a decade-long arms race!
Yes, America gets a lot of flak that it doesn't deserve. But you guys have GOT to stop dragging out the old "if it wasn't for America you'd all be speaking German!" bullshit. Every single goddamn country has contributed to avoiding disasters or to important scientific input, you aren't the only ones. You're just the richest and most complacent at the moment, and even at your best you aren't a patch on the Romans.
I don't think that would be feasible. The shuttle can't just zip around to multiple different orbital rendezvous over the course of a single mission. I haven't been able to find any info, but I'm doubting very much that Hubble and the ISS are even remotely "on the way" to each other. Not to mention that the shuttle will be using much of its payload capacity to build the station and burning some of its limited orbital-manuevering fuel to correct the ISS's orbit. There's probably not enough room or enough in the tanks. (Hubble needs orbit correction too, as well as new gyroscopes in addition to this recent camera failure--no telling what that'll entail.) Even if they're close in orbital rendezvous terms, the shuttle would still probably have to fly a dedicated mission to fix hubble. Not gonna happen.
Seriously, people... Who cares what country they come from? Space exploration is ultimately the achievement of the people who are involved with it, not most Slashdotters, politicians, or others who just happen to be from the same arbitrary zone of political union.
If the only things you can be proud of are things that you in no way actually caused, then you need to re-evaluate your self-worth.
Now, BAG MY GROCERIES!
http://outcampaign.org/
I'm not sure, but my Fault Prediction Center reports that the AE-35 unit may fail within seventy-two hours.
The Hubble Origins Probe is the cheapest, easiest, and fastest way to replace the Hubble. And it doesn't even require the shuttle.
http://www.pha.jhu.edu/hop/
It's not that hard people. Call your senators and ask them why in the hell this isn't already in orbit.
Nothing in the world is more dangerous than sincere ignorance and conscientious stupidity.
here's a reference for you:
i cing/
http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0512/05hubbleserv