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Final Repair Mission To Extend Hubble's Life

Posted by kdawson on from the gyros-batteries-and-a-quart-of-oil dept.

necro81 writes "The NYTimes has an in-depth piece describing an upcoming shuttle mission, scheduled for next August, to make a final service call to the Hubble Space Telescope. After the Columbia accident and the scheduled shuttle decommission in 2010, additional service trips to the telescope were off the table. The resulting hue and cry from scientists, legislators, and the public forced NASA to reconsider. Next August, if all goes well, Atlantis will grab Hubble, replace its aging gyros, attempt to revive the Advanced Camera for Surveys, and install a new camera and spectrograph. The telescope could then continue doing science well into the next decade."

3 of 125 comments (clear)

  1. Re:Other than the Apollo missions... by wildsurf · · Score: 5, Informative

    And where Apollo was a triumph in engineering, Hubble is a triumph in pure science.
    Well, except for that pesky myopia debacle.
    --
    Weeks of coding saves hours of planning.
  2. Re:Advantages of Hubble still worth it? by ThreeGigs · · Score: 5, Informative

    Ozone blocks ultraviolet, water vapor absorbs strongly in the infrared, dust particles et al emit in infrared too, causing a huge loss of contrast.

    Sadly, the atmosphere isn't really as transparent as it looks once you get outside the visible spectrum, and that's where 50% (a statistic made up on the spot) of astronomy breakthroughs are.

    Future scopes in space are likely to be infrared (Webb), ultraviolet, radio and x-ray specific. Plus, adaptive optics are still only a band-aid(R) compared to viewing outside the atmosphere.

  3. Re:Other than the Apollo missions... by CJ145 · · Score: 5, Informative

    In 2013 there is suppose to be a new telescope that should be capable of replacing Hubble. http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/