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Astronauts Begin Final Spacewalk To Repair Hubble

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the wave-while-you're-up-there dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Astronauts John Grunsfield and Andrew Feustel began the fifth and final spacewalk of their Hubble Space Telescope repair mission this morning at 8:20AM. During their spacewalk the two will install the second battery group replacement in an equipment bay above the Wide Field Camera 2 and next to the compartment where the first battery set was installed on the second spacewalk. Each of the battery module weighs 460 pounds and contains three batteries. The batteries provide electrical power to support Hubble's operations during the night when there's no sun to power the solar arrays."

6 of 94 comments (clear)

  1. The batteries weigh what? by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting

    I'm willing to bet that the batteries don't weigh anything right now. ;) Of course using "mass" as a verb is just taking the piss, so I won't do that. I'm sure someone will.

    --
    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:The batteries weigh what? by Jamamala · · Score: 5, Informative

      According to my back-of-an-envelope calculations, I get their true weight to be 1729N.

      F=GMmr^-2
      =G * Mass of earth * mass of box * (Earth's radius + Hubble orbit height)^-2
      =(6.67x10^-11 * 5.9742x10^24 * 208.7) * ((6378 + 559)x10^3)^-2
      =1729.20 N

  2. Watch it live by Audiophyle · · Score: 5, Informative

    Check it out on NASA TV if you haven't had the chance yet. Viewing Hubble the way the astronauts see it is a neat experience.

  3. Not above the WFC2 by Zpin · · Score: 5, Informative

    It's actually Wide Field Camera 3 now. It has been exchanged in the first spacewalk.

  4. Comment removed by account_deleted · · Score: 5, Funny

    Comment removed based on user account deletion

  5. Re:Astronaut helmet cams by Paperweight · · Score: 5, Funny

    That's the only thing holding you back?