In answer to your first question, a mock up of one of the SPDM (or Dextre - I hate that name) arms was actually sent to Goddard, where they have a mock up of the Hubble. Typical servicing tasks were attempted and shown to be within the capability of the SPDM.
The concept being worked is that the main craft will attach itself to the Hubble base (using the latch that the Shuttle uses to hold Hubble in the payload bay during servicing). Then a robotic arm (smaller cousin to the Canadarm and part of the main craft) would pick up the SPDM (in a stowed config) and move it around Hubble as servicing tasks require. Will be very cool to see, when/if it happens...
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In answer to your first question, a mock up of one of the SPDM (or Dextre - I hate that name) arms was actually sent to Goddard, where they have a mock up of the Hubble. Typical servicing tasks were attempted and shown to be within the capability of the SPDM.
The concept being worked is that the main craft will attach itself to the Hubble base (using the latch that the Shuttle uses to hold Hubble in the payload bay during servicing). Then a robotic arm (smaller cousin to the Canadarm and part of the main craft) would pick up the SPDM (in a stowed config) and move it around Hubble as servicing tasks require. Will be very cool to see, when/if it happens...