Hubble may be saved!

[remcook]

GAO report

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=14843

[remcook]

http://space.com/news/hubble_budget_050121.html
http://space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_reaction_050121.html

The White House has eliminated funding for a mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope from its 2006 budget request and directed NASA to focus solely on de-orbiting the popular spacecraft at the end of its life, according to government and industry sources

 

[Astronuc]

Lawmaker Urges NASA on Hubble Mission

By STEPHEN MANNING, Associated Press Writer

GREENBELT, Md. - Maryland Congressman Steny Hoyer called on NASA Tuesday to go ahead with plans to send a robot to service the Hubble Space Telescope while officials from the space agency said such a mission likely won't happen due to proposed budget cuts.

Hubble, which is operated out of Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, is scheduled for maintenance in late 2007 or 2008. NASA had once planned to repair worn out parts with either a manned space mission or using a robotic arm that would attach itself to the telescope.

However, President Bush eliminated funding for a repair mission in his 2006 budget and only set aside money to send Hubble into a death swoon into the Earth's atmosphere.

Hoyer, a Democrat whose district includes Goddard and many of the 700 NASA employees and private contractors who work on Hubble, said the president's budget overlooked the contributions that the space-borne telescope has made to astronomy. He said funding should be restored for an additional mission.

"This is a very important mission for us to continue and complete," he said during a tour of the Hubble lab, which holds the robotic arm that could be used to fix the telescope.

But Al Diaz, NASA's Associate Administrator for Science who was on the same tour, said the agency has no plans to send a mission, manned or robotic, to repair Hubble.

"We don't intend on servicing it, that's where we are," Diaz said.

Launched in 1990 and orbiting the Earth, Hubble initially suffered numerous problems. But it has since provided scientists with glimpses deep into space and the universe's past. Hubble has detected some of the most distant objects ever recorded.

Space shuttle astronauts have made four trips to Hubble to fix it, but the prospect of another manned mission dimmed after the 2003 Columbia accident that put a halt temporary halt to future shuttle launches.

Goddard scientists have adapted robotic technology developed for the orbiting space station to use on a repair mission to Hubble. The plan calls for an unmanned spacecraft to dock with Hubble and extend a robotic arm controlled by technicians on Earth that would perform tasks.

Late last year a National Academy of Sciences panel recommended one more mission to Hubble. Without further repairs, Goddard officials say Hubble could still be useful to scientists for at least two more years. It would eventually fall out of orbit sometime around 2013, according to Preston Burch, Hubble's program manager.

Even if the repair mission is canceled, NASA officials said the robotic technology can still be used for other purposes.

"If the mission never happens, we've still learned so much about the technology," said Frank Cepollina, the deputy associate director of Hubble.

[Astronuc]

NASA Nominee Wants to Review Hubble's Fate

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Michael Griffin, the Bush administration's choice to head NASA, said on Tuesday he wants to revisit the decision to let the Hubble Space Telescope die and would consider a plan to have shuttle astronauts fix it.

Griffin, a rocket scientist who appears headed for swift confirmation as chief of the U.S. space agency, told a Senate hearing that NASA's decision not to repair Hubble should be reassessed after the shuttle fleet returns to flight.

"The decision not to execute the planned shuttle servicing mission was made in the immediate aftermath of the loss of the Columbia," Griffin said. "When we return to flight, it will be with essentially a new vehicle, which will have a new risk analysis associated with it. At that time I think we should reassess the earlier decision in light of what we learn after we return to flight."

[Dingo1]

YEAH!!!!!!! SAVE THE HUBBLE!!!!!!

[Astronuc]

BALTIMORE (AP) - Hurricane damage to NASA space shuttle facilities has further clouded the future of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Katrina damaged the Michoud Assembly Facility in New Orleans, where the shuttle's fuel tanks are built, and the Mississippi-based Stennis Space Center, where shuttle engines are tested, NASA officials said.

Before the hurricane struck last week, NASA had hoped to launch Discovery in March. The space agency is now reassessing its launch plans.

A servicing mission is needed to keep the orbiting space telescope operating, but has not been scheduled by NASA.

"We're not panicking yet, but we are concerned," said Mattias Mountain, the new director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which coordinates use of Hubble.

NASA administrator Michael Griffin has ordered work to begin on a servicing mission, but it is dependent on the success of the next two missions. Griffin's predecessor, Sean O'Keefe, ruled out Hubble visits by astronauts because of safety concerns following the Columbia disaster.

"To be honest, we really don't know what the impact will be," said Preston M. Burch, Hubble program manager at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, which oversees Hubble's day-to-day operations.

http://hubblesite.org/

[broomstar]

That's really bad news...
And poor Hubble has already been on 2-gyro mode for a couple of weeks. Observation scheduling is not as easy as on 3-gyro mode.

[Astronuc]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Deep_Field

It's worth saving.  Perhaps the Chinese will salvage it, because the Bush administration seems to have other priorities. 

 

[Astronuc]

The last update on the Hubble Site -

April 29, 2005 — New NASA Administrator Mike Griffin has asked engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center to begin preparations for another servicing mission to Hubble. NASA has no current commitment to service Hubble, but Griffin has promised to reassess the fate of the servicing mission based on the success of the next one or two shuttle missions. Space Shuttle Discovery is scheduled for a launch in July; Hubble servicing mission preparations would have to begin now to keep the possibility of a mission alive. A mission, were it approved, could take place around mid-2007 or early 2008.

Nothing new so far.  It all seems to depend on the availability of the Space Shuttle. 

[Yevaud]

Woo Hoo!

 

[Astronuc]

Nasa to decide Hubble's fate
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/6088076.stm

The US space agency (Nasa) is to debate whether to send astronauts on a mission to repair the Hubble Space Telescope.

Without another servicing call by shuttle astronauts, Hubble is expected to last another two to three years.

At the crux of this is whether to risk flying astronauts on the shuttle without the International Space Station available as an emergency shelter.

Nasa set up the station as an orbital safe haven after the Columbia shuttle broke apart on re-entry in 2003.

The shuttles cannot fly from Hubble's orbit to reach the station, so if a Hubble repair crew's ship was too damaged to safely fly home, Nasa has little time to mount a rescue before the shuttle's power runs out.

[Astronuc]

MEDIA ADVISORY: M06-170
http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2006/oct/HQ_M06170_Hubble_Servicing_Mission.html

NASA Sets Hubble Servicing Mission Decision Announcement

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will announce on Tuesday, Oct. 31, a decision on a space shuttle mission to service the Hubble Space Telescope. The announcement is scheduled for 10 a.m. EST during an agency-wide employee meeting from NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. The event will be live on NASA TV and www.nasa.gov.

 

 

[Skyjim]

ALL RIGHT!!!!

As expected, Mike Griffin formally announced the addition of STS-125 as a Hubble Servicing Mission today!  Launch set for May of 2008, and there will be another orbiter close to readiness for launch in the event of unrepairable damage to Discovery's TPS during ascent or orbital ops. Discovery will be launched with the capability of supporting her crew on orbit for up to 25 days to allow for a launch on need. 

The crew will include Scott Altman as CDR, and John Grunsfeld and Mike Massimino as Mission Spedrug spammerts - all three of whom have Hubble experience.  Greg C. Johnson will serve as PLT, Megan McArthur will be the RMS operator, and Andrew Fuestal and Mike Good will serve as mission spedrug spammerts and perform EVAs with veterans Grunsfeld and Massimino.  During five EVAs, Hubble will get new batteries, gyros, two new science instruments and a refurbished fine guidance sensor,  a new cooler and repairs for a spectrometer, as well as insulation repairs and installation of a grapple fixture to facilitate future needs for a deorbit module attachment or (Dare one hope?) servicing by Orion vehicles.   I assume that there will also be some reboost by the orbiter, but could find nothing specific on that - normally that is dependant on RCS propellant usage during rendezvous.

So, they are going to do it right, and Hubble should have a shot at remaining operational until the James Webb Space Telescope comes on line.

I'm stoked!!!!

Jim

[Astronuc]

Yeah!!!!

NASA to go ahead with risky Hubble telescope repair

GREENBELT, Maryland (Reuters) - NASA said on Tuesday it would undertake a potentially risky shuttle mission to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope until at least 2013.

NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, speaking to cheering scientists who had feared Hubble's earlier demise, said a space shuttle would make one final maintenance trip, tentatively in 2008, to the orbiting telescope.

The trip will go ahead even though the shuttle astronauts would be unable to take shelter on the International Space Station if something went wrong, Griffin said in announcing the decision at the Goddard Space Flight Center near Washington.

Hubble is considered by some scientists to be the most important astronomical instrument ever. It seized the public's interest as it captured images of star birth and death, detected planets outside our solar system and snapped eye-catching visions of the Milky Way and other galaxies.

It has also examined the atmosphere of an extrasolar planet and helped determine the age of the universe.

Goddard Space Flight Center Director Ed Weiler said Hubble had fundamentally changed what scientists know about the universe. "The universe doesn't read our textbooks," he said. "It has this bad habit of not doing things we say it should."

Scientists say that without repairs the 16-year-old orbital observatory would function for only two or three more years.

NASA had earlier planned a servicing call to the telescope -- the fifth since its launch in 1990 -- to install two new science instruments and replace spent batteries and faulty steering gyroscopes. It canceled that trip after the shuttle Columbia was destroyed as it returned to earth in 2003.

. . . .

Heck, just pop me in a space suit and strap me to an Atlas or Delta, and I'll go. 

 

[Retrospector]

Yes, I was happy to hear the news, although I DO hope the SS's problems have been solved and that nobody's life will be unduly risked in the servicing mission.

One thing is that, while the HST is slated to be retired before the Webb Instrument goes on line, we can't know when that latter event will actually occur. Given the past record of delays in these initiatives, the time gap may be longer than everyone is being told. Every extra minute of time the HST has to keep going will be precious.