The Hubble Space Telescope (news - web sites). The future of the Hubble Space Telescope hangs in the balance, after the White House declined to approve the necessary funding to repair and upgrade the apparatus, US media reported.(AFP-NASA (news - web sites)/File)
Maybe they could just put it on Ebay ... ;)
Typical of NASA....can a program that is going well and spend the money on a study to decide what to do next.
STUPID...STUPID...STUPID!!!!!!!!!!! If this repair mission by a shuttle is too dangerous, we sure as hell don't need to be in space!
Perhaps those of us who enjoy it should be the ones to chip in to fix it. I can't see taking food off my neighbor's table to fix the toys of my hobby.
Yes. Popular with the public. and damn the cost to more valuable scientific enterprises like the SUPERCONDUCTING SUPER COLLIDER!
Bring down the HST, the SST and the ISS. Invest in American physics and in the SSC!
GET US OUT OF UN
GET UN OUT OF US.
That's a shame -- Hubble really extended our reach into and appreciation of the heavens...
I'm wondering if a long-term replacement scope could be launched and linked to the ISS in some fashion -- that way repairs could be done in the normal course of sending people to the space station.
BTTT
So why does it cost $75 million to destroy it? Can't we just turn it off and let nature take it's course, so to speak?
One of the big reasons why HST was put into a low orbit was so that it could be easily serviced. Killing it flies in the face of its fundamental design philosophy.
We make smaller ones now. Let's put a new one up.
How does a chunk of foam falling off the external tank and putting a hole in the shuttle wing affect the safety of servicing Hubble? Using O'Keefe's logic, no shuttles should ever be launched again (although a lot of FReepers agree with that). Sheesh.
Just because something is old does not mean it is necessarily cheaper to totally replace it with something new. I gather some of the equipment needed to repair Hubble have already been bought and paid for. If the hurdle to overcome now is largely a decaying orbit, why not buy more time with a relatively inexpensive mission to boost Hubble's orbit? I remember on previous missions Hubble was pulled into a shuttle's cargo bay where the work was done, so I gather fixing Hubble requires the shuttle. Since the shuttle is not now flying, I wonder if a compromise mission could work, say, for the purpose of simply raising Hubble to a higher orbit until a shuttle can be certified to fly the actual genuine refit mission? Something like this may be possible by remote control, even if the repairs themselves are not. Failing this, dare I suggest a Soyuz mission to give Hubble a push?
In 40 words or less, can anybody pithily state what the purpose of and what has been gleaned from the ISS? The Hubble Space Telescope pages and The "Astronomy Picture Of The Day" websites are full of vast pictures (w/ thorough descriptions and links that I've shown all my neices and nephews over the years) regarding much of the rest of the visible and invisible universe,let's hope they leave all that online. I also wonder just how much of the HST will actually 'burn up' before it hits the earth on re-entry. Our gov't couldn't possibly be so negligent as to not have a replacement on the way though,could they?
Save the money and develop nuclear power for every home.
$75 MILLION just to determine when the best time is to fire the retro-rockets to de-orbit it? Give me a break!
I still haven't figured out why someone hasn't suggested matching the orbit of the ISS and parking it within spacewalk distance. Maintenance system control would be a short walk with regular flights able to bring needed equipment.