That space telescope of space telescopes,
NASA's Hubble, has suffered a serious setback this Saturday, and may never recover. The ACS (advanced camera for surveys), the main camera on the telescope, which was installed in 2002 and multiplied discovery capability by 10, has entered "safe mode," and NASA has little hope of a fix. A final shuttle-based repair mission is planned for 2008, but NASA already has a good bit on its to-do list, and since the ACS is such a complicated fix, it doesn't look like the Hubble will have use of its main camera for the rest of its duration in space. "In order to access the box cover and restore capability we would need to turn off the cooling system, and disconnect connections to the control module. It's a big job, the area is pretty limited; we are already challenged enough to do the other repairs and this spacewalk would be considerably more labor-intensive." Said Preston Burch, Hubble associate director at the Goddard Space Flight Center. Upgrades that will happen include new nickel hydrogen batteries, a couple of gyroscopes for locking on to targets, along with a new wide-field camera, "cosmic origins spectrograph," guidance sensor and outer protective layer. This should at least keep the Hubble running until 2013, and by then the Webb should be launched to replace the aging Hubble. Five back-to-back spacewalks will be required to fix the Hubble, but some say it's worth the risk to "save the Hubble," so perhaps NASA will figure out a way to squeeze it in by the 2008 flight.
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posted Jan 30th 2007 12:11PM
dude that sucks so bad, i mean, NASA has used that hubble for so long n got really good shots of the universe n other galaxies that r millions or billions of light years away from us.
i love space because of the pics that were caught from the hubble. What do u guys think will happen now?
I remember seeing conceptual drawings of the Space Shuttle as a kid, and the Hubble was almost always the big thing you saw attached to it's arm.
I think it's worth it to save the Hubble Space Telescope.
It's done a ton of good science, and can do more still.
Such a shut down, or rather sleep mode, has happened b4 and it has been resurected. I don't think this is over yet.
waste of money... all of it... humans starving to death on earth and we're playing star trek with billions of $$.... something is wrong with us...
Most starvation is not caused by poverty or lack of food. The primary cause is warfare. Spending money to study nature is the best way to ensure our species' ultimate survival, on and off this planet. Only through the development of new technologies can we deal with the burden of an increasing global population, and the martial struggle for resources that grwoth engenders. NASA, and other space programs, represent a most noble use of the human intellect and capacity for creativity.
I don't think you understand how government spending works.
Wow...NASA is pretty good at estimating expected life. The ACS was installed in 2002 and was supposed to last 5 years according to the ABC article. 5 years later, bang.
The telescope itself was launched in 1990 and was supposed to last 15 years. Again, bang.
On the other hand, look at the Mars rovers which lasted well beyond their predicted lifetimes.
I will be sad to see this amazing piece of technology go but look forward to its replacement which no doubt will produce even more amazing images.
Space exploration has been hampered terribly by the incompentent, bloated, and corrupt bureacracy that is NASA. We are fortunate that the govenment didn't create a NASA type organization to monopolize computer science, or I would be writing this on a Univac (or more likely wouldn't be writing on anything). NASA is a massive waste of money, and crowds out dynamic private sector development.
The funny thing is that although Hubble is now practically useless, NASA is still going to waste billions "fixing" it. What a joke.
Yet we spend much more on war technologies that destroy life. I prefer to spend on exploration and education than weapons of destruction. But to each their own.
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Ok Lee Roy Brandon III, have you EVER thought why warfare happens?
Anyway, I think your comment is pathetic.
...ensure our species' ultimate survival...
Yeah, thats really easy to say coming from a very rich country. You don't have to deal with poverty.
And its not about spending or not (I agree that were talking about a very noble cause here).
Its about how much.
You're talking about billions a year (literally).
Too much.
We spend 20 times this much on interest on the national debt as on the entire NASA program. This is an absolutely trivial amount of money at the level we're discussing.
Its not a waste of money at all and Hubble has been a completely worthwhile expense. The amount of information that Hubble has provided over the years is invaluable to the greater knowledge of the human race.
I, for one, really do hope that NASA decides to repair Hubble.
When are these guys going to hire Audi or some other race care manufacturer to help design the modules on stuff? Audi can swap out a whole rear end in about a 5 minute pitstop on their high end ultra performance R8 race cars.
I'll give you a "Digg" for that comment. Best one I've heard in a while! :-)
This is a serious question, I hope no one minds, but...
I've been wondering. Hubble is getting pretty old and worn, so why doesn't the world space community get together to build a newer, more advanced space telescope? It would have to be launched by the Europeans or Russians, probably, but it could still be done.
I think it'd be a nice statement of international scientific collaboration and cooperation.
Send "the Fonz" to give it a whack!
Has the Hubble officially "jumped the shark" yet?
felgonza,
Wake up man, human beings never advanced by expending all of it's resources on the bottom teirs of society, they advanced by giving the top the resources the ability to reach higher and higher goals. Hubble should be saved, it's not at all connected with misfortune of people on Earth, since there will ALWAYS be poor people. No effort of any great power in Earth's history has at all made any dent in the lifestyle of the poor and forgotten, in my opinion THAT is a project that needs to be put in "minimum maintenece".
I'd like to see Hubble brought down and put in the Smithsonian. I know it won't happen but I'd still like to see it.
try CTRL + ALT + DEL
It seems like every photo has some female aspects to it, if you take my hint and faces like some mad aritist is doodling in them..Always faces and breas...
=) I will miss all the space porn. I wonder why nasa has to declasify the photos? Any one else wondered about that? Is there some photo of God we shouldnt see? Or aliens? Or better yet a chinese resturant feeding ants to hungry space travelers?
@Paul34
The replacement for the Hubble is the James Webb telescope:
http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/
If you'd read the article you might have noticed that mention.
Despite the failure of the ACS telescope, there are a number of functioning instruments still left on the Hubble which can do valuable work, which is why they are still planning a mission to repair the rest of the scope.
The Hubble has survived 15 years in the second harshest environment known to man (the seafloor is harsher - the pressure is actively trying to crush you), which is a pretty damn good record.
two things;
First, would it be possible to attach hubble to Space Station Freedom and have them fix it?
Second, the U.S. is the leading exporter of food and charity in the world. NO ONE gives as much as we do, or as high a percentage of what we have. Natural selection dictates that all species if the reside in the wrong enviroment or overpopulat thier enviroment will have problems and die. Yet we do help them. We can spend our money on what we want, it is our money! And our spending has made us a leader in developing solutions, medicine, technology, food. So get off your self righteous high horse and take your socialist ass out into the world and grow up. I've been shot at trying to feed stupid ass Africa, let em kill themselves, thier backward society should save itself. The us overcame the leading superpower in it's day to liberate themselves. Hell even france freed itself, and they never win.