Daily Kos

Hubble mission in the works, w/poll

by Nicholas Phillips

Sun May 01, 2005 at 10:49:05 AM PDT

[Disclaimer: I contract with NASA's GSFC, but not with the HST]
NASA Prepares for Possible Shuttle Mission to Save Hubble :
NASA's new Administrator Mike Griffin told reporters today that he informed key members of Congress Thursday evening that he would direct engineers at Goddard Spaceflight center  [GSFC] to start preparing for a space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope on the assumption that one ultimately will go forward.


Hubble celebrates 15 years of stellar images
Continuing from the above article:
Griffin said today that a final decision on any possible crewed servicing mission is still pending NASA's successful return to flight with the launch of the shuttle Discovery. However, with that launch now delayed nearly two more months, Griffin said the Goddard team has to get started now to preserve the option of saving Hubble before the popular telescope is scheduled to go dark.

As for my opinion on the matter, the Hubble Space Telescope [HST] is one of the greatest scientific instruments ever assembled and put into use. Its observations have increased our understanding of everything from our solar system up to the details of our Universe. In between, it has helped us understand how galaxies and clusters of galaxies form, along with how plantery systems form (see above image).

Given that Dr. Griffen has an impressive scientific training and career, I imagine he doesn't want to be known as the scientist "that let the HST die before its time." And if he doesn't do all he can to allow for a servising mission, that might just become the legacy of his just starting tenure as the NASA chief.

If the HST is to die without another mission, then at least let's be able to say every effort was made to save it.

For the geeks in the audience:
Near Perfect "Einstein Ring" Discovered:

[A]stronomer Remi Cabanac has found one of the most complete [gravitational] lenses ever discovered: a near perfect Einstein Ring, magnifying a distant galaxy with incredible clarity.
Poll

If you were an astronaut, would you risk your life to save the HST?

80%36 votes
15%7 votes
4%2 votes
0%0 votes
0%0 votes

| 45 votes | Vote | Results

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  •  Note on the poll (4.00 / 5)

    A common lunchtime conversation we have is whether manned spaceflight is worthwhile. Being space scientists, all our work is done with robotic craft. Earth and Space Sciences split a mere 15% of the total NASA budget; hence the discussion.

    The general view is: the Shuttles with always be risky, but the astronauts know this. (Yes, please strap me atop a huge tank of explosives and let's see if we can get to blowup just right so I end up in orbit!) They might not mind the risk if they feel the mission is important. But too many shuttle missions may have been with little merit.

    Just a thought.

    The Place of Dead Roads
    "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

    by Nicholas Phillips on Sun May 01, 2005 at 10:50:28 AM PDT

    •  to quote from the Right Stuff (none / 0)

      astronauts have always known that they are like "spam in a can" when they are blasted into space on top of a rocket. But most of them wouldn't have it any other way.  Provided that there are people at NASA who don't put politics and funding ahead of safety---which is what happened when the Challenger was destroyed (not to mention Apollo I). But with scientist in charge instead of that stupid bureaucrat O'Keefe, I'm hopeful that the technical people will be listened to again.

      by mimi9 on Sun May 01, 2005 at 04:31:47 PM PDT

      [ Parent ]

  •  Only Two Options: Hubble Lives or Hubble Dies (none / 1)

    And it would be criminal to let it die!

    The only way to properly service Hubble is to send a MANNED mission with the Shuttle.  

    Whether to go or not should be a classic no-brainer.

    Maybe this new guy will be a real administrator and not just an ass-kisser like we had before.

    Sign me up in a heart beat to go!!

    by freepress4all on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:13:25 AM PDT

  •  I am not even a scientist... (4.00 / 3)

    I am just a regular run-of-the-mill paper pusher, and I know the value of the Hubble Telescope.  It is the most incredible advancement in space exploration.

    When Bush came out with the "we're canceling the HST, and going to Mars instead!", I knew we would be looking at a dem in the white house right now.

    We must have the most ignorant people on the face of the earth.  (And now we're spreading the American Way like never before).

    Dumbfounded.

    Hell, send me on the mission. I am ready to leave.

    Every dollar a for-profit insurance company spends on your care, is a dollar that goes against the coroporate balance sheet. --nyceve

    by letsfight on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:22:06 AM PDT

  •  I am watching Hubble images right now (4.00 / 2)

    I'm posting this from the computer in the Planetarium where I work, as Hubble Vision II is playing to the planetarium audience (the show is computer operated, so I have nothing to do until the end, at which time I will point out the planets visible tonight).

    Yesterday, we had a Hubble Event.  Our museum is the recipient of two limited edition super-high detail images taken by Hubble.  They now hang in the main exhibition area.  They are incredibly beautiful.  One, which shows the Whirlpool Galaxy, is about four feet by five feet and looks like a painting.  I was told that if it were blown up to billboard size, there would still be no pixels visible, that's how detailed it is.

    It is not just the beauty of the images, but the wealth of knowledge they provide.  Hubble has looked to the very furthest reaches of the universe, and what it sees is more of the same:  more galaxies just as densely distributed as they are near us.  Hubble gives us our best chance to look back to the very earliest time of the universe.

    If anyone doubts the value of Hubble, just head on over to Nasa.gov and look for the links to the Hubble images.  They are all available on line, free for you to download and perhaps use as computer wallpaper, or printout and use as real wallpaper in your home.

    The universe is full of beauty and knowledge, and right now Hubble is our only window into it.

    "The trouble with the world is that the stupid are cocksure and the intelligent are full of doubt." Bertrand Russell

    by Emerson on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:24:55 AM PDT

  •  Obsolete (none / 0)

    Why is everyone so attached to this thing ?  It was already obsolete the day it was launched !

    It spectacularly demonstrated one of the design goals which was servicability while in orbit, which at the time seemed obvious but was unproven.

    Why isnt there ever any mention in the press that a new and improved follow on is due to be put up in the not too distant future ?

    -5.50, -5.69   I Stink therefore I am

    by Stink Tank on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:25:13 AM PDT

    •  When? (none / 0)

      I thought I heard 2015. Do you know of a better date. Why not keep the Hubble until then?

      Lead, follow, or get out of the way.

      by TerraByte on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:28:32 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

    •  Telescopes don't really become obsolete (4.00 / 2)

      As long as a telescope is able generate quality observations, i.e. the instrument is working, a telescope is useful. There are always either new measurements or refinements of previous measurements to be made from historic telescopes.

      As far as a "Hubble replacement", there is no such thing in the works. What was known as the "Next Generation Space Telescope", now the James Webb Space Telescope [JWST] is being designed to extend the sort of observations undertaken by the HST. In particular, JWST will be an infrared instrument, while the HST does much of its work in the visible. This is because the JWST's mission is to explore the time when stars first got started. Since that time, the light from those stars has shifted to the IR.

      So, the JWST is not a replacement for the HST. Once the HST is lost, we lose one of the best visible light telescopes we have ever had.

      The Place of Dead Roads
      "Gentlemen, you can't fight in here! This is the War Room!"

      by Nicholas Phillips on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:51:24 AM PDT

      [ Parent ]

      •  Trubble for Hubble (none / 0)

        Both the replies are good points... BUT it does cost a huge amount of money to go to the hubble.

        Now dont get me wrong- I am plenty democrat to be here... but I think the current directives of NASA to go to Mars and beyond is the right course of action.

        In my opinion NASA spends way too much on earth sciences and not enough on space vehicles for manned exploration

        -5.50, -5.69   I Stink therefore I am

        by Stink Tank on Sun May 01, 2005 at 08:25:08 PM PDT

        [ Parent ]

  •  Shuttle hurts NASA (none / 0)

    The space shuttle, unfortunately, has hurt NASA. Thanks to the Republicans, NASA's budget was cut so severely that they essentially had to spend almost everything on maintaining and operating the shuttle fleet. The shuttle program is now nearly 30 years old and is nowhere near the best way to be doing manned missions.

    NASA made a big mistake, in my opinion, by abandoning all other forms of lift development. And I see this weekend was the last of the Titan launches. We have to rely on the shuttle or the Russians to launch heavy stuff, and that's just stupid.

    Wouldn't it be nice to take just 1% of the Pentagon's $419 billion annual budget and give it to NASA? NASA's annual budget is a paltry $16 billion. We have misplaced priorities in this country.

    Are you shaking or biting the invisible hand?

    by puppethead on Sun May 01, 2005 at 11:30:10 AM PDT

  •  Imagine (none / 0)

    If instead of screwing Iraq we had spent those many billions on space.

    The Hubble must be saved.  To let it die would be absolutely stupid.

    by leftyboy666 on Sun May 01, 2005 at 12:18:47 PM PDT

  •  The replacement (none / 0)

    for the Hubble, the James Webb Space Telescope isn't scheduled for launch until 2011. I am surprised by the apparent unwillingness of the NASA to fund maintenance for the Hubble. There is also the not so small matter of Hubble returning to earth, right now there is no way to guarantee it can be done safely. I have read it costs Americans less than a dollar a year to maintain Hubble, what a bargain. I hate to see it go to waste even after its replacement is operational. I think it would be wonderful to hold and maintain it thru an educational trust, giving school children all over the world access to Hubble for astronomy projects.

    ROAD2DC

    by ghengismom on Sun May 01, 2005 at 12:20:29 PM PDT

  •  Why is it (none / 0)

    that we lefties are always looking to expand reason, the Enlightenment, and the betterment of mankind while the right seems to worry about church every Sunday.  I don't know, but in today's world, I am always heartened by space news.  Maybe that is why Star Trek was so successfull for so many years.

    It looks just like a Telefunken U47...you'll love it! - with leather...?

    by Jeffersonian Democrat on Sun May 01, 2005 at 12:39:19 PM PDT

  •  I saw the Atlantis nose-cone cam (none / 0)

    And I'm willing to go for that ride

    I got lucky one day, I was home for lunch, and turned on the news. We could understand that we were looking at the shuttle, but the position of the camera was a puzzle. Suddenly we realized, it was on the cone of the fuel tank. About 10 miutes later, our wish was granted, and we watched Florida get smaller and smaller. It was fucking amazing. HELL YES I"LL RIDE THAT THING

    by knowthings on Sun May 01, 2005 at 04:06:33 PM PDT

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