Hubble is failing x.x

[MooEy]

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1320_1.asp

dunno how many of u have read this, it seems hubble has fail prematurely, and nasa isn't interested in sending people up to fix it due to the columbia accident. seems like astronomy is going to end because of a few astronaut being blow up in an accident.

~MooEy~

[Airconvent]

http://skyandtelescope.com/news/article_1320_1.asp

dunno how many of u have read this, it seems hubble has fail prematurely, and nasa isn't interested in sending people up to fix it due to the columbia accident. seems like astronomy is going to end because of a few astronaut being blow up in an accident.

~MooEy~

nothing so specular lah....everything has to fail sooner or later...depends on the MTBF and as I read it, the equipment has survived longer than was designed already..now question is how to get a mission up there to do replacement or repair...

[QuantumGravity]

Hmm... not surprising... Hubble's getting old and gotta die soon. I believe NASA is still deciding whether to repair HST or sent it back to earth and burn up, just like what happened to Galileo and Jupiter. Also, there might be a chance that NASA would repair it as they are considering a "robotic" repairing mission(???).

Anyway, a new, better and larger space telescope would be launched in 2011 - James Webb Space Telescope. Supposed to replaced HST...

[gwenyi]

the hubble is symbolic to the astro community. somehow, i feel that without the hubble, it's very weird...


cheers,
wenyi

[weixing]

Hi,

dunno how many of u have read this, it seems hubble has fail prematurely, and nasa isn't interested in sending people up to fix it due to the columbia accident. seems like astronomy is going to end because of a few astronaut being blow up in an accident.

Don't worry, Space Astronomy won't end even if they decided to abandon the Hubble Space telescope. Anyway, it is good that they proceed with caution. Hope they can redesign a new space vehicle to replace the space shuttle.

Anyway, a new, better and larger space telescope would be launched in 2011 - James Webb Space Telescope. Supposed to replaced HST...

The only problem is that James Webb Space Telescope is a infrared telescope... I will sure miss those spectacular images of space!

Have a nice day.

[Sam Lee]

If i remember correctly, HST is the only space telescope with the ability to observe the ultraviolet region of the universe. So if it goes down now, it's either NASA find some quick way to put the James Webb Telescope up there or wait for the planned 2011 launch.

Regards,
Sam

[QuantumGravity]

Hmm... JWST = infrared telescope? Isn't that job taken by the quite-recent Spitzer Space Telescope?

[carlogambino]

On the contrary, i feel disappointed and angry at the failure of the hubble spectrograph. Knowing the hubble would no longer be serviced despite any failures, astronomers pro and amateurs alike are angry at the policies of NASA making decisions without consulting everyone behind closed doors. Worse still is Bush's policies that they would continue to service the ISS, but NOT the hubble.

As quoted from bush:

"we'll meet our obligations to our 15 international space partners and learn about the long-term effects of space travel on human biology"

Obviously he's more concerned with pleasing europe allies who opposed the iraq war which have built expensive ISS modules awaiting shuttle rides to orbit. Also, it's a waste of money to spend much on ISS now that biologists have learnt what they wanted to from cosmo and astronauts lengthy stays on the Russian's Salyut and Mir stations.

And, as quoted from S & T's June article:

Addressing the 1,400 astronomers gathered in Denver, O'Keefe also detailed what he called the "very painful" decision he made earlier this year not to proceed with another shuttle mission to replace Hubble's failed gyroscopes and weakening batteries. Without those repairs, the observatory will likely become inoperable as early as 2008, leaving astronomers without the services of a major orbiting observatory until the launch of the infrared James Webb Space Telescope, anticipated in 2011. During the Hubble house call, which had been scheduled for 2004 prior to the loss of Columbia early last year, astronauts also would have installed two state-of-the-art science instruments.

It's really a shame that they would abandon hubble in view of JWST, which is infared(note) and does not have hubble's visual and UV capabilities. We need a frank public discussion on these policies, not NASA's arrogant "take it or leave it"

[gwenyi]

i'm sure many americans feel that the hubble should be serviced. but if bush doesn't wanna do anything about it ... he's gonna lose quite a lot of votes to kerry even before the voting begins =p.

[weixing]

Hi,
If you ask me which project is more importance, hubble space telescope (HST) or ISS?? I would say ISS is a lots more importance than HST. If we want to send human further than the moon, we need the ISS project.

biologists have learnt what they wanted to from cosmo and astronauts lengthy stays on the Russian's Salyut and Mir stations.

It correct that we learn a lot from those lengthy stays, but the scientist still do not have a good solution to effectively solve the problems and will need the ISS to act as a test platform. Also, we need to ISS to learn and enhance technique on manufacturing, farming, repairing and etc in space.

Anyway, We still have a lots to learn about long term survival in space and ISS is our first major step.

Have a nice day.