NASA Schedules Flight to Update Space Telescope

NY Times ^ | January 11, 2007 | DENNIS OVERBYE

[neverdem]

The Hubble Space Telescope has a new, resonant date with destiny. NASA has set Sept. 11, 2008, as the target date for launching a mission intended to revitalize the telescope and keep it spaceworthy into the next decade, according to a planning document made public by nasawatch.com, an independent Web site.

Three years ago, Sean O’Keefe, then the NASA administrator, decided to forgo Hubble telescope maintenance in the wake of the shuttle Columbia disaster, prompting a nationwide debate about the risks of shuttle flights and the value of the telescope. Michael D. Griffin, the current NASA administrator, reversed Mr. O’Keefe’s decision.

In a series of spacewalks, astronauts from the shuttle Atlantis will replace vital gyroscopes and batteries and install a new camera and a new spectrograph, extending the telescope’s capabilities into new realms of the electromagnetic spectrum, Dr. Griffin announced in October.

The selection of a noteworthy date, the seventh anniversary of the terrorist attacks on the United States, was not deliberate or official, said a spokesman for the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. The spokesman said that it was only a target date on an internal document and that it could change after a review. Shuttle schedules and launching dates are notoriously tentative, and delays often occur because of the complexity of the launching preparations.

[saganite]

The money could be better spent on the next generation telescope----but that's just me.

[AntiGuv]

[saganite]

It's beautiful. We can do better though. I want to see what's inside.

[greasepaint]

>The money could be better spent on the next generation telescope----but that's just me.<

how would that help?
the big infrared tele, the James Webb, is in the works.

if their is a follow-on to Hubble, what would it be?

keep in mind that the new stuff for the Hubble, has
been sitting on the shelf for years

[saganite]

Here you go. In typical NASA fashion some of these launch dates have been pushed back. It's an old article and some of the technology is already out there but you can see the advancements possible over what Hubble can do if we devote the funds to the future instead of the past.

http://www.findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1511/is_n2_v19/ai_20159534

[momincombatboots]

Its the mirrors!

[NonValueAdded]

Sounds like a job for the droids.