Posted on 07/15/2021 9:01:41 AM PDT by zeestephen
A series of multi-day tests, which included attempts to restart and reconfigure the computer and the backup computer, were not successful, but the information gathered from those activities has led the Hubble team to determine that the possible cause of the problem is in the Power Control Unit (PCU).
(Excerpt) Read more at scitechdaily.com ...
Waiting for the James Webb Telescope to Launch.
It’s only three years behind its original Launch Schedule. If there is any problem with it, too bad. It will be a Million Miles from the Earth when it is deployed.
Even better, it will Launched using a French Ariane Rocket. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe someday they will build a large Telescope on the Moon. No atmosphere to worry about and it could be maintained by Manned Missions if not a Base of Operations.
Dreamer, nothing but a Dreamer...
Waiting for the James Webb Telescope to Launch.
It’s only three years behind its original Launch Schedule. If there is any problem with it, too bad. It will be a Million Miles from the Earth when it is deployed.
Even better, it will Launched using a French Ariane Rocket. What could possibly go wrong?
Maybe someday they will build a large Telescope on the Moon. No atmosphere to worry about and it could be maintained by Manned Missions if not a Base of Operations.
Dreamer, nothing but a Dreamer...
hehe. Yer not kidding. “We’ll have a mission with a wrench to bang on the sides.”
Well let’s start with the flaw: it actually WAS detected but they decided the problem was in the tool that checked the mirror. There were a whole BUNCH of problems with the mirror company.
As for the fix it was by no means easy. They basically had to design mirrors with the reverse of the error to correct the flawed images.
As for the PR really the whole mirror problem was a major black eye for NASA and the fix didn’t really reverse it.
On the current problems, things happen. And it will be fixed. And we DO have to have manned flight. Not necessarily to replace the Hubble’s computer, but because the future is up there and it’s frankly embarrassing and pathetic that we don’t have manned flight capability basically because bureaucracy and nobody in 40+ freaking years can be bothered to green light the shuttle replacement.
Yes, the JWST launch scheduled for November. Would be nice to keep Hubble in operation for as long and cost effectively as possible. It is still doing important science (like Palomar!) and is a hedge against any problems with the Webb launch and deployment.
I recall Rush called it the ‘Hubble Space Doorknob’
Re: James Webb Telescope
That will be so amazing if everything works.
Earliest launch - October
Spit in the back of it and whomp it a good’un.
“We’ll have to wait for the book and movie I guess.”
I’m imagining something like “Armageddon” but they’re assembling a crack team of overweight IT guys in polo shirts to save the Hubble. Maybe Wayne Knight can play the lead.
Here’s something I heard just the other day. Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory astrophysicist Saul Perlmutter has been talking to Elon Musk about retro-fitting an entire Starship as a giant Hubble II.
Resolution is claimed to be 10x that of the original.
That might be a future plan to bring Hubbell home repair and send it up again
I called and offered NASA an extended warranty, but they stupidly refused it.
If only we had a manned space vehicle, that could take astronauts up there to repair it.
We could call it, a Space Shuttle, or something.
Rather than waste this tech, strap 2 Falcon Heavys to it and park it in a useful Mars orbit in the next launch window Sept. 2022. To be pointed towards Mars.
Perhaps fit it atop a cargo shot. Same for the ISS -- it's dying, so stuff it full of cargo and shoot it to Mars while we are lifting the ISS replacement to orbit.
This is one deep vein I share with Musk -- stop wasting goddamn time and utilize every possible hold that has already been lifted to orbit and point it to Big Red.
Rather than waste this tech, strap 2 Falcon Heavys
—
There is no way to get to Hubble’s orbit with a manned vehicle to strap on anything, even if such a thing would work in the first place. The Shuttle made it and that was by the skin of its teeth. After the repair mission NASA said, I believe, that any further similar mission was too risky (human lives), too dangerous, and too expensive so would not happen again. We have no human rated vehicle that could lift any one there, nor lift all the assembly equipment needed. It is not as simple as your words imply.
ISS is 250 miles above the surface, Hubble is 340 miles. Not far, but a long way in terms of payloads.
Re: Big Red
I assume you mean Mars?
What, exactly, is so urgent about getting humans to Mars?
I enthusiastically support basic scientific research by robots and satellites, and basic research on space travel.
But humans on Mars (or the Moon, or a new ISS) will spend most of their working hours on repairs, maintenance, custodial duties, and personal health.
It is going to take centuries of R&D before human beings can do anything productive in space, besides tourism and thrill rides.
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