Charles Lindsey Posted March 16, 2004 Report Share Posted March 16, 2004 http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubb...eep_040309.html Way cool. Some neat pics in the right hand info panel. Save Hubble? Of course. I helped pay for the darn thing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted March 17, 2004 Author Report Share Posted March 17, 2004 quote:Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has been wonderful in its time providing great science, but as sorry as I am to say it Hubble can't be serviced forever, I think it's time we moved on.As long as it can do science it should be serviced. That doesn't mean I'm saying save Hubble just cause it gives pretty pictures. I do realize at some point there will be diminishing returns. However at the same time it is a perfectly functioning instrument. Only the gyroscopes that keep it steady are going out. They knew this. Give it one more service. They were planning it anyway. It's just that the last shuttle disaster has everyone thinking it's not worth it. My ideas (like the head of NASA is gonna see them): You are right. They have the schematics. Hack the thing. Build quadruple redundancy into those gyroscopes. Glue them to the outside or whatever. It was built with four right? take ten or twenty and glue them on the outside and program the things to not turn on until another fails. Give it those ion engines. Again hack it and just bolt them on the outside. Might be enough to keep it in a safe orbit. Drive it till the wheels fall off. Let colleges have the access codes and let them use it till it just won't work no more. Sell it. Let a private company finance the last service mission. And reap the rewards from selling the info. Use the shuttle as planned. Boost it to the orbit of the space station. Undock and chase the space station. Dock at space station. Inspect shuttle for return to earth. Any combination of the above. If it just can't be it just can't be and I understand that. But it's still sad they are abandoning a planned mission. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted April 18, 2004 Author Report Share Posted April 18, 2004 I probably shoulda made a thread named Save Hubble but eh. We started talking about it here. robot mission to save Hubble under study So it needs new batteries as well as gyroscopes. Ok. I can live with not putting anything new on it as well. I hope they do it. Perhaps China would like to help. Dual benefits. They get more space experience and it helps Hubble. I also learned Hubble had/has a booster hook up designed into it. Seems even worse now that I know it was designed to be boosted but they don't want to do it. However it's like wishing for a pony as a child. You want it so bad but you're pretty sure it won't happen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted May 4, 2004 Author Report Share Posted May 4, 2004 Robots considered for Hubble. Cool. quote:NASA's associate administrator for space science, Ed Weiler, is becoming more and more a believer that a robot could extend Hubble's life. He's even considering making the next-generation James Webb Space Telescope modular so robots could replace parts; the telescope will be launched in 2011 to a point 1 million miles from Earth, well beyond human reach. Way cool. quote:Besides popping in new batteries, the robotic repairman probably would be directed by ground controllers to install motion-control gyroscopes. It would be easier to slap new ones on Hubble's exterior, rather than open the doors and replace the old ones. Can I gloat some? quote:Depending on how aggressive NASA wants to be, the robot also could try to install a $176 million pair of cameras. But one camera would require opening one of Hubble's dreaded doors, which might be warped and cantankerous from their years in space. "If you supply power and you supply gyros, wouldn't it be idiotic if you opened the doors, put in a new instrument and can't close the doors and you've got scattered light all over the place?" Weiler says. Ok. I can live with not putting in anything new. quote:At the very least, Weiler says, NASA needs to launch and dock an engine and propulsion module to steer the 25,000-pound telescope into a Pacific grave a decade from now. I still think one of those Ion engines with small but steady thrust would work to keep it in orbit. But there is thrust to mass and all sorts of stuff to consider so maybe I am being silly. Sorry I didn't pick up on your Robonaut reference Dreada. I thought you had just coined the phrase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted January 22, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 The White House has changed its mind and removed funding for a Hubble repair mission. The article also puts forth that it could be just a ploy for the budget fight. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted January 22, 2005 Report Share Posted January 22, 2005 It would be a sad day if they abandon the Hubble. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Matchoo Posted January 24, 2005 Report Share Posted January 24, 2005 quote:Originally posted by jamotto: It would be a sad day if they abandon the Hubble. It would be sad, but on the bright side what they could do is try to get it to splash down as close to MIR as possible, and let the international community bet on how far apart the splash downs would be. Only 5 U.S. dollars per guess, and whoever gets the closest gets half the money that was collected. The other half will go towards Hubble's replacement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charles Lindsey Posted January 25, 2005 Author Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 Another msnbc article with some figures. I can almost see their point about cost effectiveness but how does one measure the cost of something versus the price of not learning? Plus, I sent in one of my posts above and they posted an excerpt. Edit: Oh great. Now the URL points to a totally different story. Edit 2: I found it. Link now points to correct article. ( I hope ) Seems to work once more in preview mode. [ 01-24-2005, 10:03 PM: Message edited by: Cmdr Chavik ] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamotto Posted January 25, 2005 Report Share Posted January 25, 2005 My concern is that the James Webb Space Telescope will never see the light of day. Leaving Us with nothing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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