Send shuttle to save Hubble: panel

[struggle4progress]

From AP
July 15, 2004
A NATIONAL panel of scientists recommended that NASA proceed with a plan to send astronauts to repair the Hubble Space telescope, even as the space agency solicits proposals for robots to do the work instead.

Without repairs, the 14-year-old orbiting observatory is expected to stop making observations by 2008, ending a spectacular string of discoveries at the furthest corners of the universe.
<snip>

Robot repairs are an intriguing possibility, said members of a special committee for the National Research Council, the investigative arm of the National Academies of Science.

But robots are complex and likely years from demonstrating the capabilities needed for a difficult high-orbit mission such as the telescope repairs. In an interim report released Tuesday, the committee unanimously recommended that NASA keep its original astronaut servicing plan intact, while attempting to develop robot technology.
<snip>

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,10142957%5E29098,00.html


Nasa's hopes of saving Hubble recede
By Victoria Griffith in Boston
Published: July 15 2004 5:00 | Last Updated: July 15 2004 5:00

The future of the Hubble space telescope looked grim yesterday after a high-level scientific panel conceded that repairing the observatory using robotics would be "difficult".


Scientists had been hoping that the telescope, which the panel called the "most important in history", could be salvaged by launching a robotic mission to change its battery and add new instruments.

In January Nasa, the US space agency, cancelled plans for human repair, calling a manned mission to the observatory too risky.

After an outcry from Congress and astronomers, Nasa had agreed to listen to recommendations from the National Academies' National Research Council. But Sean O'Keefe, head of Nasa, has been highly sceptical. Last month, he told the NRC committee such a robotic mission "would be really tough". Without a new battery, Hubble will probably fail within the next three years.
<more>

http://news.ft.com/servlet/ContentServer?pagename=FT.com/StoryFT/FullStory&c=StoryFT&cid=1087373733608