SHould we repair the Hubble Space Telescope?

[coloradodem2005]

THe Hubble Space Telescope has been one of the greatest tool for education about space. It along with the space station has been one of our greatest achievments in Space Exploration. On 60 Minutes they were talking about not repairing it because of the Columbia disaster. So now the Shuttles are only supposed to have the space station completed by 2010. THere is debate about whether or not the decision not to repair it should stand. We have had this telescope to educate us for nearly 15 years. People think that they have all their questions answered. I think that we have barely scratched the surface in terms of what we can learn. We need this to help us learn more, even as we travel into space. I think that we need to maintain and improve this to get the maximum amount out of it.

[jpgray]

1. Hell YES. Astronomers are up in arms about this nonsense (nt)

[Wonk]

32. mp3 & vp3 here from 60 Minutes, re: Hubble, and Ditto, re: Hell YES.

3 M mp3

47 M vp3

[Faygo Kid]

2. Yes - one of science's greatest inventions.

Can play no useful role in developing space-based weaponry, though, so the Bush Administration doesn't want to fund it. My screen saver is images from the Hubble. Great stuff.

[gmoney]

3. Yeah, one of the most useful things the US ever did...

So George W. wants to be the one to kill it off. It figures.

Too much science seems to make Repugs fearful... hey guys, look at it this way. God invented science, if you want to think about it that way.

Click the button to sign the petition!

[coloradodem2005]

7. Thanks.

This is good.

[papau]

4. Hell yes - Mars can wait as can robot cars - Hubble is real, works well

and can not be replaced anytime soon.

[proud patriot]

5. Yes !

n/t

[GainesT1958]

6. Hubble is VITAL to our understanding...

What--and where--we came from...and where we're GOING, too!

So...to me there's NO QUESTION about it...YES!

B-)

[Deja Q]

8. Wait, we're supposed to go to Mars yet it's too !&^$ DANGEROUS to

go up and fix a telescope that's tens of millions of miles CLOSER to the Earth!?!

I have a little problem with all this! Mars would be the more dangerous mission, by far, until we get a faster and more reliable means of propulsion...

What a bunch of smegheads!

[punpirate]

9. Yes, of course it should be repaired....

But, the assertion that the ISS is one of our greatest achievements stretches it a bit too much. That thing is the Edsel of outer space....

[pmbryant]

12. Good point about the ISS

It seems like the only things the astronauts do in it is to repair it.

:crazy:


The achievements of Hubble are very real, however, and it should not be scrapped prematurely. Many scientists have devoted years of their careers and the taxpayers have spent many tens of millions of dollars on the next generation of equipment for Hubble. All that would be scrapped with the Hubble if it is left to rot in space because of the short-sighted, foolhardy decisions of the Bush administration.

--Peter

[DieboldMustDie]

10. Hubble's ability to look billions of years into the past...

must really piss off fundies who think the universe is only a few thousand years old. :evilgrin:

Oh yes, I think the maintenance work should be done.

[OKNancy]

29. That's my first thought

Wonder if there is a bio somewhere of the NASA chief that tells his viewpoint on this?

Edit: yup...a Republican shill. More interested in budget than science. http://www.nasa.gov/about/highlights/AN_Feature_Administrator.html

[MrScorpio]

11. Yes. Without a doubt

[TOhioLiberal]

13. My answer....

HELL YEA! It pisses me off no end that Bush* is killing it. The images we are getting are spectacular! And we're going to lose it :grr:

Check out these links:

http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/astropix.html/ <--has a picture of the day
http://heritage.stsci.edu/ the Hubble Heritage Project--click on 'gallery' for some execellent pictures. Look at them and weep; for THIS is what we are losing... :cry:

[SW FL Dem]

14. Without a Doubt! n/t

[LastKnight]

15. you get the rocket ill get the tools! nt

[Zero Gravitas]

16. Yes!

The golden age of Astronomy is now, thanks in large part to the HST!

It should not be sacrificed to War-President Bush's cynical political scheming.

[ldf]

17. absolutely!

on tonight's 60 minutes one of the excuses was they didn't want to risk lives just to fix a telescope.

well, let astronomer astronauts go then! there would be plenty of volunteers.

they infer that the only reason left good enough to go up is the space station.

just how soon, after they start lauching again, do you think it will be before there is another launch for a military mission?

hmmmmmm?

[beanball]

19. absolutely not

we should fill the stomachs of the hungry in this country instead of the pockets of the greedy space thieves.

[coloradodem2005]

21. THe Hubble telescope has nothing to do with greedy space thieves.

While I agree that we need to deal with problems on earth, one of the problems is that we need to educate ourselves and the Hubble is a good way to do that.


The greedy space thieves agenda is to militarize space. The hubble was specifically for exploratory purposes.

[Burma Jones]

35. We will fill the stomachs of the Hungry

Just as soon as the Republicans have finished putting them in Jail.

[Xithras]

18. No

Hubble is approaching the limits of what it can provide in terms of "useful science". In an infinite universe we could spend an eternity with the Hubble and never run out of pretty things to look at, but there ARE hard limits to the Hubble is capable of resolving.

The Hubble is reaching the end of its service life. It's time to retire it and PUSH UP the launch date of the JWST. JWST, with over double the mirror, will provide far more useful science (and pretty pictures) than Hubble is capable of. While many astronomers may get depressed at the thought of losing Hubble, I can't see how they can objectively demand that it be maintained at the expense of NASA's other science missions. Scrap Hubble, deal with the GBT's for a few years, and start putting together your NGST wish list. Personally, I can't wait for Webb :)

[coloradodem2005]

22. How do you know that hubble is towards the end.

Most of the equipment being delivered is not so much repair as enhancement. Furthermore, its life has not run its course. If we don't repair it, it will come to a premature end. Furthermore, the Hubble has been up there for nearly 15 years and we know things we never knew before we launched it. Imagine what we could know tomorrow. You do not know that we have figured out all that we need to know about space. There could be so much more to learn.

[Xithras]

23. It's at the end of its planned life.

Look, Hubble was conceived in the 60's, designed in '77, finished in '85, and launched in '90 with a planned on-orbit lifespan on 15 years. It may be returning good pictures, but there's no arguing the point that it's old technology and an even older design that has done a wonderful job of fufilling all of its mission goals. We could probably keep Hubble running another 30 years if we really wanted to, but you should ask yourself: If we can get this kind of science with 25 year old technology, what kind of discoveries can we make with modern telescope technology and computing?

With proper management, the HST team should be able to squeeze a few more years of useful life out of the Hubble (even without the service mission), taking it well beyond its original design lifetime. SM4 could have potentially stretched Hubbles useful life to 2013 or more, but that's a moot point as NASA has always planned on shutting Hubble down after Webb is launched. The problem right now is that funding, engineering issues, and NASA's Hubble/ISS fixations have allowed Webb's launch schedule to slip from 2009 to 2011. JWST will be able to see up to 100 times more universe than Hubble, and will not simply replace HST but far surpass it. Rather than complaining to NASA about killing quarter century old technology, complain to them about their NOT getting the new one up on time. If they can get back on track, the gap between the Hubble deorbit and the Webb launch could be as little as 24 months.

[BiggJawn]

26. So what's your point? Palomar was built in the 30's.

And they still get good science out of it.
Don't blame the Hubble for delaying JWST, that's O'Keefe's fault for deciding he can stay at NASA by becoming a Bush-licker and flushing everything except the "Moonbase Alpha" pogrom.Even if they abandoned Hubble TODAY, Webb would still be behind schedule.

Hell, I was "launched" in the 50's, and they still get good performance out of me...

[Xithras]

36. Palomar doesn't require a $400 million dollar upgrade every 5 years

There's a BIG cost and manpower difference between maintaining equipment on the ground and in space.

[TXlib]

27. I disagree

The HST should be repaired.

Sure, we've probed as deeply as we can with the hubble, but there are hordes of closer objects we haven't investigated with it yet.

Plus, the JWST will be an infrared observatory; HST is the only visible light telescope in the sky.

[Xithras]

37. Visible makes for interesting screensavers, but IR is better science

Two points:

1) I would HOPE that you'd agree that the point of launching these scopes is to improve science, not to provide us with pretty pictures. Spitzer is already providing us with great science in the IR range, and Webb will push our visible boundaries quite literally to the edge of the universe.

2) JWST is a near infrared scope and is quite capable of taking spectacular 3 color images. Check out: http://www.jwst.nasa.gov/science/NGC891.html That image was taken using one of JWST's detectors coupled to a scope here on Earth. It's a pretty picture, but it will be stunning when coupled to the actual JWST mirror in space. The pretty pictures won't end with Hubble.

[DemPoliticalJunkie]

20. Hell YES!

[VOX]

24. Yes, yes, yes.

The information coming from its recent photos alone is enought to warrant repair.

If we have any curiosity about learning about our universe, we must keep it operating.

[ScreamingMeemie]

25. Yes..no question.

:hi:

[commander bunnypants]

28. yep

once step closer to puttin the Chimp on the moon.

Seriously, Yes- one step closer back to the moon, we will need the resources.

Ah hell, train me and I will go and probably never come back

DDQM

[OKNancy]

30. Plan under review....humm

http://www.space.com/scienceastronomy/hubble_gehman_040129.html

[youngred]

31. ABSOLUTELY

there is no reason not to

[northzax]

33. hell no

those resources should go towards teaching children real science: intelligent design.

If god wanted us to have space telescopes, he's have given them to us, or at least prophecied them in the bible.

[Burma Jones]

34. No, we should sell it to the Chinese for some Magic Beans

Or something equally mythological. It does seem to be the Chimp's view towards science.....