Question for astronomers,

[beam me up scottie]

What happens to Hubble if the Shuttle isn't launched this summer ?

[The Traveler]

1. It gets dicey

Hubble needs to be serviced at some point in the not so distant future. It really is a matter of how long the gyros really last and how successful they are at conserving expendables. The gyros are the big deal ... utterly necessary to steer and stabilize the plaform, and they just wear out over time. I think they need two to manage the scope, have a total of four, and one is already down. But I may have those numbers wrong.

Has it been decided to send a shuttle to service Hubble? That bit seems to have flipped a couple of times in recent months. For some reason, Bushies seem to think it is expendable. But then, Bushies are no friend of the sciences.

[RaleighNCDUer]

2. Hubble has no military application

so they don't care if it should crash & burn, or visa versa.

[Emperor_Norton_II]

4. It's a little more complicated than that

The NASA bureaucracy has, since Columbia, been scared shitless of another disaster like it happening, since that would more than likely kill the program entirely. As a contingency, they've decreed that all shuttle missions in the future are going to ISS, since if something bad happens to the orbiter they can hang out at the station until a rescue mission can be set up. Hubble and ISS don't operate anywhere near the same orbital inclination or altitude, so if something bad happened to an orbiter on a Hubble servicing mission, they'd be SOL. So, the Hubble servicing and decommissioning flights were removed from the schedule as soon as Return To Flight activities began.

That's the standing policy. The "save Hubble" protests and followup Congressional inquiries into the matter (bipartisan, I might add) have forced NASA brass to backtrack from abandoning the telescope to devising a robotic service mission. I suspect that further pressure from Congress may end up in getting at least one more servicing mission back on the books.

[The Traveler]

7. Yeah, there's risk

There always is. The ISS hideout approach works only if there is DETECTABLE damage to the shuttle. However, there is a lot of ways that sucker can fail without the damage being detectable. Let's face it ... those are old birds.

Still, we will not succeed in space without taking chances ... and the odds of success are in this case good. I'd suit up for it in a heartbeat. (I applied for the astronaut program back in the seventies but was, of course, rejected. I'm a REJECT!!!! :cry:)

[beam me up scottie]

3. This is what concerned me:

"New NASA Administrator Mike Griffin, appointed April 13, 2005, has promised to reconsider the cancellation of Servicing Mission 4, based on the performance of the shuttle as it returns to flight."

http://hubblesite.org/newscenter/newsdesk/future/

[Emperor_Norton_II]

5. Griffin's hedging his bets

If RTF and the next couple of ISS assembly missions after it go smoothly enough, and if the flight guys can come up with something resembling a quick-fix kit before Hubble's gyros fail, then he can put SM4 on the schedule and be the hero. If they can't he can wash his hands of the problem by saying it's too dangerous to send a crew out.

[beam me up scottie]

6. That's why I

really hope this launch goes off without a hitch.

[beam me up scottie]

8. Anyone who hasn't already, PLEASE

sign the petition to save Hubble !

http://savehubble.org/

[Wilber_Stool]

9. While watching CSPAN this week

believe I saw the vote to authorize it's repair. It passed.

[beam me up scottie]

10. I didn't catch that.

Of course, I executed my tv months ago.
I'll see if I can find it on their website.
Thanks.

[Wilber_Stool]

11. Oops

This is this week. I mean last week.

[beam me up scottie]

12. Thanks !

C-Span on the net is a great resource for the tv-less.