Hubble

[Zargon]

Is the scope down? has it been down?
I realize it is getting repaired but is it currently non operational?

[Zargon]

Looks like I may have got my question answered.
I was watching NASA TV and someone said Main TX for data was OTS and
on standby TX. I guess no pretty pictures.

[BMAONE23]

It looks like most of these images were taken this year

[iamlucky13]

It's currently operating, but not at full capacity. It was offline for several weeks in the past year because it's primary science computer (which handles data TX) failed. Migrating to the backup computer, which is identically redundant, but booted down, took a large part of that time. That failure actually delayed the current servicing mission, which was originally scheduled for October of 2008, so they could prep the ground spare of the computer system for launch so Hubble would have a functional and a backup computer onboard after the servicing mission.

The servicing mission is also replacing one of the cameras with a newer, more sensitive version, as well as one of the spectrographs. They'll be fixing another camera and a spectrograph that are offline due to electrical faults, replacing the aging batteries, and replacing all six of the gyroscopes that handle the aiming of Hubble. The batteries and gyroscopes are parts expected to wear out over time, and will likely be the limiting factor in Hubble's final end-of-life. Lastly, they're adding a docking grapple so when Hubble does die, a de-orbiting module can be launched on a cheap, unmanned rocket to de-orbit it in a controlled manner.

[grump]

... Lastly, they're adding a docking grapple so when Hubble does die, a de-orbiting module can be launched on a cheap, unmanned rocket to de-orbit it in a controlled manner.

One would think that Hubble is too important a relic to throw away - they should make every effort to retrieve it more or less in one piece so it can be displayed in the Smithsonian or similar museum, or alternatively keep it in orbit for future (space faring) generations to look at.

[BMAONE23]

they should build a heat shield coccoon to surround the orbiter and then deorbit and collect it for the smithsonian

[rocketman]

A minor nit to pick... isn't this the 5th mission to repair Hubble? Mission #3 was split into 2, so called 3A and 3B missions.
Details of the first 4 missions:
http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/tea ... ssions.php

Paul M.

[orin stepanek]

A minor nit to pick... isn't this the 5th mission to repair Hubble? Mission #3 was split into 2, so called 3A and 3B missions.
Details of the first 4 missions:
http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/tea ... ssions.php

Paul M.

I should have known better that to click on to the Hubble url; froze up my computer again; but I keep trying. Anyway I'm not going to nit pic about how many missions. Rather; I want to say how awesome that gantry is! 8) It would be almost scary to be working on one of the decks and see how high off the ground you are. Anyhow; the picture was worthy of adding to my collection of wallpapers.
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap090513.html

Orin

[Zargon]

Thank you for your Outstanding replys.

I feel very honored as a human being that We all as a People
are putting such effort into a device For All Mankind
which has no real profit margin..

What a Honorable Task..

Great Luck to STS 125.

Gregory Dolgoff.

[neufer]

I want to say how awesome that gantry is! 8)
It would be almost scary to be working on one of the decks and see how high off the ground you are.

-----------------------------------------
GANTRY, [Middle English ganter, gauntre, wooden stand for barrels, from Old North French gantier, wooden frame,
from Latin canthērius, from Greek kanthēlios, pack ass.]

1. A mount for a traveling crane consisting of a large archlike or bridgelike frame designed to move along a set of tracks.

2. A similar spanning frame supporting a group of railway signals over several tracks.

3. Aerospace. A massive vertical frame structure used in assembling or servicing a rocket, especially at a launch site.

4. A support for a barrel lying on its side.
-----------------------------------------
Elmer GANTRY: I have here in my pocket - and thank heaven you can't see them - lewd, dirty, obscene, and I'm ashamed to say this: French postcards. They were sold to me in front of your own innocent high school by a man with a black beard... a foreigner.

[Zargon]

Very Beautiful photo. 8)

[bystander]

A minor nit to pick... isn't this the 5th mission to repair Hubble? Mission #3 was split into 2, so called 3A and 3B missions.

Yes, Hubble Space Telescope - Servicing Mission 4 (HST SM4: STS-125) is kind of a misnomer.

[aristarchusinexile]

The photo kind of looks like Disneyworld.

[DavidLeodis]

It is a superb image. With all that fuel around I'm not surprised the lightning rod is so tall.

In the APOD explanation it states "Starting on Sunday, the space shuttle embarked...". That would seem to imply the launch was on Sunday May 10, but in all the other information that I've seen it is said to have been on May 11 under Universal Time and under mainland United States Time Zones. I asssume that "Sunday" is a clerical error but I wonder if embarked is used in a different sense than meaning launched.

[neufer]

The photo kind of looks like Disneyworld.

[iamlucky13]

A minor nit to pick... isn't this the 5th mission to repair Hubble? Mission #3 was split into 2, so called 3A and 3B missions.

Yes, Hubble Space Telescope - Servicing Mission 4 (HST SM4: STS-125) is kind of a misnomer.

It's the fifth STS mission to service the Hubble, but it's the fourth servicing program/mission.

One would think that Hubble is too important a relic to throw away - they should make every effort to retrieve it more or less in one piece so it can be displayed in the Smithsonian or similar museum, or alternatively keep it in orbit for future (space faring) generations to look at.

If the shuttle were still in service in 2014 or so when it's expected to reach final end of life, it would cost around $500 million to $1 billion to recover it, and they would be going against the recommendations of the Columbia Accident Investigation Board by doing so. Remember, this mission to keep operational longer almost didn't happen because the risk of launching the shuttle without "safe haven" at the ISS was deemed by many as unacceptable. But the shuttle isn't planned to be in service then, and any new-fangled scheme to bring it down would likely cost several times as much. Leaving it up there will require adding a reboost module to it, and be one more non- or minimally-functional satellite to keep track of, while taking public money away from other projects.

It will be a pity to see such a wonderful piece of hardware meet a fiery end, but that's what's practical. NASA's mission isn't space memorabilia.

[neufer]

Leaving it up there will require adding a reboost module to it, and be one more non- or minimally-functional satellite to keep track of, while taking public money away from other projects.

The current plan is actually to add a deboost module:

<<One of the tasks to be accomplished during a series of Atlantis spacewalks is the installation of a docking device that a future robotic craft could hook onto - in order to drive Hubble out of orbit to a controlled, fiery re-entry. Zimmerman points out that the same docking device could conceivably accommodate spaceships carrying the supplies and/or the personnel for yet another servicing mission. Might Hubble's best successor in 2014 be ... Hubble itself? "If Hubble is still functioning, and there is no replacement, I'm willing to bet NASA will not be talking about deorbiting it. They'll be talking about keeping it alive," Zimmerman said. "This is the telescope that refuses to die.">>

[BMAONE23]

I would still like to see them recapture it and bring it back (even robotically) in a fashiln similar to what was done in that old Bond Film "You Only Live Twice"