Starship Asterisk*

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Oct. 31) - NASA will send a space shuttle to repair the 16-year-old Hubble Space Telescope, agency Administrator Michael Griffin announced Tuesday, reversing his predecessor's order that had nixed the mission.

On the news tonight reports that a new scheduled repair shuttle flight is ordered for 2008 to the Hubble Space Telescope with an emergency shuttle standing by in case a rescue mission is needed.
I guess a new generation of students is greatly impressed with the photos that HST gathers from space. With other space telescopes being planed; man's knowledge will keep on growing.
Orin

I found this on the Hubble site. http://amazing-space.stsci.edu/news/archive/2006/05/
Orin

Wolf,
It's good news that APOD is not in danger, and that its' amazing deep insights into the Universe will continue.
Where would all the contributors go if it de-orbited and burned up?

John

I don't know what new science will be afforded by the newly proposed and scheduled Hubble servicing/upgrade mission but I too am looking foreward to it. While I don't believe that the eventual loss of the Hubble will eliminate the APOD site (there are too many other sources for APOD to draw from), HST's existance does enrich our understanding of and fosters enlightened discussions about all things in our visible universe. I think that it is well worth $900M if we get a good image of a Black Hole.


Rather than a de-orbit maneuver though, I would like to see one more servicing mission take place that would give the orbiter all the necessary tools to become an explorer of our solar system.

A good motor/propellant pack that would enable it to move about from planet to planet taking good clear images as it passes,
A new nuclear battery pack upgrade to enable it to be self powered as it reaches the nether regions of our solar system,
A new brain to be readily able to manage the data reception and transmission back to us on a timely basis,
And a new antenna array to make those transmissions possible.

Don't you think that encasing it in a rectangular cladding, with a blue flashing light on the top would be better?