NASA Might Repair Aging Hubble Telescope

[rack'm]

WASHINGTON - Signs are promising for a repair of the aging but popular Hubble Space Telescope, once thought doomed because of worries over astronaut safety.

NASA set plans for a big announcement Tuesday after top officials met for three hours on Friday to consider the value and risks of sending astronauts to repair the Hubble, extending its life for several more years.

A NASA spokesman says the decision rests with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who hasn't yet made up his mind.

The space agency, however, sent out a press release about a gala announcement ceremony for Tuesday at the Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The Goddard center helps oversee the 16-year-old space telescope.

The use of the orbiting observatory is coordinated by the Space Science Telescope Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.


Source

 

[FireBrand]

WASHINGTON - Signs are promising for a repair of the aging but popular Hubble Space Telescope, once thought doomed because of worries over astronaut safety.

NASA set plans for a big announcement Tuesday after top officials met for three hours on Friday to consider the value and risks of sending astronauts to repair the Hubble, extending its life for several more years.

A NASA spokesman says the decision rests with NASA Administrator Michael Griffin, who hasn't yet made up his mind.

The space agency, however, sent out a press release about a gala announcement ceremony for Tuesday at the Goddard Space Center in Greenbelt, Md.

The Goddard center helps oversee the 16-year-old space telescope.

The use of the orbiting observatory is coordinated by the Space Science Telescope Institute at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.


Source

Picture this....
Astronauts doing a space walk, repairing the telescope when
the "Snap-On" tool shuttle pulls up............just in time !!

 

[tikipirate]

How will the A-nauts know when the roach coach pulls up? The air horn blast can't be propagated in a vacuum.

I could eat me some egg/cheese/green chile breakfast burritos right about now.

 

[Bavarian]

This is serious. With the recent destruction of Shuttle Columbia on reentry, NASA decided to only use the shuttles where the astronauts could wait on the ISS for a second vehicle. It seems the new foam Clinton ordered to be eco-friendly still has problems shedding on liftoff. If the astronaunts do attempt this repair, they will have to realize that their lives are worth less than the Hubble telescope. And the public must realize it also.

 

[aps45819]

WASHINGTON - Signs are promising for a repair of the aging Hubble Space Telescope,

How is it "aging"? It's not rusting in space so how do things "age" in outer space

 

[Kyle]

Space Construction...

Picture this...

2nd shuttle pulls up, beat-up, paint peeling, ladder-rack... with 14 Mexican Astronauts piled in the back.

Concrete forms get thrown off the back, hammers, shovels, couple of coolers....

 

[Dougstermd]

Picture this...

2nd shuttle pulls up, beat-up, paint peeling, ladder-rack... with 14 Mexican Astronauts piled in the back.

Concrete forms get thrown off the back, hammers, shovels, couple of coolers....

It would be a he11 of alot cheaper. I am still waiting for the roach coach though

 

[SamSpade]

How is it "aging"? It's not rusting in space so how do things "age" in outer space

Stuff just ... fails. If you go to Wikipedia and look it up, it mentions about instruments that eventually just gave out; gyroscopes that eventualy failed; power sources that depleted; and the fact that since it is in such a low orbit, it experiences drag, so it needs to be "pushed".

What I didn't know is, they're sending up a replacement for it in a few years.

 

[aps45819]

Stuff just ... fails. If you go to Wikipedia and look it up, it mentions about instruments that eventually just gave out; gyroscopes that eventualy failed; power sources that depleted; and the fact that since it is in such a low orbit, it experiences drag, so it needs to be "pushed".

What I didn't know is, they're sending up a replacement for it in a few years.

Dayum gubbermint, who else would think it's better to spend a billion dollors on a telescope than to change the batteries on the old one.

 

[SamSpade]

Dayum gubbermint, who else would think it's better to spend a billion dollors on a telescope than to change the batteries on the old one.

Yep, spend a few MILLION to upgrade your Commodore 64 rather than just replace it? You remember that it was flawed even before launch, and had to be corrected? That whole famous debacle about being tested with faulty diagnostic tools, and had to be "fixed" in space? And that like a lot of stuff sent into space, has survived a lot longer than expected?

Most times I have to hand it to the space program for spending both sides of a dollar - why they're even bothering with keeping the shuttle program going in place of something - well, not 35 years out of date.

Sometimes, buying new just makes more sense. Last week, my boss was forced to write a proposal to justify the purchase of a 100 dollar piece of software. The man-hours wasted to write and process the justification probably exceeded SEVERAL THOUSAND dollars. Penny-wise, pound-foolish. In their wish to save money, they waste a LOT more.

 

[aps45819]

Yep, spend a few MILLION to upgrade your Commodore 64 rather than just replace it?

How about if the delivery and set up charge on the replacement was $500,000,000?

 

[SamSpade]

How about if the delivery and set up charge on the replacement was $500,000,000?

I just know from experience, here, that trying to do things "on the cheap" frequently turns out to be MUCH more expensive. I know folks in the government still clanking out stuff on 286's - on Windows 3.1 - on DOS. On machines so slow and antiquated, they probably waste a fifth of their day waiting for stuff to complete.

I'll never understand why we can't hire an expert who WROTE OUR SYSTEMS part-time as a contractor - but we DO pay two complete nincompoops who essentially do nothing all day - and keep them on the payroll. I don't understand why I'm writing code with, and developing programs with software so out of date, Microsoft announced YEARS ago it was stopping support. Why, with Vista on the horizon - we're only now "upgrading" to Windows XP - an operating system that came out five years ago.

I can't tell you how often I've been embarassed at conferences and classes where colleagues ask when xxxxx software will be capable of doing something, only to be told it's been available since a release five years prior - and of course, we're using an EARLIER version.

We have printers that cost much more to maintain than it would be to REPLACE - but it would probably cost a fortune just to go through the process to propose replacement.

It's amazing to me how money is wasted, but a lot of it is done trying to be so cheap, we waste even more money.