From: LARRY KLAES (ljk4_at_msn.com)
Date: Fri Dec 05 2003 - 07:27:42 PST
http://www.al.com/news/huntsvilletimes/index.ssf?/base/news/107056363183970.xml
Eye on the universe may soon be closed
Shuttle needed to rescue Hubble, NASA official says
12/04/03
By SHELBY G. SPIRES
Times Aerospace Writer shelbys_at_htimes.com
WASHINGTON - The life of NASA's window to the universe - the Hubble Space Telescope - may be cut short if the space shuttle is not returned to flight soon, a senior NASA Advisory Council member said Wednesday.
Dr. Andrew B. Christensen, chairman of the council's Space Sciences Advisory Committee, said delays in a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission planned next year could lead to the telescope's demise.
Hubble was designed and managed by Marshall Space Flight Center throughout the late 1970s and 1980s. It is placed in a low orbit of about 300 miles. But that orbit degrades over time, and the $1 billion space telescope has always relied on shuttle servicing missions to boost it back to a higher orbit.
NASA put the next servicing mission on hold after the Feb. 1 Columbia accident. The Columbia Accident Investigation Board has since suggested all shuttle missions be made only to the International Space Station. The station could serve as a safe haven if there is a problem with the shuttle.
Fred Gregory, NASA's deputy administrator, said the Hubble mission presents a dilemma the space agency will have to resolve soon.
"There is certainly a value and a beauty to the Hubble," Gregory said. "But we are looking at a decision that pits great science versus safety."
Mark McDaniel, an advisory council member and Huntsville lawyer, said the space agency should "do everything possible" to save the Hubble. "The work Hubble does is one of the jewels of the agency. It's one of NASA's most visible success stories," he said.
Christensen said Hubble had provided so much astronomy data over the past five years "it's turned astro-science on its side and reversed many notions about the universe."
There has been no word on when or if a fourth Hubble service mission would be flown, Christensen said. But if the fourth mission doesn't launch around 2007, it might be too late. If it slips too far into the future, then the telescope will plummet back to Earth, he said.
The fourth mission would replace gyroscopes and batteries, extending Hubble's life for another five years, Christensen said.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.6 : Fri Dec 05 2003 - 07:42:13 PST