Bye Bye Hubble (Krioma.net Blog)

Bye Bye Hubble

Well it seems it might almost be time to say goodbye to possibly the most scientifically productive spacecraft ever launched.

This is due to a final planned shuttle mission to service and upgrade the Hubble Space Telescope, being cancelled, primarily because of post-Columbia safety concerns and a new directive to retire the shuttle by 2010.

The decision means an advanced camera and light-splitting spectrograph - both already built - will not be installed. A bit of a waste but well I guess you can not put people's lives in danger over a few parts! It could go on to 2007 but this is unsure. The next optical telescope the James Webb is not likely to be in operation till 2011 thus leaving a gap that NASA is not happy about.

For more info, see:

http://spaceflightnow.com/news/n0401/16hubblesm4/ and http://hubble.gsfc.nasa.gov/servicing-missions/

Posted on January 18, 2004 1:57 PM | Permalink Useful? Then Digg It

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