Re: Bush cancels Hubble telescope rescue mission

From: Turgeson (Turgeson_at_barometer.net)
Date: 01/28/05 

Date: Thu, 27 Jan 2005 19:59:45 -0500

gregg saville@comcast.net wrote in message: news:<HOqdnamm1-v19WrcRVn-
3A@comcast.com>
> Eric Chomko wrote:
>
>
> > I think Mark Whittington in his article on the HST repair:
> > http://www.washingtondispatch.com/article_10682.shtml
> >
> > ...makes a very good point. If we plan to go on to the moon and Mars with
> > manned missions then we shouldn't flinch at not ding the HST repair due to
> > a risk factor. There will ALWAYS be risk.
>
> I don't see anyone disputing that there's risk in this mission or in Space
> travel in general.
>
> But some of the questions are:
>
> Is the risk limited to the Shuttle and it's crew, and the HST?
>
> Is the risk worth the gain? the possible losses?
>
> > Ah, so it CAN be done, but not with the shuttle. And, with a vehicle that
> > we don't have and is simply too expensive. Geez, why do I get the feeling
> > we are going backwards instead of forward with all this?
>
> Does it seem impossible to you that the time it would take NASA to design
> and build a vehicle, that can go from HST orbit to ISS orbit, would be so
> long that the question of saving HST is moot?
>
> Question:
>
> What is the status of the NExt Generation Space Telescope?
>
>
>
It's not an optical telescope like Hubble was.

A Canadian company won the contract to fix Hubble. Their the same ones who
built the robot arm on the space station.

It was a huge contract! And a brilliant idea to fix it too.

http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/05/mda.hubble.reut/

VANCOUVER, British Columbia (Reuters) -- MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates
Ltd said Wednesday it has signed a $154 million deal to help NASA's
controversial repair mission to fix the aging Hubble Space Telescope.

The Canadian firm, which built the Canadarm robotic arm technology used on
NASA's space shuttles, said it will supply "potential information and robotic
servicing solutions" for the Hubble repair mission.

NASA officials said in August they planned to use the Canadian robot technology
in a bid to replace fading batteries and gyroscopes on the telescope that has
helped scientists explore the origins of the cosmos since its launch in 1990.

The decision was blasted by a scientific panel that said in December it would
be better to use shuttle astronauts for the repairs, because the robot plan was
technologically riskier and less likely to succeed.

The U.S. space agency had planned to use astronauts for the repair, but
canceled the idea after the shuttle Columbia disaster in February 2003 that
killed seven astronauts.

MDA chief executive Dan Friedmann said the Hubble project would demonstrate
that robots can perform critical tasks in space.

"The Hubble mission and our strategic participation in other space missions
will demonstrate that robots can cost-effectively complete complex tasks in
space, while working together with astronauts on the ground." Friedmann said in
a statement.

Shares of MDA were up 10 Canadian cents at C$27.10 on the Toronto Stock
Exchange Wednesday afternoon.

MDA signed a C$6.5 million deal in December with Lockheed Martin Corp. to work
on docking technology that would allow spacecraft to rendezvous with Hubble and
remove the space observatory from orbit.

Relevant Pages

  • NASA says Hubble repair mission is a go
    ... NASA will send a space shuttle to repair the 16-year-old Hubble Space ... his predecessor's decision to nix the mission. ...
    (sci.space.shuttle)
  • Re: How do we keep Hubble up there?
    ... Despite all the nostalgia around these parts, IMO Hubble is an antique ... servicing mission at over $2 billion dollars, ... > world need to work together to build a better space telescope or HST ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Hubble status?
    ... might be dead until the rescheduled repair mission next year. ... That is not correct - the Hubble has not resumed normal operations. ... The SDF mediates communications between the science ...
    (sci.astro.amateur)
  • Re: Gute Nacht ISS
    ... Fuer den Preis einer HST Repair Mission kriegt man ... die des VLTs und die des 100m OWL Teleskops. ... OWL verglichen mit der des HST. ... Milliarde Euro und damit deutlich billiger als die Hubble Repair ...
    (de.sci.raumfahrt)
  • Re: Bush cancels Hubble telescope rescue mission
    ... :>> The problem with Hubble is complicated. ... :>any additional mission has the effect of extending the time the ... This makes the HST repair mission very expensive ... Rand, ...
    (sci.space.policy)