Hubble cancelled

Yes, I mean a Shuttle mission to service Hubble.

I think Hubble is worth far more than seven lives. Although, I would hate to trade a shuttle for it. I think Hubble is more beneficial than ISS and certainly a better value both in $$ and risk/rewards. I'd certtainly sacrifice an ISS flight to service Hubble. Hubble should be maintained at least until it's replacement is in service.

Probably not, but it is a possibility that can happen.

Zoot,

This is definitely a point well taken, but to me the Hubble represents some of the best mankind has to offer. Certainly one of our crowning achievements... ever. How about instead of having a booster rendevous with the Hubble to "escort" it on the way down and make sure it hits ocean, we launch a booster to take it out of orbit and propel it out of the solar system? Send with it a disk of technical data and imagery the Hubble has collected over the years.

Louis

People die doing some remarkably inane, worthless things...things that would look much worse on a tombstone than "I died in a spaceship accident during the pursuit of my duties in attempting to repair/retrieve a multi- billion dollar piece of scientific equipment".

One topic I have not seen in this thread is design life. Most communication satellites are designed with a 10-15 year life, after which they have no more fuel on board and are deorbited.

While it is true that communication satellites reside up in the Clark Belt, way beyond the reach of the shuttle, the low orbit space craft are also de orbited after end of life since it is cheaper to replace them than to refuel and repair.

Hubble was launched in 1990 which makes it approximately 13 years old, and will operate for at least a few more years without a shuttle service. That means it has most likely completed it's "Design Life", and it is time for a replacement vehicle anyway.

I am all for a new push for NASA to do some exploring. Moon and Mars missions will be a change of pace and will make news and therefore get funding.

No, Bush gets all credit for this one.

Chuck Stewart wrote: ...

somehow I am glad Wernher Von Braun did not have to watch Skylab fall down.

On average you will have to justify 13% of a human life. On any given mission, you will probably have to justify 0 lives or 7 lives. It's the latter possibility that makes the beaurocrats and politicians nervous.

But it's precisely that you both volunteered, and took responsibility for the decision that makes this different. The astronauts volunteer, and if they die the managers take responsibility, lose jobs, etc. The real question in their mind, at some level, is "is Hubble maintenance worth losing my job, my retirment and my kids college fund over?" And the answer comes out "no." The fact that I haven't heard a big fuss from NASA via leaks makes me think they are happy to get a new mission (to the extent an organization is "happy".)

Homer Hickam, on Saturday had an editorial at

(registration required, but they seem to be very good about not spamming) in which he argued for the Moon/Mars mission, and said that NASA is < 1% of the US budget, i.e. is essentially noise among all the pork. So it's not money, its about a desire by certain political groups that every resource available be spent on certain programs (e.g. HHS, which chews up 34% of the budget, significantly more than even Defense), and by other groups not caring about anything other than that which amuses them at the moment.

It is for this reason that I do fear the worst happening, and NASA just going away. On the plus side, that might lead to one less obstacle for private space travel...

Sam Midkiff

A better email address than the one given in the message header is: s m i d k i f f aaaat p u r d u e dottttt e d u

I could possibly see risking 7 people for one last servicing mission.

Problem is, it also takes out one of the remaining 3 shuttles - so not only do we lose the astronauts, but we also lose that capacity to finish the ISS.

I can't see risking 7 people to bring the thing back to be a hangar queen in some museum. Especially since such a retrieval mission was deemed too dangerous and decided against BEFORE Columbia died.

Look, we've already got an incredible memorial to Hubble.

It's the data.

Zooty

If we had the money, I'd say fine.

What does Hubble weigh? 24,000 lbs What does Voyager weigh? 1800 lbs

See any problems? What is that, 12-13x?

I wonder how big an ion engine you'd need for that. It's not like speed is a concern, beyond getting it out of earth orbit....

I gotta take off. Anyone wanna back-envelope it for me?

Zooty

It didn't stop the nureaucrats from throwing away 500 so far in Iraq and over 58,000 in Vietnam. Most of the ones in Vietnam were *not* volunteers.

Tom

I respectfully disagree. I don't consider them thrown away.

That IS true. Most were not volunteers and yes it was too many. You'd have to blame both political parties and several presidents for Vietnam.

Randy

Hubble was designed to be serviced.

Hubble is in a low orbit that decays due to atmospheric drag. The orbit is allowed to decay (lower) untill it reaches an altitude that the Shuttle can easily reach. After servicing, it reposted into a higher orbit and the decay cycle starts again. At some point it may be cheaper to replace Hubble, but untill a non servicable part fails (like major structure) it makes economic sence to service it in orbit.

Hubble is currently opperating with only four of six gyros. It needs to be serviced befor two more gyros fail. You cannot predict when that will happen with any certainty.

Hubble already has legacy of collected data, but there is much more of the universe to see and learn from. I'd hate to see Hubble terminated by executive decision before a replacement enters service.

I object to terminating Hubble for a "change of pace"!

Alan

Same here.

I would rather not enter into any "ISS" discussions, and prefer to maintain my own counsel regarding that endeavor.

On that point I will also agree. Wow. Better stop this before people think we have hatched a plot.

Or hatched a chicken egg... ;)

What I want to know is... who sat on the egg :)

Ted Novak TRA#5512

Better yet, Who laid the egg?

WHy d I see all this leading to the return of Reagan's "Star Wars" program instead...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

At least he'd have aimed it towards London instead of Oz...

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!

Hubble should be terminated when there is no longer any work for it to do. We are not there yet.

Bob Kaplow NAR # 18L TRA # "Impeach the TRA BoD" >>> To reply, remove the TRABoD!