Hubble Telescope Servicing Not Worth the Risk
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has announced that it will not be performing an additional planned repair to the Hubble Space Telescope and that the telescope will stop working earlier than planned. The repair would have required space walks by shuttle astrounauts and the shuttle will now perform only work needed to complete the International Space Station (ISS).
Many in the science community have complained and requested that the Hubble repair be re-considered. What these individuals fail to understand is that going to the Hubble for repairs would violate the rules governing the use of the shuttle since the Columbia Shuttle accident and the ground rules in the Columbia Accident Investigation Board Report. The shuttle needs to be examined for heat tile damage while at the ISS before a return-to-earth flight. Going to the Hubble would place the shuttle in an orbit that will not allow the shuttle to travel to the ISS since Hubble and the ISS are in two very different earth orbits. Moving from one earth orbit to another is not as easy as many might think.
The Hubble Telescope should be allowed to continue its mission as-is until its components evetually fail. Risking the life of even one astronaut is not worth it, especially when much of the science that Hubble now does can be done from other newer orbiting observatories or ground base telescopes.
02/21/04 ( 274 )
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