"Greg D. Moore (Strider)" wrote:

"starman" wrote in message
...

If the US abandons Hubble can another country claim the salvage rights
to it? Maybe this is why the US would rather deorbit it than place it in
a higher orbit for safe keeping.

No. There's really no concept of salvage rights in space since there's
really no way to abandon something (legally) in space.

The more you think about it, space law can get really tricky. For
example, if another country had the ability to service Hubble and wanted
to use it after the US was committed to shutting it down, would that
country have to get permission from the US for this use? If that country
did need permission but appropriated the use of Hubble without
permission, what could the US do? Perhaps the best way to avoid these
situations is to deorbit it.

BTW- What is the best guess about how large a space telescope (mirror
size) the US military currently has in orbit? Has anyone from a company
like Perkin-Elmer ever talked about the mirrors they've made for Uncle
Sam?


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