"Explorer" wrote in news:1102520786.542893.191960
@f14g2000cwb.googlegroups.com:

This is a dumb idea. One of the chief purposes of the robotic servicing
mission for Hubble is to develop the technologies to allow automated
rendezvous and docking. If NASA cancels the robotic mission in favor of
this new idea, astronauts will be able to service the telescope, but we
will once again lose the opportunity to develop robotic technologies
critical for exploring the Moon and Mars.



Amen Brother.

Everyone is whining about how the robotic servicing mission costs so much.
The point of the robotic servicing mission wasn't to fix the hubble the
cheapest way possible, it was to build up the capability for on orbit
technologies....rendezvous+docking, human level dexterity, on orbit
repairs. All that stuff is worth the $2.2 billion, the fact that it's
saving the hubble instead of letting it fall to the ocean is a side
benefit.

I don't understand why the hubble is so high on some people's priority
lists. There are new telescopes in the pipeline that are going to be way
better. The only reason I want to save hubble is to see if we can get a
robot that will work.

Tom Kent