NYT: Death Sentence for the Hubble?

In article ,
Christopher M. Jones wrote:
...However, a telescope in an orbit with such a
low lifetime would also need frequent reboosts, which would
require a lot of onboard propellant and frequent usage of some
sort of thruster. Things which are not terribly compatable
with high precision optical astronomy equipment...

No, it just means you have to choose propulsion systems carefully,
avoiding orthodox hypergolics and other systems which spew out condensible
garbage that can easily contaminate optics. Xenon Hall-effect thrusters
or an ammonia arcjet would be good choices.
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"Think outside the box -- the box isn't our friend." | Henry Spencer
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