Hubble Servicing Mission 4 cancelled?

Hubble's replacement is being built right now. Its called the James
Webb Space Telescope. It's due to launch in 2011.

From what I understand, the design is finalized
and the contractors have been selected. But no
actual building has yet been done. So it
could still be a target for cancellation.

John Honan posted:

All seems very coincidental. Two days ago a large chunk of NASA budget is
'reallocated' to fund the future moon/mars projects. And now they announce
they're cancelling the Hubble servicing missions.... on safety grounds?

Although I find the decision to abandon servicing Hubble questionable, in all
honesty, there are grounds for safety here. They have decided that no mission
which is not capable of reaching the space station for shuttle inspection or
repair (or temporary crew housing) will not be flown. Apparently, they
essentually have given up on the attempts to repair a damaged shuttle in orbit
made from that damaged orbiter (not at the ISS), and without that, the risk
for a mission other than to ISS is apparently considered too high. It would
probably be more cost effective to just build a better expendable version and
launch it (as they are doing with the James Webb Space Telescope), rather than
risk more lives. Clear skies to you.
--
David W. Knisely
Prairie Astronomy Club: http://www.prairieastronomyclub.org
Hyde Memorial Observatory: http://www.hydeobservatory.info/

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On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 00:08:28 -0600, David Knisely wrote:

Although I find the decision to abandon servicing Hubble questionable, in all
honesty, there are grounds for safety here. They have decided that no mission
which is not capable of reaching the space station for shuttle inspection or
repair (or temporary crew housing) will not be flown. Apparently, they
essentually have given up on the attempts to repair a damaged shuttle in orbit
made from that damaged orbiter (not at the ISS), and without that, the risk
for a mission other than to ISS is apparently considered too high. It would
probably be more cost effective to just build a better expendable version and
launch it (as they are doing with the James Webb Space Telescope), rather than
risk more lives. Clear skies to you.

The value of the HST isn't just worth risking lives for, it is worth losing them
for. I have no doubt that there are plenty of people more than willing to take
that risk. I would.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

Martin wrote:
Basically NASA can't afford to lose another shuttle. They have lost 40%
of the fleet so far.

Not using a tool because you are worried that it might break is
functionally indistinguishable from not having the tool.

Best,
Stephen

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"Brian O'Halloran" wrote in message
...
Looks like the next Hubble servicing mission has been cancelled on
saftey grounds, according to NASA Watch:

http://www.nasawatch.com

Bad day for my chosen profession.....

Brian

Maybe now the SST is up and running NASA feel less pressed to keep old
Hubble maintained, especially if they feel it is a risk. Although if they
miss the servicing this time, will they expect the HST to stay up until it's
planned 2010. (If I remember correctly, which I probably don't ;o) )

Personally, I think the SST has already sent back some stunning results but
I'd much rather have two sets of stunning results than one. NASA is running
high on the success of Spirit. Hopefully "Oppo" will touchdown safely and
buoyed by their success NASA will feel sufficiently confident to maintain
the HST. Hopefully.

Cheers,
Subz

In message , JXStern
writes
On Sat, 17 Jan 2004 01:01:36 -0000, "OG"
wrote:
So how many lives is Hubble worth?

One?
Six?
Twelve?

your son's?

your daughter's?

I daresay the rational computation of the risk involved is probably
something like 0.0001, about on a par with taking one or two skydiving
jumps, or commuting to work in Los Angeles on a motorcycle for a week.

When the decision was taken to destroy the Compton Gamma Ray
Observatory, someone calculated that the risk it posed was less than the
risk taken by the media people in driving to the press conference.
--
Rabbit arithmetic - 1 plus 1 equals 10
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In message , Ed
writes
Hubble's replacement is being built right now. Its called the James
Webb Space Telescope. It's due to launch in 2011.

From what I understand, the design is finalized
and the contractors have been selected. But no
actual building has yet been done. So it
could still be a target for cancellation.

Or at least down-sizing - again. It would be interesting to graph the
mirror size against time and see if it reaches zero by 2011 :-)
--
Rabbit arithmetic - 1 plus 1 equals 10
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

"Chris L Peterson" wrote:

The value of the HST isn't just worth risking lives for, it is worth losing
them for. I have no doubt that there are plenty of people more than
willing to take that risk. I would.


And many astronauts and astronomers would too. Here's a pertinent quote:

Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Missions: An Astronaut’s Perspective

John Grunsfeld PhD

"...the Hubble Space Telescope is regarded as the most significant and
productive scientific instrument ever crafted by humans. The mission of
NASA can be described as one of exploration, discovery and inspiration.
It is in part to enable great scientific discoveries in the exploration of the
universe that as astronauts we are willing to risk our lives.

Looking back on these servicing missions I feel that playing a part in the
success and scientific return from the Hubble Space Telescope is the most
important and significant achievement in my life. I can say without hesitation
that traveling to space to upgrade the instruments and ensure the future of
the Hubble Space Telescope was worth the potential risk to my life."

"adam bootle" wrote in message
...
I know this is going to sound stupid (mainly because I have just got home
form the pub !) but how about a shuttle mission to capture Hubble, remove
the solar panels, syncronize its orbit with Alpha and use its (Hubbles
solar
panels) attachment points to attach it to a large (read HUGE) fork mount
on
Alpha, and get more years use from it and make it easier to service !


Vibration from human activity and gunge from human waste and visiting
spacecraft rocket exhausts would quickly render a nice telescope completely
useless. Other than that, and the fact that no space system in use today
could change Hubble's orbit enough to match the space station's orbit, it
sounds a great idea.

A better possibility might be to put a space telescope in a parallel orbit
so that the station and telescope are close enough that servicing missions
could be carried out by astronauts using a simple "space jeep", but far
enough apart so that pollution near the station would not affect the
telescope. This would require some active "staton keeping" manouevres,
though.

Adam.Bootle

P.S. These are just the ramblings of a person who has had a few too many
,
and not my usual sober ramblings !



--
Mike Dworetsky

(Remove "pants" spamblock to send e-mail)

Hi there Gang,

well it looks like the HST is going to be pensioned off (shame I say!).

here's an idea (actually two):
a) Bolt the HST back onto the Space Station - makes repair very easy
b) Ask all amateur astronomers (and professionals as well) to donate £s (or
$s)
to keep the Telescope running so that we can all share in its vision.
There's a few Telescopes around the world that are run by volunteers
for the benefit of 'everyone', surely the HST would be the ultimate amateur
telescope.

Robert

"Subz" wrote in message
...
"Brian O'Halloran" wrote in message
...
Looks like the next Hubble servicing mission has been cancelled on
saftey grounds, according to NASA Watch:

http://www.nasawatch.com

Bad day for my chosen profession.....

Brian

Maybe now the SST is up and running NASA feel less pressed to keep old
Hubble maintained, especially if they feel it is a risk. Although if they
miss the servicing this time, will they expect the HST to stay up until
it's
planned 2010. (If I remember correctly, which I probably don't ;o) )

Personally, I think the SST has already sent back some stunning results
but
I'd much rather have two sets of stunning results than one. NASA is
running
high on the success of Spirit. Hopefully "Oppo" will touchdown safely and
buoyed by their success NASA will feel sufficiently confident to maintain
the HST. Hopefully.

Cheers,
Subz