hubble

Link to MSNBC "The fight for Hubble’s life begins anew" -- As of now 76% of those responding were in favor of keeping the Hubble alive

07/13/2004 NASA urges that NASA commit to a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope that accomplishes the objectives of the originally planned SM-4

12/08/2004 Space Shuttle Should Conduct Final Servicing Mission To Hubble Space Telescope

01/16/2005 NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe announced his decision to call off ... Servicing Mission 4" -- Hubble's Future, HubbleSite NewsCenter

Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope: Final Report (2005) -- Space Studies Board, Aeronautics and Space Engineering Board



1. NASA should commit to a servicing mission to the Hubble...
   
2. NASA (should) pursue a shuttle servicing mission...
   
3. A robotic mission should be pursued solely to de-obrit Hubble...
   
   

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As I felt we should support the telescope, if practical, I asked the following, and after looking at the NASA site, I am discurraged, in that it looks as though NASA is recommending that the HUBBLE be killed because human repairs are too risky and robot repairs are not practical at this time.

. 1) Does NASA have any estimates of the cost, risk, and probable success of repairing it, via robots or humans? -- NASA seems to feel that a human effort is justified and should be done

. 2) Is NASA determining that it is not cost/risk effective to repair it, if their funding is not increased as expected, or is this a determination by the White House -- It seems that the decision to kill the Hubble is that of the administration not NASA

. 3) If it is a NASA determination, then what are their other priorities so that we could decide if they are right in their priorities and how much more would they need to decide that the repair was justified?

. 4) Would there be some way to set up a Charity that would pay NASA to repair the Hubble? (I assume that "1)" would tell us what we would need to put into it), and if we were able to do so would the government and NASA accept the money or is this decision a Done Deal, and not about money

Statement Of Senator Mikulski On Necessity Of Hubble Servicing Mission -- contact her

Sen. Barbara Mikulski (D-Md.) said she expects the U.S. space agency to heed the will of the Congress and keep preparations for a Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission on track

Updates:

Budget rumours hint at Hubble trouble 18:41 24 January 2005 NewScientist.com news service

Blogs

Mark A. R. Kleiman -- Killing Hubble
uggabugga -- Hubble update: