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Space Forum / Shuttle / October 2006Is this a narrow minded view of the proposed Hubble Repair Mission?
Is this a narrow minded view of the proposed Hubble Repair Mission? OK true story. I was actually at the Air and Space Museum in D.C. watching on a big screen projected TV back in the early 90's when the Hubble was repaired of it's original myopic condition. I met Burt Rutan who was signing autographs on hats outside the IMAX theater. I was in D.C. for a class and just happened to be there during the first Hubble rescue mission. I believe without a doubt the Hubble has made some of the most amazing discoveries ever. It has made the human race closer to Space and the Cosmos more than anything since Neil Armstrong walked on the moon back in 1969. Politically the Hubble is Huge. My questions is this. Are we wasting money on Hubble to keep a political dream alive rather than actual Science? In other words, if it is true that new technology using adaptive optics from the ground can produce better science than Hubble what is the point in repairing it? If we are going to risk lives and spend millions, why not UPGRADE Hubble for another 10 or 20 years to something we can't do from the ground yet? Am I missing something here? CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) -- The fate of what some scientists dub "the people's telescope" is again up in the air as NASA decides soon whether to squeeze in a last astronaut repair mission to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope. On Friday, NASA engineers will debate the safety of sending a fifth and final manned space shuttle flight to the 16-year-old telescope, probably in 2008. Soon afterward, NASA Administrator Michael Griffin will make the final call. His decision could prolong Hubble's ability to capture some the most spectacular images of the universe well into the next decade or allow the telescope to deteriorate into oblivion by 2009 or 2010. Griffin worked on Hubble earlier in his career and recently described it as "one of the great scientific instruments of all time." Unlike his predecessor, he has expressed a willingness to repair it. JesusLives <knowandlearn@bellsouth.net> wrote in news:Apa%g.4360$kI6.2317 @bignews4.bellsouth.net: > Are we wasting money on Hubble to keep a political dream > alive rather than actual Science? In other words, if it is > true that new technology using adaptive optics from the > ground can produce better science than Hubble what is the > point in repairing it? Adaptive optics can only match *some* of HST's capabilities in the visible spectrum, and *none* of HST's capabilities in the ultraviolet or infrared. > If we are going to risk lives and spend millions, why not > UPGRADE Hubble for another 10 or 20 years to something we > can't do from the ground yet? > > Am I missing something here? Yes. The next servicing mission *will* upgrade HST. Wide Field Camera 3 (WF3), which sees in both infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths, will replace the Wide Field Planetary Camera 2. It is two to three times more sensitive in the infrared than Hubble's Near Infrared Camera and Multi- Object Spectrometer (NICMOS). The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), a prism-like instrument capable of studying the chemical composition of far- distant interstellar gas, will replace the Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR). Did you bother to look up anything about the mission before you posted?  SignatureJRF Reply-to address spam-proofed - to reply by E-mail, check "Organization" (I am not assimilated) and think one step ahead of IBM. > Adaptive optics can only match *some* of HST's capabilities in the visible > spectrum, and *none* of HST's capabilities in the ultraviolet or infrared. ...actually, make that infrared instead of visible. You can use a visible (Na+-line) artificial guide star, but the speed and size of the corrections of the wave front are fast and large enough for visible light. UV is of course a clear area where orbital images are the only game in town. Jan >> Adaptive optics can only match *some* of HST's capabilities in the >> visible spectrum, and *none* of HST's capabilities in the ultraviolet [quoted text clipped - 5 lines] > light. UV is of course a clear area where orbital images are the only > game in town. Terrestrial observations, even in the wavelengths where adaptive optics works, also suffers from much larger background (from airglow). Adaptive optics also only works over a very small patch of sky. On the plus side, ground telescopes can have much larger apertures, so they can collect many more photons. Paul >>> Adaptive optics can only match *some* of HST's capabilities in the >>> visible spectrum, and *none* of HST's capabilities in the ultraviolet or [quoted text clipped - 12 lines] > On the plus side, ground telescopes can have much larger apertures, so > they can collect many more photons. True, but on the flip side for certain observation (basically anything "above" the poles) Hubble can spend hours or more focused on it. > Paul >Did you bother to look up anything about the mission before you posted? ...Look at his alias and his munged e-mail. Do you *really* think he did one iota of research beyond the C&P of that news article? OM Signature]=====================================[ ] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [ ] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [ ] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [ ]=====================================[ >Am I missing something here? ...Yes. Your brain. <PLONK> OM Signature]=====================================[ ] OMBlog - http://www.io.com/~o_m/omworld [ ] Let's face it: Sometimes you *need* [ ] an obnoxious opinion in your day! [ ]=====================================[ |
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