Hubble will live!

NASA has changed its decision to abandon Hubble to its own death!

Found just now on Yahoo! News:

WASHINGTON (AFP) - NASA will revisit its decision to abandon the Hubble Space Telescope, Michael Griffin, the nominee to lead the US space agency, told Congress in a confirmation hearing.

Current NASA chief Sean O'Keefe had decided to drop maintenance of the telescope citing potential risks such a mission could entail for astronauts. His decision was made in the aftermath of the Columbia space shuttle accident that killed seven astronauts.

But Griffin said Tuesday that if confirmed to lead the US space agency the Hubble decision would get a fresh look in light of resumed space flights expected from May 15.

"We should revisit the earlier decision in light of what we learn after return to flight," Griffin told the Senate Commerce committee Tuesday.

(...)

This is actually great news! I'm very glad they changed their mind...

Read the whole story here.


[Edit]
My apologies... Maybe this fits more in the Space Exploration forum...
Some one can move it maybe if needed? Thanks in advance.


[edit on 13-4-2005 by SpookyVince]

I wouldn't go so far as saying they have changed their minds. They are just going to revisit it after a successful flight next month. I do hope they end up saving Hubble, but I still fear it will be left to die a quick re-entry death in the near future.

Originally posted by sensfan
I wouldn't go so far as saying they have changed their minds. They are just going to revisit it after a successful flight next month. I do hope they end up saving Hubble, but I still fear it will be left to die a quick re-entry death in the near future.

I'll keep my fingers crossed. Hubble has provided, and still has the potential to provide, a tremendous amount of unqie data about the Universe. Ditching it is beyond my comprehension. One month of war in Iraq would pay for it's repair.

I'm glad this thread was started, last I knew Hubble was still in trouble.
Hopefully the call will be finalized to maintain and continue.

Not to mention those beutiful pictures it takes...

Glad to hear there's some hope for it!

The budget cuts have been sinking a lot of good progrms like Hubble. I could stand to see it scrapped as long as there was something ELSE that took its place.

I totally agree that Hubble has been one of the best space projects ever, and i am one of its most ardent fans, but it's getting old.

I agree that Hubble should be kept in service to provide us with even more excellent photos of space, but a replacement should be developed very soon.

How about a nuclear powered Hubble replacement that can jettison itself around space.

That would be amazing.

Yes hubbleis old, but like the rovers i think there is still a benifit in funding it while other similar projects are develped to replace it.

A moon based optical telescope, or just one dedicate to the visiual range and near invisible rage to compiment the james webb space telescope

Outfit it with a nuclear power generator, and give it a booster to launch it towards the outer planets of the solar system. We'll get incredible details of the surface of these objects and various moons. All in full spectra. That mission could accomplish an equivalent of 10 conventional ones.

Outfit it with a nuclear power generator, and give it a booster to launch it towards the outer planets of the solar system

It would cost less and take less time to just blow Hubble up and launch a replacement.

To give Hubble nuclear power you would have to launch a shuttle to bring Hubble back, then launch a rocket to put it back into space, not to mention the cost of making it nuclear powered.

Well btw, thanks for moving it, it seems I'm a bit distracted these times...

Really I was "relieved" to see that they finally agree to look for Hubble a bit more... This is really a piece of technology that all (amateurs and pros) love... Keep it there working!

I thought I'd share the news with you all because I think it is one of the important things...

I agree that it is a truely great deed to even rethink shutting down the program. In the least hubble should be used, alongside future much more powerful telescopes, as a "low" resolution scanner to find targets that arent able to be isolated with land based telescopes.

Originally posted by MickeyDee

Outfit it with a nuclear power generator, and give it a booster to launch it towards the outer planets of the solar system

It would cost less and take less time to just blow Hubble up and launch a replacement.

To give Hubble nuclear power you would have to launch a shuttle to bring Hubble back, then launch a rocket to put it back into space, not to mention the cost of making it nuclear powered.

The generator is a fairly standard unit, and the whole thing can be done in orbit.

w0000000000t!!!!!

Ahh, revisit is a good sign. Doesn't mean much, but, hey, it's a step in the right direction.

I think we'll all look for updates.

Sigh...

I hope Nasa doesn't do this. The Hubble is certainly an important piece of scientific history, but time and technology have caught up to it. Its no longer cost efficient to operate the Hubble in 2005 when a ground-based observatory can give you the same or possibly even better performance at a fraction of the cost. You could build as many as ten world-class ground based observatories with that money that would last for decades, or something on the scale of the Overwhelmingly Large Telescope proposed by the European Southern Observatory. In my opinion, from a cost-benefit standpoint, either one seems to be a better solution than keeping the Hubble at this time.

... Overwhelmingly Large Telescope ...

Ahahaha! Awesome!
Can it see objects traveling at Ludicrous Speed?!

Ah yeah that made my day.

Yup I would have to somewhat agree but eh it could become one of those things that if you're in the neighborhood, do some work on it but dont budget any missions only for it. It hasnt been up there that long on the grand scheme of stuff in space... the Voyagers are still out there chirpin away. Not very loud... but working

> and didnt the shuttle take hubble up? *cough*

[edit on 13-4-2005 by apc]

yay hubble might live *jumps up and down and hits head on wall making me black out*

bloodlust11009: TO a slow vibration! Bad, bad Tool Monkey!

XD lol its a joke

Abandon the hubble telescope? If they havent changed their mind, what would have happened to it? Just leave it in orbit? Dismantle? Shoot rockets at it? Push it into the sun?