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NASA, SpaceX to Study Hubble Telescope Reboost Possibility

16 points by perihelions 4y ago

jeffrallen 4y ago
Yes! I love this plan. The JWST is great, but it's fragile and a long way from home. I want to keep Hubble healthy, even just for planetary defense.
- ortusdux 4y ago
  I really hope that they are able to pull this off and ultimately develop the capacity to service the Hubble as well. The ability to install a newly developed optical system in under 6 months would effectively half the delay time between design approval and deployment. From Wikipedia: Hubble was designed to accommodate regular servicing and equipment upgrades while in orbit. Instruments and limited life items were designed as orbital replacement units.[104] Five servicing missions (SM 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 4) were flown by NASA Space Shuttles, the first in December 1993 and the last in May 2009.[105] Servicing missions were delicate operations that began with maneuvering to intercept the telescope in orbit and carefully retrieving it with the shuttle's mechanical arm. The necessary work was then carried out in multiple tethered spacewalks over a period of four to five days. After a visual inspection of the telescope, astronauts conducted repairs, replaced failed or degraded components, upgraded equipment, and installed new instruments. Once work was completed, the telescope was redeployed, typically after boosting to a higher orbit to address the orbital decay caused by atmospheric drag.[106]
  - dotnet00 4y ago
    It would also be great since the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is also based on the same chassis, so servicing that would probably become possible too.
Fatnino 4y ago
The shuttles had a mounting platform type of thing that would be installed in the back of the payload bay to hold hubble in place while it was being worked on. This also freed up the robot arm for other uses. This mount is probably sitting around in a warehouse in Florida somewhere doing nothing. They should dust it off and make it available for these proposed future missions.

16 points by perihelions 4y ago

Yes! I love this plan. The JWST is great, but it's fragile and a long way from home. I want to keep Hubble healthy, even just for planetary defense.

ortusdux 4y ago
I really hope that they are able to pull this off and ultimately develop the capacity to service the Hubble as well. The ability to install a newly developed optical system in under 6 months would effectively half the delay time between design approval and deployment. From Wikipedia: Hubble was designed to accommodate regular servicing and equipment upgrades while in orbit. Instruments and limited life items were designed as orbital replacement units.[104] Five servicing missions (SM 1, 2, 3A, 3B, and 4) were flown by NASA Space Shuttles, the first in December 1993 and the last in May 2009.[105] Servicing missions were delicate operations that began with maneuvering to intercept the telescope in orbit and carefully retrieving it with the shuttle's mechanical arm. The necessary work was then carried out in multiple tethered spacewalks over a period of four to five days. After a visual inspection of the telescope, astronauts conducted repairs, replaced failed or degraded components, upgraded equipment, and installed new instruments. Once work was completed, the telescope was redeployed, typically after boosting to a higher orbit to address the orbital decay caused by atmospheric drag.[106]
- dotnet00 4y ago
  It would also be great since the Nancy Grace Roman Telescope is also based on the same chassis, so servicing that would probably become possible too.

Fatnino 4y ago

The shuttles had a mounting platform type of thing that would be installed in the back of the payload bay to hold hubble in place while it was being worked on. This also freed up the robot arm for other uses. This mount is probably sitting around in a warehouse in Florida somewhere doing nothing. They should dust it off and make it available for these proposed future missions.