4 ms·

Very cool that they were developing the one-gyro control mode all the way back in 2004, and had in-flight tested it by 2008. Seems like they were well prepared

Very cool that they were developing the one-gyro control mode all the way back in 2004, and had in-flight tested it by 2008. Seems like they were well prepared for this eventuality.

pavon 2y ago
That's because this isn't the first time Hubble has been down to two working gyros. It happened before in 1999 (replaced a few months later), and they were worried it would happen again after 2003 when the Shuttles were grounded (actually got down to three/six working before replacement in 2009).
- gclawes 2y ago
  I wonder if after Polaris Dawn proves out spacewalking from Dragon, SpaceX will develop the capability to repair the Hubble once again. I doubt it'll be from spacewalks on Dragon, given they probably can't support something as big as an MMU (unless they pull a really cool hat trick), but maybe with Starship. I get that at some point it's more worthwhile to launch a new telescope (maybe one of those donated KENNENs from NRO), but Hubble is a big symbol of space exploration, and SpaceX is all about big symbols...
  - nxobject 2y ago
    Who would notice if they just quietly switched Hubble out with its military equivalent? /s
    - anticensor 2y ago
      Everyone would, as the Hubble's mirror and instrument spec is ever so slighly different from the ground pointing espionage satellites. There are lots of failure modes that are acceptable in ground pointing operations but not in space pointing operations.
  - andrewflnr 2y ago
    As a symbol, I think the best thing to do with Hubble is boost it to a long term orbit until it can be properly preserved for history.
  - ChrisBland 2y ago
    The hardest part of this is actually grappling the satellite. Shuttle had the arm, how will spacex capture?
    - bugbuddy 2y ago
      Dragon Arm(tm)?
      - redundantly 2y ago
        Nah. The successor to Dragon will be Trogdor. They'll put one of those beefy arms on it for good measure.

Very cool that they were developing the one-gyro control mode all the way back in 2004, and had in-flight tested it by 2008. Seems like they were well prepared for this eventuality.

pavon 2y ago

That's because this isn't the first time Hubble has been down to two working gyros. It happened before in 1999 (replaced a few months later), and they were worried it would happen again after 2003 when the Shuttles were grounded (actually got down to three/six working before replacement in 2009).

gclawes 2y ago
I wonder if after Polaris Dawn proves out spacewalking from Dragon, SpaceX will develop the capability to repair the Hubble once again. I doubt it'll be from spacewalks on Dragon, given they probably can't support something as big as an MMU (unless they pull a really cool hat trick), but maybe with Starship. I get that at some point it's more worthwhile to launch a new telescope (maybe one of those donated KENNENs from NRO), but Hubble is a big symbol of space exploration, and SpaceX is all about big symbols...
- nxobject 2y ago
  Who would notice if they just quietly switched Hubble out with its military equivalent? /s
  - anticensor 2y ago
    Everyone would, as the Hubble's mirror and instrument spec is ever so slighly different from the ground pointing espionage satellites. There are lots of failure modes that are acceptable in ground pointing operations but not in space pointing operations.
- andrewflnr 2y ago
  As a symbol, I think the best thing to do with Hubble is boost it to a long term orbit until it can be properly preserved for history.
- ChrisBland 2y ago
  The hardest part of this is actually grappling the satellite. Shuttle had the arm, how will spacex capture?
  - bugbuddy 2y ago
    Dragon Arm(tm)?
    - redundantly 2y ago
      Nah. The successor to Dragon will be Trogdor. They'll put one of those beefy arms on it for good measure.