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Can they possibly fix it? They don't have a Shuttle to take the thing in so it can be brought back and fixed. Whatever they say about the Shuttle, it was a powe

Can they possibly fix it? They don't have a Shuttle to take the thing in so it can be brought back and fixed. Whatever they say about the Shuttle, it was a powerful vehicle. Can a robot fix the thing?

sigstoat 13y ago
i don't think he was talking about fixing kepler. just building a new, less-shitty one. and however "powerful" the shuttle was, it couldn't get to something 3 light-minutes away (which was kepler's distance, the last time i looked)
- MichaelMoser123 13y ago
  So Armageddon was impossible? I am disappointed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film) "American Components, Russian Components, all the same, all made in Taiwan!"
  - jlgreco 13y ago
    IIRC the Space Shuttles used in Aermageddon were not "the" space shuttles, but some hypothetical semi-secret project shuttles that the movie made up. But yeah, the space shuttles were LEO only. IIRC the highest they ever went was up to Hubble, and I think that was pretty close to the most they could manage. Though now that I think about it, I am pretty sure they generally jettisoned the external fuel tanks with a little fuel left over, maybe they could delay the jettison to get into slightly higher orbits than usual.
Moto7451 13y ago
Kepler actually orbits the Sun, not the Earth[1]. Its orbit is slower than the Earth's and as a result is getting farther away from the Earth. Assuming it needs an EVA to fix, as Hubble did, it's impossible to fix as we lack a manned spacecraft capable of getting there. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)#Spacecraft_orbit_and_orientation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)#Spacecraft_...
InclinedPlane 13y ago
Kepler is millions of miles away from Earth, even with a Saturn V and an Apollo spacecraft we couldn't fix the thing and come back. Also, it was never economical to fix Hubble with the Shuttle. It was just fortuitous that the Shuttle program was desperate for things to do and ended up subsidizing the launch costs for the Hubble servicing missions. In terms of the ultimate bottom line the US spent nearly $8 billion to fix a $2.5 billion telescope. Granted, I think that even that expenditure was worthwhile but from a strict cost accounting it would have made more sense to simply build and launch additional telescopes.

sigstoat 13y ago

i don't think he was talking about fixing kepler. just building a new, less-shitty one. and however "powerful" the shuttle was, it couldn't get to something 3 light-minutes away (which was kepler's distance, the last time i looked)

MichaelMoser123 13y ago
So Armageddon was impossible? I am disappointed. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Armageddon_(1998_film) "American Components, Russian Components, all the same, all made in Taiwan!"
- jlgreco 13y ago
  IIRC the Space Shuttles used in Aermageddon were not "the" space shuttles, but some hypothetical semi-secret project shuttles that the movie made up. But yeah, the space shuttles were LEO only. IIRC the highest they ever went was up to Hubble, and I think that was pretty close to the most they could manage. Though now that I think about it, I am pretty sure they generally jettisoned the external fuel tanks with a little fuel left over, maybe they could delay the jettison to get into slightly higher orbits than usual.

Moto7451 13y ago

Kepler actually orbits the Sun, not the Earth[1]. Its orbit is slower than the Earth's and as a result is getting farther away from the Earth. Assuming it needs an EVA to fix, as Hubble did, it's impossible to fix as we lack a manned spacecraft capable of getting there. [1]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)#Spacecraft_orbit_and_orientation http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kepler_(spacecraft)#Spacecraft_...

InclinedPlane 13y ago

Kepler is millions of miles away from Earth, even with a Saturn V and an Apollo spacecraft we couldn't fix the thing and come back. Also, it was never economical to fix Hubble with the Shuttle. It was just fortuitous that the Shuttle program was desperate for things to do and ended up subsidizing the launch costs for the Hubble servicing missions. In terms of the ultimate bottom line the US spent nearly $8 billion to fix a $2.5 billion telescope. Granted, I think that even that expenditure was worthwhile but from a strict cost accounting it would have made more sense to simply build and launch additional telescopes.