4 ms·
> Of course we could have also easily launched 5 redundant space telescopes for the cost of those servicing missions. Maybe not. Hubble ended up costing over $
by leoc 12y ago
> Of course we could have also easily launched 5 redundant space telescopes for the cost of those servicing missions.
Maybe not. Hubble ended up costing over $2.5bn https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hubble_Space_Telescope by launch day while a Shuttle launch cost around $450m https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle . Certainly there would have been economies of scale, but it doesn't seem assured you would have got another four Hubbles for ~$500m extra. Moreover I'm not sure whether the redundancy would have dealt with the lens problem, or whether the same error would just have been replicated in all five satellites.
- Retric 12y agoI don't think we would send them up in the same month so that's plenty of time to check for design flaws. Also, Hubble was far from useless before correction it was still the sharpest telescope ever. Anyway, my point was not sending up more Hubble’s my point was a comparable telescope not a sexy mission. Still, for fun let’s go for something ambitious. Shuttle launch cost around $450m x 6 = 2,700 million. Hubble mass: 11,110 kg http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_II http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Delta_II 6,000kg to LEO launch costs ~51 million. So if we went with a modular design vs user serviceable we could get a Hubble equivalent in ~2 Delta II launces (6,000 x2 kg to LEO = 12,000 kg) for 102 million x 5 = 502 million. 2,700 million - 502 million = 2.2 billion to build 4 more copies of a similar design plus some extra design costs etc. PS: There were plenty of other options including arrays of smaller telescopes. For a recent example the Delta IV heavy can launch more mass to LEO than the shuttle $375 million per launch so the shuttle tax was very real.
- leoc 12y agoSorry, I missed that you were comparing five Hubbles to five resupply missions, not to one. But I'm not sure you would have been able to get five Hubbles for an average of ~$500m each either. (OTOH, all this is just considering what the best option for Hubble was, taking the existence of the Shuttle as a given. Justifying the existence of the Shuttle partly in terms of the Hubble would be more difficult: that $450m-a-flight figure doesn't seem to include development costs...)
- deleted 12y ago[deleted]
- unchocked 12y agoWell, if you allow for waiting long enough they come for free as spy satellite surplus. http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_National_Reconnaissance_Office_space_telescope_donation_to_NASA http://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/2012_National_Reconnaissance_...