WTF!

[Siji]

Are you fucking kidding me with this crap?

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=s ... elescope_6

U.S. Allowing Hubble Telescope to Degrade

WASHINGTON - The Hubble Space Telescope will be allowed to degrade and eventually become useless, as NASA changes focus to President Bush's plans to send humans to the moon, Mars and beyond, officials said.

NASA canceled all space shuttle servicing missions to the Hubble, which has revolutionized the study of astronomy with its striking images of the universe.

John Grunsfeld, NASA's chief scientist, said Friday that NASA administrator Sean O'Keefe made the decision to cancel the fifth space shuttle service mission to the Hubble when it became clear there was not enough time to conduct it before the shuttle is retired. The servicing mission was considered essential to enable the orbiting telescope to continue to operate.

"This is a sad day," said Grunsfeld, but he said the decision "is the best thing for the space community."

He said the decision was influenced by President Bush's new space initiative, which calls for NASA to start developing the spacecraft and equipment for voyages to the moon and later to Mars. The president's plan also called for the space shuttle to be retired by 2010. Virtually all of the shuttle's remaining flights would be used to complete construction of the International Space Station (news - web sites).

The shuttle has been grounded since the explosion of the Columbia nearly a year ago.

Grunsfeld said Bush "directed us to use this precious resource" (the shuttle) toward completing the International Space Station and fulfilling U.S. obligations to the 15 partner nations.

Without servicing missions, he said, the Hubble should continue operating until 2007 or 2008, "as long as we can." NASA was already planning to replace the Hubble with a new, improved version, called the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2011.

The Hubble has revolutionized astronomy. Using images from the craft, scientists have determined the age of the universe, about 13.7 billion years, and discovered that a mysterious energy, called the dark force, is causing all of the objects in the universe to move apart at an accelerating rate. This force is still poorly understood.

The observatory has ailing gyroscopes which were to be replaced on the servicing mission, which already has been delayed by the Columbia accident. Grunsfeld said the Hubble has three good gyros and one that is not working well. Software was being developed to work with only two gyroscopes, he said, but the telescope will not have the same capabilities.

Grunsfeld said the Hubble control team will attempt to extend the life of the telescope, but the gyros will degrade. He also said that while the batteries on the craft are constantly recharged, they eventually "will run out of juice."

The Hubble will eventually fall out of orbit and crash to Earth, probably in 2011 or 2012. To make that event safe, Grunsfeld said, NASA will design and build a small robot craft that will be launched and guided to the Hubble.

The robot craft would "grab the Hubble and bring it into the atmosphere in a controlled manner," he said, guiding the school-bus-sized craft to harmlessly splash into a remote part of an ocean.

One reason for the cancellation of repairs, Grunsfeld said, was the requirement that a backup space shuttle would have to be primed for launch when a space shuttle was sent to service the Hubble, a requirement set after the Columbia accident. NASA officials decided then that a backup would have to be ready to help any shuttle going anywhere but the International Space Station.

Servicing missions are required to the Hubble every few years to tune up the complex craft and to replace worn-out parts. Four times previously, spacewalking astronauts have installed new parts or upgraded the observatory with new instruments.

The Hubble, the first of NASA's orbiting observatories, was launched in 1990 with the promise that it would see farther out in space than any previous telescope. But scientists quickly learned that its main mirror was, in effect, nearsighted due to a flaw in manufacturing of the basic mirror. Astronauts in 1993 installed optics that sharpened the vision. Later servicing missions replaced broken parts and added improved cameras and other instruments.

Images from the Hubble glimpsed galaxies back to a point just a few hundred million years after the Big Bang, thought to be the explosive beginning of the universe. Astronomers have found that galaxies and clusters of galaxies formed much earlier that theorists had expected. This suggests that planets where life was possible could have formed as early as about 12 billion years ago. The solar system, which includes the sun and Earth, is much younger, about 5 billion years old.

[Vetiria]

The Hubble is more than 10 years old and was due to be replaced by a new one by 2006 anyway. I don't see what's so shocking.

[Kylere]

Interesting to blame it on Bush, not on the NASA requirement to have a standbye shuttle, the fact they have lost 2 shuttles through incompetence, and the have mismanaged launch times so badly they are unable to do so.

[Sionistic]

Without servicing missions, he said, the Hubble should continue operating until 2007 or 2008, "as long as we can." NASA was already planning to replace the Hubble with a new, improved version, called the James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled for launch in 2011.

I dont see whats the problem, they are going to replace it about 3 years after the projected breakdown.

[Siji]

Interesting to blame it on Bush, not on the NASA requirement to have a standbye shuttle, the fact they have lost 2 shuttles through incompetence, and the have mismanaged launch times so badly they are unable to do so.

Space exploration is dangerous. Shit happens. We can't even build cars that don't break down and you want to make a big deal out of two shuttles having issues out of the how many flights? That they get every other one off the ground successfully still amazes me. Yeah, I'm sorry for the astronauts that died in the crashes/mishaps, but there's not a much higher risk job in existance.

And yeah, the Hubble was to be decomishoned by 2011.. however now that's been pulled back (only lasting as long as it is because it will do so w/o money) and the replacement in all likelyhood won't be sent up either. If we had an ice cube's chance in hell of actually getting to (and being able to afford to be able to) Mars it would be one thing. But for such drastic changes to be made on a republican campaign promise (read: line of bullshit) seems a waste.

Maybe it's not that big of a deal. I'm still disappointed about it.

[Vetiria]

The replacement for the Hubble will be sent up. The majority of the money for it has already been spent/allocated. I'm still not seeing what the big deal is.

[Brotha]

Omg can't believe we're dumping Hubble to make more money for Halliburton!11!!

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/colu ... i-news-col

But closer examination reveals Bush's moon and Mars aspirations could yield a decidedly early political bonanza for the Bush administration and a financial bonanza for some of the administration's corporate friends, like Halliburton Co.

Yes, that's the same Halliburton where Vice President Dick Cheney was chief executive officer before he joined Bush's 2000 presidential campaign ticket and from which he still receives deferred compensation. That's the same Halliburton that went on to reap multibillion-dollar no-bid military contracts in Iraq and whose subsidiary, KBR, is under a Pentagon investigation for a possible $61 million in overcharges on its imports of Kuwaiti oil to Iraq.

Like a lot of big firms, Halliburton has had its eyes on the moon and Mars for quite a while. Halliburton scientist Steve Streich helped author an article in Oil & Gas Journal two years ago titled "Drilling Technology for Mars Research Useful for Oil, Gas Industries."

The article, unearthed last week by Progress Report, a daily publication of the liberal Center for American Progress, described the exploration of Mars as an "unprecedented opportunity" for the drilling industry and a "great potential for a happy synergy" between space researchers and "the oil and gas industry."

Another revealing piece in the February 2001, issue of Petroleum News, unearthed last week by Joe Conason at Salon.com Web magazine, reported that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the Los Alamos National Laboratory were working with Halliburton, Shell Oil Co. and Baker Hughes Inc. to identify drilling technologies that might work on Mars in the search for water and other signs of life--and possible mineral wealth.

The earliest Mars drilling could be in 2007 and deeper drilling in 2014, with astronauts along to assist, the article said.

Bush's expectations were more cautious. He called for a lunar base by about 2020 and a manned landing on Mars sometime after 2030. Hey, it'll be here before you know it.

[Sueven]

what the fuck?

The Hubble Space Telescope will be allowed to degrade and eventually become useless

Isn't that the fate of every piece of technology that has ever been invented in the history of man?

[Sionistic]

I dont know, my wheelbarrel gets plenty of use

[Winnow]

Hubble has had a great run! The article makes it appear that Bush is purposefully allowing the Hubble to degrade...truth is the missions to repair and upgrade the Hubble are extremely risky. We were lucky to have the first one go so well. With the Shuttle safety issues still in question and new backup plans for every shuttle mission, which the article specifically states, will only go to the Space Station now in case the crew needs to remain there until a rescue mission may be launched....what are you getting so excited about?

Don't blame Bush, blame the previous 4 or 5 presidents that didn't push for better space payload vehicles.

[Krurk]

A very technical article, but a good read if you are curious about the specific drawbacks to the space shuttle.

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/oped-03l.html

[Aslanna]

The Hubble is more than 10 years old and was due to be replaced by a new one by 2006 anyway. I don't see what's so shocking.

Add 5 years to that since it's 2011.

[Asheran Mojomaster]

The Hubble has revolutionized astronomy. Using images from the craft, scientists have determined the age of the universe, about 13.7 billion years, and discovered that a mysterious energy, called the dark force, is causing all of the objects in the universe to move apart at an accelerating rate. This force is still poorly understood.

The dark force!