Scientific Method —

NASA outlines Hubble repair mission

NASA took advantage of the winter meeting of the American Astronomical Society …

NASA's response to the breakup of the space shuttle Columbia in 2003—accelerated retirement of the shuttle and an increased focus on safety for its remaining missions—left its ability to service the Hubble Space Telescope in doubt. Meanwhile, instruments on the Hubble were failing, and it needed an orbital boost to survive long enough for its replacement to be launched in 2013. Fortunately, NASA decided that a final repair mission could be managed safely, and they announced the details at the American Astronomical Society's winter meeting today.

image: NASA

In all, six space walks are planned. Some of these will involve basic hardware repair, with new batteries and gyroscopes on the schedule. Also scheduled for fixing is the Advanced Camera for Surveys, which was the most heavily booked instrument prior to its failure. It performs broad sweeps of the universe, and has been used for identifying supernovae and performing dark matter studies. The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph is also getting a repair; it's used for gathering spectra of everything from stars to entire galaxies, providing scientists with an indication of their composition at the atomic level.

Two instruments are scheduled for a replacement. The first is a new Cosmic Origins Spectrograph, which handles the ultraviolet range of the spectrum far more efficiently than the Imaging Spectrograph. But the biggest news is the new Wide Field Camera, WFC3. The latest camera will be the first on the Hubble that can cover everything from the ultraviolet to the infrared in a single piece of hardware. Its planned uses include nothing less than mapping the history of the universe, allowing scientists to make inferences about dark matter and energy.

If all goes well, the new instruments should expand Hubble's capabilities, and the work should have the telescope in operation at least through 2013, when the James Webb observatory is scheduled to be put in orbit. If you want more details, you can check out a PDF of the presenter's slides or listen to a recording of the press conference at 800-337-6560.

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