* Astronomy

Members Login
Username 
 
Password 
    Remember Me  
Post Info
TOPIC: Hubble Space Telescope


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Hubble Space Telescope
Permalink  
 


NASA managers officially are targeting Sept. 10, 2008, for the launch of the fifth and final space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. During the 11-day flight, Atlantis' seven astronauts will repair and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013.
Mission planners have been working since last fall, when the flight was announced, to determine the best time in the shuttle manifest to support the needs of Hubble while minimizing the impact to International Space Station assembly. NASA also will support a "launch on need" flight during the Hubble mission. In the unlikely event a rescue flight becomes necessary, shuttle Endeavour currently is planned to lift off from Launch Pad 39-B at NASA's Kennedy Space Centre, Florida. However, managers constantly are evaluating the manifest to determine the best mission options.
Shuttle missions beyond the Hubble flight, designated STS-125, still are being assessed. Shuttle and station program officials will continue to consider options for the remainder of the shuttle flights to complete construction of the space station by 2010, when the fleet will be retired. Those target launch dates are subject to change.

Source NASA

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

NASA has decided to make one final and controversial repair call to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST), which is slowly dying after more than 16 years in orbit. The telescope was last serviced in 2002. Since then, technical problems have mounted, and a short circuit in January claimed one of its main instruments.
Scheduled for a 2008 liftoff aboard Atlantis, the HST-bound crew have their work cut out for them. During five spacewalks the astronauts will perform an array of repairs and installations, adding a new camera and fixing a half-dozen gyroscopes. If the mission succeeds, Hubble should be in peak observing condition until its replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, is launched in 2013.


hubble-repair
Expand (70kb, 560 x 539)
Credit NASA

Read more

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

On Saturday 27 January, Hubble’s main camera, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), stopped working. Until a solution, at least in part, can be found, Hubble will be returned to work with the remaining instruments.
 On Saturday 27 January 2007 at 13:34 CET the NASA/ESA Hubble Space Telescope entered into a protective "safemode" condition, most likely triggered by a short circuit in Hubble’s main instrument the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). ACS had been running since June 2006 on its secondary backup electrical system.
NASA has full responsibility for the mission operations of Hubble. Accordingly, NASA has set up an Anomaly Review Board. This will investigate whether ACS can be returned to using the primary electrical system enabling one of its parts, the Solar Blind Channel, to return to operation. However, at this time, it is expected that the main part of ACS will most likely not be restored.

Read more

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

NASA will host a media teleconference today at 3 p.m. EST to discuss the status of a problem related to the Advanced Camera for Surveys aboard the Hubble Space Telescope.

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The Hubble Space Telescope is once more having trouble with its primary camera, NASA officials said Monday.
Problems related to Hubble’s Advanced Camera for Surveys apparently sent the space telescope into safe mode over the weekend, according to reports from NASA officials and the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates the observatory for NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Centre.

Read more

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

NASA announced today plans for a fifth servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. Shuttle astronauts will visit the telescope to extend and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013.
Hubble precisely measured the age of the universe. It found evidence of dark energy. It delivered images of distant galaxies in the young universe. And now, with the state-of-the-art instruments to be installed during Servicing Mission 4 (SM4), Hubble will look into the universe with new eyes, surpassing even its previous vision.

click here

Source

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
The new Hubble servicing mission
Permalink  
 


NASA has decided to launch a Space Shuttle mission in 2008 to repair and upgrade the NASA/ESA observatory. This servicing mission will ensure that Hubble can function for perhaps as many as another ten years and will increase its scientific capabilities in some key areas. Two new scientific instruments will be installed as part of the upgrade: the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. Both will improve Hubble's potential for discovery. Around the same time of this mission, ESA will launch Herschel, the Orbiting Telescope with the largest mirror ever deployed in space. Herschel will complement Hubble in the infrared part of the spectrum.

ESApod video programme

ESA Podcast (20.36mb, mp4)

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
RE: Hubble Space Telescope
Permalink  
 


NASA Approves Mission and Names Crew for Return to Hubble

Shuttle astronauts will make one final house call to NASA's Hubble Space Telescope as part of a mission to extend and improve the observatory's capabilities through 2013.
NASA Administrator Michael Griffin announced plans for a fifth servicing mission to Hubble Tuesday during a meeting with agency employees at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Centre, Greenbelt, Md. Goddard is the agency centre responsible for managing Hubble.
The flight is tentatively targeted for launch during the spring to fall of 2008. Mission planners are working to determine the best location and vehicle in the manifest to support the needs of Hubble while minimizing impact to International Space Station assembly. The planners are investigating the best way to support a launch on need mission for the Hubble flight. The present option will keep Launch Pad 39-B at the Kennedy Space Centre, Florida., available for such a rescue flight should it be necessary.
Griffin also announced the astronauts selected for the mission. Veteran astronaut Scott D. Altman will command the final space shuttle mission to Hubble. Navy Reserve Capt. Gregory C. Johnson will serve as pilot. Mission specialists include veteran spacewalkers John M. Grunsfeld and Michael J. Massimino and first-time space fliers Andrew J. Feustel, Michael T. Good and K. Megan McArthur.

Read more

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

Nasa chief Mike Griffin says shuttle astronauts will be sent to service the Hubble Space Telescope.
The orbiting observatory has astounded astronomers and the public alike with its amazing pictures of the cosmos, but it will soon fail unless serviced.
Dr Griffin told Nasa employees that recent modifications to the shuttle launch system meant he felt it was now safe to send a crew to work on Hubble.

Source

__________________


L

Posts: 131433
Date:
Permalink  
 

The Hubble Space Telescope's main camera has been resuscitated after shutting itself down more than two weeks ago. Programme managers say it should resume normal science observations in another week or two.
Hubble's most frequently used instrument, the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), uses three "channels" that each act as a camera. All three shut down on 23 September when managers tried to switch power from the Solar Blind Channel to the High Resolution Channel (HRC). A mechanical relay, or switch, flips back and forth to send power to either of the channels.
Managers suspected the switch did actually move as planned but that a piece of fibre or dust was in the way, blocking the electrical contact in the circuit. So on Monday at 21:55 GMT, they flipped the switch back and forth to try to dislodge the debris.
They received confirmation that the fix had worked at 09:40 GMT on Tuesday, when the ACS's full voltage was detected and the HRC channel in particular showed vital signs again.

Source NewScientist

__________________
«First  <  16 7 8 9  >  Last»  | Page of 9  sorted by
Quick Reply

Please log in to post quick replies.



Create your own FREE Forum
Report Abuse
Powered by ActiveBoard