IEEE-USA Supports Prolonging Life of Hubble

February 3, 2005

NASA should explore all possible avenues toward prolonging the useful life of the Hubble Space Telescope, IEEE-USA said today in a statement to the House Science Committee. The most urgent need is a servicing mission to refurbish and upgrade the Hubble so that it can continue gathering high-resolution images of astronomical objects. News reports, however, indicate that The White House might eliminate mission funding from its 2006 budget request.

“The Hubble telescope has resulted in some of the most important scientific discoveries in the last decade,” said Dr. Russell Lefevre, IEEE-USA vice president, technology policy. “Our understanding of the universe has grown immensely, and it would be a tragedy for the world’s scientific community if the servicing mission was cancelled.”

Launched on 25 April 1990 by the crew of the Space Shuttle Discovery, the Hubble is a cooperative program of NASA and the European Space Agency to operate a space-based observatory for the benefit of science and humanity. Just last year, it detected more than 100 planets around distant stars, captured images of distant galaxies and recorded the first images of the edge of the known universe. Space-shuttle astronauts have serviced the Hubble four times, the last servicing in 2002.

A service mission would keep the Hubble operational until the James Webb Space Telescope is launched in 2011, at the earliest. Without such a mission, the 2.4-meter reflecting telescope could stop sending its photos as early as 2007.

“Prospects for continued operation of Hubble until that date without a servicing mission are small,” the IEEE-USA statement said. “The absence of the Hubble’s extraordinary abilities would adversely impact astronomical research.”


Rank not rated yet
Tags

Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts

More news stories

Europe stakes billion-dollar bet on new rocket

A pencil-slim rocket is scheduled to lift into space from South America on Monday, carrying a billion-dollar bet that Europe can grab a juicy slice of the market to place satellites in low orbit.

Space & Earth / Space Exploration

created 3 hours ago | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 0

NASA sees wide-eyed cyclone Jasmine

Cyclone Jasmine's eye has opened wider on NASA satellite imagery, as it moves through the Southern Pacific Ocean.

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 19 hours ago | popularity 3.5 / 5 (2) | comments 2

NASA sees Giovanna reach cyclone strength, threaten Madagascar

Tropical Storm 12S built up steam and became a cyclone on February 10, 2012 as NASA's Terra satellite passed overhead. Residents of east-central Madagascar should prepare for this cyclone to make landfall ...

Space & Earth / Earth Sciences

created 19 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study

More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 5 / 5 (6) | comments 68

Humans may have helped the decline of African rainforests 3000 years ago

(PhysOrg.com) -- Large areas of rainforests in Central Africa mysteriously disappeared over three thousand years ago, to be replaced by savannas. The prevailing theory has been that the cause was a change ...

Space & Earth / Environment

created Feb 10, 2012 | popularity 4.3 / 5 (13) | comments 15 | with audio podcast report


Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear

A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.

Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...

Netflix settlement trims 14 pct off 4Q earnings

(AP) -- Netflix pressed the rewind button on its fourth-quarter earnings after settling allegations that the video subscription service violated a consumer-privacy law.

Anonymous briefly knocks CIA website offline (Update 2)

The website of the Central Intelligence Agency was briefly inaccessible on Friday after the hacker group Anonymous claimed to have knocked it offline.

Steroid injections prove effective in treatment of lumbar disc herniations

The use of epidural steroid injections may be a more efficient treatment option for lumbar disc herniations, according to research presented today at the American Orthopaedic Society for Sports Medicine's Specialty Day in ...