The US space agency NASA is drawing up plans to launch a US$1 billion rescue mission for the ailing Hubble space telescope, considered by many to be the most important telescope ever built.
In what amounts to a U-turn, Sean O'Keefe, who heads the agency, has instructed engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center, in Maryland, to prepare a mission to fix the orbiting telescope in time for a 2007 launch.
The move represents a sudden change of heart by NASA. Shaken by last year's loss of the shuttle Columbia and its seven crew, NASA recently scrubbed a long-planned shuttle mission to the telescope on the grounds that it was too risky.
Hubble is badly in need of replacement batteries and new gyroscopes. Rather than fix it, NASA had been considering plans to de-orbit the telescope and ditch it in the sea. Now engineers hope to send a Canadian robot called Dextre to carry out the repairs.
"Everybody says: `We want to save the Hubble' -- well, let's go save the Hubble," O'Keefe said.
"Rather than just sitting there and talking about how we think we're going to do it, we've got an option we're ready to go with."
Dextre -- the informal name for the Canadian Space Agency's special purpose dextrous manipulator -- is a gangly looking machine with two 3 meter arms that pivot around a robotic torso. NASA engineers have nine months to test Dextre and find out if it is capable of carrying out the complex tasks required to service Hubble. Only then will NASA decide whether to commit to a mission expected to cost between US$1 billion.
If the mission is successful, it could extend Hubble's expected life by five years, taking it beyond the planned launch date for its successor, the James Webb telescope in 2011.
Hubble has revolutionized astronomers' view of the universe. This year, the telescope captured beautiful images of a star in its death-throes and delivered the best-ever snapshot of the early universe, revealing 10,000 fledgling galaxies. The telescope is credited with discovering up to 100 new planets orbiting stars outside our solar system.
"Hubble is without a hint of exaggeration the biggest success NASA has had since they put Neil Armstrong on the moon. Scientifically, it's right up there with Galileo's telescope in terms of the impact it has had," said Gerry Gilmore, deputy director of the Institute of Astronomy at Cambridge University, England.
Privately, scientists raise doubts over whether a robot can perform the repairs.
"If the robot mission succeeds in repairing Hubble, it'll be a triumph. But if they try and fail, they've got a good case for sending up astronauts," said Professor Gilmore.
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
HYPOCRISY? The Chinese Ministry of Foreign Affairs yesterday asked whether Biden was talking about China or the US when he used the word ‘xenophobic’ US President Joe Biden on Wednesday called for a hike in steel tariffs on China, accusing Beijing of cheating as he spoke at a campaign event in Pennsylvania. Biden accused China of xenophobia, too, in a speech to union members in Pittsburgh. “They’re not competing, they’re cheating. They’re cheating and we’ve seen the damage here in America,” Biden said. Chinese steel companies “don’t need to worry about making a profit because the Chinese government is subsidizing them so heavily,” he said. Biden said he had called for the US Trade Representative to triple the tariff rates for Chinese steel and aluminum if Beijing was
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese