In 1999, after astronauts completed a servicing mission, the Hubble Space Telescope entered orbit.
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The Hubble Space Telescope is suffering from the pain of aging, and NASA officials say they are moving to a new way of pointing the telescope to address a malfunctioning piece of hardware that has become intolerable.
Officials also announced that, for now, they have decided not to pursue a plan proposed by a wealthy private astronaut to fly a SpaceX capsule to the Hubble Telescope, a mission that aims to lift the telescope to a higher orbit, perhaps even Add new technology to enhance its operations.
“Even without this renewed push, we still have hope for the rest of this decade and into the next decade,” Mark Clapin, director of the astrophysics division of NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday. Continue scientific research.
The bus-sized telescope is slowly drifting toward Earth due to atmospheric drag. If nothing is ultimately done to raise it, it could plunge into the atmosphere and mostly burn up by the mid-2030s.
That’s one reason NASA was so interested when Jared Isaacman suggested flying the Hubble mission as part of a series of technology demonstration spaceflights he planned. Kerman once rode a SpaceX capsule into orbit.
NASA and SpaceX jointly conducted a feasibility study to look at the possibilities of the Hubble Telescope. The telescope has been in orbit since 1990 and was last restored 15 years ago by astronauts who launched it aboard a NASA space shuttle that is now a museum exhibit.
NASA’s Clampin told reporters, “After exploring current commercial capabilities, we will not seek to re-advance at this time.”
He said the evaluation of Isaacman’s proposal raised many considerations, including potential risks such as “premature loss of science” if Hubble is accidentally damaged.
NASA officials stressed that Hubble’s instruments are healthy and the telescope remains incredibly productive.
“We don’t think Hubble is on its last legs,” said Patrick Krause, Hubble Space Telescope program manager at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland. “We do think this is a very capable observatory and is ready to do some exciting things.”
But it has to do these exciting things through a new operating system for pointing at celestial objects.
That’s because officials abandoned efforts to use the faulty gyroscope, which has repeatedly forced the telescope to pause scientific research and enter “safe” mode in recent months.
Hubble’s pointing system is so precise that NASA says it is equivalent to being able to shine a laser on a dime 200 miles away, regardless of how long Hubble took the photos, up to 24 hours. The system has long relied on using three gyroscopes simultaneously.
But now, to avoid using crude gyroscopes, NASA says Hubble will switch to single-gyro operation, an emergency plan that has been in place for years.
“After completing a series of tests and carefully considering our options, we decided to convert Hubble to operate using only one of its three remaining gyroscopes,” Clapin said. “Operationally, we believe this is the best way for us to support Hubble science in this decade and the next.”
The scattered stars of the globular cluster NGC 6355 in our Milky Way galaxy are seen in this image from the Hubble Space Telescope
ESA/Hubble and NASA, E. Noyola, R. Cohen
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ESA/Hubble and NASA, E. Noyola, R. Cohen
Using only one healthy gyroscope, and keeping one as a backup, will allow the telescope to continue returning gorgeous images of the universe, but with some limitations. For example, Hubble would be less efficient at tracking moving objects closer to Earth within the orbit of Mars.
But “most of the observations it makes will be completely unaffected by this change,” Clampin said.
Astronomers remain clamoring for Hubble’s use and have produced observations that far exceed the available telescope time.
The launch of the James Webb Space Telescope in 2021 does not make Hubble obsolete, as the two telescopes capture different types of light.
Ultimately, NASA will have to decide what to do with Hubble because some of its large parts will survive re-entry into Earth’s atmosphere. NASA has long considered launching some kind of mission to control its descent and ensure any Hubble fragments fall safely into the ocean.
Adding such propulsion means NASA can also raise Hubble’s orbit, giving it a longer life and utilizing any instruments that continue to work. But NASA’s Klepin said there is time to consider options.
“Our latest prediction is that Hubble will re-enter the Earth’s atmosphere as early as the mid-2030s,” he said. “So we’re not going to see it decline in the next few years.”
