Trouble with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three remaining gyroscopes, critical for aiming and locking onto targets, has prompted mission managers to switch to a backup control mode that will limit some observations, but keep the iconic observatory running well into the 2030s, officials said Tuesday .”We still believe there’s very high reliability and likelihood that we can operate Hubble very successfully, doing groundbreaking science, through the rest of the ’20s and into the 2030s,” Patrick Crouse, the Hubble project manager, told reporters during an afternoon teleconference. The Hubble Space Telescope as seen during a space shuttle servicing mission. / Credit: NASAAt the same time, Mark Clampin, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters, said the agency had ruled out, at least for now, a proposed commercial mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude using a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The flight was suggested by SpaceX and Crew Dragon veteran Jared Isaacman as a way to extend Hubble’s lifetime.By boosting the telescope to a higher altitude, the subtle effects of “drag” in the extreme outer atmosphere, which act to slowly-but-surely pull a spacecraft back to Earth, could be reduced. Isaacman, a billionaire who chartered the first fully commercial flight to low-Earth orbit in 2021, is in training to lead three more SpaceX “Polaris” missions, including a flight this summer in which he plans to become the first private citizen to stand in an open hatch and float, if not walk, in space.But project managers said Tuesday Hubble is in no danger of falling back to Earth any time soon. The latest calculations show the observatory will remain in orbit until at least 2035, allowing time to consider possible options, if warranted, down the road.”After exploring the current commercial capabilities, we are not going to pursue a re-boost right now,” Clampin said. “We greatly appreciate the in-depth analysis conducted by the NASA and (the SpaceX-Isaacman) program, and our oth …
Article Attribution | Read More at Article Source
[mwai_chat context=”Let’s have a discussion about this article:nnTrouble with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three remaining gyroscopes, critical for aiming and locking onto targets, has prompted mission managers to switch to a backup control mode that will limit some observations, but keep the iconic observatory running well into the 2030s, officials said Tuesday .”We still believe there’s very high reliability and likelihood that we can operate Hubble very successfully, doing groundbreaking science, through the rest of the ’20s and into the 2030s,” Patrick Crouse, the Hubble project manager, told reporters during an afternoon teleconference. The Hubble Space Telescope as seen during a space shuttle servicing mission. / Credit: NASAAt the same time, Mark Clampin, director of astrophysics at NASA Headquarters, said the agency had ruled out, at least for now, a proposed commercial mission to boost Hubble to a higher altitude using a SpaceX Crew Dragon spacecraft. The flight was suggested by SpaceX and Crew Dragon veteran Jared Isaacman as a way to extend Hubble’s lifetime.By boosting the telescope to a higher altitude, the subtle effects of “drag” in the extreme outer atmosphere, which act to slowly-but-surely pull a spacecraft back to Earth, could be reduced. Isaacman, a billionaire who chartered the first fully commercial flight to low-Earth orbit in 2021, is in training to lead three more SpaceX “Polaris” missions, including a flight this summer in which he plans to become the first private citizen to stand in an open hatch and float, if not walk, in space.But project managers said Tuesday Hubble is in no danger of falling back to Earth any time soon. The latest calculations show the observatory will remain in orbit until at least 2035, allowing time to consider possible options, if warranted, down the road.”After exploring the current commercial capabilities, we are not going to pursue a re-boost right now,” Clampin said. “We greatly appreciate the in-depth analysis conducted by the NASA and (the SpaceX-Isaacman) program, and our oth …nnDiscussion:nn” ai_name=”RocketNews AI: ” start_sentence=”Can I tell you more about this article?” text_input_placeholder=”Type ‘Yes'”]
