Hubble's primary camera shuts down

[Placebo]

The primary camera on the Hubble Space Telescope has shut down and is likely to be only marginally restored,
NASA said Monday, a collapse one astronomer called "a great loss."

While other scientific work can still be done by the aging observatory, the unit that failed, the Advanced Camera for Surveys, is the one most scientists depend upon. NASA scientists say they expect to be able to restore just one-third of its observation ability, probably by mid-February.

"We're not optimistic at all" about returning it to full function, said Dave Leckrone, a senior scientist on the Hubble at Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt.

However, all is not lost. Next year NASA plans to send space shuttle astronauts to upgrade the popular telescope in a mission to install new instruments that will actually exceed the capabilities of the current system.

More...

[Lydia Leftcoast]

1. Meanwhile, the Busheviks don't blink at spending half a trillion in Iraq

:grr:

[onehandle]

2. As long as the upgrade mission actually does its thing.

It's an old device. These things do break.

Godspeed, astronauts.

[Placebo]

4. Godspeed indeed.

:patriot:

[Redstone]

3. Oh, damn. The Hubbel has been the single best investment in science

this country has ever made.

Y'all may counter with other scientific endeavors, and I'll not argue any of them. But the Big H has indeed been damn valuable.

Redstone

[Duppers]

5. Amen, Redstone.

Btw, NASA, along with many other agencies, is running on a contingency resolution budget which is only paying for salaries right now. This government is in dire shape.

[Redstone]

6. Damn shame. Half a TRILLION for the stupid fucking war; not a dime for science.

Redstone

[1620rock]

7. Yes, the Hubble is right up there with the lunar landings..

...for exciting science. The mind soars.

[Duppers]

15. sarcasm?!

I'll take insightful science over "exciting" science any day. You've greatly underestimated Hubble.

And your background for judging this is? (Two can play this sarcasm game.)

[FogerRox]

8. Come on FIX HER UP, ANd go back and rec this. please

KNR

[redwitch]

9. I hope they can repair the Hubble

When I saw for the first time the pictures it sent back I finally understood the potential of this new technology we possess. Simply breathtaking images from space, what a miracle.

[Az_lefty]

11. Me too. The hubble is an awesome scientific instrument.

[shireen]

14. yes and no

The camera that failed, Advanced Camera for Surveys or ACS, is generally the most powerful camera on Hubble. From what engineers know about the problem so far, it's unlikely that ACS will ever return to service. It's a very major loss for Hubble science.

Another camera, Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 (WFPC2) is still operational. It does not have ACS's high resolution and large field of view. But some Hubble science can continue to be done with it. There's also the Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph (NICMOS) that does imaging in the near-infrared wavelengths.

The next servicing mission is tentatively scheduled for September 11 2008 (9/11, who picked that date?!). Two new instruments will be installed, Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3), and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS). Astronauts will remove WFPC2 and replace it with WFC3. (They can't remove ACS and put WFC3 in its place because the shapes of their instrument bays are very different.) There will be other important work done such as installing new gyroscopes that allow Hubble to slew from target to target, batteries, a fine guidance sensor (FGS, one of three used for locking on targets), and a bunch of other things.

Lots more info at http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/hst_sm4/

[Phredicles]

10. Is it true that the Shrub admin. would like to shitcan the Hubble

because of the inconvenient evidence it keeps yielding about the universe being more than 6,000 years old?

Anyway, I'll give the thread a rec.

[onehandle]

12. They're afraid we'll get Jesus's attention.

And he'll come back and kick their asses.

[Placebo]

13. Ain't that the sad truth.

:(

[undergroundpanther]

16. Where is Mc Naught?

Has it got out of sun range yet? There have been some flares... So what's going on?