New NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said last Tuesday that he would reconsider his predecessor\u2019s decision to ban humans from repairing the ailing Hubble Space Telescope. <\/p>\n
The remarks spark new hope for Hubble, which seemed previously doomed to a watery grave after former NASA Chief Sean O\u2019Keefe canceled a manned repair mission \u2013 on the grounds that a space Shuttle flight to the telescope would be \u2018too risky\u2019.\n<\/p>\n
Following the Columbia disaster, It is perceived that O\u2019Keefe could not justify sending up a manned Shuttle to the telescope without the \u2018safe haven\u2019 option of the International Space Station nearby. Such a mission, he feared, would leave the crew stranded on the remote telescope should anything go wrong. <\/font><\/p>\n As a safer alternative, subsequent studies of a robotic repair mission suggested that the necessary technology would not be ready in time to save the telescope. In light of this, a repair mission by astronauts would be far more efficient in replacing the telescope\u2019s worn out batteries and with immediate effect.<\/font><\/p>\n Nevertheless \u2013 without any sort of repair mission \u2013 Hubble\u2019s gyroscopes are expected to fail and its batteries to run out between three and five years from now. <\/font><\/p>\n \u201cThe decision not to execute the planned Shuttle servicing mission was made in the immediate aftermath of the loss of Shuttle C<\/em>olumbia<\/cite>,\u201d Griffin told senators at his confirmation hearing. \u201cWhen we Return to Flight, it will be with essentially a new vehicle that will have a new risk analysis associated with it\u2026. At that time, I think we should reassess the earlier decision in light of what we learn after the Return to Flight.\u201d <\/font><\/p>\n NASA expects to resume Shuttle flights sometime between May 15 and July 31 this year. The agency grounded the fleet after the flagship Shuttle Columbia<\/cite> disintegrated upon re-entry into Earth\u2019s atmosphere on Feb. 1, 2003, killing all seven astronauts on board.<\/font><\/p>\n \u201cIf NASA decides that the resumed flights are still too dangerous for a Hubble repair mission, the agency will be left with no choice but to de-orbit the telescope,\u201d said Griffin. <\/font><\/p>\n Space tourism guides (adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).push({});<\/p>\n To do that, NASA would send a robot to push Hubble through Earth\u2019s atmosphere and into the Pacific ocean. <\/font><\/p>\n Griffin, 55, is a widely popular choice to lead the U.S. space agency. Democrat and Republican senators at Griffin\u2019s confirmation hearing praised the physicist, who holds seven degrees and currently heads the space department at Johns Hopkins University\u2019s Applied Physics Laboratory. <\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" New NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said last Tuesday that he would reconsider his predecessor\u2019s decision to ban humans from repairing the ailing Hubble Space Telescope. The remarks spark new hope for Hubble, which seemed previously doomed to a watery grave after former NASA Chief Sean O\u2019Keefe canceled a manned repair mission \u2013 on the grounds […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-42414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42414"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42414"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42414\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}