NASA Urged to Send Astronauts to Fix Hubble Telescope
Dec. 9–The nation’s most prominent science advisers Wednesday urged NASA to send shuttle astronauts instead of robots on a repair mission to the aging Hubble telescope because humans have a substantially greater chance of fixing it.
The congressionally chartered National Academy of Sciences became the second independent panel in as many days to raise significant doubts about the robotic repair strategy favored by NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe.
Earlier this year, O’Keefe canceled plans to send shuttle astronauts to Hubble in 2006 because he deemed the mission too risky in wake of the Columbia accident. Instead, O’Keefe asked NASA to prepare for a robotic mission by 2008 to save the $5.6 billion telescope.
But the national academy Wednesday said a shuttle repair mission had a 70 percent chance of success. It said a robotic mission had a 20 percent chance of working. The panel of 26 experts also concluded that Hubble’s contributions toward understanding the birth and evolution of the universe were worth what it considers a small risk to astronauts’ lives.
On Tuesday, a California-based aerospace think tank gave robots a 50-50 chance of fixing Hubble.
“Hubble is an extraordinary accomplishment that has had major scientific and public impact,” said Louis Lanzerotte, the New Jersey physicist who chaired the national academy panel. “It has the capacity to do so for years to come.”
Additionally, the panel concluded that technical obstacles could prevent NASA from launching a $2 billion robotic mission before 2010. For about the same price, a shuttle mission could be launched by mid-2007, it said.
NASA spokesman Don Savage said earlier this week the agency was well aware of obstacles to the robotic mission. While it has not changed course, NASA has done nothing to preclude a shuttle repair, Savage added.
Though lawmakers still must wrestle with the cost of Hubble repairs, many House and Senate members have joined astronomers and the public in urging the space agency to embrace a shuttle-led repair.
“It’s the right thing to do,” said Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, who sits on the Commerce, Science and Transportation committee, which has NASA oversight. “If we become totally risk averse in NASA, we might as well shut it down. We’ve made huge gains in aviation and space exploration because we took a chance.”
Shuttle astronauts have repaired Hubble four times since it was launched in 1990. After Columbia’s crash nearly two years ago, O’Keefe said the shuttle would only be used to finish building the U.S.-led international space station. The shuttle will be retired in 2010.
Because of Hubble’s work, astronomers have been able to estimate the age of the universe at 13.7 billion years. More recently, it has observed an unexplained, rapid expansion of the outer edges of the universe.
Without repairs, the telescope’s ailing parts could force it into an electronic slumber by 2007.
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