• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Robot Can't Save Hubble, NASA Nominee Says

Posted on: Wednesday, 13 April 2005, 15:00 CDT

WASHINGTON -- The president's nominee for NASA's top spot told a Senate committee Tuesday that a robotic mission to repair the 14-year-old Hubble Space Telescope is not feasible, but added that there is still hope for the failing instrument.

Rocket scientist Michael Griffin said he agreed with the conclusion made by an independent panel of experts he once chaired that a robotic mission to repair the telescope would not be beneficial, "for reasonable amounts of money and within the time we have available."

"I would like to take the robotic mission off the plate," he said.

Griffin argued the telescope could be salvaged with human repairs, but said NASA should reassess its options "in light of what we learn after we return to flight."

President Bush nominated Griffin last month to be the new NASA administrator. The Maryland native is head of the space department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory.

Griffin fielded questions and concerns from the U.S. Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, but was also lauded by the bipartisan group as an excellent choice to lead NASA and described as "a breath of fresh air."

Griffin is expected to be confirmed for his position with little political resistance.

Members of the Senate committee said they would try to rush him through the confirmation process so he could be in place for space shuttle Discovery's planned launch on May 15.

If the nominee is confirmed by the Senate this week, Griffin could be in office by Monday.

At the hearing, Griffin advocated the return to human space flight and the quick implementation of a new space vehicle to replace the aging shuttle.

"For the foreseeable future, it will be expensive, difficult and dangerous, and the goals that we seek out should be worthy of the costs and the risks," Griffin said.

His nomination coincides with Bush's plan to reinvigorate NASA following the Columbia tragedy. The president's 2006 funding request gave NASA a 2.5 percent increase over last year to $16.5 billion, but Congress is expected to reduce the figure in the final budget. The spending plan is geared toward the president's Vision for Space Exploration, with its initiative for human exploration of the moon and Mars.

The president's budget request does not include money to maintain the Hubble Space Telescope but rather help steer it into the ocean when it breaks down in a few years.

Astronauts repairing the Hubble Telescope. Credit: NASA

Rocket scientist Michael Griffin

Committee members postponed a vote until later this week after Sen. George Allen, R-Va., requested more thorough answers about Griffin's goals.

If confirmed, Griffin would replace Sean O'Keefe, who stepped down in February to become chancellor of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said she agreed with Griffin that the return to space should be a top priority.

"We have a commitment to international partners in the (international space station)," said Hutchison, chairwoman of the Senate Commerce Subcommittee on Science and Space. "But we have to make sure that putting people in space is for a mission worthy of the risk."

HEADING HIS LIST

NASA administrator nominee Michael Griffin outlined priorities at a Senate Commerce Committee hearing Tuesday:

--Shuttle: Keep the fleet flying until retirement, not later than 2010.

--Replacement: Bring a new Crew Exploration Vehicle into service after shuttle retirement.

--New direction: A balanced overall program of science, exploration and aeronautics.

--Space station: Finish the international project.

--Joint ventures: Encourage partnerships with the emerging commercial space sector.

--Moon and beyond: Establish a lunar return program.

Source: Michael Griffin's written statement to the committee

-----

On the Net:

NASA

Hubble Space Telescope

-----

Copyright (c) 2005, Houston Chronicle

Distributed by Knight Ridder/Tribune Business News.

More News in this Category