NASA Delays Hubble Repair Mission
NASA said on Monday that it is delaying its mission to the Hubble Space Telescope until next year because of a glitch that has caused the telescope to stop sending science data.
This new and unexpected problem appeared Saturday night, spurring NASA officials to postpone the two-week planned Atlantis servicing mission.
The mission had originally been targeted for launch on October 14. If delayed, NASA likely would press ahead with a November 16 launch of another shuttle mission to outfit the International Space Station for an expanded six-person crew.
The command and data-handling system for Hubble’s science instruments failed, meaning that the telescope is unable to capture and beam down the data needed to produce its stunning deep space images.
The repairs could create a problem that the astronauts haven’t trained for and never anticipated.
NASA announced early Monday afternoon that the Oct. 14 launch had been postponed until at least early next year, possibly February.
NASA may send Atlantis up for a replacement part for the failed component.
NASA spokesman Michael Curie said it would take time to test and qualify the old replacement part and train the astronauts to install it in the telescope. NASA also would have to work out new mission details for the astronauts who have trained for two years to carry out five Hubble repair spacewalks.
"The teams are always looking at contingencies, and this is just something that has cropped up we have the ability to deal with. They’re just trying to decide what direction we want to go," Curie said.
Curie said there is a backup channel for the science instruments’ command and data-handling system, and NASA may be able to activate it successfully so that data transmission resumes. But if NASA relies solely on the backup channel, there would be no other options if it malfunctioned.
The space agency has already begun work to switch the telescope to the backup channel. It is a complicated process; the backup channels on the various modules that must be switched over have not been turned on since the late 1980s or early 1990, right before Hubble was launched. The Hubble team hopes to complete the job by the end of the week.
“The telescope is not in trouble; it’s just that it cannot send science information to ground controllers,” Curie stressed””meaning NASA is unable to receive the dramatic pictures Hubble is known for.
The mission by Atlantis and a seven-person crew will be the fifth and final servicing mission to Hubble.
In November, Endeavour will be the next shuttle up, on a trip to the international space station. Endeavour is already at the launch pad to serve as a rescue ship for Atlantis in case of trouble.
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