Hubble trouble

[Sky Pilot]

I've been thinking about the difficulty NASA is having with the Hubble ST and that it would cost $100M to send a shuttle to fix it. And NASA doesn't want to risk a shuttle mission to the HST, even if it had the money.

Why not re-direct the effort to the concept of attaching a new space telescope to the ISS? There are several instruments already constructed and ready to send to Hubble...so why not attach them to the ISS instead and build up an ISS-based telescope over time?

If NASA doesn't have the ability to fund a new telescope, it seems that there are enough astronautical universities and foundations around who could probably raise the money.

Just wondering if this is feasible.

[selden]

Unfortunately, a shuttle flight costs almost 10x your estimate. That's one of the major stumbling blocks.

Also, the ISS is a very poor location for a quality telescope. It's a very dirty environment. The ISS outgasses far too much and in unpredictable ways, for example. There are also lots of loose pieces floating around that could do serious damage.

There's no point in putting a lower quality telescope near the ISS, either. Ground based hardware could do a better job at much lower cost.

If only Rutan's commercial space vehicle development were further along...

[TERRIER]

Just wondering how Spitzer (formerly SIRTF) compares with the HST ?

[selden]

The Spitzer telescope works in the InfraRed only. The HST works in near-UltraViolet, Visible and near InfraRed. The Spitzer telescope is stationed in Earth's L2 position. When it has problems, there's no way anyone can make repairs.

The supposed future replacement for the Hubble, the Webb telescope, also is IR only and also will be stationed at L2.