So thats it then. No robotics fix. No shuttle missions. When The space telescope stops working its dead. Oh well, lets build the next one on the Moon.
Banned
So thats it then. No robotics fix. No shuttle missions. When The space telescope stops working its dead. Oh well, lets build the next one on the Moon.
Established Member
Looks like it.Its quite tragic really considering the images hubble has given us over the last few years- I can't see how they can get anywhere near as good images with an Earth-based telescope.
Established Member
Let's hope that the one so call "James Webb Space Telescope" will bring us good fortunes. HST just like an old fashion car, it's old and need to be retire, but let's hope someone can use it for good.
Banned
Well, thats not quiet right. No it wont be saved or brought down. Its going to be destroyed in re entry. there is no other way, and yes some of the new giant ground based scopes have adaptive optics and can see very clearly more than Hubble did. Its sad, but its had its day. Its time to move on.
Administrator
Here's the CNN article about the official decision to end Hubble financing.
Hubble to be de-orbited
Forming opinions as we speak
Instead of going to the Moon and Mars we should be spending the money to go into outer space. How many times do we have to go to the Moon and why, what purpose does Bush see in funding that? The Hubble is up and working and should be saved, who knows if future funding will come through for a new telescope. I just don't understand why we need to send men back to the Moon to play golf and drive around. NASA is getting too paranoid. Are we ever going to explore space or just our solar system. Thank heaven for the Voyagers without that we wouldn't have anything in outer space.
Member
Gonna miss that telescope, it's pictures it gave us were awesome!
Newbie
I'm looking for a new telescope for the spare tripod i've got :
Established Member
Oh no! It can't be!
I knew it was possible, but I didn't think it would actually happen. I am so disappointed! This totally affects me personally- I'm a Space Science student up in Toronto Ontario Canada, and next year I'm madated to do an internship as part of my degree. Seeing as I live 15 minutes away from MDR ( the company that was contracted to save do the robotic repair mission) I had my hopes set on actually being able to contribute, firsthand, to the world of science (and what an incredible piece of science, at that).
I guess I'll have to settle for less then...
I think the saddest part about this is not the actual science that's lost, but the fact that Hubble was able to communicate that science so well to the general population. You and I who frequent UT will all be extatic about blurry Gamma ray images and news about redshift and gravity and such. But think of how excited people got about space, how much they learned about space, and how interested they were in space just from a simple, but stunning image captured with Hubble's lens. That won't happen anymore.
I'm sure Webb will give us good enough science, but will they air a blob of IR radiation on CNN for the world to see? Will kids be inspired to learn about galxies and lightyears and planetary nebulae the way Hubble's Classic Deep Field shot has? Oh man! Everyone in the western world has seen that shot! It has provoked so much thought and wonder and awe. Webb will never give us something like that.
Hubble, you are a legend, and I wish you all the best for the time being, in your twilight. Thank you, and Godspeed.
Established Member
military type).
Now, this is in spite of the fact that NASA has already procured $250million of upgrade equipment for the Hubble!
The James Webb Space Telescope will be great, when it happens. The when is not visible at the moment.
Am I bluffing? I have worked the past year with Steven Beckwith the Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, and with astronaut Walter Cunningham on ways to keep the Hubble alive and on station. All of the above is true.
Give up? Please, not yet. If you have a fax modem, spend a dime (about what a one page fax costs) and let the Chairman of the House Science Committee know how you feel. Here is the fax address:
The Honorable Sherman Boehlert
Chairman,
House Committee on Science
U. S. House of Representatitves
FAX: 1-202-225-1891
For more real facts on Hubble go here:
http://www.aura-astronomy.org/nv/nuresult.asp?nuid=71
Thanks
Established Member
Ah! Light at the end of the tunnel. Thanks, setiman...
Established Member
I had hoped that Monday's report would have brought in more money & Hubble would have got its last servicing mission but its not to be!Originally posted by setiman@Feb 8 2005, 04:39 AM
military type).
McKeefe finally got his way - the risks were too high - before he leaves NASA in a couple of weeks time!
In my Space Page I have used many images taken by Hubble to show to the world at large - but in a future update I shall have to rely on archived images!
But to end on a slightly more positive note, it will at least force scientists & engineers to find ways of prolonging Hubble´s life as much as possible & still bring us great images of our fantastic Universe!
Established Member
NASA is cutting its own throat.
It is not you and I, members of the Forum and regular readers of astronomy newsletters, who need to be influenced to keep funding alive for NASA or whatever competent authority replaces it. It is the general (funding) public, who don't see in UV, IR or X-ray ranges, and don't understand or care about sensors which do.
I have many issues with NASA, but PR and spin-doctoring are not among them. The press output from Hubble was beautifully handled. The publicity people understood very clearly that you cannot bring the general public to astronomy-- quotidian concerns just will not allow that to happen. You must bring astronomy to where the people already are. The buildup, and the captioning for the Hubble Deep Field, The Pillars of Creation, Stellar Nurseries-- these are concepts that average folks can get their minds around, and be inspired by, and want to be included in.
No more. NASA, as I watch you draw a bead on your own foot, I can only prepare to congratulate you on your marksmanship. Steve
Well, I have to say it makes me so very sad. I know we can do better than this. I guess the next one will be on the moon, and about time we went back there too.
Take care all,
Mike
Newbie
Since it is going to be destroyed anyway, why not prepare it and send it on it's way out of the solar system? Voyager style!
Theory being that the further away from the sun the less the light pollution would affect it's viewing range. Heck we can still receive images from it as it heads off into the unknown.
Order of Kilopi
I have to agree with you, Steve. NASA's mantra is "no Buck Rogers, no bucks" but perhaps they should also keep in mind "no pretty pictures, no funding" when it comes to their science budget.Originally posted by wstevenbrown@Feb 8 2005, 03:18 PM
NASA is cutting its own throat.
It is not you and I, members of the Forum and regular readers of astronomy newsletters, who need to be influenced to keep funding alive for NASA or whatever competent authority replaces it. It is the general (funding) public, who don't see in UV, IR or X-ray ranges, and don't understand or care about sensors which do.
I have many issues with NASA, but PR and spin-doctoring are not among them. The press output from Hubble was beautifully handled. The publicity people understood very clearly that you cannot bring the general public to astronomy-- quotidian concerns just will not allow that to happen. You must bring astronomy to where the people already are. The buildup, and the captioning for the Hubble Deep Field, The Pillars of Creation, Stellar Nurseries-- these are concepts that average folks can get their minds around, and be inspired by, and want to be included in.
No more. NASA, as I watch you draw a bead on your own foot, I can only prepare to congratulate you on your marksmanship. Steve
Dave Mitsky
On Hubbles´s end - as it seems NASA has the money/inclination to strap on a rocket (or something) to Hubble to get it into an orbit where it won´t fall on O-Keefes head, would it not be possible to use a similiar technique just to move Hubble nearer to the Space Station and park it there ? Future NASAs might have more sense and in their spare time on space walks maybe the space station staff could fix it?
James (Brazil)
Established Member
this is BUSH.... so sad...either just too dumb to realize what he's done.. politically motivated....or (on the conspiracy side) were figuring too much out..... hard to control the masses when they start figuring out whats going on...... LAME LAME LAME.
Established Member
I, also have to agree with you, Dave, the images sent back by Hubble have kindled a huge amount of interest in space & its exploration!Originally posted by Dave Mitsky@Feb 10 2005, 07:54 AM
I have to agree with you, Steve. NASA's mantra is "no Buck Rogers, no bucks" but perhaps they should also keep in mind "no pretty pictures, no funding" when it comes to their science budget.
Dave Mitsky
I think Hubble has sparked as much, if not more, interest in the cosmos as the Moon flights. People are curious to see just what is out there - Hubble´s images helped feed that interest! The other spacetelescopes provide great images that complement Hubble´s (more especially for the scientists!but they can never take Hubble´s place!!!
It will be a sad, sad day for us all when Hubble finally ditches in the sea!
Established Member
Hubble is too complex and fragile to just park it next to the ISS. Not to mention it kind of enjoys being in the darkness of the Lagrange point.
In any other location, we could not use the telescope.
Established Member
Although I will regret not having the Hubble up in space, I am eager to see the images that will come from the Hubble's succesor the JWST. It will be able to see further away (and thus provide more scientific data on the origins of the universe. It will only look at the cosmos in infra-red, but this isn't so bad, most of the Hubble telescope images had the color adjusted anyway.
Established Member
Hey ! No knocking X and Gamma Rays!
They don't need any buget cuts either !
Keck, blame Keck for the loss of interest in Hubble. With adaptive optics, Keck is kicking a**!
But, yeah, trust NASA, robotics? To hard basket, crash it in the sea! Just like Galileo, do you remember that fine probe? It got crashed into Jupiter.
If you are studying at school or University, or at work, and you come across a a tough one, a question, a job, an essay, just NASA it!Throw it in the nearest bucket of water you can find, it doesn't matter how much it cost, how many people could have been fed clothed and housed with the money spent on NASA, just crash it!
It sounds like they have a five year old running the show! Brrrooommm CRAAASSHH! BOoom!
Not a lot of progress in that, in giving up when it gets hard, I understand now why so many people favour the free market, not that it promises anything compared with what NASA COULD be doing. It really is a case of what NASA is doing. It is wasting millions of dollars, it has no long term vision, it has no balls, no stay, no puff. Things like that don't last very long in the free market, and with republicans taking control of both house, I think NASA is going to be a lot thinner by the end of the decade.
Can't really talk about australia, our Liberal prime minister was impressed when an Australian company put a mobile phone in the baton for the commonwealth games!
We should start a graveyard for all of NASAs write offs! Pioneer program, the voyager program, Apollo, Pathfinder, COBE, Galileo, Hubble, Cassini.
It is like having children and not feeding them, and they all stave to death, not unlike the children NASAs buget could have fed.
Guys and Gals, I suggest you all start a personal mission in your lives to encourge as many people as you know to think sustainably, to go to school, don't settle for a underpaid crappy job, get educated, and get interested in life. The way the world is going, 2010 will see shopping malls in every town on the planet, but few people will venture outside for the pollution, a lot of people will be employed in jobs they hate, uneducated and lonely.
We need to inspire ourselves, our freinds and neighbours to dare to dream, to think big, and to do somthing towards those dreams, dreams like preserving the last rainforests, solving poverty, universal healthcare and education for EVERYONE on the planet, and to reach for the stars, Proxima Centauri is not getting closer to us, and while we launch no probes towards it, we are getting no closer to it, same with Sedna and Quaoar.
With the loss of Hubble, we will loose site of of even greater dreams, the pillers of creation will just be a poster, make sure you tell every child who asks what it is, that it is a reminder of the day public servants told us what they couldn't and wouldn't do and we lost our voices !
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