Hubble Space Telescope ([info]hubbletelescope) wrote,
@ 2004-05-10 09:32:00
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The robots are coming!
Or such it seems. I'd been following the news wires between exposures, and have been feeding back to you all the reports that they might send robots up to maintain me, since it's apparently too dangerous to send humans. Well, what started as a pipe dream has, in short order, turned into something that might actually happen. It would have to be decided very quickly, though, as the window is closing on the chance to get a mission developed before my batteries run out (the fomer would take 3 years, the latter about 3.5), still, good news I'd say.

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[info]flummoxicated
2004-05-10 07:50 am UTC (link)
That's great, I was afraid they'd leave you languishing up there!

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[info]gasslight
2004-05-10 08:56 am UTC (link)
Most excellent! I'd say Great News!

Did you know I use your photos for my wallpaper? I think you do great work.

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[info]acelightning
2004-05-10 09:41 am UTC (link)
Heh. What difference does it make whether the repair crew breathes oxygen or not? ;-)

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[info]trinker
2004-05-10 10:46 am UTC (link)
Apples and oranges. The oxy-breather crew would be independently intelligent and able to improvise. The non-oxy-breather would have to be directed, and would have a limited range of response to possibly unexpected events.

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[info]acelightning
2004-05-10 11:01 am UTC (link)
But the non-breathing repairer has more of a chance of getting there, and faster. It's a trade-off.

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[info]trinker
2004-05-10 11:19 am UTC (link)
-shrug-

I think it's stupid to stop all the Hubble-orbit Shuttle missions.

The robot's probably not going to be able to install two instruments that were already scheduled to go Hubble-bound. IIRC, they're already built. If that's the case, it's a huge waste of money not to put them up.

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[info]acelightning
2004-05-10 11:34 am UTC (link)
Well, I would like to see "live" missions to upgrade Hubble. [insert rant here about NASA, bureacratic ineptitude, and the general inadvisability of applying politics to engineering.] But given the choice between "service robots" and "no service at all", I'd rather have the robots - and I'm sure Hubble would too.

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[info]trinker
2004-05-10 11:52 am UTC (link)
It's not so much that. It's really, this time, about some strange perception that the public wants the Shuttle astronauts to be utterly safe. I say strange, because the Shuttle astronauts themselves have said in no uncertain terms that they are aware of the risk, and want to do the Hubble mission.

Now, the fact that there's no replacement for the Shuttle in the pipeline, that's a !@^#@#^!!!!!! issue.

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[info]acelightning
2004-05-10 12:02 pm UTC (link)
Sheesh. NOTHING'S completely safe - I could be struck by a meteorite while I'm lying in bed asleep (although, granted, the probability is fairly low). And in particular, space isn't safe. And, as you point out, the astronauts accept this - they bloody well have to.

I agree completely about building a successor to the shuttle (as in, "why don't we?"). But, as a person who remembers Sputnik and Telstar and Yuri Gagarin, I'm glad that the world has come to a point where American astronauts can climb aboard a rocket at Baikonur.

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[info]trinker
2004-05-10 12:16 pm UTC (link)
Alas, living with a rocket scientist/aerospace engineer, I actually do know the "why haven't we", and it's maddening.

It's nice that we're doing this as an international effort, but the U.S. is sort of backing out of international agreements in what's going on with the Shuttle. It's truly annoying.

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[info]therealdrhyde
2004-05-10 01:19 pm UTC (link)
US backing out of international agreements and obligations? Nah, that's crazy talk.

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[info]trinker
2004-05-10 01:33 pm UTC (link)
Oy, I say. And oy again.

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[info]vulture23
2004-05-10 12:09 pm UTC (link)
I definitely agree that robot service is far preferable to no service. Hubble is doing great work, and should be maintained as long as possible. (Especially since even once the James Webb Space Telescope is up, there's some frequencies that Hubble covers that no other space telescope in operation or planning will cover, so once we lose Hubble there's certain work that we just won't be able to do.)

I'm not really convinced, though, about the safety problems involved in a Hubble-orbit shuttle mission. As you say, I'm afraid it's a matter of politics rather than engineering. Certainly nobody wants to lose another shuttle, but ISTM that the "risks" are being a bit overblown to make up for having ignored risks before the Columbia disaster -- a bit like closing the barn door after the horse has run away.

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[info]acelightning
2004-05-10 04:00 pm UTC (link)
"Oh, those O-rings for the solid rocket boosters? Naah, they don't need to withstand temperatures below freezing - Cape Canaveral is in Florida, after all. The budget weenies will never approve the more expensive kind anyway."

Grrrr....

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[info]skywaterblue
2004-05-10 12:49 pm UTC (link)
Hurrah! That's wonderful news!

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[info]amaranthyne
2004-05-12 09:59 am UTC (link)
imho, development of Nifty Little Robots is severely lacking. considering how many neat robots college students and hobbyists make every year, NASA and companies shouldn't be having any trouble making all sorts of useful little bots! I hope they get sent up right quick and keep things working for years and years and years.

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(Anonymous)
2008-06-15 07:40 am UTC (link)
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2008-08-12 01:13 pm UTC (link)
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