What a great piece of engineering that thing is, it's been up there since 1990 and still works great (well, up until now at least) with only a few repairs, maintenence, and a few upgrades. I think it was only expected to run until the late 90's and it's still going. They were going to put another telescope into orbit, but Hubble is still doing a great job so I'm not sure if the launch of that was postponed or cancelled.
That's really a shame but I'm sure they will get it fixed.
It won't. Some time ago NASA decided they would no longer launch Hubble repair missions. They would use it as long as it worked and once it stopped working that would be end of it. Looks like this is it.
Seriously, they are still hoping to get it repaired from the ground... apparently it's a power supply problem and the camera is in "safe mode." If they cannot repair it, it will still continue to do some work, probably through next year, with the other instruments aboard. There's also still an outside possibility of another servicing mission. The new NASA Administrator that took the reins last year directed NASA to look at options for servicing Hubble. This incident may be what finally compels a decision.
A source inside NASA rumored that the trouble started when junior engineers made adjustments to mirrors and camera optics in an attempt to capture a planetary "motion blur" image for some kind of photo competition.
A source inside NASA rumored that the trouble started when junior engineers made adjustments to mirrors and camera optics in an attempt to capture a planetary "motion blur" image for some kind of photo competition.
A source inside NASA rumored that the trouble started when junior engineers made adjustments to mirrors and camera optics in an attempt to capture a planetary "motion blur" image for some kind of photo competition.
ummm, did you check the date on the "hubble is broke" article?
Updated 6/25/2006 5:39 PM ET
Yeah, but I was making a point (sarcastically) when I posted the notice of the 20th anniversary and the over-large photo.
I thought about changing the thread title, but I thought it would attract more attention this way. I prefer to reuse relevant threads rather than starting new ones whenever possible -- maybe a holdover from a lifetime of reusing/recycling stuff ... :-)
Also, I normally view threads in reverse order, so I see the newest posts first.
The Webb Telescope will not "replace" the Hubble -- it "sees" in a different array of wavelengths than the Hubble. The scientists on the Science Friday show (previously linked) said they expected the Hubble to be functional long enough for the two instruments to work in conjunction.
If you're interested in amazing pictures from space, check out the first pictures of the Sun taken by the new Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) -- link in this thread.
Originally posted by d56ranger:
I note the original post above was the same date (2006)as the article, How many cameras have you owned since the initial launch in 1990?
I still have the first digital camera I bought, in 2000, have it with me always and use it frequently. :-)
Please do not post large images directly to the forums. When posting images to the forums, be aware that some readers access the site via dial-up, and that in some countries, Internet access is charged per KB downloaded. With this in mind, images larger than about 30K, or more than 500 pixels in either dimension, should be posted as links or thumbnails.
Why does this rule not apply to you GeneralE? If another member did this a member of SC would edit it to a link. And yet you do it anyway.
Please do not post large images directly to the forums. When posting images to the forums, be aware that some readers access the site via dial-up, and that in some countries, Internet access is charged per KB downloaded. With this in mind, images larger than about 30K, or more than 500 pixels in either dimension, should be posted as links or thumbnails.
Why does this rule not apply to you GeneralE? If another member did this a member of SC would edit it to a link. And yet you do it anyway.
