Hubble's main camera calling it quits

[mzkhadir]

Engadget

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

There were better gags on the /. version.

 

[MichaelD]

So...is this article real? It looks real...but this would've been on CNN or something if it were...it would be big news.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: MichaelD


So...is this article real? It looks real...but this would've been on CNN or something if it were...it would be big news.

It takes a while for stuff like that to filter down to the mainstream. Plus a broken camera in a telescope isn't as exciting as reporting that astronauts are in imminent danger of teh deathz0r at launch / re-entry.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

It's also on space.com

 

[Sinsear]

Originally posted by: MichaelD


So...is this article real? It looks real...but this would've been on CNN or something if it were...it would be big news.

Was just on CNN @ approximately 1220 hrs eastern.

 

[Scarpozzi]

Didn't the hubble crash when it hit the MST3000 ship?

 

[Pocatello]

It's time for the Chinese to put Hubble out of its misery.

 

[MichaelD]

I :heart: the Hubble. I think it's one of the greatest pieces of technology ever...at least space technology. It's allowed us to see things that have opened more than a few eyes and minds. I'm into that whole Carl Sagan "Begining of the Universe and Time" thing.

 

[MmmSkyscraper]

Originally posted by: MichaelD
I :heart: the Hubble. I think it's one of the greatest pieces of technology ever...at least space technology. It's allowed us to see things that have opened more than a few eyes and minds. I'm into that whole Carl Sagan "Begining of the Universe and Time" thing.

Space > *

(not a guarantee before the astrophysicists kick off )

 

[Rumpltzer]

The Hubble has gone way past what we expected of it.


The James Webb Space Telescope is being built across the street. It should be ready in five or six years. We'll put it out past the moon and then we'll really see something interesting...

Of course, if we don't get it right on the first try, we're so screwed. There's no "repairing" the instrument once we put it way out there.

 

[FlashG]

i think its going to the L2 point between the earth and moon away from the sun

 

[Syrch]

this sucks!

 

[preslove]

 

[NanoStuff]

No problem, electromagnetic sensor arrays that span kilometers are being built on earth. Now that's orders of magnitude past HST. Plus massive optical telescopes and Webb on the infrared. Hubble has certainly accomplished it's mission, it's time to move on.

Then again, are they not planning a service mission for 2008?

 

[MichaelD]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
No problem, electromagnetic sensor arrays that span kilometers are being built on earth. Now that's orders of magnitude past HST. Plus massive optical telescopes and Webb on the infrared. Hubble has certainly accomplished it's mission, it's time to move on.

Then again, are they not planning a service mission for 2008?

I am under the impression that the key advantage the HST has is that it's outside earth's atmosphere, affording it a clearer optical, IR, etc, etc. view of the universe. Any scope here on earth, no matter how advanced, will have to get thru the earth's atmosphere before taking any pics.

 

[preslove]

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
No problem, electromagnetic sensor arrays that span kilometers are being built on earth. Now that's orders of magnitude past HST. Plus massive optical telescopes and Webb on the infrared. Hubble has certainly accomplished it's mission, it's time to move on.

Then again, are they not planning a service mission for 2008?

Hubble > * for visual light.

This is a very complicated fix and it's on top of several other needed repairs.

 

[NanoStuff]

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
No problem, electromagnetic sensor arrays that span kilometers are being built on earth. Now that's orders of magnitude past HST. Plus massive optical telescopes and Webb on the infrared. Hubble has certainly accomplished it's mission, it's time to move on.

Then again, are they not planning a service mission for 2008?

I am under the impression that the key advantage the HST has is that it's outside earth's atmosphere, affording it a clearer optical, IR, etc, etc. view of the universe. Any scope here on earth, no matter how advanced, will have to get thru the earth's atmosphere before taking any pics.

There's been a lot of recent work into software algorithms and adaptive optics for cleaning up ground based shots, with promising results.

 

[Jeff7]

Thread already in progress

Originally posted by: NanoStuff

Originally posted by: MichaelD

Originally posted by: NanoStuff
No problem, electromagnetic sensor arrays that span kilometers are being built on earth. Now that's orders of magnitude past HST. Plus massive optical telescopes and Webb on the infrared. Hubble has certainly accomplished it's mission, it's time to move on.

Then again, are they not planning a service mission for 2008?

I am under the impression that the key advantage the HST has is that it's outside earth's atmosphere, affording it a clearer optical, IR, etc, etc. view of the universe. Any scope here on earth, no matter how advanced, will have to get thru the earth's atmosphere before taking any pics.

There's been a lot of recent work into software algorithms and adaptive optics for cleaning up ground based shots, with promising results.

Adaptive optics can do wonders for visible light wavelengths, but the atmosphere absorbs other useful wavelengths, such as longwave infrared, ultraviolet, or X-rays, so to get good data from those wavelengths, one must go outside the atmosphere.

I wonder how the Universe would look if we could get ouside the sphere of the sun's influence. I think that we've got a data rate of about 160bps from the Voyagers, and they're not even past the termination shock yet.
Hubble transmits about 120GB of data a week. (Source)
Assume that to just be 120 billion bytes. I'm getting 190 years = how long that'd take to transfer from Voyager's distance.
So there'd just be a few minor hurtles before getting a Hubble out that far.

 

[Rumpltzer]

Originally posted by: FlashG
i think its going to the L2 point between the earth and moon away from the sun

Correct about the L2 orbit. Incorrect about the location of the moon.

Diagram

Source:
http://jwstsite.stsci.edu/telescope/nuts_.and._bolts/orbit.shtml