NASA should extend the Hubble Space Telescope鈥檚 lifetime by flying a service mission to it in 2010, says a panel of astronomers commissioned by the agency. The upgrade would extend its lifetime well into the next decade.
The plan would allow Hubble to overlap with the next generation James Webb Space Telescope, which is scheduled for launch in 2011. NASA had planned to service Hubble next year and bring it home on a shuttle in 2010. But the agency changed its mind after the Columbia shuttle disaster in February and decided instead to de-orbit Hubble and ditch it in the ocean in 2010 after a final service mission sometime in 2005.
Astronomers, however, argue that Hubble鈥檚 contribution to astronomy has been phenomenal and NASA shouldn鈥檛 destroy it while the telescope is still functional. And while the agency originally planned to launch the Webb telescope in 2007, so Hubble would overlap with it for three years, construction delays will leave a gap of a year with neither in orbit. And that gap could stretch to several years if the Webb telescope takes as long to assemble as NASA鈥檚 previous space-based observatories.
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The panel, headed by John Bahcall of the Institute for Advanced Studies in Princeton, New Jersey, has warned NASA that Webb鈥檚 launch could slip beyond 2011. It says Hubble鈥檚 re-entry can be delayed if the shuttle is available for an extra service mission.
鈥淭here is no evidence for degradation of the [Hubble] optics to date,鈥� the panel says. It recommends boosting Hubble鈥檚 orbit, replacing its faulty gyroscopes and installing new instruments on the next service mission, now planned for 2005. It also suggests adding another service mission in 2010 to install a final generation of instruments. The designs would go through peer review and compete with other NASA science missions for funding.