It's nice that after months of saying 'no' to any prospect of saving the Hubble Space Telescope, NASA's top brass have finally come to their senses and said 'yes' to a robotic mission.
The prospect of losing the Hubble to inevitable mechanical problems without the possibility of repair was a devastating one to astronomical scientists. The HST has been an amazing scientific asset that has shown us things that ground-based telescopes could never show, not only once or twice, but on innumerable occasions throughout its 14-year mission. In terms of scientific return, it may be the single most lucrative instrument in the history of mankind's scientific endeavours.
And the HST has opened our eyes to the beauty of the cosmos. Hubble's images are not the greyish, blurred photographs of 1970s astronomy textbooks. They are crisp and complex and colourful, simultaneously products of science and works of art. How can you see these and remain unimpressed?
If repairing the Hubble is the main goal, the projected repair mission itself is a massive side benefit, calling for a robot to be orbitally deployed to perform delicate operations that have previously been tricky even for astronauts. This, if achieved, will be a huge step forward for teleoperation technologies in space -- a difficult and expensive task, but one which will be absolutely necessary for the future exploration and colonisation of the solar system.
Let's hope that NASA isn't just playing politics again, and really intends to tackle this difficult engineering challenge and reap the practical rewards both in orbit and here on Earth. For the sake of the Hubble, for the sake of science and for the sake of space colonisation in my lifetime, I'm crossing my fingers.
Dude, I think some of those might be fakes. I mean, *three* Saturns? (http://heritage.stsci.edu/2001/15/index.html)
;)
I think you need to count again :)
Oh my... don't think I've ever seen anything like those before... awe-inspiring!
Um. Yes. There were 3 in the thumbnail... Ahem.
heh, i thought "oh, space pictures, know what they look like". clicked on the link and my first thought was "what the *hell* is that..and that...and that...". don't think hubble gets the publicity and acknowledgement it deserves.
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If anybody has solid proof that may refute these claims (not produced by the US authorities itself) I would like to see it. Quite luck discovering any contemplating the government was in charge of the investigation (barring independent investigators from the scenes of all attacks).
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