Earth & Sky

2008 mission a ‘go’ for Hubble upgrade

The Hubble Space Telescope is now awaiting its final service mission scheduled for late 2008.

Fabio Favata: The scientific capability of the instrument, of the telescope, will be increased by installing new instruments, in particular the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph.

That’s Fabio Favata of the European Space Agency. He said the service mission will employ the Space Shuttle to repair, maintain and enhance the Hubble Telescope.

For over 16 years, Hubble’s space images have amazed us all. Favata told Earth & Sky that the installation of new equipment and the replacement of old will leave Hubble functioning at the height of its power well into the next decade.

But, although Hubble will continue to capture unimaginable images of our universe for years, its working days are numbered.

Fabio Favata: It will certainly be missed for both its scientific capability and I’d even say for the emotional role that it has played in astronomy in the last decade or so.

Hubble’s successor will be a new project between NASA and the European Space Agency.

It’s called the James Webb Space Telescope and is scheduled for launch no earlier than 2013.

Thanks today to Research Corporation, America’s first foundation for science advancement.

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2 Comments for 2008 mission a ‘go’ for Hubble upgrade

1. 1

   Nov 8, 12:16 PM #

   a p garcia says:

   The James Webb Space Telescope will see the universe in IR light and not visible light like Hubble. It is also not as servaceable as Hubble. It makes me wonder if it is possible to put an ION engine or something like that on Hubble and move it to The L2 position between Earth and the Sun like the James Webb Space Telescope and use Hubble instead?

2. 2

   Nov 12, 04:11 PM #

   Bob says:

   I dont get how the James webb telescope will be between the sun and earth. Will it orbit around the sun or something? Also why are hubbles days numbered? Is it to costly or what?