154-426: CVZ may refer to Continuous Viewing Zone ( Hubble Space Telescope ; US NASA ) , Central Volcanic Zone (geology; see Andean Volcanic Belt ) . Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title CVZ . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to
308-562: A spectral resolution of 90,000. Also optimized for ultraviolet observations were the FOC and FOS, which were capable of the highest spatial resolution of any instruments on Hubble. Rather than CCDs, these three instruments used photon -counting digicons as their detectors. The FOC was constructed by ESA, while the University of California, San Diego , and Martin Marietta Corporation built
462-728: A 25 MHz Intel-based 80486 processor system during Servicing Mission 3A in 1999. The new computer is 20 times faster, with six times more memory, than the DF-224 it replaced. It increases throughput by moving some computing tasks from the ground to the spacecraft and saves money by allowing the use of modern programming languages. Additionally, some of the science instruments and components had their own embedded microprocessor-based control systems. The MATs (Multiple Access Transponder) components, MAT-1 and MAT-2, use Hughes Aircraft CDP1802CD microprocessors. The Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPC) also used an RCA 1802 microprocessor (or possibly
616-482: A back-up mirror using traditional mirror-polishing techniques. (The team of Kodak and Itek also bid on the original mirror polishing work. Their bid called for the two companies to double-check each other's work, which would have almost certainly caught the polishing error that later caused problems .) The Kodak mirror is now on permanent display at the National Air and Space Museum . An Itek mirror built as part of
770-419: A debris event was recorded on the orbiter's wing leading edge sensors, but it was far below the force that would indicate a problem, and would not impact the mission. The late inspection that is routinely performed prior to re-entry would give any additional information, but Cain stated "We're not concerned that it's done any kind of damage that would be any concern to us, certainly not critical damage." During
924-479: A decision outside the transparency process against the wishes of the science community, and stated she would work to reverse the decision. In response to the criticism, O'Keefe said that he would review his decision to cancel the servicing mission. In March 2004, Representative Mark Udall introduced a bill to the House of Representatives that requested an independent panel of experts review O'Keefe's decision to cancel
1078-419: A different point from the light reflecting off its center. The effect of the mirror flaw on scientific observations depended on the particular observation—the core of the aberrated PSF was sharp enough to permit high-resolution observations of bright objects, and spectroscopy of point sources was affected only through a sensitivity loss. However, the loss of light to the large, out-of-focus halo severely reduced
1232-570: A father of modern rocketry, along with Robert H. Goddard and Konstantin Tsiolkovsky —published Die Rakete zu den Planetenräumen ("The Rocket into Planetary Space"), which mentioned how a telescope could be propelled into Earth orbit by a rocket. The history of the Hubble Space Telescope can be traced to 1946, to astronomer Lyman Spitzer 's paper "Astronomical advantages of an extraterrestrial observatory". In it, he discussed
1386-437: A final sharp focus and the best image quality obtained was drastically lower than expected. Images of point sources spread out over a radius of more than one arcsecond, instead of having a point spread function (PSF) concentrated within a circle 0.1 arcseconds (485 n rad ) in diameter, as had been specified in the design criteria. Analysis of the flawed images revealed that the primary mirror had been polished to
1540-546: A full-up start. There was some opposition on [Capitol] Hill to getting a new start on [Hubble]. It was driven, in large part as I recall, by the budget situation. Jim Fletcher proposed that we put in $ 5 million as a placeholder. I didn't like that idea. It was, in today's vernacular, a "sop" to the astronomy community. "There's something in there, so all is well". I figured in my own little head that to get that community energized we'd be better off zeroing it out. Then they would say, "Whoa, we're in deep trouble", and it would marshal
1694-457: A nationwide lobbying effort was coordinated among astronomers. Many astronomers met congressmen and senators in person, and large-scale letter-writing campaigns were organized. The National Academy of Sciences published a report emphasizing the need for a space telescope, and eventually, the Senate agreed to half the budget that had originally been approved by Congress. The funding issues led to
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#17328444080451848-546: A possibly failure-prone battery, and make other improvements. Furthermore, the ground software needed to control Hubble was not ready in 1986, and was barely ready by the 1990 launch. Following the resumption of shuttle flights, Space Shuttle Discovery successfully launched the Hubble on April 24, 1990, as part of the STS-31 mission. At launch, NASA had spent approximately US$ 4.7 billion in inflation-adjusted 2010 dollars on
2002-446: A project of this importance, as their budget and timescale for producing the rest of the OTA continued to inflate. In response to a schedule described as "unsettled and changing daily", NASA postponed the launch date of the telescope until April 1985. Perkin-Elmer's schedules continued to slip at a rate of about one month per quarter, and at times delays reached one day for each day of work. NASA
2156-542: A reduction in the scale of the project, with the proposed mirror diameter reduced from 3 m to 2.4 m, both to cut costs and to allow a more compact and effective configuration for the telescope hardware. A proposed precursor 1.5 m (4 ft 11 in) space telescope to test the systems to be used on the main satellite was dropped, and budgetary concerns also prompted collaboration with the European Space Agency (ESA). ESA agreed to provide funding and supply one of
2310-551: A resolution of 0.64 megapixels. The wide field camera (WFC) covered a large angular field at the expense of resolution, while the planetary camera (PC) took images at a longer effective focal length than the WF chips, giving it a greater magnification. The Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS) was a spectrograph designed to operate in the ultraviolet. It was built by the Goddard Space Flight Center and could achieve
2464-538: A shuttle to repair Hubble. As an engineer, Griffin had previously worked on Hubble's construction, and respected the discoveries the telescope brought to the science community. He agreed with the National Academy of Sciences that a robotic mission was not feasible, and said that in light of the "Return to Flight" changes made following the Columbia accident, a shuttle mission to repair Hubble should be reassessed. After
2618-497: A space-based reflecting telescope with a mirror 3 m (9.8 ft) in diameter, known provisionally as the Large Orbiting Telescope or Large Space Telescope (LST), with a launch slated for 1979. These plans emphasized the need for crewed maintenance missions to the telescope to ensure such a costly program had a lengthy working life, and the concurrent development of plans for the reusable Space Shuttle indicated that
2772-483: A spacecraft to be sent to the telescope to assist in its safe de-orbit at the end of its life. It is a circular mechanism containing structures and targets to aid docking. The infrastructure of the telescope was upgraded by replacing a "Fine Guidance Sensor" that controls the telescope's directional system, installing a set of six new gyroscopes , replacing batteries, and installing a new outer blanket layer to provide improved insulation. The payload bay elements were
2926-423: A stripped bolt on the bottom, preventing it from being released. After trying multiple options without success, managers on the ground advised Massimino to use brute force to remove the handrail, so he could proceed with the removal of the cover plate. The procedure was tested at Goddard Space Flight Center prior to approving it, showing that the stripped bolt could be broken off safely using force. Working inside
3080-471: A tenth of the wavelength of visible light , but the Space Telescope was to be used for observations from the visible through the ultraviolet (shorter wavelengths) and was specified to be diffraction limited to take full advantage of the space environment. Therefore, its mirror needed to be polished to an accuracy of 10 nanometers, or about 1/65 of the wavelength of red light. On the long wavelength end,
3234-403: A theoretical diffraction-limited resolution of about 0.05 arcsec for an optical telescope with a mirror 2.5 m (8 ft 2 in) in diameter. Second, a space-based telescope could observe infrared and ultraviolet light, which are strongly absorbed by the atmosphere of Earth . Spitzer devoted much of his career to pushing for the development of a space telescope. In 1962, a report by
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#17328444080453388-545: A total of five spacewalks on STS-103 in 1999 and STS-109 . Michael Massimino served with both Altman and Grunsfeld on STS-109, and performed two spacewalks to service the telescope. NASA managers and engineers declared the mission a complete success. The completion of all the major objectives, as well as some that were not considered vital, upgraded the Hubble telescope to its most technologically advanced state since its launch nineteen years before and made it more powerful. The upgrades helped Hubble to see deeper into
3542-704: A very small scale following World War II , as scientists made use of developments that had taken place in rocket technology. The first ultraviolet spectrum of the Sun was obtained in 1946, and NASA launched the Orbiting Solar Observatory (OSO) to obtain UV, X-ray, and gamma-ray spectra in 1962. An orbiting solar telescope was launched in 1962 by the United Kingdom as part of the Ariel programme , and in 1966 NASA launched
3696-406: A way that is not accurately predictable. The density of the upper atmosphere varies according to many factors, and this means Hubble's predicted position for six weeks' time could be in error by up to 4,000 km (2,500 mi). Observation schedules are typically finalized only a few days in advance, as a longer lead time would mean there was a chance the target would be unobservable by the time it
3850-462: Is a space telescope that was launched into low Earth orbit in 1990 and remains in operation. It was not the first space telescope , but it is one of the largest and most versatile, renowned as a vital research tool and as a public relations boon for astronomy . The Hubble telescope is named after astronomer Edwin Hubble and is one of NASA's Great Observatories . The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) selects Hubble's targets and processes
4004-813: Is physically located in Baltimore , Maryland on the Homewood campus of Johns Hopkins University , one of the 39 U.S. universities and seven international affiliates that make up the AURA consortium. STScI was established in 1981 after something of a power struggle between NASA and the scientific community at large. NASA had wanted to keep this function in-house, but scientists wanted it to be based in an academic establishment. The Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility (ST-ECF), established at Garching bei München near Munich in 1984, provided similar support for European astronomers until 2011, when these activities were moved to
4158-574: The Challenger disaster brought the U.S. space program to a halt, grounded the Shuttle fleet, and forced the launch to be postponed for several years. During this delay the telescope was kept in a clean room, powered up and purged with nitrogen, until a launch could be rescheduled. This costly situation (about US$ 6 million per month) pushed the overall costs of the project higher. However, this delay allowed time for engineers to perform extensive tests, swap out
4312-534: The Columbia Accident Investigation Board . During the announcement, O'Keefe stated that it was his decision alone, and not a recommendation from any other departments. The decision was widely criticized by the media, the science community, and those in NASA. Maryland Senator Barbara Mikulski , a member of the Senate subcommittee that oversees NASA's budget, publicly accused O'Keefe of making
4466-470: The Fine Guidance Sensor number three, and worked so efficiently that they were over an hour ahead of the timeline, giving them time to remove degraded insulation panels from three bays of the telescope, and install three New Outer Blanket Layers (NOBLs). Beginning the spacewalk at 12:20 UTC, the pair first worked on removing an aging battery module, and replaced it with a new pack, which combined with
4620-804: The Kennedy Space Center for the Crew Equipment Interface Test in early July 2008. This allowed the STS-125 crew to get familiar with the orbiter and the hardware they would be using during the flight. On August 22, 2008, after a delay following Tropical Storm Fay , Atlantis was rolled from the Orbiter Processing Facility to the Vehicle Assembly Building , where it was mated to the external fuel tank and solid rocket booster stack. Problems were encountered during
4774-469: The Orbiter Boom Sensor System (OBSS), the crew went through a detailed inspection of the orbiter's thermal protection system (TPS) tile and Reinforced carbon-carbon (RCC) surfaces. During the inspection, engineers on the ground noticed a small area of tile on the forward area of the shuttle's right wing that appeared to have suffered some damage during ascent. Mission managers called up to
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4928-474: The Wide Field Camera 3 . The mission also replaced a Fine Guidance Sensor , six gyroscopes , and two battery unit modules to allow the telescope to continue to function at least through 2014. The crew also installed new thermal blanket insulating panels to provide improved thermal protection, and a soft-capture mechanism that would aid in the safe de-orbiting of the telescope by a robotic spacecraft at
5082-463: The record book of spacewalking time. During the previous day's mission status briefing, Dave Leckrone, Hubble Space Telescope Senior Project Scientist, made a prediction, joking that since the first two spacewalks, which were considered to be straightforward, had run into issues, the most difficult EVA – to repair the ACS, would be the smoothest one of the mission. "I have a prediction, We've always said EVA 3
5236-465: The 1991 comedy The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear , in a scene where historical disasters are displayed, Hubble is pictured with RMS Titanic and LZ 129 Hindenburg . Nonetheless, during the first three years of the Hubble mission, before the optical corrections, the telescope carried out a large number of productive observations of less demanding targets. The error was well characterized and stable, enabling astronomers to partially compensate for
5390-619: The Earth's shadow and its solar arrays are not exposed to the sun. The spacewalk officially ended at 20:45 UTC, for a time of seven hours, fifty-six minutes. It was the twentieth spacewalk to service Hubble, bringing the total time in EVA servicing the telescope to one hundred forty-four hours and twenty-six minutes. During the mission status briefing, Tomas Gonzalez-Torres, the Lead EVA Officer, and Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch both explained that
5544-618: The European Space Astronomy Centre. One complex task that falls to STScI is scheduling observations for the telescope. Hubble is in a low-Earth orbit to enable servicing missions, which results in most astronomical targets being occulted by the Earth for slightly less than half of each orbit. Observations cannot take place when the telescope passes through the South Atlantic Anomaly due to elevated radiation levels, and there are also sizable exclusion zones around
5698-578: The FOS. The final instrument was the HSP, designed and built at the University of Wisconsin–Madison . It was optimized for visible and ultraviolet light observations of variable stars and other astronomical objects varying in brightness. It could take up to 100,000 measurements per second with a photometric accuracy of about 2% or better. HST's guidance system can also be used as a scientific instrument. Its three Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) are primarily used to keep
5852-597: The Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS). WF/PC used a radial instrument bay, and the other four instruments were each installed in an axial instrument bay. WF/PC was a high-resolution imaging device primarily intended for optical observations. It was built by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , and incorporated a set of 48 filters isolating spectral lines of particular astrophysical interest. The instrument contained eight charge-coupled device (CCD) chips divided between two cameras, each using four CCDs. Each CCD has
6006-558: The HST is a Cassegrain reflector of Ritchey–Chrétien design , as are most large professional telescopes. This design, with two hyperbolic mirrors, is known for good imaging performance over a wide field of view, with the disadvantage that the mirrors have shapes that are hard to fabricate and test. The mirror and optical systems of the telescope determine the final performance, and they were designed to exacting specifications. Optical telescopes typically have mirrors polished to an accuracy of about
6160-411: The Hubble Space Telescope failed. Because of its importance to the telescope, NASA postponed the launch of STS-125 on September 29 until 2009 so the failed unit could be replaced as well. Atlantis was rolled back to the Vehicle Assembly Building on October 20. On October 30, 2008, NASA announced that Atlantis would be removed from its solid rocket boosters and external tank stack and sent back to
6314-532: The Mission Status briefing, Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci noted that during the camera survey of the equipment in the payload bay, the team noticed some fine particulate matter around the box containing the Wide Field Camera 3 and asked the crew to take additional images using a higher resolution camera for the ground teams to assess. Cain later confirmed that the dust was not present prior to launch, and
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6468-515: The OTA was not designed with optimum infrared performance in mind—for example, the mirrors are kept at stable (and warm, about 15 °C) temperatures by heaters. This limits Hubble's performance as an infrared telescope. Perkin-Elmer (PE) intended to use custom-built and extremely sophisticated computer-controlled polishing machines to grind the mirror to the required shape. However, in case their cutting-edge technology ran into difficulties, NASA demanded that PE sub-contract to Kodak to construct
6622-623: The Orbiter Processing Facility to await a targeted launch time at 1:11 pm EDT on May 12, 2009. The stack was turned over to be used on the STS-119 mission instead. On March 23, Atlantis was mated to its new stack in the Vehicle Assembly Building, and rolled out to Launch Pad 39A on March 31. On April 24, 2009, NASA managers issued a request to move the STS-125 launch up one day to May 11 at 2:01 pm EDT. The change
6776-425: The Shuttle servicing missions. COSTAR was a corrective optics device rather than a science instrument, but occupied one of the four axial instrument bays. Since the final servicing mission in 2009, the four active instruments have been ACS, COS, STIS and WFC3. NICMOS is kept in hibernation, but may be revived if WFC3 were to fail in the future. Of the former instruments, three (COSTAR, FOS and WFPC2) are displayed in
6930-700: The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum . The FOC is in the Dornier museum, Germany. The HSP is in the Space Place at the University of Wisconsin–Madison . The first WFPC was dismantled, and some components were then re-used in WFC3. Within weeks of the launch of the telescope, the returned images indicated a serious problem with the optical system. Although the first images appeared to be sharper than those of ground-based telescopes, Hubble failed to achieve
7084-516: The Space Telescope Operations Control Center at Goddard Space Flight Center sent commands to the camera to perform an aliveness test, which passed, indicating the camera was installed correctly. The next task was to remove and replace the telescope's Science Instrument Command and Data Handling Unit, or SIC&DH, a computer that sends commands to Hubble's science instruments, and formats science data for transmission to
7238-564: The Sun (precluding observations of Mercury ), Moon and Earth. The solar avoidance angle is about 50°, to keep sunlight from illuminating any part of the OTA. Earth and Moon avoidance keeps bright light out of the FGSs, and keeps scattered light from entering the instruments. If the FGSs are turned off, the Moon and Earth can be observed. Earth observations were used very early in the program to generate flat-fields for
7392-857: The Super Lightweight Interchangeable Carrier (SLIC) which held the Wide Field Camera 3, new batteries, and a radiator; the ORU Carrier which stored the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and FGS-3R instruments; the Flight Support Structure (FSS) which held onto the Hubble during repairs; the Multi-Use Lightweight Equipment Carrier (MULE) which held support equipment and the Relative Navigation Sensor (RNS) Experiment. Along with
7546-415: The U.S. National Academy of Sciences recommended development of a space telescope as part of the space program , and in 1965, Spitzer was appointed as head of a committee given the task of defining scientific objectives for a large space telescope. Also crucial was the work of Nancy Grace Roman , the "Mother of Hubble". Well before it became an official NASA project, she gave public lectures touting
7700-455: The University of Chicago. Michael Massimino flew a 1964 reprint of Galileo 's Sidereus Nuncius from the library of his alma mater, MIT . At the end of September 2007, Warner Bros. Pictures and IMAX Corporation announced that in cooperation with NASA, an IMAX 3D camera would travel to the Hubble telescope in the payload bay of Atlantis for production of a new film that will chronicle
7854-738: The WFPC1 instrument. There is a so-called continuous viewing zone (CVZ), within roughly 24° of Hubble's orbital poles , in which targets are not occulted for long periods. Due to the precession of the orbit, the location of the CVZ moves slowly over a period of eight weeks. Because the limb of the Earth is always within about 30° of regions within the CVZ, the brightness of scattered earthshine may be elevated for long periods during CVZ observations. Hubble orbits in low Earth orbit at an altitude of approximately 540 kilometers (340 mi) and an inclination of 28.5°. The position along its orbit changes over time in
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#17328444080458008-408: The adventure of a lifetime has begun!". The mission marked: STS-125 was first assigned to Discovery with a launch date no earlier than May 2008. This originally moved the mission ahead of STS-119 , ISS Assembly flight 15. Delays to several shuttle missions resulted in a change in mission ordering, and the orbiter was changed to Atlantis on January 8, 2007. The crew of Atlantis went to
8162-463: The assistance of their EVA counterparts, Massimino and Good, and the spacewalk officially began when the two switched their suits to battery power at 12:52 UTC. At the start of the spacewalk, Feustel provided managers on the ground with a visual inspection report on the particulate matter seen earlier around the WFC3 box, reporting to the ground team that "I don't really see any of those particles...It's almost imperceivable. I can see some few particles on
8316-456: The battery in one of his power tools failed. Massimino was instructed to return to the orbiter's airlock to retrieve a spare tool and to recharge his suit's oxygen reserves, to allow for completion of the STIS repair. The rest of the STIS repair work was completed without any problems, but the spacewalkers were nearly two hours behind the scheduled timeline, so managers on the ground decided to postpone
8470-473: The battery replacement performed during the second spacewalk, gave the telescope all new nickel-hydrogen batteries. They then moved on to the removal and replacement of the Fine Guidance Sensor unit number three, improving Hubble's focus and stability when imaging. NASA engineers liken the new FGS to being able to keep a laser beam focused on a U.S. dime coin that is 320 km (199 mi) away. Both
8624-411: The bolts from the old camera, which after over fifteen years in space required more torque to remove than expected. After multiple attempts, managers on the ground decided to have Grunsfeld get a contingency torque limiter from the airlock, which would allow Feustel to apply more force without exceeding a specific point, but the bolt would still not release. The concern was that the bolt would shear, and
8778-409: The camera would be unable to be removed should that happen. Finally, managers approved Feustel to remove the limiter, and apply as much force as he safely thought it would take to release the bolt, which was successful. The new camera has allowed Hubble to take large-scale, extremely clear and detailed photos over a wider range of colors than the old camera did. After the installation, controllers at
8932-417: The cancellation of the mission. A veteran astronaut of four shuttle missions, including two Hubble servicing missions, Grunsfeld had devoted years to Hubble, and was very disappointed when O'Keefe canceled the mission. He briefly considered retiring from NASA, but realized if he stayed, he could continue to advance physics in other ways. Instead, Grunsfeld dedicated himself to finding alternate ways to service
9086-593: The collectible items that are flown on shuttle missions, such as mission patches, flags, and other personal items for the crew, were an official Harlem Globetrotters basketball and a basketball that Edwin Hubble used in 1909 when he played for the University of Chicago . After being returned to Earth, the Harlem Globetrotters basketball would be placed in the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame , and Hubble's ball would be returned to
9240-614: The construction. The two initial, primary computers on the HST were the 1.25 MHz DF-224 system, built by Rockwell Autonetics, which contained three redundant CPUs, and two redundant NSSC-1 (NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer, Model 1) systems, developed by Westinghouse and GSFC using diode–transistor logic (DTL). A co-processor for the DF-224 was added during Servicing Mission 1 in 1993, which consisted of two redundant strings of an Intel-based 80386 processor with an 80387 math co-processor. The DF-224 and its 386 co-processor were replaced by
9394-415: The crew that would fly the mission, which included Grunsfeld. Senator Mikulski expressed her delight at the news, stating "The Hubble telescope has been the greatest telescope since Galileo invented the first one. It has gone to look at places in the universe that we didn't know existed before." New Yorker and dedicated New York Mets fan, Mike Massimino, brought the home plate from Shea Stadium along on
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#17328444080459548-427: The crew to alert them of the find, advising Altman ("Scooter") that one of the orbiter's wing leading edge sensors recorded a debris event during ascent, around 104 – 106 seconds following liftoff, which may have been the cause of the damage seen in that area. CAPCOM Dan Burbank advised the crew that the damage did not initially appear to be serious, but assured the crew that the image analysis team would be reviewing
9702-457: The day two inspection. Following the analysis of the survey, the managers cleared all of the TPS systems until the pre-landing inspection. The mission's second spacewalk officially began at 12:49 UTC, and the pair set to work removing and replacing the telescope's three gyroscope rate sensing units (RSUs). Each unit contains two gyroscopes that allow the telescope to point itself. The first unit, RSU 2,
9856-487: The defective mirror by using sophisticated image processing techniques such as deconvolution . A commission headed by Lew Allen , director of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory , was established to determine how the error could have arisen. The Allen Commission found that a reflective null corrector , a testing device used to achieve a properly shaped non-spherical mirror, had been incorrectly assembled—one lens
10010-556: The effort is now used in the 2.4 m telescope at the Magdalena Ridge Observatory . Construction of the Perkin-Elmer mirror began in 1979, starting with a blank manufactured by Corning from their ultra-low expansion glass. To keep the mirror's weight to a minimum it consisted of top and bottom plates, each 25 mm (0.98 in) thick, sandwiching a honeycomb lattice. Perkin-Elmer simulated microgravity by supporting
10164-447: The end of its operational lifespan. The mission also carried an IMAX camera with which the crew documented the progress of the mission for the 2010 IMAX film Hubble . The crew of STS-125 included three astronauts who had previous experience servicing Hubble. Scott Altman visited Hubble in 2002 as commander of STS-109 , the fourth Hubble servicing mission. John Grunsfeld , an astronomer , has serviced Hubble twice, performing
10318-594: The enhancements recommended by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board , making it impossible for them to produce two tanks for the STS-125 mission–one for Atlantis , and one for Endeavour for an emergency rescue mission , if necessary–in time for the original August launch date. The first rollout to Launch Pad 39A occurred on September 4, 2008. On September 27, the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling (SIC&DH) Unit on
10472-483: The existing WF/PC, included relay mirrors to direct light onto the four separate charge-coupled device (CCD) chips making up its two cameras. An inverse error built into their surfaces could completely cancel the aberration of the primary. However, the other instruments lacked any intermediate surfaces that could be configured in this way, and so required an external correction device. STS-125 STS-125 , or HST-SM4 ( Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 ),
10626-571: The final EVA was also the last planned spacewalk from a shuttle airlock. In what was likely his last EVA, Grunsfeld's has accumulated fifty-eight hours and thirty minutes spacewalking, just two minutes less than Jerry L. Ross , who is third on the list of spacewalking time. The completion of all the major objectives, as well as some that were not considered vital, upgraded the telescope to its most technologically advanced state since its launch nineteen years ago, and made it more powerful than ever. The upgrades will also help Hubble to see deeper into
10780-501: The first Orbiting Astronomical Observatory (OAO) mission. OAO-1's battery failed after three days, terminating the mission. It was followed by Orbiting Astronomical Observatory 2 (OAO-2), which carried out ultraviolet observations of stars and galaxies from its launch in 1968 until 1972, well beyond its original planned lifetime of one year. The OSO and OAO missions demonstrated the important role space-based observations could play in astronomy. In 1968, NASA developed firm plans for
10934-518: The first generation instruments for the telescope, as well as the solar cells that would power it, and staff to work on the telescope in the United States, in return for European astronomers being guaranteed at least 15% of the observing time on the telescope. Congress eventually approved funding of US$ 36 million for 1978, and the design of the LST began in earnest, aiming for a launch date of 1983. In 1983,
11088-405: The fix was designed to "back power" the high-resolution channel through the paths connected to the wide-field channel, and while feasible, it was a possibility that the short circuit damage was in an area not corrected with the planned repair. Even if the high-resolution channel is unable to be restored, it was considered to be less important, since the bulk of the ACS science output is undertaken by
11242-452: The front of the W-SIPE, little, whitish, grey looking, real small. It's low density, too." After getting their tools and equipment for the EVA set up, Grunsfeld and Feustel removed the old Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 , which was installed in 1993 during the telescope's first servicing mission, and replaced it with the new Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3). Feustel initially had trouble removing
11396-411: The future to dock with the telescope, and to safely de-orbit the telescope at the end of its life. Feustel also installed two of four Latch Over Center Kits, or LOCKs, that make opening and closing Hubble's large access doors easier for the remaining spacewalks. The spacewalk officially ended at 20:12 UTC, for a time of seven hours and twenty minutes. It was the nineteenth spacewalk devoted to servicing
11550-429: The ground evaluated the consumables for the two spacesuits , and decided that if Massimino recharged his suit's oxygen in the airlock, the pair could safely continue with the battery installation. After moving to the battery unit site, Good and Massimino removed one of the original battery modules from Bay 2 of the telescope, and replaced it with a new unit. The batteries provide power to the telescope when it passes into
11704-644: The ground. This was the item that failed in September 2008, delaying STS-125 while engineers prepared a replacement part for the mission, and the crew trained for the new task. While the failure of the SIC&;DH did not disable the telescope, replacing the unit restores the redundancies. The final major task was to install the Soft-Capture Mechanism (SCM), which includes the 72-inch-wide (1,800 mm) Low Impact Docking System (LIDS) that will allow spacecraft in
11858-668: The highest priority items scheduled. The tasks were to remove the obsolete Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement (COSTAR), originally installed during STS-61 to correct the spherical aberration of Hubble's mirror, and install the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), and to repair the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS). The ACS failed in June 2006 due to an electrical issue, and after being restored partially, failed again in 2007 due to an electrical short. The ACS
12012-531: The imagery further, and engineers on the ground would be analyzing it to determine if a focused inspection would be required. As part of the Flight Day 2 Execute Package, ground engineers also provided further information on the circuit breaker failure seen at launch. The breaker (Channel 1 Aerosurfaces, ASA 1) is part of the shuttle's Flight Control Systems (FCS), a subsystem of the guidance, navigation, and control (GNC) systems. The failure would have no impact to
12166-489: The impossible. And on this mission, we tried some things that many people said were impossible – fixing STIS, repairing ACS, achieving all the content that we have in this mission. But we've achieved that and we wish Hubble the very best. It's really a sign of the great country that we live in that we're able to do things like this on a marvelous spaceship like the space shuttle Atlantis . And I'm convinced that if we can solve problems like repairing Hubble, getting to space, doing
12320-461: The intended −1.00230 . The same number was also derived by analyzing the null corrector used by Perkin-Elmer to figure the mirror, as well as by analyzing interferograms obtained during ground testing of the mirror. Because of the way the HST's instruments were designed, two different sets of correctors were required. The design of the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2, already planned to replace
12474-406: The intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=CVZ&oldid=932779733 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope (often referred to as HST or Hubble )
12628-635: The last one being STS-66 . The fifth servicing mission to Hubble, HST-SM4, was originally scheduled to launch in late 2005 or early 2006. However, the loss of Columbia in 2003, in which the orbiter disintegrated on re-entry into the atmosphere, had negative effects on the Hubble program as well as other NASA missions. On January 16, then-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe canceled the mission, as well as any future missions to Hubble, citing them as too risky, that all future shuttle missions would dock with International Space Station if an in-flight problem were to develop, as well as safety constraints imposed by
12782-413: The launch date of the telescope to October 1984. The mirror was completed by the end of 1981; it was washed using 9,100 L (2,000 imp gal; 2,400 US gal) of hot, deionized water and then received a reflective coating of 65 nm-thick aluminum and a protective coating of 25 nm-thick magnesium fluoride . Doubts continued to be expressed about Perkin-Elmer's competence on
12936-418: The launch of STS-124 , severe damage was seen at the pad where bricks were blasted from the walls, but NASA officials stated the damage from the STS-125 launch was not nearly as severe and should not impact the launch of STS-127 in June. Following the morning wake up call, the crew began work on the day's tasks, which were centered on inspection of the orbiter's heat shield. Using the shuttle robotic arm and
13090-414: The length of the spacewalk, and the resulting slip in the timeline, the crew's sleep shift would have to be moved an hour later, to allow them to get the proper amount of rest, and the rest of the docked timeline would also be shifted forward an hour. After awakening, the crew set to work preparing for the mission's third spacewalk, one that was considered the most challenging and uncertain, yet had some of
13244-417: The major challenges was to remove a cover plate held tight with over 100 screws using a specially designed tool called a fastener-capture plate, designed to trap the screws and washers and prevent them from floating into space when removed. While preparing the fastener-capture plate, Massimino encountered issues with a handrail that had to be removed to accommodate the fastener-capture plate. The handrail had
13398-413: The mating process, and poor weather due to Hurricane Hanna caused a delay in the rollout of Atlantis to the launch pad, which is normally done seven days after rollover. STS-125 was further pushed back to October 2008 due to manufacturing delays on external tanks for future space shuttle missions. Lockheed Martin experienced delays during the production changes to make new external tanks with all
13552-415: The mirror being ground very precisely but to the wrong shape. During fabrication, a few tests using conventional null correctors correctly reported spherical aberration . But these results were dismissed, thus missing the opportunity to catch the error, because the reflective null corrector was considered more accurate. The commission blamed the failings primarily on Perkin-Elmer. Relations between NASA and
13706-414: The mirror from the back with 130 rods that exerted varying amounts of force. This ensured the mirror's final shape would be correct and to specification when deployed. Mirror polishing continued until May 1981. NASA reports at the time questioned Perkin-Elmer's managerial structure, and the polishing began to slip behind schedule and over budget. To save money, NASA halted work on the back-up mirror and moved
13860-427: The mirror. While the commission heavily criticized Perkin-Elmer for these managerial failings, NASA was also criticized for not picking up on the quality control shortcomings, such as relying totally on test results from a single instrument. Many feared that Hubble would be abandoned. The design of the telescope had always incorporated servicing missions, and astronomers immediately began to seek potential solutions to
14014-484: The mission status briefing, Jennifer Wiseman , Chief of Exoplanet and Stellar Astrophysics for Goddard Space Flight Center, noted that the repair of STIS was a major victory for both the mission and the science community, as that part of the telescope performed unique functions, helping scientists understand the materials planets are composed of, and looking at things like the motion of stars around black holes . After initial aliveness testing that showed no issues, STIS
14168-485: The mission, due to redundant systems. In addition to the survey of the orbiter's heat shield, the crew gathered and inspected the EVA tools and spacesuits that would be used for the mission's spacewalks and prepared the Flight Support System (FSS) for berthing with Hubble on flight day three. Following the crew's post-sleep activities, they went to work performing the rendezvous operations that included burning
14322-494: The mission. He was forced to slightly alter the plate to allow it to fit into the locker designated for memorabilia. Massimino presented the plate back to the Mets management upon return and threw out the first pitch there. The plate is now on display at Citi Field . The mission added two new instruments to Hubble. The first instrument, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph , became the most sensitive ultraviolet spectrograph ever installed on
14476-490: The most detailed visible light images, allowing a deep view into space. Many Hubble observations have led to breakthroughs in astrophysics , such as determining the rate of expansion of the universe . Space telescopes were proposed as early as 1923, and the Hubble telescope was funded and built in the 1970s by the United States space agency NASA with contributions from the European Space Agency . Its intended launch
14630-529: The new batteries, and the FGS passed both aliveness and functional testing. The mission's final EVA concluded at 19:22 UTC, after seven hours and two minutes. The total time spent during the mission in extra-vehicular activity was thirty-six hours, fifty-six minutes. The twenty-third and final spacewalk to service Hubble brought the total time spent in EVA working on the telescope to one hundred and sixty-six hours, six minutes. Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci noted that
14784-560: The next day's spacewalk, gathering tools and checking out the suits and equipment that would be used during the EVA. At the Mission Management Team (MMT) briefing, MMT Chairman LeRoy Cain reported that the damage assessment team had cleared all of the orbiter's TPS tiles and blankets, and were expected to clear the RCC portion of the orbiter by flight day four. He stated that no focused inspection would be required. Cain also noted that
14938-452: The next hurdle for NASA was to obtain funding for the instrument, which would be far more costly than any Earth-based telescope. The U.S. Congress questioned many aspects of the proposed budget for the telescope and forced cuts in the budget for the planning stages, which at the time consisted of very detailed studies of potential instruments and hardware for the telescope. In 1974, public spending cuts led to Congress deleting all funding for
15092-595: The older 1801 version). The WFPC-1 was replaced by the WFPC-2 during Servicing Mission 1 in 1993, which was then replaced by the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) during Servicing Mission 4 in 2009. The upgrade extended Hubble's capability of seeing deeper into the universe and providing images in three broad regions of the spectrum. When launched, the HST carried five scientific instruments: the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WF/PC), Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), High Speed Photometer (HSP), Faint Object Camera (FOC) and
15246-411: The optics company had been severely strained during the telescope construction, due to frequent schedule slippage and cost overruns. NASA found that Perkin-Elmer did not review or supervise the mirror construction adequately, did not assign its best optical scientists to the project (as it had for the prototype), and in particular did not involve the optical designers in the construction and verification of
15400-463: The orbiter's engines to refine the approach to the Hubble telescope. Following some delays due to communications issues, Altman and Johnson ("Ray-J") guided the orbiter within fifty feet of the telescope. McArthur successfully grappled Hubble at 17:14 UTC, and at 18:12 the telescope was safely berthed in the payload bay of Atlantis . Later in the day, Grunsfeld and Feustel (Drew), along with Good ("Bueno") and Massimino ("Mass") worked on preparing for
15554-448: The orbiter's payload bay, they installed COS, and then moved on to the ACS repair. Using specially designed tools, they removed an access panel, replaced the camera's four circuit boards, and installed a new power supply. The spacewalk was completed in six hours and thirty-six minutes, and the ACS passed the initial aliveness tests. It was the twenty-first Hubble servicing spacewalk, and Grunsfeld's seventh EVA, moving him up to fourth in
15708-417: The orbiter, Feustel walked Massimino through the procedure slowly, advising him to tape the handrail with Kapton tape to prevent any parts from breaking off or flying loose, to be aware of the reaction the force would have, as well as to watch for sharp edges on the handrail after removal. Once the handrail was removed, Massimino went to work attaching the capture plate, but ran into additional problems when
15862-464: The payload bay doors, deployed the Ku band antenna, and moved into the robotic activities portion of the day, which included a survey of the payload bay and crew cabin survey with the orbiter's robotic arm . During the post-launch inspection of Launch Pad 39A, a twenty-five foot area on the north side of the flame deflector was found to have damage where some of the heat resistant coating came off. Following
16016-425: The problem that could be applied at the first servicing mission, scheduled for 1993. While Kodak had ground a back-up mirror for Hubble, it would have been impossible to replace the mirror in orbit, and too expensive and time-consuming to bring the telescope back to Earth for a refit. Instead, the fact that the mirror had been ground so precisely to the wrong shape led to the design of new optical components with exactly
16170-576: The project. Hubble's cumulative costs are estimated to be about US$ 11.3 billion in 2015 dollars, which include all subsequent servicing costs, but not ongoing operations, making it the most expensive science mission in NASA history. Hubble accommodates five science instruments at a given time, plus the Fine Guidance Sensors , which are mainly used for aiming the telescope but are occasionally used for scientific astrometry measurements. Early instruments were replaced with more advanced ones during
16324-569: The resulting data, while the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) controls the spacecraft. Hubble features a 2.4 m (7 ft 10 in) mirror, and its five main instruments observe in the ultraviolet , visible , and near-infrared regions of the electromagnetic spectrum . Hubble's orbit outside the distortion of Earth's atmosphere allows it to capture extremely high-resolution images with substantially lower background light than ground-based telescopes. It has recorded some of
16478-409: The same error but in the opposite sense, to be added to the telescope at the servicing mission, effectively acting as " spectacles " to correct the spherical aberration. The first step was a precise characterization of the error in the main mirror. Working backwards from images of point sources, astronomers determined that the conic constant of the mirror as built was −1.01390 ± 0.0002 , instead of
16632-439: The scientific value of the telescope. After it was approved, she became the program scientist, setting up the steering committee in charge of making astronomer needs feasible to implement and writing testimony to Congress throughout the 1970s to advocate continued funding of the telescope. Her work as project scientist helped set the standards for NASA's operation of large scientific projects. Space-based astronomy had begun on
16786-473: The second spacewalk of the mission, with Massimino and Good suiting up with assistance from Grunsfeld and Feustel. As they were preparing for the EVA, the team on the ground informed the crew that the WFC3 had passed all the overnight functional tests, indicating it was in good working order. While the spacewalk preparations were underway, Altman and McArthur completed a robotic survey of a small row of heat shield tiles that had not been sufficiently imaged during
16940-537: The servicing mission. Also in March 2004, Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) Director Stephen Beckwith released the results of the Hubble Ultra-Deep Field survey to the entire science community, which helped show the public how important Hubble was to science. The data showed the deepest images ever taken by a telescope and revealed approximately 10,000 galaxies, some of which most likely dated back to when
17094-402: The servicing we do traveling 17,500 miles an hour around the Earth, that we can achieve other great things, like solving our energy problems and our climate problems, all things that are in the middle of NASA's prime and core values. — John L. Grunsfeld Completing the fifth of the five planned spacewalks, Grunsfeld and Feustel successfully installed the second battery, removed and replaced
17248-405: The spacecraft in which the telescope and instruments would be housed proceeded somewhat more smoothly than the construction of the OTA, Lockheed experienced some budget and schedule slippage, and by the summer 1985, construction of the spacecraft was 30% over budget and three months behind schedule. An MSFC report said Lockheed tended to rely on NASA directions rather than take their own initiative in
17402-461: The spare RSU would not impact the life of the telescope, as it had been fully refurbished on the ground with two of the three improvements incorporated in newer models. "I would say the difference in the projected longevity of the observatory in the out years is very small. We don't see this is a significant detriment at all to the observatory. This was a tremendous accomplishment for us." Burch noted. Lead Flight Director Tony Ceccacci noted that due to
17556-769: The spectrum are covered by the Compton Gamma Ray Observatory , the Chandra X-ray Observatory , and the Spitzer Space Telescope (which covers the infrared bands). The mid-IR-to-visible band successor to the Hubble telescope is the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), which was launched on December 25, 2021, with the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope due to follow in 2027. In 1923, Hermann Oberth —considered
17710-553: The story of the Hubble telescope. An IMAX camera was also stationed at the LC-39 Press Site for the launch. IMAX has made a number of movies centered around space, including Destiny in Space , The Dream Is Alive , Mission to Mir , Blue Planet , Magnificent Desolation: Walking on the Moon 3D , and Space Station 3D , made in 2001 on the first trip of IMAX to the ISS. The movie
17864-481: The successes of the Return to Flight STS-114 and STS-121 missions, and the lessons learned and improvements made following those missions, managers and engineers worked to formulate a plan that would allow the shuttle to service Hubble, while still adhering to the post- Columbia safety requirements. On October 31, 2006, Griffin announced that the Hubble servicing mission was reinstated, scheduled for 2008, and announced
18018-480: The task of installing a New Outer Blanket Layers (NOBLs) onto the telescope's outer shell. The spacewalk, originally scheduled to last six hours and thirty minutes, ended at 21:47 UTC, for a time of eight hours and two minutes. At the time, it became the sixth longest spacewalk in history. It was the twenty-second spacewalk devoted to servicing the Hubble telescope, and Massimino's fourth spacewalk, bringing his total EVA time to thirty hours, forty-four minutes. During
18172-465: The technology to allow this was soon to become available. The continuing success of the OAO program encouraged increasingly strong consensus within the astronomical community that the LST should be a major goal. In 1970, NASA established two committees, one to plan the engineering side of the space telescope project, and the other to determine the scientific goals of the mission. Once these had been established,
18326-549: The telescope accurately pointed during an observation, but can also be used to carry out extremely accurate astrometry ; measurements accurate to within 0.0003 arcseconds have been achieved. The Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) is responsible for the scientific operation of the telescope and the delivery of data products to astronomers. STScI is operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA) and
18480-418: The telescope project. In 1977, then NASA Administrator James C. Fletcher proposed a token $ 5 million for Hubble in NASA's budget. Then NASA Associate Administrator for Space Science, Noel Hinners , instead cut all funding for Hubble, gambling that this would galvanize the scientific community into fighting for full funding. As Hinners recalls: It was clear that year that we weren't going to be able to get
18634-422: The telescope was named after Edwin Hubble , who confirmed one of the greatest scientific discoveries of the 20th century, made by Georges Lemaître , that the universe is expanding . Once the Space Telescope project had been given the go-ahead, work on the program was divided among many institutions. Marshall Space Flight Center (MSFC) was given responsibility for the design, development, and construction of
18788-484: The telescope, and brought the total time in servicing Hubble to one hundred thirty-six hours, thirty minutes. Due to the length of the spacewalk, and the delay in beginning, the crew was over an hour behind their scheduled timeline for the day, but worked through the post-EVA activities and evening activities without problems, and got to sleep only slightly behind their scheduled time. During the mission status briefing, David Leckrone, Hubble Project Senior Scientist, noted he
18942-566: The telescope, including all five of the main instruments. The fifth mission was initially canceled on safety grounds following the Columbia disaster (2003), but after NASA administrator Michael D. Griffin approved it, the servicing mission was completed in 2009. Hubble completed 30 years of operation in April 2020 and is predicted to last until 2030 to 2040. Hubble is the visible light telescope in NASA's Great Observatories program ; other parts of
19096-582: The telescope, possibly by sending a robot into orbit to do the job. When O'Keefe announced his resignation as Administrator in December 2004, five days after a National Academy of Sciences committee opposed O'Keefe's position regarding servicing Hubble, the media and science community saw hope for the telescope's servicing mission to be reinstated. O'Keefe's replacement, Michael D. Griffin , took just two months after his appointment to announce that he disagreed with O'Keefe's decision, and would consider sending
19250-436: The telescope, while Goddard Space Flight Center was given overall control of the scientific instruments and ground-control center for the mission. MSFC commissioned the optics company Perkin-Elmer to design and build the optical telescope assembly (OTA) and Fine Guidance Sensors for the space telescope. Lockheed was commissioned to construct and integrate the spacecraft in which the telescope would be housed. Optically,
19404-429: The telescope. Its far-UV channel is 30 times more sensitive than previous instruments and the near-UV is twice as sensitive. The second instrument, the Wide Field Camera 3 , is a panchromatic wide-field camera that can record a wide range of wavelengths, including infrared , visible , and ultraviolet light . Atlantis also carried the Soft-Capture Mechanism, which was installed onto the telescope. This will enable
19558-496: The telescope. A shroud of multi-layer insulation keeps the temperature within the telescope stable and surrounds a light aluminum shell in which the telescope and instruments sit. Within the shell, a graphite-epoxy frame keeps the working parts of the telescope firmly aligned. Because graphite composites are hygroscopic , there was a risk that water vapor absorbed by the truss while in Lockheed's clean room would later be expressed in
19712-474: The three photo channels, the wide-field channel, and that the issues with the high-resolution channel may not be resolved by the designed fix. During the functional testing, the wide-field channel passed, but issues were seen with the high-resolution channel, indicating that the power issue may be farther upstream in the electronic circuits than the spacewalk repair addressed. Additional testing would be performed, but Hubble Program Manager Preston Burch noted that
19866-436: The troops. So I advocated that we not put anything in. I don't remember any of the detailed discussions or whether there were any, but Jim went along with that so we zeroed it out. It had, from my perspective, the desired impact of stimulating the astronomy community to renew their efforts on the lobbying front. While I like to think in hindsight it was a brilliant political move, I'm not sure I thought it through all that well. It
20020-455: The two main advantages that a space-based observatory would have over ground-based telescopes. First, the angular resolution (the smallest separation at which objects can be clearly distinguished) would be limited only by diffraction , rather than by the turbulence in the atmosphere, which causes stars to twinkle, known to astronomers as seeing . At that time ground-based telescopes were limited to resolutions of 0.5–1.0 arcseconds , compared to
20174-459: The unit again would not seat properly, and they were unable to install it. Instead, it was decided that an additional unit carried as a spare would be placed into the final bay. The spare unit was one that was removed during the STS-103 mission, and had been refurbished on the ground. The installation of all three gyro units was a critical objective of the servicing mission, as three had failed, one
20328-458: The universe and farther into the past, closer to the time of the Big Bang . STS-125 was the only visit to the Hubble Space Telescope for Atlantis ; the telescope had been previously serviced twice by Discovery and once each by Columbia and Endeavour . The mission was the 30th flight of Space Shuttle Atlantis and also the first by Atlantis in over 14 years not to visit a space station,
20482-408: The universe was just five hundred million years old. With Beckwith when he released the data to the scientific community was Mikulski, who said of the results, "I think it's just amazing... this is why I will continue to stand up for Hubble." Joining Mikulski as an advocate for servicing Hubble was NASA's Chief Scientist, physicist John Grunsfeld, who was present at the meeting when O'Keefe announced
20636-465: The universe, and farther into the past, closer to the time of the Big Bang . Hubble's importance to science is not just seen in the dramatic images it provides, but also in the volume of work it has generated – an average of fourteen scientific articles are published each week based on data gathered from the telescope. Officially, the upgrades should extend Hubble's life through 2014, but Hubble Space Telescope Senior Scientist David Leckrone noted prior to
20790-409: The usefulness of the telescope for faint objects or high-contrast imaging. This meant nearly all the cosmological programs were essentially impossible, since they required observation of exceptionally faint objects. This led politicians to question NASA's competence, scientists to rue the cost which could have gone to more productive endeavors, and comedians to make jokes about NASA and the telescope. In
20944-525: The vacuum of space; resulting in the telescope's instruments being covered by ice. To reduce that risk, a nitrogen gas purge was performed before launching the telescope into space. As well as electrical power systems, the Pointing Control System controls HST orientation using five types of sensors (magnetic sensors, optical sensors, and six gyroscopes) and two types of actuators ( reaction wheels and magnetic torquers ). While construction of
21098-520: The wide-field channel. The third channel, the solar-blind channel, passed overnight functional testing without issues. Beginning the mission's fourth spacewalk at 13:45 UTC, Massimino and Good went to work repairing the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS). The spectrograph failed in 2004 due to a blown power supply. As with the ACS, the STIS was not designed with the intention of servicing it while in space, and one of
21252-406: The wrong shape. Although it was believed to be one of the most precisely figured optical mirrors ever made, smooth to about 10 nanometers, the outer perimeter was too flat by about 2200 nanometers (about 1 ⁄ 450 mm or 1 ⁄ 11000 inch). This difference was catastrophic, introducing severe spherical aberration, a flaw in which light reflecting off the edge of a mirror focuses on
21406-525: Was due to be observed. Engineering support for HST is provided by NASA and contractor personnel at the Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland , 48 km (30 mi) south of the STScI. Hubble's operation is monitored 24 hours per day by four teams of flight controllers who make up Hubble's Flight Operations Team. By January 1986, the planned launch date for Hubble that October looked feasible, but
21560-480: Was forced to postpone the launch date until March and then September 1986. By this time, the total project budget had risen to US$ 1.175 billion. The spacecraft in which the telescope and instruments were to be housed was another major engineering challenge. It would have to withstand frequent passages from direct sunlight into the darkness of Earth's shadow , which would cause major changes in temperature, while being stable enough to allow extremely accurate pointing of
21714-400: Was going to be the most difficult and the most challenging, and I predict it's going to go more smoothly than any other EVA on this mission. I just think that's some version of Murphy's Law that's going to lead us in that direction." After the initial aliveness testing, the ACS was put through its functional tests. Managers and engineers had noted that the repairs were designed for only one of
21868-399: Was immediately advised to disregard the resultant alarms and continue to orbit. During the post-launch news conference, NASA managers said the initial early review of the launch video showed no obvious debris events, but a thorough analysis would be performed to ensure the orbiter sustained no significant damage during ascent. After working through their post launch checklists, the crew opened
22022-529: Was in 1983, but the project was beset by technical delays, budget problems, and the 1986 Challenger disaster . Hubble was finally launched in 1990, but its main mirror had been ground incorrectly, resulting in spherical aberration that compromised the telescope's capabilities. The optics were corrected to their intended quality by a servicing mission in 1993. Hubble is the only telescope designed to be maintained in space by astronauts. Five Space Shuttle missions have repaired, upgraded, and replaced systems on
22176-400: Was made official at the flight readiness review on April 30. The reason cited for the change was to add one more day to the launch window, from two to three days. Following a smooth countdown, Atlantis launched on time at 2:01 pm EDT. Almost immediately after launch and during the ascent, flight systems reported problems with a hydrogen tank transducer and a circuit breaker; the crew
22330-449: Was most likely particulate shaken loose from the thick insulation blankets inside the payload bay during launch. The team advised the crew to avoid the particulate as much as possible during the spacewalks, and use caution when working around the container to avoid the debris, but it was not a significant concern. Following the crew's wake up, they set to work preparing for the mission's first spacewalk. Grunsfeld and Feustel suited up with
22484-512: Was not designed to be serviced or repaired in space, so the task was considered one of the most challenging of the mission. After running into various snags in the first two spacewalks, managers on the ground were prepared to see unexpected issues arise during the complicated repair work. The spacewalk began at 13:35 UTC, and Grunsfeld and Feustel had no problems. The pair worked through their timeline so efficiently that they were over an hour ahead at one point. After removing COSTAR and stowing it in
22638-493: Was offline due to electrical issues, and the other two had also been experiencing issues with performance. Ground controllers at Goddard Space Flight Center confirmed that all six gyroscopes and the new battery passed preliminary tests. The problems with seating the second RSU set the spacewalkers back in the timeline by approximately two hours, but after Altman asked Massimino and Good how they felt, they replied they were doing well and felt fine to continue. Flight controllers on
22792-414: Was out of position by 1.3 mm (0.051 in). During the initial grinding and polishing of the mirror, Perkin-Elmer analyzed its surface with two conventional refractive null correctors. However, for the final manufacturing step ( figuring ), they switched to the custom-built reflective null corrector, designed explicitly to meet very strict tolerances. The incorrect assembly of this device resulted in
22946-409: Was released in March 2010, with the name IMAX: Hubble 3D . Astronaut Michael J. Massimino used Twitter to document the training and preparations for the mission. He mentioned that he would like to try sending Twitter updates from space during his off-duty time. Massimino's first update read, "From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views,
23100-449: Was replaced without problems, but when they attempted to replace the second unit, RSU 3, the unit would not align onto the guide pins, and they could not seat it into the equipment bay. Managers decided to put the unit originally intended for the RSU 1 bay into the RSU 3 bay, and it was installed without problems. The pair then attempted to install the second unit into the third and final bay, but
23254-510: Was something that was spur of the moment. [...] $ 5 million would let them think that all is well anyway, but it's not. So let's give them a message. My own thinking, get them stimulated to get into action. Zeroing it out would certainly give that message. I think it was as simple as that. Didn't talk to anybody else about doing it first, just, "Let's go do that". Voila, it worked. Don't know whether I'd do that again. The political ploy worked. In response to Hubble being zeroed out of NASA's budget,
23408-420: Was taken into functional testing, and issues were seen when the telescope put itself into safe mode due to a low thermal limit sensor. Ground controllers at Goddard would restart the testing once the thermal limit sensor was back in normal sensor range, but it is believed the component is in good shape. As Arthur C. Clarke says, the only way of finding the limits on the possible, is by going beyond them into
23562-549: Was the fifth and final Space Shuttle mission to the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). The launch of the Space Shuttle Atlantis occurred on May 11, 2009, at 2:01 pm EDT. Landing occurred on May 24 at 11:39 am EDT, with the mission lasting a total of just under 13 days. Space Shuttle Atlantis carried two new instruments to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and
23716-470: Was very relieved that the camera was replaced successfully, and noted that the problems with the bolt caused some concern, "I don't normally reveal my age and I'm not going to here, but I can tell you I'm five years older now than I was when I came to work this morning, we can sleep pretty well tonight, knowing that's been accomplished." Following their wake up, the Atlantis crew set right to work preparing for
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