Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope

Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2005-03-28

Total Pages: 160

ISBN-13: 0309095301

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The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) has operated continuously since 1990. During that time, four space shuttle-based service missions were launched, three of which added major observational capabilities. A fifth â€" SM-4 â€" was intended to replace key telescope systems and install two new instruments. The loss of the space shuttle Columbia, however, resulted in a decision by NASA not to pursue the SM-4 mission leading to a likely end of Hubble's useful life in 2007-2008. This situation resulted in an unprecedented outcry from scientists and the public. As a result, NASA began to explore and develop a robotic servicing mission; and Congress directed NASA to request a study from the National Research Council (NRC) of the robotic and shuttle servicing options for extending the life of Hubble. This report presents an assessment of those two options. It provides an examination of the contributions made by Hubble and those likely as the result of a servicing mission, and a comparative analysis of the potential risk of the two options for servicing Hubble. The study concludes that the Shuttle option would be the most effective one for prolonging Hubble's productive life.


Hubble Vision

Hubble Vision

Author: Carolyn Collins Petersen

Publisher: CUP Archive

Published: 1998-10-28

Total Pages: 248

ISBN-13: 9780521592918

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Discusses how the findings from the Hubble Space Telescope have affected the way scientists study the universe; includes photographs that were taken by the Hubble Telescope of the planets, distant galaxies, black holes, and the Shoemaker-Levy comet.


Handprints on Hubble

Handprints on Hubble

Author: Kathryn D. Sullivan

Publisher: MIT Press

Published: 2019-11-05

Total Pages: 301

ISBN-13: 0262355949

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The first American woman to walk in space recounts her experience as part of the team that launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained the Hubble Space Telescope The Hubble Space Telescope has revolutionized our understanding of the universe. It has, among many other achievements, revealed thousands of galaxies in what seemed to be empty patches of sky; transformed our knowledge of black holes; found dwarf planets with moons orbiting other stars; and measured precisely how fast the universe is expanding. In Handprints on Hubble, retired astronaut Kathryn Sullivan describes her work on the NASA team that made all this possible. Sullivan, the first American woman to walk in space, recounts how she and other astronauts, engineers, and scientists launched, rescued, repaired, and maintained Hubble, the most productive observatory ever built. Along the way, Sullivan chronicles her early life as a “Sputnik Baby,” her path to NASA through oceanography, and her initiation into the space program as one of “thirty-five new guys.” (She was also one of the first six women to join NASA’s storied astronaut corps.) She describes in vivid detail what liftoff feels like inside a spacecraft (it’s like “being in an earthquake and a fighter jet at the same time”), shows us the view from a spacewalk, and recounts the temporary grounding of the shuttle program after the Challenger disaster. Sullivan explains that “maintainability” was designed into Hubble, and she describes the work of inventing the tools and processes that made on-orbit maintenance possible. Because in-flight repair and upgrade was part of the plan, NASA was able to fix a serious defect in Hubble’s mirrors—leaving literal and metaphorical “handprints on Hubble.” Handprints on Hubble was published with the support of the MIT Press Fund for Diverse Voices.


Hubble

Hubble

Author: David H. Devorkin

Publisher: National Geographic Books

Published: 2011-11-01

Total Pages: 228

ISBN-13: 1426208944

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In the spirit of National Geographic’s top-selling Orbit, this large-format, full-color volume stands alone in revealing more than 200 of the most spectacular images from the Hubble Space Telescope during its lifetime, to the very eve of the 2008 final shuttle mission to the telescope. Written by two of the world’s foremost authorities on space history, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time illuminates the solar system’s workings, the expansion of the universe, the birth and death of stars, the formation of planetary nebulae, the dynamics of galaxies, and the mysterious force known as "dark energy." The potential impact of this book cannot be overstressed: The 2008 servicing mission to install new high-powered scientific instruments is especially high profile because the cancellation of the previous mission, in 2004, caused widespread controversy. The authors reveal the inside story of Hubble’s beginnings, its controversial early days, the drama of its first servicing missions, and the creation of the dynamic images that reach into the deepest regions of visible space, close to the time when the universe began. A wealth of astonishing images leads us to the very edge of known space, setting the stage for the new James Webb Space Telescope, scheduled to launch in 2013. Find the stunning panoramic of Carina Nebula, detailing star birth as never before; a jet from a black hole in one galaxy striking a neighboring galaxy; a jewel-like collection of galaxies from the early years of the universe; and a giant galaxy cannibalizing a smaller galaxy. Timed for the 2008 shuttle launch and coinciding with the 400th anniversary of Galileo’s first telescope, Hubble: Imaging Space and Time accompanies a high-profile exhibit at the National Air and Space Museum and will be featured on the popular NASM website.


The Universe in a Mirror

The Universe in a Mirror

Author: Robert Zimmerman

Publisher: Princeton University Press

Published: 2010-02-22

Total Pages: 331

ISBN-13: 1400834767

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The Hubble Space Telescope has produced the most stunning images of the cosmos humanity has ever seen. It has transformed our understanding of the universe around us, revealing new information about its age and evolution, the life cycle of stars, and the very existence of black holes, among other startling discoveries. But it took an amazing amount of work and perseverance to get the first space telescope up and running. The Universe in a Mirror tells the story of this telescope and the visionaries responsible for its extraordinary accomplishments. Robert Zimmerman takes readers behind the scenes of one of the most ambitious scientific instruments ever sent into space. After World War II, astronomer Lyman Spitzer and a handful of scientists waged a fifty-year struggle to build the first space telescope capable of seeing beyond Earth's atmospheric veil. Zimmerman shows how many of the telescope's advocates sacrificed careers and family to get it launched, and how others devoted their lives to Hubble only to have their hopes and reputations shattered when its mirror was found to be flawed. This is the story of an idea that would not die--and of the dauntless human spirit. Illustrated with striking color images, The Universe in a Mirror describes the heated battles between scientists and bureaucrats, the perseverance of astronauts to repair and maintain the telescope, and much more. Hubble, and the men and women behind it, opened a rare window onto the universe, dazzling humanity with sights never before seen. This book tells their remarkable story. A new afterword updates the reader on the May 2009 Hubble service mission and looks to the future of astronomy, including the prospect of a new space telescope to replace Hubble.


Hubble Legacy

Hubble Legacy

Author: Jim Bell

Publisher: Union Square + ORM

Published: 2021-08-03

Total Pages: 372

ISBN-13: 1454936231

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The definitive book on the Hubble Space Telescope, written by a noted astronomer, geologist, and planetary scientist. Looking deep into space, by definition, means looking back in time—and the Hubble Space Telescope can look very far back, including at stars, nebulae, and galaxies that are millions, even billions, of years old. If there is a single legacy of Hubble as it turns thirty years old and nears the end of its useful life, it is this: It has done more to chronicle the origin and evolution of the known universe than any other instrument ever created. Hubble has also captured an astounding collection of ultraviolet images that include geysers of solar light, Mars’ famous dust storms, exploding stars, solar flares, globular clusters, and actual galaxies colliding. As for scientific milestones, Hubble has helped us learn that the universe is 13.8 billion years old, that just about every large galaxy features a black hole at its center, and that it's possible to create 3-D maps of dark matter. Hubble Legacy will not only feature the most stunning imagery captured by the telescope, but also explain how Hubble has advanced our understanding of the universe and our very creation. Praise for Hubble Legacy “Along with his clear description of the Hubble Space Telescope’s setbacks and successes, Jim Bell has compiled an exquisite collection of stunning photographs of the universe. Have many long looks— your tax dollars at work— an astronomer’s catalog of the cosmos.” —Bill Nye, CEO, The Planetary Society “You can’t flip through this stunning collection of Hubble images without pausing often to shake your head in awe. The accompanying text that Contributing Editor Jim Bell wrote is equally enriching. Altogether, this coffee-table book is a riveting celebration of the venerable space telescope’s 30th anniversary.” —Sky & Telescope


Hubble

Hubble

Author: Lars Lindberg Christensen

Publisher: Springer Science & Business Media

Published: 2006-09-28

Total Pages: 128

ISBN-13: 0387360824

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The book enables you to peer deeply into the wonders of the Universe in full color with unprecedented clarity and resolution Only Hubble Heritage picture book endorsed by the two leading space agencies, NASA and ESA Close-up photos within book are unmatched in competing texts, because the images have been prepared straight from the data by scientists to reach the highest possible quality


Cutting-Edge Hubble Telescope Data

Cutting-Edge Hubble Telescope Data

Author: Christy Peterson

Publisher: Lerner Publications (Tm)

Published: 2019-08

Total Pages: 36

ISBN-13: 1541574842

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"With a focus on STEM and late-breaking information, this book delves deep into the Hubble Space Telescope! Readers will be fascinated by the Hubble Space Telescope and the trove of data about space that it provides."--


The Hubble Wars

The Hubble Wars

Author: Eric Chaisson

Publisher: Harvard University Press

Published: 1998

Total Pages: 430

ISBN-13: 9780674412552

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The Hubble Space Telescope is the largest, most complex, and most powerful observatory ever deployed in space. Now Eric Chaisson, the senior scientist on the HST project, tells the inside story of the much heralded mission to fix the telescope. Copyright © Libri GmbH. All rights reserved.


The Hubble Space Telescope

The Hubble Space Telescope

Author: Terence Dickinson

Publisher:

Published: 2019

Total Pages: 0

ISBN-13: 9780228102335

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A beautifully illustrated, accessible beginner's guide to the Hubble Space Telescope. Acclaimed astronomer Terence Dickinson and his longtime editor Tracy C. Read team up to explore the starry treasures in our galaxy and beyond as revealed by the Hubble Space Telescope. Since Galileo pointed his telescope at the starry night in 1609 and discovered that the hazy patch above us was not a cloud but a "river" of uncountable stars -- the Milky Way, our home galaxy -- humans have been improving on ways to understand the cosmos. We've devised ever more powerful telescopes and placed them on mountaintops, far from the bright lights of cities. But the launch of the Hubble Space Telescope in 1990 was the first time we'd sent a telescope into space, beyond the distorting effects caused by looking through the Earth's atmosphere. Orbiting roughly 350 miles above Earth and circling the planet more than 5,000 times a year, Hubble has made over 1.3 million observations, revealing the vast scope of the expanding universe beyond our solar system. In The Hubble Space Telescope: Our Eye on the Universe, young readers find out how this groundbreaking telescope gathers imagery and transmits it to Earth. This book shares what Hubble has taught us about the universe and explains its top discoveries. Chapters filled with the telescope's latest photography offer insight into: stormy weather on our solar system's planets and moons and dramatic collisions in space star clusters, nebulas and the Milky Way Galaxy the Milky Way's galaxy neighbors massive black holes and dark matter planets beyond our solar system star nurseries and glimpses of distant galaxies in deep space.