Coolest. Pictures. Ever.
Coming in to work this morning I was listening to NPR, and I heard that NASA had reconsidered its position that using one of the remaining shuttles to service the Hubble Space Telescope was too dangerous, and that a servicing mission was indeed going to happen.
Sure enough, MSN agrees.
On the one hand, I think fixing the Hubble is an excellent move. As I mentioned lo these many years ago, I think the Hubble may very well be the coolest piece of hardware ever created by humans. I mean...this is fabric of the universe stuff here. Fundamental questions of existence stuff. (And the pictures are so, so pretty.) And is it at all practical? Hell no! It's all about pure discovery and the advancement of knowledge. Simply letting the thing die, or more likely going to a considerable amount of trouble to de-orbit it leaving no replacement, would be just shameful.
On the other hand, I am a little bothered. Remember the foam business that ultimately destroyed the shuttle Columbia? Well...it hasn't actually been fixed. NASA went to a lot of time and expense in an attempt to address the problem, but failed. The main tank still sheds foam, which could impact the shuttle during launch and lead to a catastrophic failure on re-entry, just like the Columbia.
I get that NASA really needs the shuttle program, and that they spent a lot of time and resources trying to fix the problem that destroyed the Columbia, and that space flight isn't without risk regardless. But still. This is a known problem with demonstrably fatal consequences, and it hasn't been resolved, but they're still launching the shuttle.
My point here is, I was a little disturbed that the decision was made to take the risk anyway, and the old NASA decision was made for a good reason: if the foam thing crops up again on the Hubble servicing mission, then at best it's a huge deal, and at worst crew dies, spacecraft lost.
So, while I so very much want the Hubble servicing to go forward, I'm a little disturbed that the attitude of the new NASA administration here seems to be, "Risk? Meh."
Besides which I still totally want the job at JPL working on the teleoperated Hubble repair device.
Sure enough, MSN agrees.
On the one hand, I think fixing the Hubble is an excellent move. As I mentioned lo these many years ago, I think the Hubble may very well be the coolest piece of hardware ever created by humans. I mean...this is fabric of the universe stuff here. Fundamental questions of existence stuff. (And the pictures are so, so pretty.) And is it at all practical? Hell no! It's all about pure discovery and the advancement of knowledge. Simply letting the thing die, or more likely going to a considerable amount of trouble to de-orbit it leaving no replacement, would be just shameful.
On the other hand, I am a little bothered. Remember the foam business that ultimately destroyed the shuttle Columbia? Well...it hasn't actually been fixed. NASA went to a lot of time and expense in an attempt to address the problem, but failed. The main tank still sheds foam, which could impact the shuttle during launch and lead to a catastrophic failure on re-entry, just like the Columbia.
I get that NASA really needs the shuttle program, and that they spent a lot of time and resources trying to fix the problem that destroyed the Columbia, and that space flight isn't without risk regardless. But still. This is a known problem with demonstrably fatal consequences, and it hasn't been resolved, but they're still launching the shuttle.
My point here is, I was a little disturbed that the decision was made to take the risk anyway, and the old NASA decision was made for a good reason: if the foam thing crops up again on the Hubble servicing mission, then at best it's a huge deal, and at worst crew dies, spacecraft lost.
So, while I so very much want the Hubble servicing to go forward, I'm a little disturbed that the attitude of the new NASA administration here seems to be, "Risk? Meh."
Besides which I still totally want the job at JPL working on the teleoperated Hubble repair device.
posted by Craig at 10:25 AM
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