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Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope Final Report (2005) / Chapter Skim
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2 Hubble Space Telescope
Pages 11-15

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From page 11...
... The HST has operated continuously since. The Hubble telescope system was developed by the Marshall Space Flight Center in conjunction with its system and spacecraft contractor, Lockheed Missiles and Space Company, and optical system contractor Perkin-Elmer (later a part of Hughes Danbury, and now a part of the Goodrich Corporation; see Smith for details on the telescope's genesis, design, development, and launch;1 see Logsdon2 for reproductions of selected documents related to telescopes in space and the space telescope)
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From page 12...
... Support Systems Module Forward Shell Aperture Door Optical Telescope Assembly Secondary Mirror Assembly Magnetom Secondary Mirror Baffle eter (2) Central Baffle Optical Telescope Assembly Primary Mirror and Main Ring Fine Guidance Optical Control Sensor (3)
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From page 13...
... Such subsystems include the batteries, the solar arrays, the fine-guidance sensors, the gyroscopes, and the reaction wheels. A key aspect of astronaut servicing of Hubble is that the capability to upgrade the astronomy science instruments on a regular basis has enabled the astronomy community to respond to new research opportunities and to utilize new technologies over the life of the facility.
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From page 14...
... CURRENT STATUS OF HUBBLE Following its decision to cancel the SM-4 mission, NASA announced that it plans to continue HST's operation until the observatory can no longer support scientific investigations, currently anticipated to occur around 2007 to 2008,5 depending on the success of certain planned efforts to preserve battery and gyroscope functions. Meanwhile, NASA is investigating methods of extending HST's science lifetime, including the use of robotic servicing.
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From page 15...
... HST now has six batteries, of which five are necessary for full operations. If battery levels fall too low, the temperature of structural elements in the Optical Telescope Assembly will fall below permissible levels, causing permanent damage.6 Recovery from this state is not possible.
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Key Terms

  • hubble space
  • optical telescope
  • shuttle servicing
  • telescope assembly
  • servicing missions

  • science impacts
  • servicing mission
  • astronaut servicing
  • management unit
  • faint object

  • flight center
  • solar arrays
  • secondary mirror
  • space flight
  • scientific investigations

  • shuttle astronauts
  • hubble telescope
  • equipment section
  • resolution spectrograph
  • assembly module

  • actively planned
  • telescope project
  • design lifetime
  • key aspect
  • preserve battery

  • main baffle
  • reaction wheels
  • outer layer
  • control sensor
  • engineering subsystems


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