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Ned Potter is the science correspondent for ABC's "World News with Charles Gibson." He has reported on such topics as space exploration, the human genome and climate change.
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Space Shuttles: A Traffic Jam?
March 21, 2008 1:10 PM
Gina Sunseri, reporting for us from Houston, has been told by several sources that the shuttle program has run into a potential crunch.
The problem is in assembling the shuttle's external tanks at the Michoud assembly plant in New Orleans. After the Columbia accident, numerous changes were made in the way that the now-notorious orange insulating foam is applied to parts of the tank.
They've fallen behind. The people at Michoud had to redo much of the work on existing fuel tanks -- and then they took a direct hit from Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Some workers moved elsewhere. The program has never recovered.
The tank for the next flight, STS-124 in May, has just been shipped to the Kennedy Space Center--but tanks for later missions may not be there in time.
One particularly sensitive case is STS-125, the mission by the shuttle Atlantis to repair the Hubble telescope, currently scheduled for the end of August. It's the one remaining shuttle flight that does not bring astronauts to the space station -- so if history repeats itself and Atlantis is damaged on launch the way Columbia was, a second shuttle will have to be on the launch pad, ready to go in case Atlantis' crew needs rescue.
That would mean two shuttles -- and two external tanks. Sources tell Gina that for now, that's a squeeze. They differ on how much the delays could be. A few months may not matter -- but if it's a lot more than that, the Hubble may give out for lack of new gyroscopes and batteries.
This story is developing. More as we get it.
================
UPDATE, Sunday evening:
We now have a couple of sources saying they can work through the delays. STS-124 still launches in May, though STS-125, the Hubble servicing mission, may slip from August to October.
(Photo: External Tank for STS-123, the shuttle mission currently on orbit, leaving Michoud last year. Courtesy: Lockheed Martin)
March 21, 2008 | Permalink | User Comments (9)
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It would be such a shame for Hubble to fail for lack of maintenance. It quite literally opened our eyes much wider on the Universe, and still has much to contribute to astronomy. Let's hope that the NASA folk can resolve this dilemma.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 21, 2008 2:41:30 PM
Why or why are are they spending so much effort on an out of date observation satellite... It's just politics, not practicality. Money spent trying to correct the Hubble could be spent on missions for its successors that will give us a much better view of the universe than the Hubble can. It's equipment. Not a person.
Posted by: Shaun | Mar 21, 2008 2:43:58 PM
Shaun,
You are right; it is equipment and it EXISTS.
Getting something like this done again is like pulling hen's teeth. We have to preserve what we have, there is no guarantee, political or otherwise, that we can ever build anything similar again. The only guarantee we have that a successor will fly is if it ever does. Until a project is operating in space it is at risk of cancellation.
BTW, the Hubble is not being corrected, it is being serviced and enhanced.
Posted by: Andy Clark | Mar 21, 2008 3:27:46 PM
While sentimentality may be the driving force behind STS-125, there are practical concerns as well.
The HST's successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, is still in design phase and isn't due to be launched until 2013 at the earliest. Also, the JWST will be situated 1.5M km away from Earth - more than four times the distance to the moon. If something goes wrong, it'll become a $3.5B monument to humanity overreaching its grasp.
Deride Hubble if you must but it exists, it works, and we have the capability to service it.
Posted by: Ed | Mar 21, 2008 4:33:08 PM
Plus the fact that Hubble has just confirmed the presence of methane on a planet 6 light-years from earth, so it's still contributing in a big way.
Posted by: Andy | Mar 21, 2008 4:45:50 PM
Ed has an excellent point about the JWST. Planning and funding have just been not going as intended (when does ANYTHING ever progress as intended, for that matter?)but this should be a wake-up call for the NASA community. JWST may be the successor the Hubble, but it is by no means a replacement; it has neither the data capacity nor the instrument range and will only cover a small part of the spectra that Hubble takes care of now. Delays are inevitable, one can almost count on them as definitely as death and taxes, but the upcoming Servicing Mission needs to be the top priority right now, to alleviate any delays, if not to eliminate them altogether. JWST won't be completed for several years as it is, and we have a functioning and farther-reaching telescope already up there in Hubble. Wouldn't it make more sense to service it and to keep servicing it, both now and for as long as possible? I like to think so, and logically and economically, it makes the most sense.
Posted by: Moonblazer | Mar 21, 2008 6:31:54 PM
It's true that JWST will not cover the same wavelengths that Hubble currently does. Hubble is a ultraviolet to near-infrared telescope, but optimized for the visible light part of the spectrum. JWST will see significantly farther into space by virtue of its larger collecting area and its near-infrared optimization. This enables JWST to collect light from the most distant sources that Hubble cannot.
Posted by: Eric | Mar 22, 2008 12:13:37 PM
With all the push on time it would seem the prudent thing is to delay the shuttle retirement by one year, maybe even two ... just to give some breathing room so accidents don't happen because of the need to make time schedules. Clearly we may not be quite ready to let the workhorse shuttles retire yet.
And Hubble, this is the most amazing thing ever put into space! It needs to be saved at almost any cost. With all it's seen so far, the new upgrades would enable it to see even more. This just has to happen.
Posted by: Phil | Mar 24, 2008 12:05:15 PM
Don't risk the lives of the astronauts repairing the Hubble. Retire the aging shuttles. The shuttles are amazing but have never performed as advertized. The ISS has been a giant waste of money with no real science being performed. Costs have skyrocketed and results and been lackluster at best. Start sending robots to explore. Robots have done a great job and at much lower costs with no risk to human life. Fund clean water and sanitation projects for the developing countries. Invest in the future.
Posted by: Dave | Mar 31, 2008 2:58:01 PM
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