In light of the most recent glitch on the Hubble Space
Telescope, a serious equipment failure that means the observatory is unable to
send data back to Earth, some are beginning to wonder, is Hubble still worth
saving?
The answer, according to many scientists, is yes.
The failure of a device called the Side A
Science Data Formatter, used to send images and other data from Hubble back
to Earth, is a problem, but likely one that can be fixed. The glitch was
announced Monday by NASA. Engineers now plan to switch the observatory over to
a spare "Side B" part currently on board, and perhaps send up a
replacement device on the next space shuttle servicing mission, which had been
scheduled for October but now has
been delayed to early next year.
Glitches happen
Though it may sound like one setback too many for the aging
observatory, scientists say Hubble still has a lot of life in it yet.
"Of course it's worth upgrading Hubble," said
Mario Livio, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. "The part that failed even has as redundant side to it. If all goes
well, science operations could be up as early as the end of this week. So you
shouldn't worry about that. It's definitely not the end of the world."
The now-broken electronics box had been working steadily
since the telescope launched in April 1990.
"These things happen. It's been up there in orbit,
outside the protective atmosphere of the Earth for 18 years," said Heidi
Hammel, an astronomer at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Co. "Glitches happen. It's an incredibly robust instrument. Think about your computers
— you don't still use computers that are 18 years old."
Maybe we should give the old scope a break and forgive its failings
now and then, since it has served us so well for so long, scientists say.
In fact, rather than be discouraged by the glitch, some are
celebrating the fact that it occurred now, right before a planned upgrade
mission.
If the malfunction had occurred after the shuttle
mission to Hubble, then operations could still be switched over to the
redundant part onboard, but that would leave the telescope without a backup if
that part failed again, or if the spare part didn't work at all. Now, though,
scientists have the option of sending up a new device to replace the broken
one, leaving the telescope in a less vulnerable position.
"It's probably better it failed now than the week after
the servicing mission was done, but it does frustrate all of us that were
looking forward to a mission two weeks from now," Hammel said in a phone
interview. "But I'd rather we'd waited and did it right."
Worth the money?
The failure is not just costing more time, but also more
money. For every month NASA delays the shuttle servicing mission, Hubble's cost
jumps by $10 million to keep ground systems running and a team in place. But
telescope team members argue that the bloat to Hubble's price tag is nowhere
close to pushing it over the edge of costing more than it's worth.
"I don't see this failure as putting us over the fence
and causing NASA to want to throw up its hands and say, 'Hey, all the hundreds
of millions of dollars we've spent on the hardware and readiness for this
mission, we're just gonna chuck it, you know, this is just a little too much
for us,'" Preston Burch, Hubble manager at NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center in Greenbelt, Md., told reporters at a Monday teleconference. "We've
got a lot of options here. I don't see [NASA officials] Ed Weiler and Mike
Griffin or myself throwing in the towel because we've got to spend a few more
tens of millions to pull this
mission off. You know, I think we're definitely going after this."
Since all of the instruments planned to be installed during
the servicing mission have already been built, and most of the training and
preparations for the upgrade made, calling it off now would be a waste, many
argue.
"We've got these new instruments that are ready to go, they're
down there ready to fly," Hammel said. "I think it's absolutely
worthwhile."
The engine still works
But some critics have questioned the wisdom of investing in
keeping the aging Hubble going, when we could be spending money to build a
brand new telescope to replace it.
Hubble has cost a total of about $10 billion over its
lifetime, including its past servicing missions, estimated Ed Weiler, associate
administrator of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in
Washington, D.C. Its initial cost was about $1.6 billion, he said.
Given that the upcoming servicing mission will cost about
$900 million, it could be seen as a bargain compared to building and launching
a new observatory from scratch.
"The thing about telescopes is that the mirror is the
main component," Hammel said. "Once that's built, you don't need to
build new ones, you just need to swap out the instruments. There's nothing
wrong with Hubble's mirror. It's great."
She compared a telescope with a working mirror to an old car
with a good engine left. It makes more sense to swap out tires and other
elements of the car than to simply buy a new one, since the most important
element still functions fine.
"If at some point, there's a glitch that is not
recoverable, then you're done, but as long as the glitches can be solved and
repaired, it's sort of like an old car — you don't want to let it go when it's
still running," she said.
And the upgrades to Hubble aren't coming at a sacrifice to
building new telescopes. Plans for the James
Webb Space Telescope are progressing; the roughly $4.5 billion observatory
is currently slated to launch in 2013. However, that observatory will work in
the infrared range of light, rather than the visible like Hubble, so James Webb
isn't really a replacement for Hubble, but a parallel instrument.
Hubble's last picture
Ultimately, scientists say the recent glitch doesn't darken
Hubble's long-term prospects.
"I have no doubt that that we can service Hubble and
make it into a telescope that will be even better than what Hubble has been so
far," Livio told SPACE.com. "So far Hubble has been this amazing
telescope that really changed all our
views of the universe. I see the next five years as perhaps being even
better than what we've seen."
Once the servicing mission has finally been completed,
especially if the astronauts are able to install a new Side A Science Data
Formatter, Hubble should be in the best shape it's ever been.
"If we are going to do this final servicing mission and
spend the money involved and launch seven astronauts, we thought it would be
proper due diligence if we assured that this mission would leave Hubble with a
good solid five- or six- or seven-year future," Weiler said.
And, when the day comes that Hubble finally takes its last
picture, scientists say they will know the whole endeavor had been worth it,
because the telescope has already changed our understanding of the cosmos many
times.
"The whole Hubble program has just been a fabulous
testament to the NASA science community and the NASA astronaut community,"
Hammel said. "I hope things don't go wrong but if they do, we just have to
accept that. The Hubble program has been so fantastically successful. It's more
than what anyone expected."
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