A committee of experts told NASA today that it should not give up on the idea of a manned space shuttle mission to service and improve the Hubble Space Telescope.
At the request of NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe, the advisory committee set up by the National Academie has been reviewing various options for servicing Hubble with a crew of astronauts or with a robotic mission.
O'Keefe said in January that the planned servicing mission would be cancelled due to safety concerns in the wake of the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster investigation. Under pressure from politicians and astronomers, he agreed to have the decision reviewed and has since said he might consider a robotic mission.
SPACE.com obtained a copy of an interim report by the National Academies group earlier today. It was to be released at 4 p.m. EDT.
The committee cautions that the technology and expertise needed for a robotic mission are both in infant stages. Yet four previous manned servicing missions to Hubble were "highly successful," the group points out. It finds that there are no safety procedures required by the Columbia Accident Investigation Board (CAIB) that absolutely preclude a shuttle mission to the orbiting telescope, and so the 20 members recommend further study before anything is ruled out.
"NASA should take no actions that would preclude a space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope," the report concludes.
The committee, chaired by space technology consultant Louis Lanzerotti, expects to issue final recommendations in by fall. The interim report was prepared because the committee members felt in necessary to respond to an urgency expressed by O'Keefe and other NASA officials.
If a robotic mission is to be undertaken, experts have said, planning must start soon. Hubble's batteries and pointing gyroscopes must be replaced, or the observatory will likely become inoperable by 2008, possibly sooner.
The National Academies report states "there has been little time for NASA to evaluate and understand the technical and schedule limitations of robotic servicing."
The previously planned servicing mission by a shuttle crew would also have installed two new instruments on Hubble. Both are built and ready for use. The Wide Field Camera-3 (WFC3) would increase Hubble's efficiency for ultraviolet and near-infrared imaging by factors of 10 to 30, the committee reports. A Cosmic Origins Sepctrograph (COS) would increase Hubble's speed for some ultraviolet observations by at least 10 to 30 times.
Other astronomers have said the new instruments, along with fresh batteries and gyroscopes, would insure Hubble would remain the world's greatest telescope for years to come. No replacement observatories for many of Hubble's important skills are planned for anytime prior to 2012.
"The committee urges that NASA commit to a servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope that accomplishes the objectives of the originally planned SM-4 mission," including both repairs and the addition of the new instruments, the report states, adding that the "riveting" returns of science from Hubble "are far from their natural end."
The National Academies committee included retired NASA and Air Force personnel, as well as astronomers and space industry experts.
The non-binding recommendations are good news for astronomers.
"I'm delighted that such a array of experts in all aspects of science and engineering agree that the Hubble Space Telescope should be maintained for the future," said Steven Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which operates Hubble for NASA.
"They have identified two viable ways for NASA to service Hubble, and it's my hope that NASA will find some way to keep the telescope at the scientific forefront for years to come, Beckwith said in a telephone interview.
