Thedelicate equipment to refurbish the 18-year-old Hubble Space Telescope hasbegun arriving at Kennedy Space Center, presenting payload managers with one oftheir greatest challenges.
The gear includes spareparts for failing components, two new instruments, six gyroscopes and six,125-pound (57 kg) batteries. The nearly 2,500 pounds (1,133 kg) of electronics will fillfour pallets, each of which must be provided electrical power and climatecontrol.
"On thisparticular mission we are carrying more flight hardware to orbit than anyother of the previous (Hubble) missions," said Hubble Observatory ManagerThomas Griffin, whose team is responsible for installing the instruments ontothe carriers.
"Every week we bringanother flight element here, process it and get it ready," Griffin said."Everything's not coming at the same time, so we can focus the individualhardware team on a particular element.
"The schedule is wellthought out and paced," Griffin said. "A good analogy is building avehicle at an auto assembly plant."
As the observatory manager,Griffin is eager to see what the Hubble Space Telescope will produce with newcameras that improve resolution by 15 to 35 times. Hubble's spectacular viewsof faraway galaxies willbe even more detailed.
"It's great to see itall come together," he said. "The (new) cameras are going to provideorders of magnitude improvement.
"Who knows the sciencewe'll get from the upgraded Hubble. We've always been surprised."
"The complexities ofthe interfaces and the criticality are much greater with the Hubble than withthe space station payloads," NASA payload manager Deborah Hahn said.
Hahn's team will care forthe Hubble equipment once it's loaded into the shuttle payload canister, whereits temperature and condition will be monitored.
"There's a lot moredata to review and understand," she said.
"The closeouts are alittle more involved," Hahn said. Ground support equipment, such as airconditioners and generators, won't be removed from the launch pad until justbefore launch.
"It'll be very late inthe countdown," Hahn said. "We're going out to the pad a month beforelaunch. Right up to the last minute, they'll be doing battery charging.
"Basically, we'regetting out just before the payload door closing starts."
"What we're dreadingright now is a hurricane," Hahn said. "That is because of being inthe flow (and) having two orbiters at the pad. We're very concerned."
- Images: Hubble?s Photos: When Galaxies Collide
- Video: Hubble Repair Missions
- Video: Space Shuttle Bloopers
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