Hubble Space Telescope is still producing science at 35
It was 35 years ago when the Hubble Space Telescope deployed into orbit, sent by a space agency facing an existential crisis. Thirty-five years on, not much seems to have changed.
The Hubble Space Telescope, a NASA and ESA project, was launched on April 24, 1990, aboard Space Shuttle Discovery. The mission took place a few short years after the Challenger disaster, which blew a sizeable hole in NASA’s reputation for technical competence.
And after the multi-billion-dollar observatory was deployed, that reputation would take another ding: the telescope’s primary mirror had a flaw. The sharpness of the images produced by the telescope was markedly less than expected, with many looking famously blurry.
The blow to NASA’s technical reputation when the problem became clear cannot be underestimated. The agency was still recovering from the Challenger disaster, where the US space shuttle orbiter exploded shortly after its launch from Cape Canaveral in 1986, killing seven astronauts. The fallout from the findings of the Rogers Commission Report, which criticized the decision-making process that led to the loss of the Space Shuttle and its crew, as well as the design of the vehicle’s components, hurt the agency’s standing.
NASA, therefore, needed the Hubble Space Telescope, construction of which was also kicked off in the 1970s, to be a roaring success. But the initial results were not good.
While replacing Hubble’s flawed mirror was not possible – the spacecraft was designed to be serviced while in orbit, but swapping out the mirror was not feasible – the nature of the flaw meant that corrective optics could be installed on the first servicing assignment, and the potential of the observatory realized.
Subsequent servicing duties were flown on the Space Shuttle to replace many of the telescope’s components, including its solar arrays, computers, and instruments. The last one occurred nearly 16 years ago, when Space Shuttle Atlantis paid a visit and left the telescope fully operational.
Keeping it going
Thanks to its stunning observations, few spacecraft have captured the public imagination quite like the Hubble. However, it is undeniably running on borrowed time, far exceeding its original design life. No servicing missions are scheduled, and orbital decay means the observatory will soon return to Earth one way or another.
That said, never say never. Nominee for NASA Administrator, Jared Isaacman, has expressed an interest in the mounting of a mission to keep the Hubble Space Telescope going for a while longer. Such a change is not unprecedented – the final Space Shuttle servicing duty had originally been cancelled, before being reinstated following a change of NASA Administrator.
It has been 35 years since the Hubble was deployed. Could another servicing expedition be mounted? Or the spacecraft boosted into a higher orbit? Technically, yes. However, two factors need to be considered.
Other than assuring a controlled entry into the atmosphere, is there much to be gained from eking out the life of Hubble for a few more years? Other, arguably more capable, observatories now exist. While its place in the public imagination is an important factor, the Hubble is no longer as irreplaceable as it once was. What is the value in saving it?
This brings up today’s existential crisis for NASA, or at least, the elements of the agency that are focused on science. Is there space in the budget for a rescue mission?
After all, if recent budget proposals are approved, the agency might not even have sufficient funds to launch a new observatory that is already complete (the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope), let alone fund a whole new task to extend the life of one that was deployed when the White House nominee for NASA Administrator was seven years old.
So, please raise a glass to 35 years since the Hubble Space Telescope was deployed. And perhaps, just perhaps, get ready for another toast when the final observation is made and the lights go out for the last time. ®
