NASA: Hubble Fix Pricey, Not Guaranteed
quote:
An aerospace consultant has projected NASA's Latest News about NASA robotic repairs to the Hubble Space Telescope will cost US$2 billion, but only have a 50 percent chance of success.The Houston Chronicle said the study by the Aerospace Corp., a California think tank funded by the Pentagon, also predicts the orbital observatory will experience serious mechanical failures within five years and could plummet to Earth by 2014 if nothing is done.
"The findings of the Aerospace Corporation tend to reinforce our sense that although a robotic mission is feasible, it will be extremely challenging," said Don Savage, a spokesman for NASA's science directorate.
Pity. 
$2 billion is practically chump change in the US Government budget. This is very annoying, when the basic tools of astrophysical and astronomical research are being neglected in order to save a few bucks to bomb Iraq.
Furthermore, this is a worrisome continuation of the basically anti-science tendency of the Bush Administration, which seeks scientifically relative answers rather than scientifically truthful ones.
Yes, it may be parsimoniously correct to say that asbestos in the WTC posed no danger, but that relies on unrealistic assumptions about wind speed, wind flow directions, and so on. (The EPA was ordered to not indicate that the asbestos and other building materials strewn about after the WTC-attacks were dangerous to human lungs in the concentrations found after those attacks)
The scientifically truthful answer is that "given what we know about the likely asbestos concentrations it would be safest to order respiratory protection and where possible for people to relocate well away from the disaster area for a month or two."
I hope the Bush Administration agrees to commit the money to keep Hubble out there. It's been one of the most useful telescopes since its optics were corrected in 1993.
[ 08 December 2004: Message edited by: DrConway ]
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posted 08 December 2004 02:21 PM
