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Hubble in orbit

The Hubble Space Telescope has been orbiting Earth for more than than a quarter century. Information technology'south sent back some amazing photos during that time, while also expanding our knowledge of the universe. The telescope got its last maintenance sweep in 2009, but now at that place's talk in the government of sending another to the 27 yr-old telescope. Of course, that's going to exist tricky without a Space Shuttle.

Hubble was launched in 1990 with keen fanfare, but astronomers quickly realized it wasn't working correctly. A defect in the mirror resulted in blurry images of objects the telescope should have been able to meet in crystal clarity. Astronauts repaired the telescope in 1993 past adding an instrument to correct for the lens aberration — essentially eyeglasses for Hubble. That was the first of five service missions that added new cameras, repaired gyroscopes, and replaced the batteries.

The concluding Hubble service mission was in 2009, prior to the terminate of Shuttle flights in 2022. Hubble has long outlived its original life span, and it'southward due for replacement soon. The James Webb Infinite telescope is going to launch in the next few years, but Hubble could go a new lease on life with another service mission. This is nevertheless in the early stages, but officials think that private space firm Sierra Nevada could accept a vehicle capable of going on a Hubble refurbishment mission.

Sierra Nevada flies an unmanned "mini-shuttle" called the Dream Chaser, which it has developed over the form of the terminal several years. Dream Chaser is based on designs generated in the early days of the Shuttle programme, equally well as the Air Strength's X-37B space aeroplane. An unmanned version of the Dream Chaser could be used for Space Station resupply missions as soon equally 2022, only a Hubble service mission would require a manned flight.

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Keeping Hubble operational would serve two purposes. First, it's a hedge against potential issues with the Webb Telescope. Unlike Hubble, Webb will exist positioned far away from Earth at the L2 Lagrange indicate. That'southward a stable orbital location that keeps the World betwixt the telescope and the sun. Information technology volition be too far away to service effectively, so making sure the Hubble works every bit a fill-in could be smart. There will also be limited fourth dimension on the Webb Telescope for astronomers, and so keeping some observations on Hubble could complimentary up time for studies that can merely be completed by the more powerful Webb Telescope.

There'south withal a lot of design and testing that needs to be done before Dream Attorney can take astronauts into space. Nevertheless, the craft was designed from the start to theoretically support a crew. It has also been put forward every bit a possible space ambulance for the ISS.

Now read: The 25 best Hubble Space Telescope images