| Subject: U.S. to cut funds to fix Hubble |
Author:
Betty
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Date Posted: 15:34:27 01/23/05 Sun
In reply to:
Betty
's message, "Hubbble telescope to die & be destoyed" on 12:26:05 02/15/04 Sun
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Bush administration plans to propose cuts in funds to fix the aging Hubble Space Telescope, a U.S. official has told Reuters, as the head of the telescope project said he hoped Congress would approve money for repairs.
The 14-year-old orbiting observatory has produced path-breaking science and created a popular appetite for its spectacular images of the cosmos. It is due for a servicing mission to replace its batteries and the gyroscopes that keep it steady, and to upgrade some of its equipment.
The repair mission has been on hold since the February 1, 2003, disintegration of shuttle Columbia. Debate in the astronautical community has raged over whether to send robots or astronauts to fix the telescope, or whether to fix it at all.
Reports on the Web site www.Space.com and in The Washington Post said the Bush administration plans to scrap any Hubble repair mission and eliminate those funds from the proposed budget for fiscal 2006. A U.S. official confirmed those reports.
Bush will release his fiscal 2006 budget proposal on February 7.
Speaking on condition of anonymity, the U.S. official told Reuters on Saturday the estimated cost of a robotic repair was $2 billion (1.1 billion pounds) and one feasibility study gave it an 80 percent chance of failure.
"Hubble is in year 14 of a planned 15-year mission," the official said. "Trying to send a robotic mission to extend that time period would be a $2 billion gamble with taxpayer dollars where the odds are 80-20 that it would fail."
The official also noted that a National Academy of Sciences panel concluded a shuttle repair mission would have a greater chance of success, but said outgoing NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has ruled this out as too risky for astronauts.
RISK FOR ASTRONAUTS?
Steve Beckwith, head of the Space Telescope Science Institute that manages Hubble, said he was surprised by the reports, and questioned the relative risk of sending astronauts to the orbiting telescope.
Beckwith said the National Academy of Sciences report found an astronaut mission to fix Hubble would be no riskier than a shuttle mission to the International Space Station.
"I understand that they plan to fly between 25 and 30 flights to complete the space station ... so I would hope that if NASA plans to continue flying the space shuttle, that one of those flights can go and service Hubble, because that will have a very high probability of mission success," Beckwith said.
He discounted the unnamed U.S. official's assessment that the telescope is nearing the end of its useful life.
"Hubble could easily live well beyond 20 years, and furthermore, the National Academy committee stated that the future discoveries from Hubble over the next five years are every bit as bright as the discoveries we've seen in the past," Beckwith said.
"I'm hoping that our lawmakers will see the value of Hubble and make it a priority in NASA's budget," he said.
Senator Barbara Mikulski, a Maryland Democrat who has championed Hubble and other NASA space science projects, said in a statement on Friday: "It is essential that we have a safe and reliable servicing mission to Hubble ... I led the fight to add $300 million to NASA's budget last year for a Hubble servicing mission, and I plan to lead the fight again this year."
NASA's O'Keefe announced plans to ax the Hubble repair mission a year ago, just days after President George W. Bush unveiled a plan to send humans back to the Moon and eventually to Mars. Public outcry and congressional pressure prompted a reconsideration.
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