NASA and SpaceX at work to extend the life of the Hubble telescope
SpaceX and billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman are collaborating with NASA to investigate whether a private mission could extend the life of the famous Hubble telescope
NASA allies (again) with SpaceX to extend the life of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been operating since 1990 about 540 kilometers from Earth.
US space agency officials have signed an agreement with SpaceX and the Polaris program, led by billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman, to study the possibility of using Dragon (the vehicle of Elon Musk's company) to dock on the telescope and change it. orbit in an attempt to extend its useful life. NASA announced yesterday.
The Hubble Space Telescope has been a workhorse cosmic observatory for astronomers around the world since its launch in 1990, providing dramatic stellar images and enabling important discoveries such as the age of the universe and Pluto's moons, Reuters recalls. But the telescope is seeing its orbit slowly deteriorate due to atmospheric friction.
Meanwhile, on December 26, 2021, the US agency launched the James Webb Space Telescope into space, the result of a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Canadian Space Agency (CSA). Designed as the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, the Webb Space Telescope will be 100 times more powerful. It will use improved and different technologies to capture 70% more light. Thanks to these improvements, astronomers will be able to make never before made observations of the first stars and galaxies formed after the Big Bang.
However, "Hubble is tremendously successful – it's doing great science as we speak," NASA chief science officer Thomas Zurbuchen said at a press conference.
All the details.
THE ANNOUNCEMENT OF NASA
"A few months ago SpaceX approached NASA with the idea of a study on how a commercial crew could help bring our Hubble spacecraft into a higher orbit, which would extend its observation life."
Elon Musk's aerospace company plans to fund a study with NASA to examine ways to use its Dragon capsule to increase the orbital altitude of the Hubble Space Telescope, which would extend its useful life, officials announced Thursday. agency.
NASA said the teams will collect data to "help determine if it would be possible to meet safely, dock and move the telescope into a more stable orbit."
THE FUTURE OF HUBBLE
NASA expects the Hubble telescope to be retired by the end of this decade based on its current decline in orbit. Furthermore, it has no means of propulsion on board and its altitude had already been corrected in the past during the missions of the American Space Shuttle.
If Hubble moved to a higher altitude, closer to where its time in space began, NASA estimates the telescope could work for another 15-20 years.
“It is entirely appropriate for us to consider this because of the enormous value this research resource has for us and for others,” said Zurbuchen.
STUDY WITH SPACEX
The study will last six months: SpaceX examines how its Crew Dragon capsule could dock with the telescope and what any modifications would be needed, while NASA collects technical data from Hubble.
Although the study does not guarantee a mission to Hubble, astronaut Isaacman said the potential flight "would definitely fit within the parameters we set for the Polaris program."
THE POLARIS PROGRAM
According to CNN , the effort to send a private mission to Hubble could be part of a previously announced and privately funded SpaceX program called Polaris. That program was the brainchild of Jared Isaacman, the billionaire CEO of the Shift4 payments platform, who first attracted international attention when he paid the company to take himself and three guests on a three-day trip. orbiting Earth aboard a SpaceX Crew Dragon capsule last year.
Isaacman announced the Polaris program in February and at the time said the program would include at least three missions with SpaceX, the first of these being called Polaris Down. Isaacman has already outlined three goals for the Polaris Dawn mission: to reach the highest orbit around Earth that humans have ever flown over, conduct a spacewalk out of the Dragon spacecraft, and use Internet Starlink satellites to communicate.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/innovazione/nasa-e-spacex-a-lavoro-per-prolungare-la-vita-del-telescopio-hubble/ on Fri, 30 Sep 2022 09:46:24 +0000.