}

To restore the Hubble telescope

2006/11/26 Rementeria Argote, Nagore - Elhuyar Zientziaren Komunikazioa

They have made much of the Hubble space telescope: With the data sent by Hubble astronomers from all over the world have worked and given a great boost to astronomy. It was launched in 1987 and has the need to innovate and NASA and ESA begin to organize a mission to renew the telescope.
One of the most dangerous moments of the mission will be the launch.
ANDÉN

It will not be the first time they will fix the Hubble. They have been four times before and these experiences will be of great use to successfully carry out this new mission. The heads of European and US space agencies say they are willing to renew or update a new mission.

In the current mission, the Hubble will be ordered: they will fix the faults of the telescope, change the battery of some device to keep working... These are common jobs in such missions. But they will also install two new tools on the telescope: COS and WFC3.

Universe Spy

COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph) is a spectrograph that will receive light from distant quasars to analyze the matter between the quasar and the telescope. In this way, it will send data of the composition and exact location of this matter, which will allow to know better the nature of space and its evolution in time.

Hubble has so far sent spectacular images of the Universe and, once repairs have been made, there may be. (Photo: NASA, ESA and H. R. Bond)

For its part, WFC3 (Wide Field Camera 3) is a camera that comes to increase Hubble's vision. It is capable of working at various wavelengths, such as infrared, visible and ultraviolet light. Therefore, you will look at a galaxy and discover all kinds of stars, from young and hot emitting ultraviolet light, to old and colder stars emitting infrared light.

In addition to the installation of new tools, an attempt will be made to repair a deteriorated Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph that has deteriorated since 2004. With these two new tools and their repairs they want to get much more out of the space telescope.

Manned mission

Eight astronauts have been designated for the Hubble cleaning mission. Astronauts will have great responsibility in hand. It's not going to be a long mission, they're only going to make eleven days off Earth in a space launcher. On the third day they will arrive next to the telescope and a mechanical arm of the launcher will place the telescope on a working platform. Before returning to the ground, an astronaut will leave five times out of the boat for repairs on the telescope.

This is the fifth time they will repair the Hubble space telescope. (Photo: Recent searches

Therefore, the mission of renewing the space telescope is defined. And as we have said, the mission is accepted. Now they will have to do preparatory work. They barely have two years to prepare everything, since in autumn 2008 they want to fix it. They seem to be on time, but they will have to work hard so there is no mistake. These are things to be taken with care, the smallest surprise can nullify the mission.

But if everything goes well, we will soon know the restored Hubble.

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