Hubble history: From major flaw to perfection

When Galileo first turned a spyglass to the heavens in 1610, he had trouble
making out the rings of Saturn that are visible in inexpensive telescopes today.
Advances in optics improved scientists' views of the planets, stars, and distant
galaxies, but Earth's atmosphere still blocked much of the light for observers on the
ground. Larger telescopes were (and still are) placed on high mountains, where
thinner atmospheres allow clearer pictures.
In 1923, German scientist Hermann Oberth first suggested that a telescope
could be launched into orbit to help overcome the distortions caused by the
atmosphere. As rocket launchings became more commonplace, the idea became
feasible, and in 1969, approval was given for the launch of a Large Space
Telescope. But its development took longer than preparing for a trip to the moon.
In 1975, the European Space Agency began to work with NASA on the plan
that would eventually become Hubble. Congress approved funding for the
telescope in 1977. The birth of the reusable Space Shuttle provided a new
mechanism for delivering such a telescope into space.
The Large Space Telescope was renamed the Hubble (HST) in honor of
Edwin Hubble, an American astronomer who, among other things, determined that
the universe extended beyond the borders of Milky Way. The world's first space
telescope was then launched on April 24, 1990. The effort cost $1.5 billion, but
there would be ongoing costs — both expected and unexpected.
Initial instruments on Hubble included the Wide Field Planetary Camera, the
Goddard High Resolution Spectrograph (GHRS), the Faint Object Camera (FOC),
the Faint Object Spectrograph (FOS) and the High Speed Photometer. Butthere
was a big problem right off the bat. Hubble had a flawed mirror, researchers
learned when the telescope reached orbit and was put to work. The images were
fuzzy — close to useless. Hubble's main mirror had a major defect, a spherical
aberration caused by a manufacturing error. The flaw was just 1/50th the thickness
of a sheet of paper.
It took three years before NASA could mount a repair mission. On Dec. 2,
1993, the Space Shuttle Endeavor ferried a crew of seven to fix Hubble during five
days of spacewalks. Two new cameras, including the Wide-Field Planetary
Camera 2 (WFPC-2) — which later took many of Hubble's most famous photos —
were installed during the fix. In December 1993, the first new images from Hubble
reached Earth. And they were breathtaking.

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 What's special?
Light can travel through the Universe virtually undisturbed for thousands of
millions of years. However, before arriving at a telescope on Earth, it must travel
through our turbulent atmosphere, which blurs out the fine cosmic details. Putting
a telescope in space avoids this problem. High above the atmosphere, Hubble
collects visible light and observes the infrared and ultraviolet wavelengths usually
filtered out.
Hubble has made some dramatic discoveries. When it was launched, planets
outside our Solar System (exoplanets) had not been observed. Hubble made
measurements of a planet’s atmosphere around another star (HD 209458), finding
evidence of sodium, carbon and oxygen, and methane in the atmosphere of another
Jupiter-sized planet, HD 189733b. It directly imaged an exoplanet orbiting
Fomalhaut.
It was also thought that expansion of the Universe would be slowing by
now, as gravity acts to reduce the remnant velocity from the Big Bang. By
studying ‘Type Ia supernovae’ – stars that explode at the end of their life – as
distance indicators, Hubble found that the speed with which the Universe is
presently expanding had been increasing for the last several billion years. This
points to the existence of ‘dark energy’, a force that comes to exceed gravity and
causes the Universe’s expansion to accelerate.
Prior to Hubble, the presence of dust discs around a small number of young
stars had been inferred from observations by infrared satellites, but only one disc,
around Beta Pictoris, had been directly imaged with a ground-based coronagraph.
For centuries it has been believed that the Solar System began as a disc. Hubble
showed at high resolution that about half of the young stars in the Orion Nebula
are surrounded by gas and dust structures, many of them discs.
Hubble has pushed back the observational boundaries of the Universe.
Coordinating with other observatories, Hubble has taken long exposures of small
regions of sky, to bring out the most distant and most ancient galaxies. With the
sensitive ‘WFC3’ panchromatic camera, Hubble has seen galaxies that formed just
600-800 million years after the Big Bang, which are showing signs of their origin
from the first stars. They are so blue they must be deficient in heavy elements, thus
representing a population with primordial characteristics.

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 Hubble facts
The Hubble is a joint project between NASA and the European Space
Agency. Here are some basic facts about the telescope and the mission, courtesy
the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI), which operates Hubble for NASA:
Telescope size
Length: 43.5 feet (13.2 meters)
Weight: 24,500 lbs. (11,110 kilograms)
Maximum diameter: 14 feet (4.2 m)
Mission facts
Launch: April 24, 1990, from space shuttle Discovery (STS-31)
Deployment: April 25, 1990
Servicing Mission 1: December 1993
Servicing Mission 2: February 1997
Servicing Mission 3A: December 1999
Servicing Mission 3B: February 2002
Servicing Mission 4: May 2009
Spaceflight stats
Orbit: Average altitude of 307 nautical miles (569 km, or 353 miles),
inclined 28.5 degrees to the equator.
Time to complete one orbit: 97 minutes
Speed: 17,500 mph (28,000 km/h)
Data
Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week. That
would be roughly 3,600 feet (1,097 meters) of books on a shelf. The collection of
pictures and data is stored on magneto-optical disks.
Power
Energy source: the sun
Mechanism: Two 25-foot solar panels
Power usage: 2,800 watts

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 Batteries: 6 nickel-hydrogen (NiH), with a storage capacity equal to 20 car
batteries
Optics
Primary mirror diameter: 94.5 in (2.4 m)
Primary mirror weight: 1,825 lb (828 kg)
Secondary mirror diameter: 12 in (0.3 m)
Secondary mirror weight: 27.4 lb (12.3 kg)
How does it work?
Every 97 minutes, Hubble completes a spin around Earth, moving at the
speed of about five miles per second (8 km per second) — fast enough to travel
across the United States in about 10 minutes. As it travels, Hubble's mirror
captures light and directs it into its several science instruments.
Hubble is a type of telescope known as a Cassegrain reflector. Light hits the
telescope's main mirror, or primary mirror. It bounces off the primary mirror and
encounters a secondary mirror. The secondary mirror focuses the light through a
hole in the center of the primary mirror that leads to the telescope's science
instruments.
People often mistakenly believe that a telescope's power lies in its ability to
magnify objects. Telescopes actually work by collecting more light than the human
eye can capture on its own. The larger a telescope's mirror, the more light it can
collect, and the better its vision. Hubble's primary mirror is 94.5 inches (2.4 m) in
diameter. This mirror is small compared with those of current ground-based
telescopes, which can be 400 inches (1,000 cm) and up, but Hubble's location
beyond the atmosphere gives it remarkable clarity.
Once the mirror captures the light, Hubble's science instruments work
together or individually to provide the observation. Each instrument is designed to
examine the universe in a different way.
The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) sees three different kinds of light: near-
ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared, though not simultaneously. Its resolution and
field of view are much greater than that of Hubble's other instruments. WFC3 is
one of Hubble's two newest instruments, and will be used to study dark energy and
dark matter, the formation of individual stars and the discovery of extremely
remote galaxies previously beyond Hubble's vision.

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 The Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), Hubble's other new instrument, is
a spectrograph that sees exclusively in ultraviolet light. Spectrographs acts
something like prisms, separating light from the cosmos into its component colors.
This provides a wavelength "fingerprint" of the object being observed, which tells
us about its temperature, chemical composition, density, and motion. COS will
improve Hubble's ultraviolet sensitivity at least 10 times, and up to 70 times when
observing extremely faint objects.
The Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS) sees visible light, and is designed
to study some of the earliest activity in the universe. ACS helps map the
distribution of dark matter, detects the most distant objects in the universe,
searches for massive planets, and studies the evolution of clusters of galaxies. ACS
partially stopped working in 2007 due to an electrical short, but was repaired
during Servicing Mission 4 in May 2009.
The Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) is a spectrograph that
sees ultraviolet, visible and near-infrared light, and is known for its ability to hunt
black holes. While COS works best with small sources of light, such as stars or
quasars, STIS can map out larger objects like galaxies. STIS stopped working due
to a technical failure on August 3, 2004, but was also repaired during Servicing
Mission 4.
The Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) is
Hubble's heat sensor. Its sensitivity to infrared light — perceived by humans as
heat — lets it observe objects hidden by interstellar dust, like stellar birth sites, and
gaze into deepest space.
Finally, the Fine Guidance Sensors (FGS) are devices that lock onto "guide
stars" and keep Hubble pointed in the right direction. They can be used to precisely
measure the distance between stars, and their relative motions.
All of Hubble's functions are powered by sunlight. Hubble sports solar
arrays that convert sunlight directly into electricity. Some of that electricity is
stored in batteries that keep the telescope running when it's in Earth's shadow,
blocked from the Sun's rays.
Servicing missions
Hubble has been serviced five times. These are the highlights of each
servicing mission:
Servicing Mission 1 - STS-61, December 1993: A corrective optics package
was installed, and the Wide Field Planetary Camera was replaced with the Wide
Field and Planetary Camera 2 (including an internal optical correction system.)
The computers were upgraded. The astronauts also replaced solar arrays,
gyroscopes, magnetometers, computers and other equipment.
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 Servicing Mission 2 - STS-82, February 1997: Among other tasks,
astronauts installed the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS) and the
Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), replacing the
GHRS and the FOS. An unexpected problem with NICMOS shortened its expected
lifespan to only 2 years, less than half of initial projections.
Servicing Mission 3A - STS-103, December 1999: The third servicing
mission was divided into two parts after three of the six gyroscopes (pointing
devices) failed on Hubble. Just a few weeks before 3A lifted off, a fourth
gyroscope failed and left the telescope unable to point in the right direction for
observations. 3A replaced all the gyroscopes, a fine guidance sensor and the
computer, among other tasks. The mission put Hubble back in service shortly after
the repairs were completed.
Servicing Mission 3B - STS-109, March 2002: This mission installed the
Advanced Camera for Surveys (replacing the FOC), repaired NICMOS and
replaced the solar arrays.
Servicing Mission 4: Servicing Mission 4 - STS-125, May 2009: This
mission was at first scheduled for February 2005, but NASA canceled it after the
Columbia shuttle was damaged during launch and broke up during re-entry in
2003, killing seven astronauts. Hubble is in a different orbit than the International
Space Station. Should a shuttle be damaged upon liftoff, there was no safe haven
for astronauts to retreat to in case of emergency. However, following outcry from
Congress, the scientific community and the public, the Hubble mission was
reinstated and scheduled for 2008. When one of Hubble's data-handling units
failed, the mission was pushed back to 2009 to include a replacement part for that,
too. The astronauts on Mission 4 repaired or replaced several systems and installed
two new instruments: Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph.
Public use
Anyone can apply for time on the telescope; there are no restrictions on
nationality or academic affiliation, but funding for analysis is only available to US
institutions.Competition for time on the telescope is intense, with about one-fifth
of the proposals submitted in each cycle earning time on the schedule.
Calls for proposals are issued roughly annually, with time allocated for a
cycle lasting about one year. Proposals are divided into several categories; "general
observer" proposals are the most common, covering routine observations.
"Snapshot observations" are those in which targets require only 45 minutes or less
of telescope time, including overheads such as acquiring the target. Snapshot
observations are used to fill in gaps in the telescope schedule that cannot be filled
by regular GO programs.

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 Astronomers may make "Target of Opportunity" proposals, in which
observations are scheduled if a transient event covered by the proposal occurs
during the scheduling cycle. In addition, up to 10% of the telescope time is
designated "director's discretionary" (DD) time. Astronomers can apply to use DD
time at any time of year, and it is typically awarded for study of unexpected
transient phenomena such as supernovae.
Other uses of DD time have included the observations that led to views of
the Hubble Deep Field and Hubble Ultra Deep Field, and in the first four cycles of
telescope time, observations that were carried out by amateur astronomers.
Public image processing of Hubble data is encouraged as most of the data in
the archives has not been processed into color imagery.
Recent Hubble discoveries
Here are some additional highlights of Hubble's discoveries for the past five years:

2013: Performed several observations of the spectacular Comet ISON before the
comet broke up near the sun around Thanksgiving, examined an explosion on a
distant star, discovered a new moon around Neptune and revealed details about the
Milky Way's history based on images of 400 galaxies in various stages of
evolution.
2014: Watched asteroid P/2013 R3 falling apart; observed a rare, close supernova
called SN 2014J; found an extremely distant "cosmic magnifying glass"; and
released an image – called the Ultraviolet Coverage of the Hubble Ultra Deep Field
– that showed the universe's evolution.
2015: Made fresh observations of the "Pillars of Creation" to see how they changed
over time, captured the sharpest view ever of the Andromeda Galaxy, performed
the best 3-D view of the deep universe, and observed a dark vortex on the planet
Neptune. The year 2015 was also Hubble's 25th anniversary in space.
2016: Made close-up observations of Comet 252P/LINEAR), spotted the farthest
galaxy then known, and showed that the universe likely has 10 times the number of
galaxiespreviously thought to have existed.
2017: Found a stratosphere on a huge exoplanet, spotted ultrabright galaxies,
watched the farthest known active comet, and accidentally discovered several
asteroids when they snuck into observations of a galaxy cluster.

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 Scientific results
Key projects
In the early 1980s, NASA and STScI convened four panels to discuss key
projects. These were projects that were both scientifically important and would
require significant telescope time, which would be explicitly dedicated to each
project. This guaranteed that these particular projects would be completed early, in
case the telescope failed sooner than expected. The panels identified three such
projects: 1) a study of the nearby intergalactic medium using quasar absorption
lines to determine the properties of the intergalactic medium and the gaseous
content of galaxies and groups of galaxies;2) a medium deep survey using the
Wide Field Camera to take data whenever one of the other instruments was being
used and 3) a project to determine the Hubble constant within ten percent by
reducing the errors, both external and internal, in the calibration of the distance
scale.
Important discoveries
Hubble has helped resolve some long-standing problems in astronomy,
while also raising new questions. Some results have required new theories to
explain them. Among its primary mission targets was to measure distances to
Cepheid variable stars more accurately than ever before, and thus constrain the
value of the Hubble constant, the measure of the rate at which the universe is
expanding, which is also related to its age. Before the launch of HST, estimates of
the Hubble constant typically had errors of up to 50%, but Hubble measurements
of Cepheid variables in the Virgo Cluster and other distant galaxy clusters
provided a measured value with an accuracy of ±10%, which is consistent with
other more accurate measurements made since Hubble's launch using other
techniques.The estimated age is now about 13.7 billion years, but before the
Hubble Telescope scientists predicted an age ranging from 10 to 20 billion years.
While Hubble helped to refine estimates of the age of the universe, it also
cast doubt on theories about its future. Astronomers from the High-z Supernova
Search Team and the Supernova Cosmology Project used ground-based telescopes
and HST to observe distant supernovae and uncovered evidence that, far from
decelerating under the influence of gravity, the expansion of the universe may in
fact be accelerating. Three members of these two groups have subsequently been
awarded Nobel Prizes for their discovery. The cause of this acceleration remains
poorly understood; the most common cause attributed is dark energy.
The high-resolution spectra and images provided by the HST have been
especially well-suited to establishing the prevalence of black holes in the nuclei of
nearby galaxies. While it had been hypothesized in the early 1960s that black holes

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would be found at the centers of some galaxies, and astronomers in the 1980s
identified a number of good black hole candidates, work conducted with Hubble
shows that black holes are probably common to the centers of all galaxies. The
Hubble programs further established that the masses of the nuclear black holes and
properties of the galaxies are closely related. The legacy of the Hubble programs
on black holes in galaxies is thus to demonstrate a deep connection between
galaxies and their central black holes.
The collision of Comet Shoemaker-Levy 9 with Jupiter in 1994 was
fortuitously timed for astronomers, coming just a few months after Servicing
Mission 1 had restored Hubble's optical performance. Hubble images of the planet
were sharper than any taken since the passage of Voyager 2 in 1979, and were
crucial in studying the dynamics of the collision of a comet with Jupiter, an event
believed to occur once every few centuries.
Other discoveries made with Hubble data include proto-planetary disks
(proplyds) in the Orion Nebula; evidence for the presence of extrasolar planets
around Sun-like stars; and the optical counterparts of the still-mysterious gamma-
ray bursts. HST has also been used to study objects in the outer reaches of the
Solar System, including the dwarf planets Pluto and Eris.
A unique window on the Universe enabled by Hubble are the Hubble Deep
Field, Hubble Ultra-Deep Field, and Hubble Extreme Deep Field images, which
used Hubble's unmatched sensitivity at visible wavelengths to create images of
small patches of sky that are the deepest ever obtained at optical wavelengths. The
images reveal galaxies billions of light years away, and have generated a wealth of
scientific papers, providing a new window on the early Universe. The Wide Field
Camera 3 improved the view of these fields in the infrared and ultraviolet,
supporting the discovery of some of the most distant objects yet discovered, such
as MACS0647-JD.
The non-standard object SCP 06F6 was discovered by the Hubble Space
Telescope in February 2006.During June and July 2012, US astronomers using
Hubble discovered a tiny fifth moon moving around icy Pluto.
In March 2015, researchers announced that measurements of aurorae around
Ganymede revealed that the moon has a subsurface ocean. Using Hubble to study
the motion of its aurorae, the researchers determined that a large saltwater ocean
was helping to suppress the interaction between Jupiter's magnetic field and that of
Ganymede. The ocean is estimated to be 100 km (60 mi) deep, trapped beneath a
150 km (90 mi) ice crust.
On December 11, 2015, Hubble captured an image of the first-ever predicted
reappearance of a supernova, dubbed "Refsdal", which was calculated using

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different mass models of a galaxy cluster whose gravity is warping the supernova's
light.
The supernova was previously seen in November 2014 behind galaxy cluster
MACS J1149.5+2223 as part of Hubble's Frontier Fields program. Astronomers
spotted four separate images of the supernova in an arrangement known as an
Einstein Cross. The light from the cluster has taken about five billion years to
reach Earth, though the supernova exploded some 10 billion years ago. The
detection of Refsdal's reappearance served as a unique opportunity for astronomers
to test their models of how mass, especially dark matter, is distributed within this
galaxy cluster.
On March 3, 2016, researchers using Hubble data announced the discovery
of the farthest known galaxy to date: GN-z11. The Hubble observations occurred
on February 11, 2015, and April 3, 2015, as part of the CANDELS/GOODS-North
surveys.
Impact on astronomy
Many objective measures show the positive impact of Hubble data on
astronomy. Over 15,000 papers based on Hubble data have been published in peer-
reviewed journals, and countless more have appeared in conference proceedings.
Looking at papers several years after their publication, about one-third of all
astronomy papers have no citations, while only 2% of papers based on Hubble data
have no citations. On average, a paper based on Hubble data receives about twice
as many citations as papers based on non-Hubble data. Of the 200 papers published
each year that receive the most citations, about 10% are based on Hubble data.
Although the HST has clearly helped astronomical research, its financial
cost has been large. A study on the relative astronomical benefits of different sizes
of telescopes found that while papers based on HST data generate 15 times as
many citations as a 4 m (13 ft) ground-based telescope such as the William
Herschel Telescope, the HST costs about 100 times as much to build and maintain.
Deciding between building ground- versus space-based telescopes is
complex. Even before Hubble was launched, specialized ground-based techniques
such as aperture masking interferometry had obtained higher-resolution optical and
infrared images than Hubble would achieve, though restricted to targets about 108
times brighter than the faintest targets observed by Hubble. Since then, advances in
adaptive optics have extended the high-resolution imaging capabilities of ground-
based telescopes to the infrared imaging of faint objects. The usefulness of
adaptive optics versus HST observations depends strongly on the particular details
of the research questions being asked. In the visible bands, adaptive optics can
only correct a relatively small field of view, whereas HST can conduct high-

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resolution optical imaging over a wide field. Only a small fraction of astronomical
objects are accessible to high-resolution ground-based imaging; in contrast Hubble
can perform high-resolution observations of any part of the night sky, and on
objects that are extremely faint.
Hubble's discoveries have transformed the way scientists look at the universe. Its
ability to show the universe in unprecedented detail has turned astronomical
conjectures into concrete certainties. It has winnowed down the collection of
theories about the universe even as it sparked new ones, clarifying the path for
future astronomers.
Among its many discoveries, Hubble has revealed the age of the universe to
be about 13 to 14 billion years, much more accurate than the old range of
anywhere from 10 to 20 billion years. Hubble played a key role in the discovery of
dark energy, a mysterious force that causes the expansion of the universe to
accelerate.
Hubble has shown scientists galaxies in all stages of evolution, including
toddler galaxies that were around when the universe was still young, helping them
understand how galaxies form. It found protoplanetary disks, clumps of gas and
dust around young stars that likely function as birthing grounds for new planets. It
discovered that gamma-ray bursts — strange, incredibly powerful explosions of
energy — occur in far-distant galaxies when massive stars collapse. And these are
only a handful of its many contributions to astronomy.
The sheer amount of astronomy based on Hubble observations has also
helped make it one of history's most important observatories. More than 10,000
scientific articles have been published based on Hubble data.
The policies that govern the telescope have contributed to its incredible
productivity. The telescope is an instrument for the entire astronomical community
— any astronomer in the world can submit a proposal and request time on the
telescope. Teams of experts then select the observations to be performed. Once
observations are completed, the astronomers have a year to pursue their work
before the data is released to the entire scientific community. Because everyone
gets to see the information, the observations have given rise to a multitude of
findings — many in areas that would not have been predicted by the telescope’s
original proposals. Hubble's success with these policies has helped spread them
throughout the astronomical community, and they are becoming common with
other observatories.

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 Debate over final servicing mission
The Space Shuttle Columbia was originally scheduled to visit Hubble again
in February 2005. The tasks of this servicing mission would include replacing a
fine guidance sensor, replacing two broken gyroscopes, place protective "blankets"
on top of torn insulation, replacing the Wide Field and Planetary Camera 2 with a
new Wide Field Camera 3 and installing the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS).
However, then-NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe decided that, in order to
prevent a repeat of the Columbia disaster, all future shuttles must be able to reach
the 'safe-haven' of the International Space Station (ISS) should an in-flight problem
develop which would preclude the shuttle from landing safely. The shuttle is
incapable of reaching both HST and ISS during the same mission, and so future
manned service missions were cancelled.
This decision was assailed by numerous astronomers, who felt that the
Hubble telescope was valuable enough to merit the risk. In particular, Hubble is
one of the few telescopes currently operating which can image in the ultraviolet,
and its successor telescope will not be launched until possibly several years after
Hubble's demise. However, many astronomers feel strongly that the servicing of
Hubble should not take place if the costs of the servicing come from the budget of
its more important successor telescope, the JWST, as that could well cripple future
space astronomy. The break in space observing capabilities between the
decommissioning of Hubble and the commissioning of a successor is of major
concern to some astronomers, given the great scientific and political impact of
many space telescope observations. On 29 January 2004, Sean O'Keefe said that
that he would review his decision to cancel the final servicing mission of the
Hubble Space Telescope due to public outcry and requests from Congress for
NASA to look for a way to save the Hubble Space Telescope.
On 13 July 2004, an official panel from the National Academy of Sciences
made the recommendation that the Hubble telescope be preserved despite the
apparent risks. Their report urged "NASA should take no actions that would
preclude a space shuttle servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope". On
August 11, 2004, Sean O'Keefe requested the Goddard Space Flight Center to
prepare a detailed proposal for a robotic service mission. It is expected that the
proposal will take 12 months to produce—any such mission, likely to cost in
excess of $1 billion, will not take place before 2007.
The arrival, in April 2005, of the new NASA Administrator, Mike Griffin,
has changed the status of both of the manned and unmanned rescue missions.
Griffin has stated that he will reconsider the possibility of a manned servicing
mission. Soon after his appointment, he authorized NASA's Goddard Space Flight
Center to proceed with preparing for a manned Hubble maintenance flight, saying

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he would make the final decision on this flight after the next two shuttle missions.
If all goes well, Hubble will be serviced on mission STS-125, currently scheduled
to send Discovery to the telescope sometime in 2008. At the same time, Griffin
canceled plans for a robotic rescue mission, calling it "not feasible."
Solutions
NASA and the ESA are currently investigating building a follow on to the
Hubble Space Telescope called the Hubble Origins Probe . If approved, it would
not be ready for launch until 2010. The probe would very likely use an Atlas V
rocket for its ride to orbit. It would also incorporate new technology into its design
to reduce its weight in respect to the original. The mission would be a one time
five year run and would receive no servicing from the Space Shuttle. The mission
is still being debated and is still absent of any funding. Critics argue that the money
would be better spent on a modern cost-effective space telescope design like the
JWST rather than re-using the outdated design of Hubble. It may never be built.

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 What will happen to Hubble in the future?
Orbital decay and controlled reentry
Hubble orbits the Earth in the extremely tenuous upper atmosphere, and over
time its orbit decays due to drag. If it is not re-boosted, it will re-enter the Earth's
atmosphere within some decades, with the exact date depending on how active the
Sun is and its impact on the upper atmosphere. If Hubble were to descend in a
completely uncontrolled re-entry, parts of the main mirror and its support structure
would probably survive, leaving the potential for damage or even human
fatalities.In 2013, deputy project manager James Jeletic projected that Hubble
could survive into the 2020s. Based on solar activity and atmospheric drag, or lack
thereof, a natural atmospheric reentry for Hubble will occur between 2028 and
2040. In June 2016, NASA extended the service contract for Hubble until June
2021.
NASA's original plan for safely de-orbiting Hubble was to retrieve it using a
space shuttle. Hubble would then have most likely been displayed in the
Smithsonian Institution. This is no longer possible since the space shuttle fleet has
been retired, and would have been unlikely in any case due to the cost of the
mission and risk to the crew. Instead, NASA considered adding an external
propulsion module to allow controlled re-entry. Ultimately NASA installed the
Soft Capture and Rendezvous System, to enable deorbit by either a crewed or
robotic mission.
Eventually, Hubble's time will end. As the years progress, Hubble's
components will slowly degrade to the point at which the telescope stops working.
When that happens, Hubble will continue to orbit Earth until its orbit decays,
allowing it to spiral toward Earth. Though NASA originally hoped to bring Hubble
back to Earth for museum display, the telescope's prolonged lifespan has placed it
beyond the date for the retirement of the space shuttle program. Hubble was
designed specifically to function with the space shuttle, so the replacement vehicle
will likely not be able to return it to the ground. A robotic mission is expected to
help de-orbit Hubble, guiding its remains through a plunge through the atmosphere
and into the ocean.
But Hubble's legacy — its discoveries, its trailblazing design, its success in
showing us the universe in unparalleled detail — will live on. Scientists will rely
on Hubble's revelations for years as they continue in their quest to understand the
cosmos — a quest that has attained clarity, focus, and triumph through Hubble's
rich existence.
Successors

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 There is no direct replacement to Hubble as an ultraviolet and visible light
space telescope, because near-term space telescopes do not duplicate Hubble's
wavelength coverage (near-ultraviolet to near-infrared wavelengths), instead
concentrating on the farther infrared bands. These bands are preferred for studying
high redshift and low-temperature objects, objects generally older and farther away
in the universe. These wavelengths are also difficult or impossible to study from
the ground, justifying the expense of a space-based telescope. Large ground-based
telescopes can image some of the same wavelengths as Hubble, sometimes
challenge HST in terms of resolution by using adaptive optics (AO), have much
larger light-gathering power, and can be upgraded more easily, but cannot yet
match Hubble's excellent resolution over a wide field of view with the very dark
background of space.
Plans for a Hubble successor materialized as the Next Generation Space
Telescope project, which culminated in plans for the James Webb Space Telescope
(JWST), the formal successor of Hubble. Very different from a scaled-up Hubble,
it is designed to operate colder and farther away from the Earth at the L2
Lagrangian point, where thermal and optical interference from the Earth and Moon
are lessened. It is not engineered to be fully serviceable (such as replaceable
instruments), but the design includes a docking ring to enable visits from other
spacecraft. A main scientific goal of JWST is to observe the most distant objects in
the universe, beyond the reach of existing instruments. It is expected to detect stars
in the early Universe approximately 280 million years older than stars HST now
detects. The telescope is an international collaboration between NASA, the
European Space Agency, and the Canadian Space Agency since 1996, and is
planned for launch on an Ariane 5 rocket. Although JWST is primarily an infrared
instrument, its coverage extends down to 600 nm wavelength light, or roughly
orange in the visible spectrum. A typical human eye can see to about 750 nm
wavelength light, so there is some overlap with the longest visible wavelength
bands, including orange and red light.
A complementary telescope, looking at even longer wavelengths than
Hubble or JWST, was the European Space Agency's Herschel Space Observatory,
launched on May 14, 2009. Like JWST, Herschel was not designed to be serviced
after launch, and had a mirror substantially larger than Hubble's, but observed only
in the far infrared and submillimeter. It needed helium coolant, of which it ran out
on April 29, 2013.
Further concepts for advanced 21st-century space telescopes include the
Advanced Technology Large-Aperture Space Telescope, a conceptualized 8 to
16.8 meters (310 to 660 inches) optical space telescope that if realized could be a
more direct successor to HST, with the ability to observe and photograph
astronomical objects in the visible, ultraviolet, and infrared wavelengths, with
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substantially better resolution than Hubble or the Spitzer Space telescope. This
effort is being planned for the 2025–2035 time frame.
Existing ground-based telescopes, and various proposed Extremely Large
Telescopes, can exceed the HST in terms of sheer light-gathering power and
diffraction limit due to larger mirrors, but other factors affect telescopes. In some
cases, they may be able to match or beat Hubble in resolution by using adaptive
optics (AO). However, AO on large ground-based reflectors will not make Hubble
and other space telescopes obsolete. Most AO systems sharpen the view over a
very narrow field—Lucky Cam, for example, produces crisp images just 10" to 20"
wide, whereas Hubble's cameras produce crisp images across a 2½' (150") field.
Furthermore, space telescopes can study the universe across the entire
electromagnetic spectrum, most of which is blocked by Earth's atmosphere.
Finally, the background sky is darker in space than on the ground, because air
absorbs solar energy during the day and then releases it at night, producing a faint
—but nevertheless discernible—airglow that washes out low-contrast astronomical
objects.

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 Question-answer
1. How long Hubble completes the rotation around the Earth?
Every 97 minutes.
2. What is the power source for all Hubble functions?
All of Hubble's functions are powered by sunlight.
3. How does the Hubble telescope work in the shadows?
Some of that electricity is stored in batteries that keep the telescope running when
it's in Earth's shadow.
4. Why are telescopes on the ground not so effective?
Light can travel through the Universe virtually undisturbed for thousands of
millions of years. However, before arriving at a telescope on Earth, it must travel
through our turbulent atmosphere, which blurs out the fine cosmic details.
5. How many times has Hubble been served?
Hubble has been serviced five times.
6. Who can apply for time on a telescope?
Anyone can apply for time on the telescope.
7. How is this "Snapshot Observation"?
Are those in which targets require only 45 minutes or less of telescope time,
including overheads such as acquiring the target.
8. When did Hubble find the stratosphere on a huge exoplanet?
In 2017.
9. What is the age of the universe obtained through Hubble?
The estimated age is now about 13.7 billion years.
10. When was the last service mission?
May 2009.

11. In what year was it proposed to launch the telescope into orbit?

In 1923, German scientist Hermann Oberth first suggested that a telescope could be
launched into orbit to help overcome the distortions caused by the atmosphere.

12. What problem was discovered after the launch of the Hubble telescope?

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Hubble had a flawed mirror, researchers learned when the telescope reached orbit and
was put to work.

13. What is the weight of the Hubble telescope?

Hubble telescope weighs more than 11,000 kilograms

14. How much data does the Hubble telescope give us?

Hubble transmits about 120 gigabytes of science data every week.

15. What is the impact of Hubble on astronomy?

Many objective indicators show the positive effects of Hubble data in astronomy.
More than 15,000 works based on Hubble data were published in peer-reviewed
journals, and many others appeared in the conference.

16. What is the speed of the Hubble telescope in orbit?

Hubble telescope speed is about 5 miles per second (8 km per second)

17. What was the last discovery made with Hubble?

In 2017, the Hubble space telescope found a stratosphere on a huge exoplanet, spotted
ultrabright galaxies, watched the farthest known active comet, and accidentally
discovered several asteroids when they snuck into observations of a galaxy cluster.

18. What happened in 1994?

In 1994 there was a collision of comet shoemaker-levy 9 with Jupiter

19. What's the diameter of the Hubble telescope?

Maximum diameter: 14 feet (4.2 m)

20. In what year was NASA started work on the Hubble?

It was in 1975.

21. How many percent of articles published each year are based on Hubble data?
Of the 200 papers published each year about 10% are based on Hubble data.
22. What is the approximate age of the universe shown by Hubble?
Hubble has revealed the age of the universe to be about 13 to 14 billion years.

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23. In the discovery of what energy played the key role of Hubble?
Hubble played a key role in the discovery of dark energy, a mysterious force that
causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.
24. What is the name of the new Hubble telescope?
Тhe Hubble Origins Probe .
25. In which year is the launch of the Hubble Origins Probe planned?
If approved, it would not be ready for launch until 2010.
26. Where does Hubble rotate around the Earth?
Hubble orbits the Earth in the extremely tenuous upper atmosphere.
27. What are the consequences of Hubble's presence in the weak upper
atmosphere?
Оver time its orbit decays due to drag.
28. Based on the solar activity and atmospheric drag, or the lack thereof, when will
happen a natural atmospheric reentry for Hubble?
Based on solar activity and atmospheric drag, or lack thereof, a natural
atmospheric reentry for Hubble will occur between 2028 and 2040.
29. Is there a direct replacement for Hubble?
No, it does not exist.
30. For what kind of work was the telescope of James Webb (JWST) designed?
It is designed to operate colder and farther away from the Earth at the L2
Lagrangian point.
31. Where are the large telescopes located?
Larger telescopes were (and still are) placed on high mountains, where thinner
atmospheres allow clearer pictures.
32.When was the idea of a missile launch approved?
As rocket launchings became more commonplace, the idea became feasible, and in
1969, approval was given for the launch of a Large Space Telescope.
33. How much did the missile launch effort cost?
The effort cost $1.5 billion
34. How many days did the telescope repair?
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Repair lasted 5 days
35. Why did Hubble measure the planets?
Hubble was making measurements of the planet's atmosphere around the other star
showing evidence of sodium, carbon and oxygen and methane in the atmosphere of
another planets
36. How fast it moves
It moves at the speed of about five miles per second (8 km per second) — fast
enough to travel across the United States in about 10 minutes.
37. How many different telescopes on earth and in space?
Hubble's primary mirror is 94.5 inches (2.4 m) in diameter. This mirror is small
compared with those of current ground-based telescopes, which can be 400 inches
(1,000 cm) and up
38. What role did Hubble play
Hubble played a key role in the discovery of dark energy, a mysterious force that
causes the expansion of the universe to accelerate.
39. Why did the public protest begin in 2004?
Because they want to save the Hubble Space Telescope
40. How much more can the Hubble exist?
Hubble could survive into the 2020s. Based on solar activity and atmospheric drag,
or lack thereof, a natural atmospheric reentry for Hubble will occur between 2028
and 2040. In June 2016, NASA extended the service contract for Hubble until June
2021.

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 Dictionary

1. Cepheid variable - is a type of star that pulsates radially, varying in both

diameter and temperature and producing changes in brightness with a well-defined
stable period and amplitude.

2. An exoplanet or extrasolar planet - is a planet outside our solar system.

3. Cassegrain reflector- the Cassegrain reflector is a combination of a primary

concave mirror and a secondary convex mirror, often used in optical telescopes and
radio antennas.

4. The spectrograph of dim objects - is a spectrograph that was part of the

instruments of the Hubble Space Telescope. It was designed to study particularly
dim objects in the ultraviolet range.

5. Fine Guidance Sensors -are devices that lock onto "guide stars" and keep
Hubble pointed in the right direction.

6. A spectrometer - is a scientific instrument used to the separate and measure

spectral components of a physical phenomenon.

7. The Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) - is the Hubble Space Telescope's last and
most technologically advanced instrument to take images in the visible spectrum.

8. A protoplanetary disk - is a rotating circumstellar disk of dense gas and dust

surrounding a young newly formed star.

9. Pillars of Creation - is a photograph taken by the Hubble Space Telescope of

elephant trunks of interstellar gas and dust in the Eagle Nebula, specifically the
Serpens constellation, some 6,500–7,000 light years from Earth.

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10. A supernova - is a transient astronomical event that occurs during the last
stellar evolutionary stages of a massive star's life, whose destruction is marked by
one final titanic explosion.

REFERENCES
1. https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/hubble/story/index.html
2. https://www.space.com/15892-hubble-space-telescope.html
3. https://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Hubble_overview
4. https://www.britannica.com/topic/Hubble-Space-Telescope
5. http://theconversation.com/why-the-hubble-space-telescope-has-been-such-a-
stellar-success-40312
6. https://www.newscientist.com/article/2095042-nasa-approves-five-more-years-
for-hubble-space-telescope/

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