Possibile anticipo al 2007 per la missione di servicing per Hubble

Missioni con equipaggio concluse Space Shuttle
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Si parla di anticipare la missione STS-125 inizialmente prevista per aprile 2008 a dicembre 2007, una decisione sarà presa il prossimo mese:

NASA look to move Hubble mission to 2007 By Chris Bergin, 9/5/2006 6:19:00 PM

NASA is evaluating the possibility of moving the final Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission from April 2008, to December 2007 - following a request to the Shuttle Program from the group in charge of the telescope.

STS-125, currently manifested to launch with Shuttle Discovery, will receive final authorisation next month, with plans for a unique LON (Launch On Need) rescue mission also in works.

The flagship mission for the final run of launches prior to Shuttle retirement, HSM-04 will be the final life extending mission to the telescope.

The last Hubble Space Telescope servicing mission took place on STS-109, with one of the most spectacular launches ever witnessed at the Kennedy Space Center, as Columbia’s dawn launch pierced through low clouds, lighting up the State of Florida in the process.

The mission has already been moved up one step in the ladder, but if the proposed jump to 2007 is approved, large scale changes in the ever-evolving manifest would be required.

Such changes would see the Hubble mission sandwiching the two JAXA (Japanese Space Agency) missions, currently flight 7: December 6, 2007 - STS-123 - 1J/A - Endeavour - JEM ELM-PS, SLP-D1 with SPDM Dextre - and flight: 8: February 7, 2008 - STS-124 - 1J - Atlantis - JEM PM, JEM RMS.

‘Hubble Space Telescope (HST): Hubble Servicing Mission is currently slotted for around April 2008, HST project would like to go in December 2007,’ noted a NASA update on the current STS manifest.

‘Japanese flights (1J/A & 1J) would stay were they are manifested, the HST mission would be between 1J/A and 1J. Space Shuttle Program (SSP) is looking at other options. Decision expected by end of October.’

Other notable changes on the latest manifest include: STS-116 has a new flight duration (11+1). Rotations of ISS crewmembers on STS-118 and STS-120. STS-322 is LON for STS-120. STS-122, STS-123 and STS-125 have new launch dates.

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Bhè, l’importante è che si faccia!!

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Mi sembra il caso. L’ISS puo’ aspettare. Hubble no

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Sembra che la NASA voglia escludere la possibilità del lancio di soccorso di un’altra navetta, in caso di problemi a STS-125. Nonostante tutto John Shannon, Presidente del Mission Management Team, è ottimista:

Shannon also said he was optimistic about eventual approval of flight to service the Hubble Space Telescope. NASA Administrator Mike Griffin is expected to make a decision one way or the other in October.

But a Hubble flight would not be able to take advantage of the space station as a safe haven in the event of non-repairable heat shield problems - the two spacecraft are in different orbits - and it may not be possible to launch a second shuttle on a rescue mission.

Shannon said he was heartened by the continued good performance of the external tank, by ongoing work to improve the tank’s insulation and by development of heat shield repair techniques. But a second shuttle launch pad may not be available even if a second ship could be processed in parallel for a rescue mission and a Hubble repair crew might have to rely on their own ability to inspect the shuttle and carry out repairs, if necessary.

“A lot of things are lining up that says Hubble is going to be a doable kind of thing,” Shannon said. "The real question on Hubble is going to be the launch on need, because that’s going to be extremely difficult to do. You just don’t have the orbital lifetime on a Hubble mission to be able to get another vehicle launched. It’s going to be very tough.

"So we’re going to have to go into the Hubble decision not counting on the launch-on-need vehicle. And that’s the difficult question the agency’s going to have to do. Do we have enough confidence in the design, do we have enough confidence in our inspection and repair to be able to do that? And I think that’s where the discussion is mostly going to lie."

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/shuttle/sts115/060912postmmt/

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Ho registrato questo passaggio del press briefing del MMT.
Se interessa posso caricarlo (Senza alta definizione :smiley: ) nella sezione Downloads.

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…e intanto si è danneggiata la nuova camera cadendo a terra…

New Hubble Space Telescope Hardware Damaged On The Ground

Keith Cowing
Wednesday, September 13, 2006

According to NASA sources, last Thursday, an I-bolt supporting a lifting rig failed while off-loading the Wide-field Scientific Instrument Protective Enclosure (WSIPE) dropping the rig onto the WSIPE.

The WSIPE is the flight hardware enclosure for the Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC-3) which is scheduled for installation on the Hubble Space Telescope during a possible Space Shuttle mission in 2007.

A Mishap Investigation Board has been assembled and has begun to investigate what happened. No one was hurt during this incident.

While NASA has not formally approved a shuttle mission to visit Hubble, NASA Administrator Mike Griffin told NASA employees at GSFC on Tuesday that he’d be making a decision no later than 1 November 2006.

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewnews.html?id=1154