The Hubble space telescope program will likely die this year with no money in the national budget for its continued service. This truly is a sad time for astronomers and the American people as this project helped shape what we know of our universe and beyond. President Bush has cut 150 programs that he claims has not been working or worth the cost and the Hubble space telescope program is one of those cut. The question should not be at how much money does the Hubble space program cost to American tax payers; but rather, to what cost to our knowledge to future generations for the demise or dismantling of the program.
The original plan for a space telescope was introduced in 1962 by the National Academy of Sciences committee. In 1973 NASA put together a group of scientists to develop the Hubble telescope and by 1977 congress approved funding for the production of the Hubble. With the advent of the space shuttle in the late 70s it was shown that the large telescope could be transported into space and paved the way for a future launch in 1986. The telescope was completed in 1985 and scheduled to be put into space in April of 1986 but the disaster of the challenger shuttle postponed the flight. The challenger's mission was slatted to put the newly built Hubble into space but it was destroyed as a result of the explosion. A new Hubble telescope was constructed and the space shuttle Discovery on April 25 1990 placed the state of the art telescope some 370 miles above earth in its own orbit. The first pictures back from space where disappointing to the astronomers as the clarity was poor. But in 1993 parts were installed and fixed the clarity problem so all pictures from there forward where perfectly clear. The planned duration of the project was to conclude in 2010.
The Hubble telescope or HST is overseen by NASA's Goddard space flight center here in the metro area and operated by the space telescope science institute at the Johns Hopkins University. The projected budget for fiscal year 2006 puts as little as 93 million dollars toward the upkeep of Hubble and that is out of 16.45 billion allotted to the space program. Of that 93k some 75 million will be used to build a shuttle mission loaded with an expendable robot to guide the Hubble out of orbit and into the sea. The remaining 18 million would be used to squeeze all the remaining productivity out of Hubble until the end of its mission in 2010.(4) The NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe says that the priority now is for a mission to the moon in 2020 as proposed by President Bush. O'Keefe also stated that a shuttle mission to Hubble would be too dangerous in the aftermath of the Columbia disaster in 2003.
The Hubble space telescope is responsible for many deep space pictures to include new galaxies and more in depth knowledge of our own galaxy. And example is the famous eagle nebulae photo that certainly would not have been possible hadn't it not been for the Hubble telescope. The photo eagle nebula gave astronomers a view of what our universe may have looked like when it was first forming. The images from the Hubble are significant due to the depth and distance that can be seen. This detail and the distances that can be seen with the Hubble are due mostly because the views are not through our atmosphere but rather through space alone which does not distort or block the view. The second part to Hubble's brilliant views is the lenses and the technology behind them. There have been hundreds of other photographs equally breath taking and worthy of the many great accomplishments this telescope has produced.
The Hubble telescope was named after a notable astronomer by the name of Edwin P. Hubble. He was responsible for the discovery that show galaxies are present past the Milky-Way as well as showing that space goes on forever in all directions away from earth. This was his way a stating that space goes on forever. Edwin P. Hubble was from the 1920s in space research and discovery.
There have been three notable repair missions to the Hubble since it has been in space. The first such mission was to repair its lens to correct the clarity problem. The second mission was to repair the gyroscopes that prevent the observatory from moving while images are being taken. And the third mission was in 1997 for simple upgrades and maintenance so the Hubble would withstand the harshness of space and to further advance its technology. The space repair missions of the past to upgrade or fix the telescope have been significantly less costly then it would have been to build a new state of the art observatory and then put into space. There where also two planed repair missions that where supposed to take place in 2001 and 2003 but these where cancelled due to another space shuttle disaster in 2003 and the events after 9/11. The only planned mission to this point is to send the expendable rocket to push the observatory out of orbit and to let it fall harmlessly to earth and into the open ocean. This is a sad ending for such an historic space project such as the Hubble.