Still Waters Posted September 30, 2022 #1 Share Posted September 30, 2022 Nasa and the SpaceX rocket company are to study the feasibility of running a private astronaut mission to extend the life of the Hubble telescope. The orbiting observatory, one of the greatest instruments in the history of science, is gradually losing altitude. If nothing is done to re-boost it, the telescope will eventually fall into the atmosphere and burn up. Hubble was serviced on five occasions by astronauts in Nasa's space shuttle, the last time being in 2009. Since then, the telescope has come down by about 25km and now circles the Earth at a height of 540km. Ideally, Nasa would like to get the observatory back up to the 600km altitude where it was positioned at launch in 1990. https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-63084707 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L.A.T.1961 Posted September 30, 2022 #2 Share Posted September 30, 2022 As mentioned in the article the gyroscopes would really need replacing as part of the mission otherwise the trip would be a waste of money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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