NYT Editorial: New Hope for the Hubble

[Dudley_DUright]

Hopes for saving the Hubble Space Telescope, arguably the most important astronomical instrument in history, appear to have brightened. Sean O'Keefe, administrator of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration, gave a rousing pep talk to scientists and engineers at the Goddard Space Flight Center recently, urging them to work flat out on a possible robotic servicing mission. That approach, which NASA experts deem increasingly credible, could help Mr. O'Keefe escape the box he got into by canceling a planned servicing mission by astronauts in the wake of the Columbia accident.

The Hubble owes its remarkable ability to make discoveries to the fact that astronauts have visited it repeatedly, not just to replace batteries and ailing gyroscopes but to install new instruments that keep expanding the telescope's abilities. A National Academy of Sciences panel judged that the Hubble's scientific value remains significant, especially if a new camera and spectrograph that have already been built are installed.

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http://www.nytimes.com/2004/08/25/opinion/25wed4.html