Author Topic: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions  (Read 8036 times)

Offline russianhalo117

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NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« on: 10/03/2022 08:09 pm »
This thread replaces the missing original general discussion thread for the NASA - Hubble Space Telescope updates thread:
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=12284.0



« Last Edit: 10/04/2022 12:22 am by russianhalo117 »

Online JayWee

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #1 on: 10/03/2022 09:22 pm »
A question which occured to me - Does NASA still have the HST astro training facility?

Offline whitelancer64

Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #2 on: 10/03/2022 10:37 pm »
I've googled up some recent pictures of the NBL pool and it looks like the Hubble training mockup is not in there. It's all ISS modules.

I imagine the mockup is on site somewhere, and could be returned to the pool if needed.
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Online catdlr

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #3 on: 10/03/2022 10:41 pm »
I've googled up some recent pictures of the NBL pool and it looks like the Hubble training mockup is not in there. It's all ISS modules.

I imagine the mockup is on site somewhere, and could be returned to the pool if needed.

Probably would need someone to build a Dragon Sim to pair up with Hubble sim.
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Offline russianhalo117

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #4 on: 10/04/2022 12:24 am »
I've googled up some recent pictures of the NBL pool and it looks like the Hubble training mockup is not in there. It's all ISS modules.

I imagine the mockup is on site somewhere, and could be returned to the pool if needed.
Last i knew after the STS programme it went into long term storage. As to where It went, the thread that stated seems to no longer exist.

Offline AstroWare

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #5 on: 10/07/2022 02:39 pm »
Some more Hubble questions!

I have been reading about the hardware needed on STS-125. One thing I came across is the Flight Support System (FSS) which was what was used to hold Hubble in the payload bay during servicing. I read that it contained electrical interfaces to Hubble as well. One interview from a Boeing engineer said that Hubble used almost all of the shuttle support services, including Ku band, X-band, and power.

Q: Is there any detailed documentation (online) about the specifics of this interface? What were each of the services used for? Were there any more shuttle services used not listed above?

Offline Hog

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #6 on: 02/02/2023 09:25 pm »
Regarding the HST Update Thread
https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?topic=51954.1100

Namely
 https://hubblesite.org/contents/news-releases/2023/news-2023-004.html

It's nice that after 30 years HST is still pulling off firsts....


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Offline AS_501

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #7 on: 11/03/2023 01:24 am »
According to a recent SN news article (https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-budget-cuts-for-hubble-and-chandra-space-telescopes/), the operations budgets for Hubble and Chandra are under review for possible cuts.  In the case of Hubble, could such a cut doom the potential Dragon servicing mission?  I would assume not since the servicing mission would be covered under a separate budget allocation.

BTW, were the results of the 6-month Dragon servicing study ever completed or published?  Thanks in advance for any NSF links about this.
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Offline deadman1204

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #8 on: 11/06/2023 03:29 pm »
According to a recent SN news article (https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-budget-cuts-for-hubble-and-chandra-space-telescopes/), the operations budgets for Hubble and Chandra are under review for possible cuts.  In the case of Hubble, could such a cut doom the potential Dragon servicing mission?  I would assume not since the servicing mission would be covered under a separate budget allocation.

BTW, were the results of the 6-month Dragon servicing study ever completed or published?  Thanks in advance for any NSF links about this.
In a best cast scenario, NASA is looking at a 8-10% budget cut (no adjustment for the crazy inflation of the last 2 years). Thats where its a continuing resolution.
Every other reasonable scenario will be much deeper cuts. I don't see this servicing mission getting funding.
« Last Edit: 11/06/2023 03:30 pm by deadman1204 »

Offline Star One

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #9 on: 11/30/2023 10:07 am »
According to a recent SN news article (https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-budget-cuts-for-hubble-and-chandra-space-telescopes/), the operations budgets for Hubble and Chandra are under review for possible cuts.  In the case of Hubble, could such a cut doom the potential Dragon servicing mission?  I would assume not since the servicing mission would be covered under a separate budget allocation.

BTW, were the results of the 6-month Dragon servicing study ever completed or published?  Thanks in advance for any NSF links about this.
In a best cast scenario, NASA is looking at a 8-10% budget cut (no adjustment for the crazy inflation of the last 2 years). Thats where its a continuing resolution.
Every other reasonable scenario will be much deeper cuts. I don't see this servicing mission getting funding.
Isn’t it being privately funded I thought?

Offline Perchlorate

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #10 on: 11/30/2023 11:58 am »
According to a recent SN news article (https://spacenews.com/nasa-considering-budget-cuts-for-hubble-and-chandra-space-telescopes/), the operations budgets for Hubble and Chandra are under review for possible cuts.  In the case of Hubble, could such a cut doom the potential Dragon servicing mission?  I would assume not since the servicing mission would be covered under a separate budget allocation.

BTW, were the results of the 6-month Dragon servicing study ever completed or published?  Thanks in advance for any NSF links about this.


In a best cast scenario, NASA is looking at a 8-10% budget cut (no adjustment for the crazy inflation of the last 2 years). Thats where its a continuing resolution.
Every other reasonable scenario will be much deeper cuts. I don't see this servicing mission getting funding.
Isn’t it being privately funded I thought?

https://www.nasa.gov/missions/hubble/nasa-spacex-to-study-hubble-telescope-reboost-possibility/

Per this link, this study, agreed to a year ago was to be completed in 6 months, which would have been the middle of this year.  I didn't see an update on that.

Even if SpaceX/Polaris would agree to do the reboost at zero launch costs, there would still be the cost to create a physical interface to thrust through.

And now, with Hubble down to 3 gyros and one of them getting flaky, would it make sense to do the boost at all without including some sort of gyro pack and interface?

I'm not advocating either way, just not too optimistic.  It would be a wonderful gesture if the private sector could just DO THIS....
« Last Edit: 11/30/2023 11:58 am by Perchlorate »
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Offline Blackstar

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #11 on: 11/30/2023 01:09 pm »
It would be a wonderful gesture if the private sector could just DO THIS....

They want to be paid to do it.

Offline JH

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #12 on: 11/30/2023 01:12 pm »
Jared Isaacman is claiming otherwise:

https://twitter.com/rookisaacman/status/1730086062075289748?s=20

Sorry, I don’t know why it is showing the post above too. I copied the link from Isaacman’s post. Twitter continues to lose reliability, I suppose.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2023 01:17 pm by JH »

Offline Nomadd

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #13 on: 11/30/2023 01:30 pm »
 Wasn't gyro replacement fairly simple when everything went well? Just pull one out and plug a new one in?
 Or  would building new ones be impractical now?
« Last Edit: 11/30/2023 02:46 pm by Nomadd »
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Offline Hobbes-22

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #14 on: 11/30/2023 03:31 pm »
Gyro replacement was simple if you had the HST attached to the Space Shuttle, giving you a stable platform for repairs. Doing this from a Dragon with nothing but tethers is going to be less straightforward.   

Offline freddo411

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #15 on: 11/30/2023 03:54 pm »
It would be a wonderful gesture if the private sector could just DO THIS....

They want to be paid to do it.

Of course.   Space flights cost money.   Being paid is entirely reasonable.

The relevant question is: is spending $X dollars on Hubble a good investment?   The answers depends on the actual amount of $X ... and also on what other things $X might purchase.   And, of course, is $X available in some sense.

Online DaveS

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #16 on: 11/30/2023 05:50 pm »
Gyro replacement was simple if you had the HST attached to the Space Shuttle, giving you a stable platform for repairs. Doing this from a Dragon with nothing but tethers is going to be less straightforward.   
Yes, alot of the work was done by an EV attached to the Manipulator Foot Restraint (MFR) which was a secure platform for an EV that the shuttle RMS could grapple (it had a scaled down Flight Releasable Grapple Fixture, or FRGF on one end). Also, the HST ORU's are huge, riding in even bigger containers on specially designed carriers.


Attached photo shows the payload bay complement of STS-103/SM3A in December 1999 in the pad B Payload Changeout Room (PCR) ahead of PLBD closure for flight. The Flight Support System (FSS) used to hold the telescope for the duration of the servicing is at the back and the Orbital Replacement Unit Carrier (ORUC) containing the six replacement Rate Sensor Units (RSUs, the gyros), the new 486 flight computer and the battery Voltage Improvement Kit (VIK), an new Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS) and a replacement S-Band Single Access Transmitter (SSAT) as well a new Solid State Recorder


All of this was just to bring HST back to a science capable status after all three RSUs had failed previously and the telescope was holding attitude in Safe Mode using the the three FGS's. This failure caused NASA to split the original SM3 into two parts, SM3A to get the telescope working again and SM3B to carry out all of the original intended upgrades (new Solar Arrays, NICMOS Cooling System, Power Control Unit(PCU) change out and replacement of the Faint Object Camera (FOC) with the Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS).
SM3A was flown on Discovery in December 1999 while SM3B was flown on Columbia in March 2002.
STS-103/SM3A EVA schedule is attached.
« Last Edit: 11/30/2023 05:56 pm by DaveS »
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Offline Blackstar

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #17 on: 11/30/2023 06:29 pm »
Jared Isaacman is claiming otherwise:


Nothing is free. Who's going to pay for the millions of dollars of required hardware and simulations and trajectory analysis?

Offline Reynold

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #18 on: 12/03/2023 07:49 pm »
More specifically, I'm sure since the Hubble is a highly valued piece of NASA property they cannot just tell Jared to head on up there and "mess around with it".  NASA would want to be involved designing the interface to reboost the Hubble, modeling to make sure the thrust won't break anything, EVA planning to make sure nothing gets broken on it by astronauts or their tethers since this would be completely different than any of the Shuttle missions which, as discussed earlier, had specific grabbers and work platforms, getting the replacement gyros built and tested in the NASA Hubble test jigs, and so on.  They would probably want one of their astronauts with Hubble experience to go along as well, which absolutely makes sense, Jared is a very experienced pilot but the Hubble is not a trivial thing to handle. 

Even if Jared had a blank check ready to pay for all of that, which could EASILY cost more than the price of the F9 and Dragon flight he is offering to pay for, I doubt there is any mechanism for a private individual or company to pay for the time of internal NASA engineers and test facilities to do the above.  NASA will either have to get this worked into a budget request, or, more likely, do a little ball and shell game with internal funding to cover it, which per the GAO reports on SLS they are pretty good at. . .

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Re: NASA - Hubble Space Telescope discussions
« Reply #19 on: 12/03/2023 08:36 pm »
https://twitter.com/nasaspaceflight/status/1731426702490775693

Quote
On the 30th anniversary of the Hubble Space Telescope Repair Mission (STS-61), learn about the remarkable servicing missions, the possibility of a future Hubble servicing mission, and the role of private astronauts in the telescope's future.

youtube.com/watch?v=tKetXK…

🤵 Hosted by Sawyer Rosenstein (@thenasaman).
🖊️ Written by Justin Davenport. (@Bubbinski).
✂️ Edited by Thomas Hayden. (@_thomashayden)

#SaveHubble


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