Dual-role mission would include fitting of deorbit module
NASA has launched a feasibility study into a robotic servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope in 2007 to fit a deorbit module and possibly new batteries and gyros - and perhaps science instruments - that could add six years to the spacecraft's operational life.
Contenders for the original deorbiting option included the Ariane 5-launched ConeExpress orbital recovery system, but a different craft would be required for the dual role now being considered. The spacecraft will require robotic manipulators, probably operated by astronauts experienced with the Space Shuttle remote manipulator system and crews who have serviced the Hubble on Shuttle missions.
Also being considered are "robonauts" (Flight International, 27 April-3 May), which would function like spacewalking astronauts but be controlled from the ground, again probably by an experienced Hubble-servicing astronaut. Boeing has proposed the Orbital Express robotic servicing spacecraft under development for the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and scheduled for in-orbit testing in 2006.
"A Hubble mission could be the first application for Orbital Express," says Mike Heinz, general manager Boeing Phantom Works Integrated Defense Advanced Systems.
Administrator Sean O'Keefe says NASA has received 26 responses to its call for ideas, but reaffirms that a Space Shuttle repair mission of Hubble is not being considered. The earliest a crewed mission could be flown is the fifth flight after the STS 114/Discovery return-to-flight mission in 2005.
TIM FURNISS / LONDON
Source: Flight International
