NASA Seeks Hubble Trip Plans 
Robotic Effort May Refurbish Telescope; Safe Descent Is Priority  

By Guy Gugliotta
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, June 2, 2004; Page A03 

NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe said yesterday the space agency
was soliciting proposals for a robotic mission to refurbish the
Hubble telescope, but the first priority would be to ensure the
telescope's safe descent to a watery grave. 

"There may be . . . options for extending the Hubble's useful
work -- good options that are looking more promising as we've
examined them more closely," O'Keefe said. "Our confidence is
growing that robots can do the job." 

O'Keefe's remarks earned cheers at the American Astronomical
Society meeting in Denver, and fueled hopes that the popular
telescope might be saved, or its life at least prolonged. On Jan.
16, O'Keefe triggered a national paroxysm of outrage by canceling
a scheduled space shuttle servicing mission, deemed too risky
after last year's Columbia disaster. Hubble, it appeared, would
be allowed to wear out and die. 

O'Keefe's new optimism, however, did little to mute doubts about
a robotic mission's ability to do an adequate job, a view
reinforced last week in a petition signed by 27 astronauts and
endorsed by Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) in a letter to
President Bush. 

Robotic servicing "would only be able to accomplish a portion of
the tasks . . . and would have a lower probability of success,"
the astronauts' petition said. "Consequently a shuttle servicing
mission would be more cost-effective." 

Steven V.W. Beckwith, director of the Space Telescope Science
Institute, which sets Hubble's scientific agenda, said he was
"tremendously encouraged" by O'Keefe's wish to service Hubble "by
any means possible." 

But he noted in a telephone interview from the Astronomical
Society meeting that O'Keefe had "made it clear that it would
certainly be acceptable if all that could be done [by a robotic
mission] was to de-orbit the telescope." 

Space shuttle astronauts have serviced Hubble four times since
putting it in orbit in 1990, adding new instruments that have
produced fresh generations of spellbinding images. 

Cancellation of the fifth servicing mission, scheduled for 2006,
appeared to be a death sentence, because the telescope's handlers
expect its batteries to wear out by the end of 2007. Eventually,
the telescope will fall out of orbit and plunge to Earth. 

At a minimum, NASA must develop a spacecraft that can dock with
the telescope and then guide it to a safe descent -- preferably
in the open ocean. But by April, enthusiasm had begun to grow
that a robotic servicing mission might be possible -- to replace
batteries and gyroscopes, and even perhaps install new
instruments. 

O'Keefe's comments yesterday reflect these priorities: NASA has
asked for proposals both to de-orbit and service the telescope,
but has emphasized that a de-orbiting plan must be included in
all submissions. NASA officials have said that a de-orbiting
scheme, with or without a servicing component, must be in place
by the end of the year to ensure a 2007 launch. 

The prospect of a robotic mission that replaces batteries and
gyros has won some acceptance, but Beckwith, among others, has
noted that astronauts have added instruments to improve the
telescope every time they serviced it. He expressed hope
yesterday that NASA will be able to do the same with robots "so
as not to just leave Hubble on life support." 

The astronauts' petition, however, warned that a robotic mission
"will require both the development of new and unproven technology
and flying a first time ever, unmanned rendezvous and docking
mission to the Hubble." 

By contrast, Hutchison added in her May 26 letter to Bush,
shuttle servicing would be a matter of "simple repairs." Signers
of the petition included Mercury astronaut Scott Carpenter;
Eugene A. Cernan, the last man to walk on the moon; and Robert L.
Crippen, pilot of the first shuttle mission. 

"Frankly we use robotics whenever we can," said Apollo astronaut
Walter Cunningham, who drafted the petition. "But very few people
feel that robotics are sophisticated enough to do what the
shuttle servicing mission would accomplish." 

And as for risk, Cunningham noted that Columbia failed because of
damage to its heat shielding, "and the shuttle isn't going to fly
until that problem's been solved." Since 1961, NASA has
undertaken 90 missions similar to a Hubble flight, he added, "and
now they're saying that these were too risky? Astronauts know
what they're biting off when they get in one of these machines." 

(C) 2004 The Washington Post Company