NASA's O'Keefe Reportedly Sold On Robot Repair Mission To Hubble

Sending a robot to do the work of a human astronaut may be just the ticket for prolonging the life of the Hubble Space Telescope. At least, that's the thinking at NASA HQ these days.

A decision on whether that will happen, however, must be made by early next month. Time is not on NASA's side.

Former astronaut John Grunsfield, now the chief scientist at NASA, says it can be done -- a robot can be sent to replace the batteries and gyroscopes. Grunsfield should know. Twice, he's been up to repair and maintain the space telescope.

Grunsfield says a robotic mission to extend Hubble's service life would have several elements:

• Adding a deorbital capability. That part of the plan was already an objective for NASA, which wants to make sure that the telescope re-enters the atmosphere safely.
• "Don't break the Hubble." In other words, Grunsfield says, if the Hubble is still working by the time a robot mission can be developed and launched, do no harm.
• Replace the batteries
• Replace the gyros
• If possible, add instruments that tweak the telescope's capabilities.

Grunsfield's argument to NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe was that the robotic capabilities needed to service Hubble would be most complementary to President Bush's "Moon, Mars and Beyond" program. He argues the same technology needed to fix the space telescope can be used to build a lunar colony or assist a manned mission to Mars.

"So it's a win-win situation," he said.

But time is of the essence. "If we need to do something, we need to do it fast," said Grunsfield. If Hubble is to be saved, it has to be before the juice in the batteries runs out.

How do the scientists who know and love the space telescope feel about a robotic mission versus an iffy chance that humans might service the Hubble?

"We don't know yet what robotic servicing means," Beckwith told his staff, according to Space.com. "We should be optimistic."

FMI: www.hubblesite.org