But None Involve Manned Missions To Hubble Telescope

NASA is reportedly considering more than 25 ideas on just how it can extend the useful life of the telescope, as well as what to do with it when that useful life is over. Even so, it still doesn't look like there will be a manned mission to service the space telescope. Ever.

Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt (MD) put out a "Request for Information" almost two months ago, according to MSNBC. The answers were due March 22nd. Goddard received 27 responses -- dealing with how a space-going robot might repair the Hubble.

The real question is whether a robot can do the job at all. Could an unmanned vehicle, for instance, change out worn components in the Hubble's delicate astronomical instrumentation? Could robots mount external battery and gyro packs on the telescope to extend its life?

In answer to those questions, the proposals NASA received ranged in length from two pages to more than 200.

Hubble's lifespan appears to be regulated by the life of its battery array. It's a race against time as a team of experts at Goddard continues studies into whether "tele-robotics" can maintain the telescope. If nothing is done, Hubble faces an uncontrolled re-entry as early as 2013.

Before then, NASA will have to decide whether to dump the Hubble in a controlled re-entry -- probably into the ocean -- or boost it into an even higher orbit, where it will be parked until someone, flying something, can get up there and service it. If NASA decides to boost, it still has to configure a suitable propulsion module that would be attached -- by robots -- to the telescope vehicle itself.

FMI: www.hubblesite.org