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Fuel tank delay postpones Hubble mission |
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Written by Derek Kessler on
Thursday, 01 May 2008
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 NASA saw this one coming, the Space Shuttle Atlantis’ mission to the Hubble Space Telescope haw been delayed by at least a month. As we reported a month ago, the delays getting two external fuel tanks ready for the Hubble mission for late August have added up to the point where NASA won’t be able to catch up in time. So much so that the launch has been pushed back four to five weeks.
NASA initially had decided not to send a maintenance mission to the aging orbital telescope, but later reconsidered the decision, as even with its relatively small 2.4 meter mirror, eighteen-year-old Hubble is still the world’s leading optical telescope. However, following the 2003 Columbia disaster, NASA was much more cautious about shuttle launches and wanted a safe haven available for every mission. At the time, they had planned for every launch up to the 2010 retirement of the shuttle fleet to be a construction/resupply mission to the International Space Station, which could serve as a refuge if the shuttle were severely damaged as Columbia was during launch.
However, any mission to the lower-orbiting Hubble Space Telescope would not be able to reach the ISS if damaged. With only two weeks of supplies and fuel aboard, NASA would have to scramble to get a rescue mission into orbit to retrieve the crew. Shuttle program managers deemed the risk unacceptable and decided that if a shuttle were to visit Hubble, a second shuttle would have to be ready to launch simultaneously if needed.
Along with the need for a back-up shuttle, the loss of Columbia forced NASA to redesign the external fuel tank. Foam insulation shed from the tank punctured Columbia’s wing during the January 16, 2003, launch. The redesigned tanks and the need for two has put strain on the New Orleans NASA Michoud Assembly Facility and they have been unable keep the production schedule on course to get the tanks out on time.
This delay is already sending ripples through NASA’s planned launch schedule. The agency’s ambitious six-launch schedule for 2008 has now been reduced to five, with the November Endeavour mission pushed back a month, and December’s Discovery mission, both to the ISS, to 2009. NASA plans to fly eleven shuttle missions before the shuttle fleet is retired in 2010, all but the Hubble servicing mission are to the ISS.
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