Speaking of the de-orbit fixture... my understanding was they would attach a simple mechanical fixture now, without any rocket motor/fuel tanks/controls, just a fixture to attach all that stuff later (i.e. 2025-2030 timeframe), and that a CaLV would be used in that timeframe to bring up the rest of it (rocket/fuel/controls/etc.)

One thing that I thought was amazing (while watching NASA-TV) was, that they are going to attempt a PC board replacement inside a module that was not designed to be serviced in space. 115 individual non-captive screws! PCB extraction! and PCB insertion! Good Luck, I say. I hope it really *IS* the power supply board that is bad, inside the module.

It's hard enough putting one of these modules together on-the-bench in a laborotory/manufacturing floor environment, but in space??? You guys are wild-men!! I don't envy the astronaut that draws that assignment.

__________________
http://boinc.mundayweb.com/one/stats...033/prj:6/.png

I thought it would be totally unlikely that such a think could be dangerous to deorbit. I know MIR had a quite different structure and would be totally unstabel on a reentry, and i don't think they considered danger back then - ok, maybe they were well aware of exactly where it would be burned up.

BTW: In case we need to repair a telescope or something in the future (ISS for that matter), will the CEV be designed so that it will be available to repair such things? OK, i know it is an important matter to design the telescopes after the CEV and not the other way around, but what about the ISS (sorry for changing subject partly).

Well, i was aware of that, but talking about 2013

__________________
Have your computer do CHARITY in fields such as medication, physics, chemistry and more without moving a finger.
Visit http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ for more info. Thank you in advance!!!
Please PM me if this signature convinced you to join the great BOINC community.

http://www.boincsynergy.com/images/stats/comb-5873.jpg

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

I think that if it doesn't add too much to cost and complexity, it's best to add a docking interface now that we're already have a craft up there working on Hubble, yes even humans around. What we do now can't be something desperately needing to be done in the future. I don't think it's idiotic at all, but then again I'm not Griffin. And more importantly, I don't have all details or knowledge.

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

So I misunderstood what you said.
As far as I know there are no current plans when, how and if at all, to deorbit Hubble. They just want to be prepared I guess.

__________________
"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916

I hear also that the Hubble servicing mission may turn out to be Atlantis' last hoorah, in which case it's a great way to finish.

The installation of the capture mechanism is interesting - it vastly increases to possiblility of future robotic servicing missions in my eyes.

In fact what they want is to build another pair of Hubbles in the future and link the 3 of them up in orbit by means of these docking things, making a VLST in orbit

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I can only agree.

What mission are you talking about? I am not sure i have heard about that mission in case it is a particular mission you are talking about...

__________________
Have your computer do CHARITY in fields such as medication, physics, chemistry and more without moving a finger.
Visit http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ for more info. Thank you in advance!!!
Please PM me if this signature convinced you to join the great BOINC community.

http://www.boincsynergy.com/images/stats/comb-5873.jpg

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

I think Nicolas was making a joke, judging by the wink smiley.

__________________
At night the stars put on a show for free (Carole King)

Hehe. You know, the danish humor is probably the stangest in all of Europe, and i guess we often have problems understanding the english humor Or maybe the fact that english is only my second language yet. But one day i will hopefully catch up with the english humor and maybe english could turn into my prefered language - for one reason or another i have often hoped that this day would come

__________________
Have your computer do CHARITY in fields such as medication, physics, chemistry and more without moving a finger.
Visit http://boinc.berkeley.edu/ for more info. Thank you in advance!!!
Please PM me if this signature convinced you to join the great BOINC community.

http://www.boincsynergy.com/images/stats/comb-5873.jpg

"The world is a fine place and worth fighting for." (Ernest Hemmingway)

It was just a fantasy of mine. I don't know whether there would be a lot of gain of simply connecting 3 hubbles. Possibly it's better to have them as a constellation, so they can more easily be a bit more spread (so the effective diameter is larger than when they're really close together in a fixed connection). Of course, it would be a trick in stabilizing them relative to each other. And then there's the huge deploy and maintenance costs of a fleet of 3 hubbles...

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

Not to forget that, when attached to each other at their aft, they would look in different directions...

__________________
"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916

If you'd connect them with a bar, that larger-than-life problem becomes somehwat less of a show stopper

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

larger-than-life? What do the Backstreet Boys have to do with hubble?

__________________
"Who does not know anything, must believe everything."
Baroness Marie von Ebner-Eschenbach 1830-1916

I want Hubble back for good.


(no I don't, I want more newer better larger scopes)

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

I find that connection with a bar makes a lot of problems seem less important...

Atlantis to fly final Hubble servicing mission

Discovery will be ready to fly the rescue mission from Pad 39B.

__________________
Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

september 11. I love it when NASA gives the CT crowd a field day.

__________________
To the regular visitor of internet bulletin boards it is clear that it's an excellent idea your parents get to choose your real name.

At some point, hopefully while I'm mentally sound enough to enjoy the sight, I'll live to see September 11th as just another day on the calendar. Just like December 7th was nothing more to me than the day Howard County moved up to the 2006 International Codes.

__________________
I'm not completely heartless, the doctor who removed it told me he'd never be able to get it all.

STS-125 - allowing more science via Hubble