Space Shuttle Atlantis

Topic anticipating Hubble Servicing Mission 4: Hubble servicing mission 4 status

NASA Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 Overview

Launch target:
2008, October 7, 2234 PDT, Tuesday
2008, October 8, 0134 EDT, Wednesday
2008, October 8, 0534 UTC, Wednesday

115 days to launch
16 weeks and 3 days to launch

NASA Space Shuttle Mission Pages
NASA STS-125 Mission Status Updates
NASA STS-125 Mission Information
NASA STS-125 Mission Information (odd URL for this mission)
NASA STS-125 Mission Overview
NASA STS-125 Mission Overview (odd URL for this mission)
NASA Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 Overview
NASA News Twitter
Wikipedia: STS-125
NASA Launch Schedule
NASA Kennedy Space Center Shuttle Countdown Status
NASA Shuttle Launch and Landing
NASA Shuttle Launch Blog (active about 6 hours before liftoff)
NASA Shuttle Landing Blog (active about 2 hours before touchdown)
National Weather Service, Southeast Sector, Base Reflectivity
National Weather Service, Melbourne Florida, Hourly Weather Forecast Graph
CBS News Space Place
Spaceflight Now STS-125 Mission Coverage
Spaceflight Now STS-125 Mission Status Center
BANews Twitter
BAUT Forum topic STS-119 Space Shuttle Mission (previous mission)
NASA TV (or NASA TV Yahoo! source or high-resolution)

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Great minds think a like (what's our excuse ). I was just going to start a STS-125 thread. Hard to believe we have to wait till October.

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

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Hopefully the launch pad damage won't delay it further.

10 launches to go

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The world breaks everyone and afterward many are strong in the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway ...

The (STS-124) shuttle mission is dead. Long live the (STS-125) shuttle mission.

I just thought I'd grab my links from STS-124 before they went out of mind, tweak them for STS-125 and set up shop for the next launch. This topic probably won't see much action for a couple of months.

Just wait until the multiyear Constellation gap rolls around. Then finally there will almost be a whole, new generation becoming aware, never knowing the USA did manned launches.

Future discussion: "Do you want to be an astronaut when you grow up?" "Astronaut? What's that?"

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"But I'm not Chinese!"

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

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

Should this also be the place to talk about the contingency rescue mission? This wiki article is not very detailed, the references it gives are interesting though.

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"Ignorance more frequently begets confidence than does knowledge" -- Charles Darwin
"Your right to hold an opinion is not being contested. Your expectation that it be taken seriously is." -- Jason Thompson
Meet the OOONG TOE.

NASA Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4 Overview

105 days to launch
15 weeks to launch

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I was reading the details of the spacewalks to be performed on Hubble and, well, WOW!

I hope it really does extend her life and restore the ACS. I also feel sorry for the crew of STS-125 as it will be cramped quarters.

is there a concise list of everything that will be done? I've seen a few things here and there but nothing all together.

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

I wouldn't call this a concise list, but this web page has lots of details. I'll try to pull out the main points:

- Wide Field Camera 3 (WFC3) : WFC3 is superior to WFPC2 in resolution and field-of-view.
- Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS)
- STIS: Astronauts installed STIS on Hubble in 1997 during Servicing Mission 2. STIS performed brilliantly until a power supply failure in 2004 caused it to stop working. The spacewalkers will replace a low voltage power supply board that contains a failed power converter.
- ACS: Installed during Servicing Mission 3B in 2002, the Advanced Camera for Surveys quickly became Hubble’s workhorse camera and was responsible for many of the most popular and dramatic images over the last few years. However, the science instrument recently experienced two separate power failures, one on each of its two redundant sides of electronics.
- Batteries: Spacewalking astronauts will replace all six of Hubble’s original 125-pound nickel hydrogen batteries, which provide electrical power to Hubble during its nighttime to support the telescope’s functions.
- Gyroscopes: All of the current gyros were installed in December 1999, and all are approaching the end of their limited lifetimes. Astronauts will install a fresh set of six new gyros
- Fine Guidance Sensor (FGS): A refurbished unit returned from the 1999 mission will replace FGS 2 on SM4. Only two units are needed to point Hubble; the third FGS provides additional target pointing efficiency and redundancy.
- Soft Capture Rendezvous System: To prepare for the end of Hubble’s life, engineers developed the Soft Capture and Rendezvous System, which will enable the future rendezvous, capture, and safe disposal of the telescope.

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

One Earth, One Sky - IYA 2009
All moderation in purple

I enjoyed this: Space Telescope Science Intstitute Newsletter: Overview of Servicing Mission 4 (PDF, 3.1 megabytes):

Etc., etc., etc.

(Such details are in an article within the newsletter, not the whole thing. Not all activities are detailed to this level.)

There's a flightplan at CBS News Space Place :: Flightplan, days and times, with one-line descriptions, little detail (example: "STIS Repair").

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thanks guys!

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"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Launch target:
2008, October 7, 2234 PDT, Tuesday
2008, October 8, 0134 EDT, Wednesday
2008, October 8, 0534 UTC, Wednesday

84 days to launch
12 weeks to launch

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There were 13 people in space at the same time from March 14 to March 18 in 1995. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spaceflight_records Hope everything goes as planned. The record number will be updated.

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http://www.yaohua2000.org/

Yay! They're going ahead with it!

neat stats! This one caught my eye

in all that time he did barely 1000 light-seconds.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Didn't I once see an Onion article that talked about NASA moving a date earlier?

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

how long do they have? if something happens in that window will Hubble survive the wait? I thought by 2009 it would enter be too low to service.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

Hubble rocks!
December 1993:
TV announcer: The astronauts have successfully repaired the Hubble Space Telescope.
Mr. Yeves: Can you say "daddy", Kai? Can you say "da-ddy"?
Baby Kai: Hubble!

Well, no, that's not what really happened, but it would have been SO cool.

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I want to go back to the moon.
I don't care which rocket you use, whichever one you pick, I'll like it, I swear.
"If you think the LHC will create black holes, you might as well believe Hobbits are at the bottom of your garden."- Dr. Mike Inglis
Rovers forever! - ToSeek

The schedule pressure isn't from orbital decay (recent estimates give it something like 15 years, always subject to what the Sun decides to do). While something like gyro failure can always shut down operations (and did once before, which is why SM-3 was split into two missions), battery life is imposing it own deadline. HST still has it original complement of batteries, which have been deep-cycled every orbit since April 1990. They don't hold charge like they used to, and in another 18 months or so (rudely from memory) won't deliver the power to operate the observatory routinely. I was struck to learn that, if everything scheduled for STS-125 gets done, the most likely cause of Hubble's eventual failure would be breakdown of electrical connections in the transmitter, based on what's now understood of the particular materials used in soldering them, and how often it's powered up and down.

wow, that's all new to me.

__________________
"I will do my best to understand and explain the universe from big to small without invoking miracles, unrepeatable events, or divine intervention. In place of those things I will use observations, mathematics, and science."


-Cross
My travel blog

Some of my Astrophotography


Those that lack education have a hard time understanding its value. - Cross

I assume a full recap and soldering-through (lead solder, of course) would be a bit tricky in space, wearing a space suit . But that's what is done on earth to kick the problems out of electric equipment of that age.

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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.

There was recently (last week?) a Nova: Science Now episode that discussed some of the electronics swap-out that's going to occur.

It looked like it was nearly impossible and dangerous (boards are sharp).
The boards were not designed with replacement in mind. Many tiny little screws need to be undone and captured.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

I've repeatedly wondered what design criteria led people even to think about an access panel with 100+ screws holding it in place. And this isn't even the first time they've faced such a box in HST alone.

i'd guess it was a panel that was never meant to be take off once it was secured, and they used that many fasteners because they wanted to make sure it was sealed tight..
either that, or they got a really good buy on a box of screws and they wanted to keep the new intern busy threading holes in the aluminum panels so he didn't bug people while they we doing important stuff like making sure the main mirror was ground properly.. .

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"blacker than the blackest black... times infinity."- Nathan Explosion
The.. Best.. Thread..Ever...

-]- Quantum Discount ("screws of Hubble") -[-

Let me take you by tether
and lead you to the screws of Hubble
show you something
your toolbox will not like

looking through your visor
at the endless row of fasteners
the spacewalk lasts 8 hours
and you'll do it as you're told

so how can you tell me
you're lonely
don't say for you that the sun don't shine
cause every 50 minutes
it will rise above the cockpit
just continue screwing
and keep your visor down

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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.

Exactly; They did mention that.

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Numbers are not case sensitive. (me)

Lesson learned: never assume that something will never need fixing.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.