Hubble during Servicing Mission 4

Constant monitoring of the angles of Hubble’s solar panels, which are turned by drive mechanisms with associated control electronics, was the duty of a specialised team of engineers led by Michael Eiden, ESA HST Project Manager for the Science and Robotic Exploration Directorate. The team of four worked 12-hour shifts to provide 24-hour coverage for the entire mission, supervising the positioning of the telescope’s “wings”, so as to ensure the safety of spacewalkers and maintain the integrity of the solar array hardware.

“We are elated with the performance of ESA’s Solar Array Drive Electronics and Solar Array Drive Mechanisms — they performed flawlessly”, said Eiden. “I have worked on all of the servicing missions, but to be able to support the last mission to this extraordinary telescope was particularly gratifying”.

ESA contributed both engineering and financial support, with 15 percent of Hubble’s development costs covered by the Agency. In return European astronomers receive a guaranteed 15 percent share of observing time. This fraction of European time reached peaks of more than 25 percent.

“Extending Hubble’s mission and increasing its capabilities gives scientists, both in Europe and worldwide, new tools to learn even more about our Universe and our origins. The addition of Hubble’s renewed capabilities to those just brought to space by ESA’s Herschel and Planck telescopes, launched last week, puts an impressive array of complementary and powerful tools at the disposal of scientists, and makes this a great moment for the International Year of Astronomy”, said David Southwood, ESA Director of Science and Robotic Exploration. “These space missions are bringing an enormous boost to our attempts to unlock the mysteries of the cosmos and decode its history”.

Hubble’s upgrade is expected to extend the iconic telescope’s life until 2014. In that same year, the NASA/ESA/CSA James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) will launch. JWST is the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, and its mirror will have a diameter almost three times that of Hubble’s. JWST has been designed to study the very distant Universe in infrared light, looking for the first stars and galaxies.

Hubble will now begin a period of extensive testing and calibration. The first images from the new and repaired instruments are expected to be released in September.

Notes for editors:

The Hubble Space Telescope is a project of international cooperation between ESA and NASA. It was launched in 1990. The partnership agreement between ESA and NASA was signed on 7 October 1977; as a result of this agreement European astronomers have guaranteed access to 15 percent of Hubble's observing time.

Servicing Mission 4 is the fifth such mission to Hubble because NASA decided to split the third Servicing Mission (SM3) into two parts, SM3A and SM3B, after the third of Hubble’s six gyroscopes failed (Hubble uses three gyroscopes when observing a target, although it can operate with two or one if necessary). Servicing Mission 3A took place in 1999 and Servicing Mission 3B in 2002.

CSA is the Canadian Space Agency.

For more information:

Colleen Sharkey, Hubble/ESA, Garching, Germany
E-mail: Csharkey @ eso.org