U.S. Academy Panel Urges NASA To Upgrade Hubble Telescope

摘要

Hubble's devoted fans won a victory last week when a National Research Council (NRC) panel recommended that NASA upgrade—and not just service—the aging space telescope. The panel's interim report urges NASA to take a year to figure out whether that upgrade should be done by a robot or by sending the shuttle to fix Hubble. Both options face big problems: The panel acknowledges that technology capable of pulling off a robotic mission doesn't yet exist, and NASA Administrator Sean O'Keefe has previously rejected a shuttle mission.