MnAstro Forums

NASA is considering another Hubble Space Telescope repair mission. This would be performed by the Dream Chaser "mini shuttle" which has not yet flown to orbit. They hope to keep Hubble operating until 2030-2040. This would be great not only as a backup if there are problems with the James Webb, but also because Hubble has sensitivity in the visible/ultraviolet which the Webb lacks.

Check out the story and cool videos at https://phys.org/news/2017-02-chaser-sp ... ssion.html.

This seems ambitious, to say the least. They have a 'new' shuttle, that hasn't seen flight yet, let alone space, and they want to go about 350 miles up with it?!

I remember seeing a documentary about Hubble and it's problems when it was launched. If there are problems with Webb, there may be real problems at NASA given the current administration (not getting political, just saying). For some unknown reason, people seem to think that everything should work flawlessly right away and are unable to recall their own experiences when learning to ride a bike.

After watching the deployment video, I kind of wish someone would ride along with JWST ready with a little wooden mallet to tap on reluctant joints. (I'm not volunteering.) I wonder if they considered attaching a mini-robot to do just that?

I do remember my first bike ride, and it was flawless! At least right up to when I had to stop, at which point I fell over. If something like that happens with JWST and it ends up as space debris at L2 I wonder if NASA will be forced back to the days of tiny, safe missions that leave ambition to other countries. That would be a real shame.

I hope they've learned their lessons, and I'll try to be optimistic about Webb up until it's launched. Then I'll be biting my nails!

By the way, the Air Force has been sending up mini shuttles for a while haven't they? I thought I saw that they were used for certain classified missions. See:
http://www.space.com/32839-x37b-militar ... -otv4.html

I believe that a passive docking ring was added to the Webb, just in case they decided to mount a repair mission.

As far as I know, the X37b is still in orbit. It seems like an unnecessarily expensive way to launch payloads, so the value must be in getting things back from orbit. Maybe secret experimental devices, or maybe spy data that they don't want to transmit. Why is it still up there? Maybe they've lost control of it.

The Dream Chaser is based on an old NASA design that was never implemented. I think its main value is to bring humans and other delicate cargo in to a gentle landing. About half of the astronauts are injured when the Soyuz crashes to earth in Kazakhstan.

Each successive X-37b mission has lasted longer than the one before, and the current one is about at the duration of its predecessor. It seems one of the goals is endurance testing. Therefore, I expect the current one to be up for some time more.

Hi Dick,

Wow, thanks for sharing! It's true that NASA has a lot riding on a successful launch, roll-out and implementation of the JWST. It's such a complicated instrument, and mission, that I think it's going to push the boundaries of what NASA has ever attempted.

In the event that something does not work, it's good to see that there is some sort of servicing plan being drawn up. I have been wondering for over a decade how NASA planned to service the JWST once it was out there at L2...

Suresh