No Hope for Hubble?

Fourteen thousand astronomical targets. Groundbreaking observations of Shoemaker-Levy 9’s 1994 collision with Jupiter. Pictures of the closest supernova in four centuries. Star luminosity measurements suggesting that cosmic expansion is accelerating. Deep field images showing uncountable galaxies in every direction. Stellar photos that found their way into everything from coffee table books to children’s television shows. The Hubble Space Telescope is responsible for all of these and much, much more.

Hubble is to our generation what the moon missions were to our parents’. Its pictures have rewritten astronomy textbooks as surely as they have provided the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) with its most recognizable mascot. Though Hubble can’t coin everlasting phrases like, “One small step for man…,” it still has the right stuff. And now its days are numbered.

Without regular servicing missions—one of which was scheduled for 2004 until NASA’s shuttle fleet was grounded in the wake of Columbia disaster—the Hubble will literally fall out of orbit. Instead of reinstating the cancelled servicing mission, however, NASA officials and the Bush administration have decided to pull the plug on the orbiting telescope. The administration’s recently released 2006 budget sets aside only $93 million for Hubble (out of a total NASA budget of $2.5 billion), $75 million of which will be spent to ensure the telescope safely crashes into the ocean.

Though a servicing mission would be pricey, it would also be worth it. Hubble’s three previous servicing missions have not only restored the telescope’s ability to stay in orbit, they have added additional capabilities and instruments, bringing about a bumper crop of new scientific discoveries in their wakes. Servicing mission number four was to be no different, but now the add-ons planned for Hubble will be grounded forever.

Due to its popularity, the Hubble has many supporters in Congress. We hope they will speak up and demand that Hubble’s already fruitful mission be further extended. Hubble’s obituary should only be written when it truly has nothing left to discover, and not a minute sooner.