How long will the Hubble Space Telescope work? – The Times Hub

Posted: November 23, 2021 at 4:49 pm

Hubble Telescope, photographed from the Shuttle Discovery/NASA/Flickr Johnson

The Hubble Space Observatory has repeatedly justified its investment. For more than 30 years, the telescope has served science by helping humanity explore space. But the device is getting old and starts to work worse and worse.

Immediately after launch, the Hubble was found to be malfunctioning. But they managed to fix them thanks to the shuttle flights, thanks to which it was later even possible to modernize the space observatory. Shuttles no longer fly, so operators on Earth are doing the repairs. Fortunately, so far there have not been critical accidents that people on Earth could not cope with. Soon Hubble's successor, the next-generation James Webb telescope, will go into space, so the question arises: how much longer Hubble will operate.

Photos of the Hubble telescope taken during the STS-103 mission/Photo NASA Flickr Johnson

James Webb has not yet been launched and it will take more than a month before it is fully operational But even after that, Hubble will not be abandoned experts are likely planning to completely exhaust the giant resource of the legendary spacecraft.

NASA reports that the scientific mission of the space observatory has been extended until June 30, 2026. An additional $ 215 million is planned for this. The continuation of the mission takes place against the backdrop of problems with the Hubble equipment. But given the continued funding, it can be concluded that the problems are not critical and must be quickly resolved in order for the telescope to continue working.

The Hubble Space Telescope was launched into space on April 24, 1990 thanks to the Discovery shuttle.

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How long will the Hubble Space Telescope work? - The Times Hub

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