Where Are My Teeth?

Hail and Farewell

The equipment that accounted for 30% of the Hubble Space Telescope's current observation schedule has just shut down. It was installed in 1997 and designed to last through 2002, so I guess we got more use out of it than we deserved. One of the power supplies failed a few years back, and now it appears the other one has gone south as well.

"The STIS instrument, which went into a suspended mode Tuesday, was not slated for replacement or upgrade as part of any future servicing mission" says the press release. Translated: nothing quite like this instrument will be available to astronomers before the beginning of 2012 (when the Webb Space Telescope will start producing results if nothing untoward happens to its schedule between now and then). And if any of the other instruments on the HST fall over between now and then, that's just too bad. We've got a mission to Mars to spend the NASA budget on.

Did you ever get a feeling about trend lines turning in the wrong direction?

Posted by wallich at August 9, 2004 04:46 PM