A Whole New View: Hubble Overhaul to Boost Telescope's Reach

[BridgeTheGap]

When astronauts overhaul the Hubble Space Telescope this summer, they will leave behind a vastly more powerful orbital observatory to scan the universe.

Set to launch aboard NASA's shuttle Atlantis on Aug. 7, the Hubble servicing mission will be the fifth - and final - sortie to upgrade the aging space telescope.


"We're not only going up to Hubble to refurbish it, but also to expand its grasp tremendously," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's science mission directorate, in a recent briefing. "We expect to make the very best discoveries of the entire two-decade plus Hubble program with the new instruments to be installed."


A deeper look


In addition to performing vital repairs, astronauts will add two new instruments to Hubble's observation platform ? Wide Field Camera-3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph ? that will drastically boost its vision range.


"This refurbished Hubble a new telescope," said astronomer Sandra Faber of the University of California, Santa Cruz. "We estimate that at the end of this repair Hubble will be 90 times more powerful than when it was first launched."

http://news.yahoo.com/s/space/20080123/sc_space/awholenewviewhubbleoverhaultoboosttelescopesreach