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Friday, 8 March, 2002, 17:13 GMT
Hubble spacewalks complete
Using the robotic arm to complete the mission
Two astronauts from the Columbia orbiter have successfully installed a new cooling system on the Hubble Space Telescope (HST).
Richard Linnehan and John Grunsfeld fitted the new equipment during a seven and a half hour spacewalk. It will enable astronomers to use the telescope's Near-Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer known as Nicmos. The unit stopped working in 1999 after it ran out of coolant unexpectedly. However, it will be about another five weeks before scientists on Earth know if the camera is still functional. The Nicmos camera was used to study young star clusters, exploding stars and planetary atmospheres. This spacewalk was the fifth and final one carried out on a mission to upgrade the HST. New instruments More than half way through its 20-year mission, Hubble has already taken amazing pictures of deep space and given astronomers their best estimate yet for the age of the Universe.
Other equipment fitted this week included the very powerful Advanced Camera for Surveys. This replaces the Faint Object Camera - the last of Hubble's original instruments - and will substantially improve the ability of the observatory to pick out objects at great distances. New solar arrays and a power supply unit were installed. These changes should enable Hubble to see out its mission, which is due to end in 2010. The Columbia crew is expected to land back on Earth on 12 March. |
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