Science Angle John Bahcall is a professor of astrophysics at the Institute for Ad- vanced Study and recipient of the Na- The Future of the Hubble tional Medal of Science. Christopher McKee is professor of and of and former chair of physics Space Telescope at the University of California, Berkeley. Joseph Taylor is a professor of physics By John Bahcall, Christopher McKee & revelations have been over the last 15 years, at Princeton and was awarded the Nobel Joseph Taylor Hubble’s most important discoveries could Prize in Physics in 1993. be in the future. The US President’s budget, recently sent Hubble is also a tremendous national to Congress, does not contain money for a asset: a source of pride for all Americans the mission was included in the five year servicing mission to repair and maintain the and an enormous stimulus to young people budget run-out under the Office of Space Hubble Space Telescope. We think that this to learn the techniques of mathematics and Flight.” is a historic mistake, comparable to the physics that are important to keep our na- Some NASA officials have said publicly mistake made in 1976 when the president’s tion economically competitive. that astronaut safety is a reason for not budget proposal zeroed out all support for servicing the Hubble with a shuttle flight. the Large Space Telescope, later renamed What are the advantages and disadvan- However, 26 retired astronauts disagreed the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). In 1976, tages of extending the life of Hubble in a written statement. an intense lobbying effort by astronomers through (a) a Shuttle repair mission, (b) Moreover, the NRC study found no sig- and physicists elicited enthusiastic support a robotic repair mission, or (c) develop- nificant difference in safety between a shut- for the telescope in Congress and funding ing a Hubble replacement? tle flight to the Space Station and a shuttle was ultimately restored. We hope that A Shuttle visit to the Hubble is the most flight to the Hubble. No one has claimed that something similar will happen in the present reliable, robust, and flexible option. We al- the planned 25 shuttle flights to the space situation and that a bipartisan coalition of ready know how to do with a Shuttle visit station are collectively safer than a single congressional leaders will be able to restore everything that needs to be done to extend shuttle flight to Hubble. And it will of course funding for the HST. the life of Hubble and to greatly expand its be much more dangerous to travel to the In open hearings on the future of the capabilities. Moreover, astronauts have Moon and Mars. But no-one at NASA head- HST, Chairman Boehlert and the ranking shown extraordinary ability to solve unex- quarters is suggesting that we not support member Congressman Gordon of the House pected problems in space. The costs for a the President’s exploration mission because Committee on Science raised three impor- robotic repair mission and a Shuttle mis- it is too dangerous. tant questions about options for servicing sion are comparable, if one includes in the We believe that the argument over the telescope. We would like to provide Shuttle option the necessity for ultimately whether or not Hubble should be serviced answers to those questions and place them de-orbiting the telescope with a robotic de- is really an argument over competing pri- in the larger context of astronomical re- vice. Further, the robotic option has a fun- orities and whether NASA should continue search in this country and of the future of damental drawback: there probably will not to give high priority to science. Since its NASA. We rely in part on our experience as be enough time to develop the necessary founding, NASA has provided a steady Chair and Co-Chairs, respectively, of the last technology. stream of scientific discoveries that have two priority-setting exercises of the astro- As Chairs of the astronomy communi- revolutionized our understanding of the uni- nomical community, exercises in which as- ty’s most recent self-prioritizing task forces, verse. We believe that keeping science as tronomers successfully set priorities for we are firmly committed to the process of part of its core mission will benefit NASA funding in the decades beginning in 1990 systematic peer review that ultimately leads and the nation, as well as science. The best and in 2000. We also base our answers to the consensus selection by the science way to support this view is to authorize a upon the recently completed National Re- community of a small fraction of the most Shuttle servicing mission for the Hubble search Council (NRC) study of all aspects of important proposed new science projects. Space Telescope. <<< a servicing mission to Hubble. The proposed new satellite to host some The NRC study involved a number of the Hubble instruments and other scientific ca- nation’s most distinguished contributors to pabilities is very attractive, but we think it activities in space, including astronauts, should be considered together with other engineers, managers of space programs, attractive possibilities in the next-decade astronomers, and Nobel Prize winning physi- study that will be organized in another few cists. The conclusion of the intensive NRC years. It would be premature to push a new study was that a Space Shuttle servicing satellite with Hubble-like instruments ahead mission was the best option and was in the of other projects that may be proposed for nation’s interest. We strongly concur with the next decade. this view, as our answers to the questions below will show. Should a Hubble servicing mission be a higher priority for funding than other as- How important will the future contribu- tronomical programs at NASA? tions of the Hubble Space Telescope be We believe that the NASA programs, includ- to understanding the cosmos in which we ing the Hubble servicing mission, should live? continue as planned with the priorities that The Hubble is a scientific workhorse in the have been established by previous decadal prime of its life. It is also the privileged pho- surveys. tographer of the universe. Whether the For years, the Hubble servicing mission images are of solar systems at birth, galax- has been part of the NASA planning. In a ies colliding, or the death throes of a star in written response to Congressman Gordon, , Hubble’s photos reveal both the NASA administrator Sean O’Keefe wrote in ferocity and tranquility of our universe. Most 2002 that: “ The next Hubble Servicing Mis- importantly, the photos reveal our place in sion is …considered ‘grandfathered in’ un- the universe. And yet, as staggering as its der this policy, and the projected budget for Photo courtesy of NASA-JSC-ES&IA

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