Hubble Telescope, popularly known as HST is the earthÃs first optical orbiting observatory. From its original conception in 1946, manufacture from 1978 and launch in 1990, the project to build a space telescope was beset by delays and budget problems. The cost of Hubble Telescope is estimated at a whopping $2.5 billion.
The Hubble Telescope, named after the astronomer Edwin Powell Hubble, was designed to provide the sharpest view yet obtained of the universe. Using a Ritchey-Chretien design, the HST offers wider and flatter fields of view than traditional Cassegrain systems. This telescope has a 2.4 meters wide primary mirror that continually observes the sky, which is perennially clear.
Saddam HusseinÃs contribution!
Within few weeks of the launch of the Hubble Telescope, the images returned established that the primary mirror was flawed, blurring images and considerably weakening the telescope's ability to see distant stars or other celestial objects. The defect meant that the Hubble Telescope could gather information at par with that attainable by a large ground-based telescope, but at a significantly greater cost. NASA and the telescope became a topic of ridicule.
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ut in the later part of 1990 Iraqi troops storm across the border into Kuwait taking control of the oil-rich kingdom. The daring strike shocks the rest of the world and gives Iraqi President Saddam Hussein control over 25 percent of the world's discovered oil reserves. Thereby giving NASA some breathing space, as the world attention shifts from the Hubble Telescope towards the Gulf war.
Subsequent Repairs
The design of the Hubble Telescope had always included servicing missions, and astronomers immediately began to seek potential solutions to the problem, which could be applied at the first servicing mission, scheduled for 1993. The problematic lens is later repaired by astronauts of the space shuttle Endeavour, and recovered to its original intended image quality, but not before a special investigative board criticizes NASA's mismanagement of the project.
Future
The future of the Hubble Telescope is presently vague. Its ultimate servicing mission was suspended following the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster, and without interference it will re-enter the Earth's atmosphere some time after 2010. Its descendant - the James Webb Space Telescope is due to be launched in 2012.
Conclusion
Even though initial problems limited its potential, the Hubble Telescope is responsible for several discoveries and advances in the understanding of the cosmos. Since it commenced operations in 1990, the Hubble Telescope has served as a major tool via which astronomers have further unraveled the mysteries of the universe.
