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Statement By The

Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers –
United States of America (IEEE-USA)

Concerning the
Hubble Space Telescope

To The

Committee on Science
U.S. House of Representatives

2 February 2005

IEEE-USA appreciates this opportunity to share our views on the need for continued support of the Hubble Space Telescope for this hearing of the House Science Committee. As an organization of engineers and technical professionals, we support exploring all possible avenues to prolong the useful life of the Hubble telescope for the benefit of science and humanity.

IEEE-USA believes that NASA’s benefit and risk analyses should consider the future scientific value of maintaining the Hubble and that the public should be informed about the considerations and tradeoffs considered in making a final decision on a service mission to the HST. To this end, IEEE-USA recommends that:

• NASA should continue planning and preparing for the SM-4 servicing mission.
   
• In consultation with other government agencies, external experts, and the National Research Council, NASA should strive to develop procedures, technology and equipment that would allow the safe servicing of the HST.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a 2.4-meter reflecting telescope, which was deployed in low-Earth orbit (600 kilometers) by the crew of the space shuttle Discovery on 25 April 1990. HST is a cooperative program of the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to operate a long-lived space-based observatory for the benefit of the international astronomical community. HST’s location above the Earth’s atmosphere allows its scientific instruments (cameras, spectrographs and other sensors) to acquire high-resolution images of astronomical objects.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is a 2.4-meter reflecting telescope, which was deployed in low-Earth orbit (600 kilometers) by the crew of the space shuttle Discovery on 25 April 1990. HST is a cooperative program of the European Space Agency and the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) to operate a long-lived space-based observatory for the benefit of the international astronomical community. HST’s location above the Earth’s atmosphere allows its scientific instruments (cameras, spectrographs and other sensors) to acquire high-resolution images of astronomical objects.

Since its launch, the Hubble telescope has provided astronomers and humanity with measurements that provided, among other results, fundamental new results in planetary science; discovery of the most distant object in the solar system; more accurate estimates of the age of the universe; better measurements of the universe’s rate of expansion; the deepest portrait of the visible universe ever achieved by humankind; the discovery of new stars and dynamic phenomena in space; and new views of comets and black holes.

The planned James Webb Space Telescope will eventually provide a new capability for scientific research, but will not launch until 2011, at the earliest. Prospects for continued operation of Hubble until that date without a servicing mission are small. The absence of the Hubble’s extraordinary abilities would adversely impact astronomical research. Maintaining the Hubble will accommodate any delays in the Webb Space Telescope. And having both telescopes on the station until the Hubble concludes its mission will increase space research capacity.

IEEE-USA is an organizational unit of the IEEE. It was created in 1973 to advance the public good and promote the careers and public-policy interests of the more than 225,000 technology professionals who are U.S. members of the IEEE. The IEEE is the world's largest technical professional society. For more information, go to http://www.ieeeusa.org.