Hubble Space Telescope turns 15, with a galaxy of achievements

WASHINGTON (AFP) - The Hubble Space Telescope turned 15, with 750,000
photographs of deep space and Earth to its credit, but its future is now
uncertain.

Hubble was launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 25, 1990, and
opened a new era in astronomy.

However, the telescope, a cooperative effort of NASA and the European Space
Agency, would not be operational until three years later.

A mirror that had been improperly ground was corrected in 1993, when a new
camera was also installed in the first repair mission by a space shuttle.

Once repaired, the telescope beamed back photographs 10 times sharper than
ever before of galaxies, supernovas, giant explosions marking the death of
a star and the birth of a black hole.

Thanks to Hubble, flying above the atmospheric distortion that hinders even
more powerful Earth-based telescopes, scientists have been able to confirm
that the universe is rapidly expanding and to calculate precisely its age,
at 13.7 billion years, according to NASA.

Among other achievements, Hubble's observations allowed scientists to
confirm the existence of a strange form of energy called dark energy;
proved the existence of super-massive black holes; provided sharp views of
a comet hitting Jupiter; and showed that the process of forming planetary
systems is common throughout the galaxy, NASA said in a statement.

NASA has so far decided not to send a shuttle to repair the aging Hubble,
citing the 450 million dollars it would cost to do so. But the space
agency's new chief, Michael Griffin, has said he would revisit the
decision.

Astronauts have serviced Hubble four times, and many scientists hoped that
a fifth service mission would be funded to enable Hubble to function to
2011, when its infrared replacement, the James Webb Space Telescope, is
scheduled to arrive.

Currently, it is believed that Hubble's aging solar cells will provide
enough energy to survive to 2007.

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