The Hubble Telescope's Quarter-Century of Breakthroughs

 Space  

Twenty-five years ago, NASA launched the Hubble Space Telescope. This single instrument has helped astronomers pinpoint the age of the universe, revealed the birthplace of stars and planets, advanced our understanding of dark energy and cosmic expansion, and more.

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) is probably the most famous scientific instrument ever creeated. Recently it celebrated its 25th birthday.

The HST has spent the past quarter of a century astounding us with breathtaking views of the cosmos, like the Pillars of Creation photo above, producing scientific results that have both confirmed and overturned long-held theories, and inspiring us with the brilliance of the repair on the device, undertaken by space walking astronauts.

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Hubble was launched into orbit aboard the space shuttle Discovery in April 1990, but its origins go much further back than that. Scientists first proposed the concept of a space telescope in 1946, almost 20 years before the first satellite was launched. The Hubble project itself was initiated in the early 1970s and spearheaded by Nancy Roman, the 'Mother of Hubble.' "I decided that the idea of influencing astronomy for more than 50 years was more than I could resist," she states in the video featured below.

After a long development period beset by delays and rising costs, the telescope finally reached orbit seven years later than initially planned.

But no sooner had it begun its work, than mission controllers spotted something wrong — all the pictures it was sending back were blurry. An investigation found that the telescope’s main mirror had been made with slightly the wrong curvature on its reflecting surface.

For any other space telescope (and there had been a few smaller ones before), this would have fatal. But NASA had a trick up its sleeve — Hubble had been designed to be regularly upgraded by repairmen astronauts while still in orbit. In 1993, the during the first of several scheduled servicing mission, astronauts installed corrective optics that completely fixed the telescope’s vision.

The episode also features what may be the best idea to ever come out of taking a shower. NASA engineer Jim Crocker, while taking a shower in a German hotel, noticed the European-style shower head mounted on adjustable rods. He realized the Hubble’s small mirrors could be extended into the telescope by mounting them on similar folding arms. This flash of inspiration was the key to fixing the problem.

In honor of Hubble's landmark anniversary, NOVA tells the remarkable story of the telescope that forever changed our understanding of the cosmos in, "Invisible Universe Revealed." Enjoy this incredible story of this historic machine and its astonishing discoveries.



SOURCE  PBS

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