Hubble is the world-famous telescope, launched into orbit in the year 1990 by the Discovery Space Shuttle. The telescope is named after the famous American astronomer Edwin Hubble. The telescope is both the largest and the most versatile out there. It functions, obviously, as a research tool, but also as an advertising bonus for NASA and the European Space Agency.

During its almost 20 years of loyal service, the telescope has undergone a series of repair missions. One of the missions took place in 1993, when they had to fix the mirror’s position – one of its most vital components. There have so far been a total of four missions, during which several of its components were either fixed or replaced, among which electrical failures, replacement of batteries and gyroscopes and several new instruments, a faulty camera and spectrograph.

A fifth mission was programmed for October 2008, but another component of Hubble broke down in September. Consequently, the repair mission was postponed until 2009, most probably February. The mission was postponed so technicians can fix more problems at once, given the extremely high costs of a space trip. These repair costs have raised many questions, especially during the on-going economic crisis in America, the most prominent question being if Hubble the telescope’s achievements outweigh its high maintenance cost.

The extended question mentions the possibility of sending a new telescope into space and allowing Hubble to retire, a new telescope which would be more advanced and would better comply with the high expectations of today’s scientific world.

Recently, Hubble has malfunctioned yet again. This time, a replacement system must be installed. The new system will re-enable Hubble to send the required information back to Earth. This new issue will probably cause the fifth repair mission to be postponed until April 2009.