The Hubble Space Telescope
The Hubble Space telescope (HST) is as its name suggests, a telescope in the space! The HST was not the first of its kind, but it was the largest and the most modern at that time. The HST was built by American space agency, NASA along with the European Space Agency (ESA). It is being operated by Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI). The HST was named after the astronomer Edwin Hubble. The HST has proved as one of the most successful resource for NASA. The HST is NASA’s great observatory along with the Compton Gamma ray observatory, Chandra X-ray observatory and Spitzer Space Telescope.
The Hubble is the only space telescope designed in such a way that it can be serviced in space. Various servicing mission has been taken place on the Hubble from 1993-2009. It is expected that the Hubble would not require anymore servicing until the year 2014.
The need of telescopes in space was proposed since 1923. However the Hubble project started in the year 1970. The project had to be completed, and the telescope had to be launched in the year 1983. The delays in the launch, budget problem and the Challenger disaster delayed the Hubble’s launch. The HST was finally launched in the year 1990. After the HST’s launch the scientists’ discovered a grave problem, the Hubble’s mirror had been ground incorrectly. This problem severely affected the scope of the HST. This Problem was finally fixed in 1993. It took four servicing mission to fix this problem.
The Hubble’s orbit outside the distortion of the earth’s atmosphere allows it to take sharp images even in almost no background light. This is truly one of the most wonderful creations of mankind.
The telescope is now expected to function until at least 2014, when its 'successor', the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST), is due to be launched.
