The Hubble Telescope – A Game Changer In Space Exploration
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched to provide in-depth space exploration that is farther than what the naked eye can see. The telescope was designed to collect information such as the light that is coming off of other planets or objects. This information is useful for scientists to perceive surroundings outside of the Earth. The spacecraft was named after widely known astronomer, Edwin P. Hubble. The space telescope was able to see farther and clearer than telescopes on earth because the gases surrounding the earth blocks certain lights that come from space.
The telescope was launched by space shuttle Discovery and into the orbit on April, 1990. The spacecraft is capable of speeds at 547 km as it orbits above the Earth. It travels 5 miles every one second. The size of the telescope is approximately 13. 2 meters in length and weighs as much as two mature elephants. The telescope was sent into space to capture crisp images of other neighboring objects in the universe like planets, stars as well as galaxies. More than a million observations have been achieved throughout the lifetime of the Hubble. The crisp images had fascinated many by capturing events such as the birth as well as the death of stars and galaxies that are billions and billions of light years away.
One of the technologies included in the Hubble is The Fine Guidance Sensors. Their job is to target stars. They are part of the Pointing Control System that helps aim Hubble in the correct area. As soon as the planet is picked out, the main mirror will do its job by receiving the light coming from the light source. This mirror is designed so that it can receive 40,000 times more light than the normal naked human eye. The secondary mirror will then collect the light which will eventually be given to Hubble’s scientific instruments. Every one of these instruments have there own jobs of elucidating the light source. According to Sandra may, another special technology built into the spacecraft is a transmitter. The transmitter is named as S Band Single Access Transmitter which is also known as the SSAT. The transmitter is able to send various amounts of data from the Hubblespacecraft back to radios in research facilities on earth. The light that is obtained will travel to the first stages of the scientific instruments. The instruments will then be able to translate the light source into understandable pieces of information for processing. The processed information would then either by kept on board in a recorder or it would transmitted right away. The two conveying dishes on the spacecraft are responsible for transmitting the information collected. Although the spacecraft is installed with two mega dishes, it does not send data down to the ground but it rather the data 22,000 miles above the Earth, where multiple NASA satellites active. After the process of transmitting is finished, Hubble’s scientific data results in Hubble Space Telescope Science Institute located in Baltimore, Md.
Many achievements are earned thanks to the Hubble Space Telescope. Thanks to this intelligent space craft, we now know that the universe is roughly 13. 7 billion years old, nearly all galaxies may harbour supermassive black holes and the process and formation of planets. The smart telescope was able to detect the first organic molecule discovered on a planet outside our solar system. It was also able to detect a distant supernova that suggests the universe only recently began speeding up. These are major findings as this gives a major boost in our knowledge and education toward space, life and exploration that is out there in the universe.
According to Nola Taylor Redd, the spacecraft was initially launched with a minor flaw in it’s magnifying department. This flaw had occurred on and off during the lifetime of the Hubble. This flaw was just 1/50th thickness of a piece of paper. This caused the images to be fuzzy and pretty much useless as it always had to be repaired and re-installed causing more money as well as wasting time on more space exploration.
In conclusion, I believe that The Hubble Telescope was definitely a game changer as its positives outweigh its negatives by quite a lot. Without the telescope, most of our knowledge would not have existed as the scientific instruments on earth could not provide information compared to actually sending a telescope to space which could maneuver to capture crisp pictures as well as sending back data for further research. This information can then be turned into education for the new generation. The creation of the Hubble Telescope is definitely a step forward in space exploration.
