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6 Congressional Testimony
Pages 107-120

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From page 107... ... Senate about the findings and recommendations of their reports. In February 2005, the chair of the ad hoc Committee on an Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, and one of the cochairs of the decadal survey released in 2000 by the standing Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, testified to the House Science Committee about issues concerning the future of the Hubble Space Telescope in the wake of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia tragedy. Read the entire page →
From page 109... ... 's Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope. As you know, the NRC is the unit of the National Academies that is responsible for organizing independent advisory studies for the federal government on science and technology. Read the entire page →
From page 110... ... Two of my committee members, General Charles Bolden, a veteran former astronaut whose shuttle missions include the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, and Mr. Joseph Rothenberg, former associate administrator of spaceflight at NASA and former director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, are present with me today and are available to answer questions. Read the entire page →
From page 111... ... Comparison of Robotic Servicing, Shuttle Servicing, and Rehosting Let us leave aside for the moment the issue of placing the Hubble instruments on some other spacecraft and begin with the realization that, given the predicted failure of the on-board gyros, HST most likely will need to terminate science operations by mid-2007. Based on this engineering determination which we believe to be correct, any servicing mission, shuttle or robotic, must be accomplished by the end of 2007 at the latest to prevent an interruption in science. Read the entire page →
From page 112... ... � The Goddard HST project has a long history of Hubble shuttle servicing experience but little experience with autonomous rendezvous and docking or robotic technology development, or with the operations required for the proposed HST robotic servicing mission. � The committee found that the Goddard HST project had made advances since January 2004. Read the entire page →
From page 113... ... For these reasons, I personally would have strong reservations regarding a plan to rehost the COS and the WFC3 Hubble instruments on another satellite, particularly when compared to a shuttle repair mission. If a shuttle repair mission were not possible -- if for instance NASA was not successful in returning the shuttle to flight -- then I would argue that the trade-offs of performing a rehosting mission should be reviewed by the astronomy community in the context of its overall planning for space astronomy in the next decade. Read the entire page →
From page 114... ... The most recent decadal survey, entitled Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium, was released in the year 2000.1 I have been asked to answer the following questions from my perspective as the co-chair of the committee that produced that report: 1. To what extent, and in what ways, was the decadal survey premised on the Hubble Space Telescope having additional instruments that were to be added by a servicing mission? Read the entire page →
From page 115... ... For example, the year 2000 survey reaffirmed the importance of completing the Atacama Large Millimeter Array that had been recommended in the 1991 survey.5 Along the same lines, the most recent survey was based on the expectation that a Shuttle Servicing Mission would install in the Hubble Space Telescope new instruments called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Wide Field Camera-3, and would refurbish the satellite in other ways so that Hubble would continue to operate until 2010 -- about the time that the infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is planned to become available.6 We were told that this mission, now referred to as SM-4, would cost $350 million, and it was one of the considerations that led to the final shape of the priority list. Read the entire page →
From page 116... ... A project similar to the Hubble Origins Probe could easily be included in the next astronomy survey, and would likely be a strong contender then. As you know, I am also a member of the Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope. Read the entire page →
From page 117... ... This is the first decadal survey in Earth science and applications from space. Among the key tasks in the charge to the decadal survey committee is the request to: � Develop a consensus of the top-level scientific questions that should provide the focus for Earth and environmental observations in the period 2005-2020; and � Develop a prioritized list of recommended space programs, missions, and supporting activities to address these questions. Read the entire page →
From page 118... ... The NRC's interim report identifies a number of issues for NASA and NOAA that require immediate attention in the FY 2006 and FY 2007 programs. They include the following: � The impact of canceling or delaying NASA missions; � The need to evaluate plans for transferring capabilities from some canceled or scaled-back NASA missions to the NOAA-DOD NPOESS satellites; � The adequacy of the technological base for future missions; � The state of NASA Research and Analysis programs, which are necessary to maximize scientific return on NASA investments in Earth science and to retain the intellectual base for future missions; � The need to reinvigorate the Explorer missions program; and � Near-term steps that are required to develop a sustained and robust observing system from space that provides essential baseline climate observations and to create a climate data and information system to meet the challenge of production, distribution, and stewardship of climate records from NPOESS and other relevant observational platforms. Read the entire page →
From page 119... ... 6. Last, we recommend that NOAA, working with the Climate Change Science Program and the international Group on Earth Observations create a robust and sustained observing system from space that includes at a minimum a set of essential baseline climate observations. Read the entire page →

From page 107...

... Senate about the findings and recommendations of their reports. In February 2005, the chair of the ad hoc Committee on an Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope, and one of the cochairs of the decadal survey released in 2000 by the standing Committee on Astronomy and Astrophysics, testified to the House Science Committee about issues concerning the future of the Hubble Space Telescope in the wake of the 2003 space shuttle Columbia tragedy.

Read the entire page →

From page 109...

... 's Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope. As you know, the NRC is the unit of the National Academies that is responsible for organizing independent advisory studies for the federal government on science and technology.

Read the entire page →

From page 110...

... Two of my committee members, General Charles Bolden, a veteran former astronaut whose shuttle missions include the deployment of the Hubble Space Telescope, and Mr. Joseph Rothenberg, former associate administrator of spaceflight at NASA and former director of the Goddard Space Flight Center, are present with me today and are available to answer questions.

Read the entire page →

From page 111...

... Comparison of Robotic Servicing, Shuttle Servicing, and Rehosting Let us leave aside for the moment the issue of placing the Hubble instruments on some other spacecraft and begin with the realization that, given the predicted failure of the on-board gyros, HST most likely will need to terminate science operations by mid-2007. Based on this engineering determination which we believe to be correct, any servicing mission, shuttle or robotic, must be accomplished by the end of 2007 at the latest to prevent an interruption in science.

Read the entire page →

From page 112...

... � The Goddard HST project has a long history of Hubble shuttle servicing experience but little experience with autonomous rendezvous and docking or robotic technology development, or with the operations required for the proposed HST robotic servicing mission. � The committee found that the Goddard HST project had made advances since January 2004.

Read the entire page →

From page 113...

... For these reasons, I personally would have strong reservations regarding a plan to rehost the COS and the WFC3 Hubble instruments on another satellite, particularly when compared to a shuttle repair mission. If a shuttle repair mission were not possible -- if for instance NASA was not successful in returning the shuttle to flight -- then I would argue that the trade-offs of performing a rehosting mission should be reviewed by the astronomy community in the context of its overall planning for space astronomy in the next decade.

Read the entire page →

From page 114...

... The most recent decadal survey, entitled Astronomy and Astrophysics in the New Millennium, was released in the year 2000.1 I have been asked to answer the following questions from my perspective as the co-chair of the committee that produced that report: 1. To what extent, and in what ways, was the decadal survey premised on the Hubble Space Telescope having additional instruments that were to be added by a servicing mission?

Read the entire page →

From page 115...

... For example, the year 2000 survey reaffirmed the importance of completing the Atacama Large Millimeter Array that had been recommended in the 1991 survey.5 Along the same lines, the most recent survey was based on the expectation that a Shuttle Servicing Mission would install in the Hubble Space Telescope new instruments called the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and Wide Field Camera-3, and would refurbish the satellite in other ways so that Hubble would continue to operate until 2010 -- about the time that the infrared James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) is planned to become available.6 We were told that this mission, now referred to as SM-4, would cost $350 million, and it was one of the considerations that led to the final shape of the priority list.

Read the entire page →

From page 116...

... A project similar to the Hubble Origins Probe could easily be included in the next astronomy survey, and would likely be a strong contender then. As you know, I am also a member of the Committee on the Assessment of Options for Extending the Life of the Hubble Space Telescope.

Read the entire page →

From page 117...

... This is the first decadal survey in Earth science and applications from space. Among the key tasks in the charge to the decadal survey committee is the request to: � Develop a consensus of the top-level scientific questions that should provide the focus for Earth and environmental observations in the period 2005-2020; and � Develop a prioritized list of recommended space programs, missions, and supporting activities to address these questions.

Read the entire page →

From page 118...

... The NRC's interim report identifies a number of issues for NASA and NOAA that require immediate attention in the FY 2006 and FY 2007 programs. They include the following: � The impact of canceling or delaying NASA missions; � The need to evaluate plans for transferring capabilities from some canceled or scaled-back NASA missions to the NOAA-DOD NPOESS satellites; � The adequacy of the technological base for future missions; � The state of NASA Research and Analysis programs, which are necessary to maximize scientific return on NASA investments in Earth science and to retain the intellectual base for future missions; � The need to reinvigorate the Explorer missions program; and � Near-term steps that are required to develop a sustained and robust observing system from space that provides essential baseline climate observations and to create a climate data and information system to meet the challenge of production, distribution, and stewardship of climate records from NPOESS and other relevant observational platforms.

Read the entire page →

From page 119...

... 6. Last, we recommend that NOAA, working with the Climate Change Science Program and the international Group on Earth Observations create a robust and sustained observing system from space that includes at a minimum a set of essential baseline climate observations.

Read the entire page →

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6 Congressional Testimony Pages 107-120

6 Congressional Testimony
Pages 107-120