Hubble running on two gyros

Well, this is the beginning of the end for Hubble. It seems that NASA has deactivated one of Hubble's gyroscopes in an effort to prolong the usability of the telescope to 2008. Hubble was designed to make use of 3 gyros at a time with 3 in reserve. Currently there are only 3 operational gyroscopes, and with the one being deactivated it means that Hubble will now be running on only two gyroscopes.

There seems to be little impact on the quality of images, but it will now be more difficult to maneuver the telescope and to focus on certain objects.

The James Webb Telescope, Hubble's successor doesn't seem to be going too well either. The costs involved to build the JWT has risen with $ 1 billion which need to addressed. I think it would just be MUCH cheaper and better to take the risk, and send a manned space shuttle mission to repair Hubble... but it doesn't seem as if NASA quite agree with me.

Although there might be a very small possibility of a servicing mission, it's highly unlikely. The repairs to the space shuttles have set back the building of the ISS quite a lot, and that's currently the highest priority.

If Discovery's Return to Flight, and the following mission went well, the possibility would have been greater, but obviously there are still some problems with the shuttles. NASA's space shuttle facilities has also recently suffered hurricane damage. As a result the next shuttle mission, which was scheduled for March 2006, has been reassessed and no new date has been set.

Hubble's future is looking bleaker by the day. So it seems that our eye in the sky will soon be going dark. What a pity it would be, not to be able to see great Hubble images anymore.