The Hubble space telescope is a deep space imager used by NASA to explore space. It collects light and magnifies images, and gives Astronomers the most detailed images known to man. Hubble has been at work since April 25, 1990, and celebrated its 20th anniversary in orbit April 24, 2010. Twenty years in service, and still being the leading source for space news says a lot about Hubble's overall longevity and productiveness. Over 6000 scientific articles have been published based on Hubble data, with some of its discoveries being so significant that NASA would have needed multiple satellite missions to accomplish the same results. Its importance to me is based on my lifelong interest in astronomy, and the galaxy we live in. It's importance to others, such as NASA and Astronomers around the world, is due to the fact that Hubble is currently the leading source for new information and ground-breaking discoveries when it comes to deep space, But after a stalled launch in 1985, 5 repair missions since it's beginning, and billions of dollars in funding, I asked myself: Is Hubble worth it? As part of my research for this question I read two article related to the Hubble space telescope: An article from NASA’s official website titled ‘Hubble: The Essentials’ and an article from the New York Times titled ‘Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost’ by Stephen J. Dubner. Both articles played a direct part in my question and its answer: What does Hubble do? And is it worth the cost?
In the article from the official NASA website, NASA gives a list of Hubble’s accomplishments, which gives the reader a comprehensive picture of Hubble’s importance. Hubble has not only given astronomers the most detailed images of outer-space in existence, but also taug...
... middle of paper ...
... not put a price on knowledge, and the advancement of the human race, and even if you did, the 7 billion dollar/year price tag on Hubble is nothing compared to some of the other things our country spends billions on. The Hubble Telescope has completely re-written everything we know about the galaxy we live in, and taught us things that will allow us to grow as explorers, and advance as a civilization, and continue to learn, and THAT is priceless.
Works Cited
"The Telescope: Hubble Essentials." HubbleSite. NASA, n.d. Web. 20 Jul 2010. .
Dubner, Stephen. "Is Space Exploration Worth the Cost?." Freakonomics: The Hidden Side of Everything. New York Times, 11/1/2010. Web. 18 Jul 2010. .
By increasing funds it would support cutting edge aeronautics and space technology innovations, education, and development that will help fuel the nation’s economy for years to come. In conclusion, NASA does not drain nearly as much money from the economy as it contributes, so the funding that goes to NASA is not all lost and should be seen as an investment.
lifetime. Some of Edwin Hubble's greatest accomplishments were: Edwin Hubble proposed a classification system for nebulae, which are fuzzy little patches of light that are up in the sky. He discovered a variable star, called the Cepheid. It is located in the Andromeda Nebulae. Edwin Hubble settled decisively the question of the nature of the galaxies. Edwin Hubble's distribution of galaxies was determined to be homogeneous in distance. Edwin wanted to classify the galaxies according to their content, distance, shape, and pattern of brightness. By observing redshifts Edwin saw that galaxies were moving away from each other at a rate constant to the distance between them (this is known as Hubble's Law).
Milovic, Carlos, Hubble Legacy Archive and NASA. "Astronomy Picture of the Day." 29 October 2012. http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131015.html. Photograph. 1 Dec. 2013.
Just recently a major discovery was found with the help of a device known as The Hubble Telescope. This telescope has just recently found what many astronomers believe to be a black hole, After being focuses on a star orbiting empty space. Several pictures of various radiation fluctuations and other diverse types of readings that could be read from that area which the black hole is suspected to be in.
Originally planned to launch in 1986, the Hubble Space Telescope has seen its share of problems. Starting with the explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, the Hubble's birth into space was delayed four years (Raven). On April 24, 1990, NASA put the telescope into orbit, only to discover that its primary mirror had a systematic aberration. To fix the problem, a mission in December 1993 set out on the space shuttle Endeavor.
These are the reasons why I believe there should be more investment in space research and technology. It would be a time consuming and financially draining quest, but the pay off in new technology, applications, resources, and expansion opportunities make it a goal to strive for. As our rate of consumption of Earth’s natural resources continues to increase, it is imperative that we invest in the research of outer space as a possible solution to sustaining the human race.
Livingston, D. (2008, January 21). Is space exploration worth the cost?. The Space Review: Essays and Commentary about the Final Frontier. Retrieved March 28, 2012, from http://www.thespacereview.com/article/1040/1
The Hubble Space Telescope is a large telescope in space weighing 24,500 lbs. NASA launched Hubble in 1990, "Hubble is named after Edwin P. Hubble, He was an astronomer"(Rosario). Hubble travels around the Earth taking pictures of planets, stars, and galaxies. "It has seen stars being born and stars die, and it has seen galaxies that are trillions of miles away." Scientists have learned a lot about space from Hubble pictures (Dunbar).
Nancy Grace Roman had a great impact on not just astronomy, but all fields of science. This impact is not felt only through her research in the field of astronomy, but also because of the positions she held and the responsibilities Dr. Roman carried out through those positions. Dr. Nancy Grace Roman is best known as the “mother of the Hubble Telescope”. (Eriksen, 2016) Without her set up of the program, as well as Dr. Roman’s advocating for the project’s funding in congress, the Hubble Telescope as we know it today might not exist. This technology has greatly deepened modern understanding of space, and “that for the price of a night at the movies every taxpayer would receive fifteen years of exciting scientific results.” (Roman, 2000) Because of Dr. Roman’s influence, the Hubble Telescope has allowed astronomers to conduct research and investigate the universe on a scale that just would not be possible without it.In addition to the Hubble Telescope, her discovery of the differences in stars gave insight into the development of the Milky Way Galaxy ("Roman, Nancy," 2012/2012, p. 339) Through Dr. Nancy Grace Roman’s research on this subject, we discovered that stars “spew out” elements heavier than helium, hydrogen, and lithium as time goes on, therefore, that stars with more of these “heavy” elements are younger than those that lack them. (Roman, 2013, p.
In the 1960’s NASA started to conduct studies into a large space telescope and after being denied funding multiple times because of the estimated $500 million price tag to build the Hubble telescope it finally received congressional approval in 1977, after reducing the estimated cost to $200 million. Five companies were awarded contracts to begin work on the Hubble telescope. Marshall Space Flight Center did the design, development and construction of the Hubble, Goddard Space Flight Center designed, developed and constructed the science instruments, Perkin-3lmer Corporation built the telescope assembly and Fine Guidance Sensors, Lockheed Martin built the structure and supporting systems and also put the telescope all together and tested it. (http://hubblesite.org/the_telescope/hubble_essentials/#work)
NASA’s research and innovation looked promising, but it came at a cost. Money, resources, and spacecraft accidents, most famously Apollo 13 all hindered NASA’s research. In the 21st century, the debate over funding for NASA is at its peak since the birth of the organization in 1958, especially when there are numerous problems throughout the world. Is the money spent on space exploration worth the advantages and advances it contributes to society? When considering this topic, one might ask themselves, why explore space?
The Space Race for Survival: “Why do we explore space? Is there even a real point of it?” These questions have been asked for decades, and an argument has been ongoing for just as long. This is because some people just don’t understand the sheer importance of the exploration of space, they don’t give it the slightest bit thought. They don’t realize that the survival of the human race depends on it.
Since the beginning of time, mankind has sought after learning about and exploring the universe. This yearning drove us to achieve such great things as the journey to the moon and the discovery of water on mars. Nowadays, several people argue as to whether or not space exploration is worth the effort. I believe that it is humanity’s instinctual nature to pursue a better understanding of ourselves, and our universe. Further understanding of our universe will lead to the discovery of new technologies and ways to secure humanity’s survivability. As such, this essay will argue that space exploration is a necessity to our kind and that NASA should be progressively more financed.
Most people think that the costly downside to funding space exploration is a reason to avoid spending money on sciences and instead spend it on problems here on earth, but such funding for space exploration actually promotes economical as well as scientific benefits. Space exploration is an important expenditure for the high cost because of the potential for numerous benefits such as the possibility to find useful resources to cultivate, space exploration and satellites produce many thousands of jobs in our economy, and it creates and discovers newer and better technologies through research and development.
By being in a very technologically advanced era, scientists can invent revolutionary devices never thought of. NASA is doing that right now and has been doing that since it began. They are not only climbing the stairs in space exploration but in the medical industry, too. Nevertheless, they are forever changing millions of lives by using all they have discovered. Most of all, they are teaching people a life lesson, to always use the things you have for the greater good. NASA has achieved profound success ever since their start in 1958 and they will continue to make discovery and innovation their first and foremost goal for years to come.