Feasibility Study of Robotic Servicing for the Hubble Space Telescope

Paper number

IAC-05-C1.P.27

Author

Dr. Mitsushige Oda, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (JAXA), Japan

Coauthor

Dr. Shin-ichiro Nishida, Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency (ISTA/JAXA), Japan

Year

2005

Abstract

The Hubble Space Telescope (HST) was launched in 1990 and since then HST is receiving periodic maintenance by space shuttles crew members every several years. However, the accident involving the Space Shuttle Columbia that occurred on February 1, 2003 resulted in the cancellation of the planned shuttle visit to HST, referred to as Service Mission 4 (SM4). Since some key equipment on HST is aging and degrading, HST will not be able to continue safe operation for more than a few years. Moreover, since HST is a massive spacecraft and does not have a capability for safe de-orbiting, part of the spacecraft may come down in some populated area in the near future. Therefore, some kind of robotic mission is needed to extend life of HST or to remove HST from orbit. NASA issued a Request for Proposal (RFP) on June 1, 2004 requesting proposals of system that will extend life of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) or conduct safe disposal of HST. 
In response to this RFP, engineers and researchers from JAXA and from Japanese companies worked together to conduct a joint feasibility study of robotic servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope. After the study, we concluded that capturing and de-orbiting HST by an unmanned robot vehicle is possible using existing technology developed through the Engineering Test Satellite VII (ETS-VII), Japanese Experiment Module Remote Manipulator System of the International Space Station (JEMRMS), and the H-II Transfer Vehicle (HTV). HTV has a capability for rendezvous and safe de-orbiting. ETS-VII demonstrated autonomous rendezvous docking and autonomous satellite capture by the onboard manipulator. JEMRMS can be mounted on the bus module of HTV without major modifications and can be used to capture HST. We also concluded that robotic servicing to extend the life of HST would be feasible but also highly risky, since extensive preparations are needed to conduct such a mission in a very limited time. 
From our management decision, we did not submit any proposal to NASA related with this RFP. However, after closing the RFP, NASA selected a system that will conduct the life extension mission using robots last year. However in NASA’s budget request for FY2006, budget for life extension is not included and instead, it is said that budget for de-orbiting HST is included. We believe NASA’s latest decision agrees with our conclusions. In the final paper, mission concept and system descriptions for capturing/de-orbiting HST will be described. 

Abstract document

IAC-05-C1.P.27.pdf

Manuscript document

IAC-05-C1.P.27.pdf (🔒 authorized access only).

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