Washington, D.C. - All 10 members of the Maryland Congressional delegation have sent a letter to the head of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration urging him to reconsider NASA’s recent decision to cancel the final repair mission to the Hubble Space Telescope. The scientific operations of the Hubble Space Telescope Mission are conducted at the Space Telescope Scientist Institute, located at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore.
“Hubble continues to provide us with data of immeasurable scientific significance,” the members of the delegation wrote to NASA Administrator Sean O’Keefe. “As you know, NASA had planned to terminate Hubble’s work in 2010. With the premature cancellation of the final Hubble repair mission, the telescope will become inoperative several years before that time. The next-generation Webb telescope will not be launched until at least 2010, and the gap created between the operation of these two telescopes will rob scientists of several years of invaluable data.
“According to press reports, $200 million has already been spent to prepare new state-of-the-art instrumentation for the fifth and final repair mission. Furthermore, reports have also indicated that it may cost more than $300 million for a mission to bring Hubble safely back to Earth. In light of these costs, which total approximately a half-billion dollars, as well as the several decades of funding already devoted to Hubble, a decision to cancel the Hubble program several years shy of its goal appears to make little economic sense.
“The scientific returns we have received from Hubble’s service thus far have exceeded our expectations. Given the President’s recent pronouncement of a vision to rededicate the Nation’s commitment to space exploration, we believe that NASA should make every possible effort to retain this proven window on the universe,” the letter concluded.
A copy of the full text of the letter is available upon request.