this post was submitted on 03 Dec 2025
351 points (99.4% liked)

Space

1951 readers
105 users here now

A community to discuss space & astronomy through a STEM lens

Rules

  1. Be respectful and inclusive. This means no harassment, hate speech, or trolling.
  2. Engage in constructive discussions by discussing in good faith.
  3. Foster a continuous learning environment.

Also keep in mind, mander.xyz's rules on politics

Please keep politics to a minimum. When science is the focus, intersection with politics may be tolerated as long as the discussion is constructive and science remains the focus. As a general rule, political content posted directly to the instance’s local communities is discouraged and may be removed. You can of course engage in political discussions in non-local communities.


Related Communities

πŸ”­ Science

πŸš€ Engineering

🌌 Art and Photography


Other Cool Links


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] Bronzebeard@lemmy.zip 26 points 2 days ago (5 children)

Oh wow. I assumed the Hubble was like in a Lagrange point or something, not LEO

[–] IphtashuFitz@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It’s low enough orbit that a space shuttle mission went to repair it shortly after it was launched.

[–] atomicbocks@sh.itjust.works 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

It was launched by Discovery and serviced by Shuttle missions five times. The last was in 2009.

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago

Yep, that's where the shuttle could reach it.

[–] halcyoncmdr@lemmy.world 17 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Hubble had 5 servicing missions from the Shuttle before it's retirement. The Shuttle was only capable of LEO missions.

There's research into the possibility of using something like Crew Dragon for additional maintenance missions to extend it's service life even further.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Can we use it to focus/reflect sunlight onto a specific spot, then have it turn on and off again a lot in a little planetary rave?

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Slightly less research has been done to investigate that possibility, I'll get back to you.

you know all those uranus jokes had me thinking space people were cool. i gotta downgrade all astronomers one point just for nobody researching that

[–] wintermute@discuss.tchncs.de 6 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago)

At the time of Hubble's launch there was no vehicle capable of lifting that mass to a Lagrange point. Also, it would have been way more expensive, had less operational life and any servicing mission been impossible.

[–] GrantUsEyes@lemmy.zip 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

That would be JWST orbiting arround lagrange pt. 2, (well, there's been lots of observatories and stuff, but it's the current famous one)

[–] Cocodapuf@lemmy.world 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Yeah, it's a little weird that it's in Leo. Seems like further out would be a better choice.

It would be higher up if we built it today.