Hubble Will Work Better Than Ever

The Hubble Space Telescope will work better than ever before if NASA astronauts are successful their fifth and final servicing mission, scheduled to launch Oct. 10 from Kennedy Space Center.

"Hubble will be at the apex of its capabilities when the astronauts leave it," said David Leckrone, Hubble's senior scientist at Goddard Space Flight Center, at press briefings today. "It will be better than it's ever been."

Shuttle Atlantis will take new scientific instruments, gyroscopes and batteries to the telescope. They'll be installed in five spacewalks during the 11-day mission.

In press briefings today, officials discussed a new Wide Field Camera and Cosmic Origins Spectrograph that will allow the observatory to see further back in time, helping astonomers better understand the universe's origins.

Two more Hubble instruments are set for repairs: the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph and the Advanced Camera for Surveys.

If all goes well, it would be the first time since Hubble launched in 1990 that all of its scientific research tools are fully functional at the same time.

Other upgrades should ensure that the telescope works until at least 2013, and possibly for years more.

You can watch NASA's press briefings when they continue Tuesday here at The Flame Trench. Click "Read more..." to see Tuesday's briefing line up, and click the NASA TV image above to watch them live.

Here is NASA's press briefing schedule for Tuesday:

9 a.m. - STS-125 Video B-Roll Feed
10 a.m. - STS-125 Mission Overview
11:30 a.m. - STS-125 Spacewalk Overview
1 p.m. - NASA TV Video File
2 p.m. - STS-125 Crew News Conference