What was the problem with the Hubble Telescope when Endeavour went to fix it in 1993?

Question

What was the problem with the Hubble Telescope when Endeavour went to fix it in 1993?

Answer 1

There was "spherical abberation" on the telescope's primary mirror which was a millionth of an inch (or 1/50th that of a human hair), but it was enought to be a serious problem.

So NASA on December 2nd, 1993, sent the shuttle Endeavour with spacewalkers Story Musgrave, Jeff Hoffman, Kathy Thornton and Tom Akers to conduct five spacewalks to install instruments on the Hubble to compensate for the flawed optics.

By installing the Wide Field and Planetary Camera (WFPiC) II, and COSTAR, the faulty optics were essentially fixed.

Along with replacing the original WFPiC and the High Speed Photometer with the other instruments, the gyroscopes and the solar panels were replaced. The magnetometers were also replaced.

Answer 2

Basically....it received an overhaul. They replaced the gyros...and the batteries....and put in some newer viewing instruments that will hopefully give is some better views of what's out there in the distance.



This is also the last planned visit and physical attention that we will give to the Hubble...and...eventually in about 10 years or so...it will plunge...sadly...into the Pacific.



I hope we give it an appropriate eulogy when this "death" happens.





Edit:....Sorry...ya got me there....I missed the date and time frame you were referring to. I was referring to this past mission...not 1993.

Answer 3

In 1993, astronauts fitted the telescope with corrective lenses (at the cost of removing one of its five main instruments, a photometer), and the cosmos snapped into razorlike focus.

Answer 4

* Its primary mirror was wider by a fraction which caused the Hubble to capture blurred images.

NASA solved the problem by installing Costar.

http://hubble.nasa.gov/missions/sm1.php

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/shuttle/shuttlemissions/archives/sts-61.html

Answer 5

Spherical aberration because the mirror had had not been shaped correctly by the LPL at the University of Arizona.

Answer 6

Astigmatism. A little laser surgery later, and it was fine.