Hubble gets its mission!

Hurray! NASA made the call today: they will be sending up the next scheduled Hubble Service Mission (SM4).

SM4 has an ambitious program of activities. Over a series of five spacewalks, astronauts will replace worn-out telescope components, installing new batteries, new gyroscopes, a refurbished Fine Guidance Sensor, replacement thermal blankets, and more. It will significantly enhance Hubble's prowess with the installation of two new science instruments: the Wide Field Camera 3 and the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph. These upgrades will keep Hubble functioning at the pinnacle of astronomy well into the next decade.

This seemed like a no-brainer*, but one never knows with things the way they are nowadays. But this means we'll continue to peer into the depths of space, and the depth of time, and see sights like this one, deep in the Small Magellanic Cloud:


* Okay, yes I know it's dangerous. Most things are, when you get right down to it. But this is the Hubble!