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Article: Hubble repair aims for more power, better pictures.
- Article from:
- The Dallas Morning News (Dallas, TX)
- Article date:
- February 26, 2002
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2002 The Dallas Morning News. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Byline: Alexandra Witze
DALLAS _ Astronauts are about to make their fourth house call on an aging patient _ the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope.
Twelve years after its launch, Hubble's 12-ton body is getting a bit creaky. During five spacewalks starting next week, the crew of the space shuttle Columbia plans to refurbish some of the telescope's major parts. Blastoff is scheduled for Thursday morning.
Among the additions: A bigger and better workhorse camera, a modernized power system, more efficient solar panels and a refrigerator-like machine designed to rescue an infrared camera that shut down in 1999 when its coolant ran out.
After ...