ASTRONOMERS and telescope builders have come up with a plan to give the
ageing Hubble Space Telescope a new lease of life. Instead of building an
entirely new space telescope, they propose sending up just huge mirrors, and
then letting Hubble look through them.
According to Jim Crocker of Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a
feasibility study has shown that it is possible to turn the 2.4-metre Hubble
into a giant 8-metre space observatory. “The cost will be some $250
million,” says Crocker, “less than half the cost of building a new space
telescope.”
The idea was proposed by Bob…
