NASA is forging ahead with plans to repair the Hubble Space Telescope robotically, despite advice that astronauts could do the job faster, better and maybe cheaper. Early this month the space agency awarded a $154-million contract for robotic work to MacDonald, Dettwiler and Associates of Richmond, Canada.
The contract covers building a robotic grapple arm to grab the space telescope, duplicating a double-armed robot called “Dextre” already built for the International Space Station, and adapting it to repair Hubble. NASA is aiming to launch the repair mission in December 2007.
Yet last month a panel at the US National Academy…
