Esa Bulletin November 2000 [antikvár]

the hubble space telescope - 10 years onThe Hubble Space Telescope -10 Years OnP. Benvenuti L. Lindberg ChristensenESA/ESO Space Telescope European Coordinating Facility, Garching, GermanyIntroductionESA is NASA's partner in the Hubble Space Telescope Project. ESA built the Faint Object Camera (the HST instrument that delivers images with the highest spatial resolution), provided the solar panels that power the spacecraft, and supports a team of 15Last Christmas Eve was very special one for ESA astronauts Claude Nicollier and Jean-François Clervoy: together with their American colleagues, they spent it aboard the Space Shuttle 'Discovery', after concluding the latest scheduled repair mission to the orbiting Hubble Space Telescope (HST). This third Shuttle refurbishment mission to HST was, like its two predecessors, a resounding success. Only days later, as Hubble entered the new millennium, came the first beautiful images of a complex gravitationally lensing cluster of galaxies.The astronauts' visit took place shortly before the 10th Anniversary of the launch of Hubble, which was first placed in orbit on 26 April 1990. Since then, HST has become the leading tool in ultraviolet, optical and near-infrared astronomy and is now looking forward to another decade of exciting discoveries and sharp views of the Universe.scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore (STSci), USA. In return, a minimum of 15% of the Telescope's observing time is guaranteed for projects and research submitted by European astronomers from ESA's Member States. In reality, the high standard of projects from European astronomers has, so far, won them some 20% of the total observing time.The initial ESA/NASA Memorandum of Understanding on HST expires 11 years after its launch, i.e. in April 2001. Both ESA and NASA are convinced that the collaboration on HST has been very successful, not merely in the development and initial operation of the Telescope, but also, more significantly, during its scientific operation. ESA astronomers have had access to a unique facility and the project as a whole has benefitted from the European intellectual contribution. A 'concept agreement' for the continuation of the collaboration, including a possible participation in the Next-Generation Space Telescope, has already been signed.11