The new Hubble servicing mission

NASA has decided to launch a Space Shuttle mission in 2008 to repair and upgrade the NASA/ESA observatory. This servicing mission will ensure that Hubble can function for perhaps as many as another ten years and will increase its scientific capabilities in some key areas. Two new scientific instruments will be installed as part of the upgrade: the Cosmic Origin Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3. Both will improve Hubble's potential for discovery. Around the same time of this mission, ESA will launch Herschel, the Orbiting Telescope with the largest mirror ever deployed in space. Herschel will complement Hubble in the infrared part of the spectrum.ESApod video programme