Recommissioning Hubble After the 2008 Servicing Mission

Abstract

After summarizing the plans for the upcoming Shuttle servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope, we will elaborate in detail on the post-servicing plans, developed by the Space Telescope Science Institute in collaboration with NASA/Goddard, for commissioning the new scientific capabilities and for recommissioning the restored scientific capabilities. These science commissioning requirements need to be integrated with the verification of the engineering upgrades through a set of intricately coordinated activities spanning several months of on-orbit testing. The volume of on-orbit testing means that efficient approaches for the timely commissioning of the observatory for the resumption of science are extremely important. We will review these approaches and discuss our lessons learned. We also address our systems engineering and operations methodologies along with our teaming arrangements for planning and execution the program.