Why is the Hubble Telescope not destroyed by space debris?

Question

Space is fraught with danger, not the least of which is the constant bombardment of Earth by meteorites, micro-meteorites and dust particles. Apparently a tiny piece of rock, travelling at such huge speeds, could disable equipment we place in space (as has happened a few times).

Why is the Hubble never hit? Or is it? Has it shields? Is it in a 'safe' orbit zone? If it's huge lens is hit then surely it could be destroyed? Is this lens protected from such debris and accelerating particles and if so how is it protected?

Regards,
Conor

Answer 1

The Hubble does get by small bits of space debris and micrometeroites all the time. This was planned for in the design and has not yet damaged it significantly.

Answer 2

there is no safe orbit, and hubble does not have a big lens, it has a mirror. i don't doubt that the mirror would have been hit by now, but then it is at the far end of a long tube so it is fairly well protected. as for the outside of the telescope, it gets hit all the time, that is why the servicing missions are needed, parts get damaged after a while. i saw a picture of one piece of shielding, it looked like a cookie sheet that was shot a couple of times by a shotgun.

if any debris gets too close to it they can also close it up with a cap on the end.

the particles are also why hubble has a limited lifespan, a telescope on earth doesn't wear out too quickly and fixing it isn't too hard, but in space it costs a lot, and is difficult.

hope this answers your question

Answer 3

Unfortunately the hubble telescope does not have enough shielding to keep it safe if it were hit by an accelerated piece of space debris. However, not a lot is... An M1A1 tank would have a tough time deflecting a small rock traveling at some of the speeds that can be achieved in space.

But if you calculated the odds of something colliding with the telescope it really isn't that high. The telescope is really quite small when you think about how large of an area it circles.

As for obiting debris, Nasa does a pretty good job of tracking EVERYTHING that is in orbit. In fact I believe they even have a site that will show you the current position of much of what is up there. Here is the link

http://science.nasa.gov/Realtime/JTrack/

To answer your question, we can keep it safe from the junk that is up there, but any small fast traveling inbound object that just happens to be headed straight for it, we will just be out of luck.

Answer 4

Space is big. Really big. There is a lot of debris up there, but it is spread over an almost unimaginably vast volume of space. Hubble is a tiny object in terms of the space it is in. If you look in the sky for a few hours one night you might see one or two meteors, unless you're in a meteor shower. These are tiny, and anything put in space is designed to be able to deal with impacts of such tiny debris.

That said it is being hit, but not too often and not by anything larger than the designers already built it to deal with.

As for the lens, Hubble doesn't have a lens. It is a reflecting telescope, and has a 2.4m diameter mirror. The mirror on a reflecting telescope lies at the bottom of an open tube. For a piece of debris to strike the mirror it would need to be travelling in a very specific direction relative to the scope, as it would need to travel down the length of the tube before striking the mirror. Statistically this is highly unlikely.

Answer 5

I am betting the Hubble is being hit. And the hubble would be hit on the glass - but like the windshield of the car, microchips. So it would last for some time, but the clarity would suffer w/o computer adjustments to (take out the pics) so the image is clearer. As it is, we do not have "force field technology"....so yeah someday it could be rendered useless.

Answer 6

formerly They have been usual: The Outsiders First lines: Jason Patric Get Your game On: great Joe coach Me the money: Civil conflict video games n eCards trivialities: Mamba u . s . a . song trivialities: U.S. Virgin Islands song Pop Quiz: greater Hip-Hop-Like classic Rock undertaking: Newport persons pageant celeb Interview Video trivialities: Vanessa Williams leisure Video trivialities: 20 on a daily basis Dose Video trivialities!: Swedish leisure Zone!: increasing in this section video clips long gone Wild!: White interior Oprah's Maui Farm 19: i admire my Farm Jason Derulo shares Inspiring tale 19: His Head maximum suitable Pre and positioned up-work out ingredients 19: possibility existence Of the rich & usual!: faith stinky warm Spots on the physique 19: The Scalp What reasons undesirable Breath? 19: Mickey