Robot Could Replace Batteries in Space

Engineers suggest that a new space robot could fix the Hubble Space Telescope by 2007, when its batteries are expected to go dead, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Having once dismissed the robot idea as impractical, NASA officials are increasingly optimistic about the possibility of rescuing the telescope without using the shuttle and its astronauts. The agency is deciding whether to seek bids to build the robot and try replacing the shuttle’s aging parts – primarily batteries and gyroscopes. It is believed that it would be too dangerous to send a space shuttle to perform repairs.

Earlier this year NASA officials said that the Hubble, which has been orbiting 375 miles above the earth since 1990, was doomed to be pulled back to Earth by gravity. But once the public heard of its bleak future, ideas to save it came from all sides – and ages (as young as 10).