AAS Informational Email 2004-02

Introduction - Catherine Pilachowski, AAS President

Following the decision by Sean O'Keefe, the Administrator of NASA, on January 16 to terminate work on Hubble Space Telescope Servicing Mission 4, the AAS offered to both Dr. Anne Kinney, the Director of the Office of Astronomy and Physics in NASA's Office of Space Science and to Dr. Steven Beckwith, Director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, the opportunity
to prepare brief statements for distribution to our members.

These statements address how we might be able to Achieve the highest science productivity from HST and from other programs in the Office of Astronomy and Physics in light of the Administrator's decision to terminate SM4. The statements follow below.

The AAS is grateful to Dr. Kinney and to Dr. Beckwith for providing this information for our members

We also wish to call your attention to a new Hubble Public Policy webpage available from the Society's homepage at www.aas.org/policy/HubbleServicingCancellation.html.
The page will be updated as new information becomes available.

Statement from Dr. Anne Kinney, Director Astronomy and Physics Division, NASA's Office of Space Science

The NASA Astronomy and Physics Division is greatly saddened by the cancellation of the Hubble Space Telescope fifth servicing mission (SM4), but fully supports the Administrator's decision, a decision based on issues related to risk.

We have received many messages and phone calls from concerned astronomers and from the public and do appreciate the significance of this decision. We are now turning our focus to the future: optimizing the scientific life of Hubble Space Telescope, continuing to maintain healthy support for astronomical research both at Space Telescope Science Institute and in the
astronomical community in general, and getting James Webb Space Telescope up and operating.

We have directed the HST Project Office at the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC) to use its knowledge and talent to develop ways to extend the useful operational life of the Hubble Space Telescope. Scientists and engineers at GSFC and the Space Telescope Science Institute are already devising techniques that we expect will extend and optimize the productive science life
of the HST.

We recognize the importance of the superb quality data returned by the HST, the investigations it enables and the significant support that HST-related grants provide to the community. The Astronomy and Physics Division intends to continue to support HST related science for
both Guest Observer and for Archival Research programs until the Guest Observer program is started for the James Webb Space Telescope, currently projected to launch in 2011.

The Astronomy and Physics Division will make use of its considerable investment in the existing science instruments already built for SM4, the Cosmic Origins Spectrograph and the Wide Field Camera 3, by offering them wholly or in part as government furnished equipment for missions in the next call for MIDEX proposals. A peer review competition will determine the best use of
these highly valued scientific assets.

The Astronomy and Physics Division is keenly aware of the value of the Space Telescope Science Institute (STScI) and will continue to support its important functions. These include the support for the grants programs and assistance to the community with HST data, as well as the independent research activities carried out by institute staff. Space Telescope Science Institute has shown that science assets are best managed by scientists with a vested interest in those assets. As a measure of the Institute's success, the concept of science institute, invented at STScI, has been successfully copied for NASA's other Great Observatories, the Chandra X-Ray Observatory, and the
Spitzer Space Telescope.

Finally, the Astronomy and Physics Division is doing everything in our power to ensure that the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST) receives all the resources necessary to support a 2011 launch. Our aim is to make sure that the only pacing item in the JWST schedule will be the rate of technical progress and not resource availability. To that end we have informed the JWST
Project Office that they will be fully funded at their requested levels for the detailed design and construction phases of the observatory. Furthermore, we have instructed them to inform us about items that might accelerate parts of the program or significantly reduce risks associated with the development of the observatory.

Sincerely,
Anne L. Kinney and the Astronomy and Physics Division
NASA Headquarters

Statement from Dr. Steve Beckwith, Director Space Telescope Science Institute

The Hubble Space Telescope has been NASA's most scientifically productive mission, and it has been NASA's centerpiece of astronomical research from space. Its images of the heavens have made it an international icon of astronomy, inspiring people all over the world and helping educate millions of children, the next generation of scientists. Three successive National Academy Decadal
Survey panels have endorsed Hubble as an essential tool of modern astrophysics.

The decision to end Hubble is a blow to astronomy and to NASA's efforts to engage a larger public in its mission of exploration and discovery. Never in the history of astronomy has society shut down its most powerful optical observatory before a successor was ready.

The Space Telescope Science Institute stands ready to maximize Hubble's scientific impact for as long as possible, whether by the the original plan, some modification thereof, or some totally innovative approach. Our staff will work with NASA and the community to find ways to maintain Hubble's tremendous productivity, carry out the scientific goals planned for its final years of life, and keep Hubble contributing to our knowledge of the universe.

Steven Beckwith
Director, Space Telescope Science Institute