Why Nasa’s next alien-hunting super telescope will rely entirely on robots for fixes | Technology News

Nasa’s upcoming Habitable Worlds Observatory (HWO), the agency’s next flagship space telescope designed to search for potentially habitable Earth-like planets, will be built with one major difference from previous observatories: it will be serviceable in space.Unlike the iconic Hubble Space Telescope, which astronauts repaired and upgraded during multiple Space Shuttle missions, HWO is expected to operate around 1 million miles (1.5 million kilometres) from Earth at the Sun-Earth Lagrange Point 2 (L2). Because of that extreme dance, future servicing missions are expected to rely on robotic spacecraft rather than astronauts.Speaking during the 248th meeting of the American Astronomical Society (AAS) in Pasadena, California, Nasa Astrophysics Division Director Shawn Domagal-Goldman confirmed that servicing is now considered an essential part of the mission. “HWO will have to be serviceable to some extent,” he said.
Why Nasa wants a serviceable telescope
The Habitable Worlds Observatory is being designed to detect and study rocky, Earth-sized planets orbiting near Sun-like stars. Scients hope it will analyse their atmospheres for potential signs of habitability or even life.

Nasa believes building servicing capability into the observatory will significantly extend its operational lifespan while allowing future upgrades as technology improves.
Possible servicing operations could include:

Replacing scientific instruments
Repairing damaged components
Performing routine maintenance
Potentially assembling parts of the telescope in space if it is too large to launch fully assembled

Nasa has not yet revealed exactly how those servicing missions will work because HWO remains in the early stages of development.
Robots instead of astronauts
Unlike Hubble, which orbits Earth close enough for astronauts to visit, HWO will operate near L2the same region occupied the James Webb Space Telescope (JWST).Story continues below this ad
That location offers stable thermal conditions and uninterrupted views of deep space, but it also makes human servicing missions extremely difficult with current technology.
Instead, Nasa expects future maintenance to be carried out using advanced robotic spacecraft capable of reaching L2.
Former Nasa astronaut John Grunsfeld, who participated in several Hubble servicing missions, said robotics could eventually handle repairs that astronauts once performed.
For example, robots could patch damage caused micrometeoroids, replace hardware modules or install new scientific instruments.Story continues below this ad
Lessons learned from Hubble and James Webb
Nasa’s experience with Hubble demonstrated how servicing can dramatically extend the life and scientific capabilities of a space observatory.
Over three decades, astronauts replaced gyroscopes, computers, batteries and scientific instruments, allowing Hubble to continue producing groundbreaking discoveries long after its original mission lifetime.
contrast, JWST was not designed for servicing. Although it continues to perform exceptionally well, scients have observed that micrometeoroid impacts have affected parts of the telescope more than initially expected.
According to Grunsfeld, future robotic servicing missions could address similar issues on HWO repairing damaged components instead of allowing wear to accumulate over time.
New instruments could keep improving the telescopeStory continues below this ad
Nasa also sees servicing as a way to continually upgrade HWO with newer technology instead of replacing the entire observatory.
Future missions could install: 
 Higher-resolution spectrographs
Improved exoplanet imaging systems
More advanced detectors
Next-generation scientific instruments that do not yet ex
If HWO discovers a near rocky planet that resembles Earth, scients say there will be strong motivation to rapidly equip the telescope with even more capable instruments.

Grunsfeld said future commercial servicing spacecraft could eventually swap instruments in orbit much like astronauts once did on Hubble.
Gamma-ray detectors also planned
Nasa also revealed during the conference that HWO will carry gamma-ray detectors, although the agency has not yet disclosed their exact scientific role.Story continues below this ad
The observatory is still in development, with launch currently targeted for the 2040s.
Before then, Nasa plans to test key technologies aboard the Nancy Grace Roman Space Telescope, including its advanced coronagraph, which will demonstrate techniques for directly imaging planets around dant stars.