by Jon A.
Going to work for Lockheed
Missiles and Space Company in 1980, I never thought I would play a role in the legacy
of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST). From 1987 to 1990, I served as project
leader for the nickel-hydrogen (Ni-H2) battery design activities for the HST
electrical power system. Ni-H2 batteries were launched in place of baseline nickel-cadmium
(Ni-Cd) batteries. Ni-Cd batteries would have required servicing mission
replacement every three to five years, but HST’s Ni-H2 batteries did not
require replacement until Servicing Mission 4 (SM4) in 2009. The decision to
use Ni-H2 batteries saved NASA millions of dollars and allowed many HST system components
to be launched on other servicing missions, extending the life of the satellite
and quality of the pictures and information that are so important to our
understanding of the beginning of the universe. The company employees who
worked on the HST satellite should be very proud of their contributions!
