The European Space Agency (ESA) is Europe’s gateway to space. Its mission is to shape the development of Europe’s space capability and ensure that investment in space continues to deliver benefits to the citizens of Europe and the world.
Find out more about space activities in our 23 Member States, and understand how ESA works together with their national agencies, institutions and organisations.
Exploring our Solar System and unlocking the secrets of the Universe
Go to topicProtecting life and infrastructure on Earth and in orbit
Go to topicUsing space to benefit citizens and meet future challenges on Earth
Go to topicMaking space accessible and developing the technologies for the future
Go to topic0:20-3:10 Story of Edwin Hubble (1889-1953), from which the Hubble Space Telescope was named. Used the Doppler Shift technique to observe and analyse the spectre of the galaxies. Albert Einstein mentions as Hubble’s observations were in line with Einstein’s relativity theory.
3:10-5:08 Launch of the ESA/NASA Hubble Space Telescope, by the Space Shuttle, with animated illustration of inserting Hubble in orbit.
5:08-7:00 The Hubble Space Telescope is not particular large compared to ground telescoped, e.g. the William Herschel Telescope or WHT on the Canary Islands.
7:00-9:19 Illustration of what Hubble can do with images.
9:20-10:15 Explanation of Hubble advantages, what it can do and the kind of observations it can do.
10:15-10:37 Explanation of the advantages of Hubble of not having to observe through the atmosphere as for ground based observatories
10:37-10:48 Hermann Oberth, German rocket specialists, proposed already 1923 to have an space observatory
10:50-11:16 NASA started the first serious study for a space telescope in 1960. In 1977 the joint effort between NASA and ESA started and approved as a mission.
11:16-11:24 ESA’s contribution to the Hubble Space Telescope are the Faint Object Camera, one of the prime instruments, and the Solar Arrays for power
11:24-11:44 Scientists at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Maryland, and the Space Telescope Coordinating Facility located at the European Southern Observatory in Munich, Germany, works together on the products from the Hubble Space Telescope
11:44-13:51 Facts of the Hubble Space Telescope: 14m long, 4m in diameter and weight on Erath just over 11 tons, followed by a detailed technical description of the telescope, with animated videos for illustration.
13:51-14:21 The Hubble Space Telescope to be placed in an orbit at an inclination of 28.5 degrees and with an altitude of 590km, the highest ever flown by a US Space Shuttle mission.
14:21-15:13 Description of the ESA solar array panels producing the power of 5KW
15:13-15:40 The Hubble Space Telescope planed life is 15 years, but depends on service every 3 years by the Space Shuttle.
15:40-15:49 More than 200 European scientists will work on the Hubble Space Telescope images.
15:49-27:28 Explanation of what the Hubble Space Telescope will be looking at, and what the Hubble Space Telescope can do which cannot be done from Earth. Very good images of observations.