Can Russia Build A Better Hubble?

Russia is eyeing first place in the "telescope space race" and plans on building a telescope that would not only rival Hubble, but surpass its American cousin completely.

(Space Daily) Russia will build a deep space exploration telescope that will outstrip the U.S.-made Hubble Space Telescope, a Russian astronomer said Tuesday. Hubble, orbited in 1990, has been the most successful and expensive project in astrophysics, costing over $6 billion.

"In cooperation with our colleagues from Germany, the United Kingdom, China and Spain, we have set ourselves the task of building the Spectrum-Ultraviolet telescope, which will surpass Hubble in some aspects," Boris Shustov, director of the Astronomy Institute at the Russian Academy of Sciences, told a news conference.

Russia it seems is planning on adding on a "ground version" to complement the one in orbit. Combined, these telescopes would be powerful enough to "read a newspaper on the Moon" according to Shustov.

Although focused mainly on the Universe, such a telescope may prove useful on highlighting features or potential resources on asteroids and lunar bodies.



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