Perkin Elmer - Hubble Optics Failure

Hubble Optics Failure

Perkin-Elmer was commissioned to build the optical components of the Hubble Space Telescope. The construction of the main mirror was begun in 1979 and completed in 1981. The polishing process ran over budget and behind schedule, producing significant friction with NASA. Due to a miscalibrated null corrector, the primary mirror was also found to have a significant spherical aberration after reaching orbit on STS-31. A NASA investigation heavily criticized Perkin-Elmer for management failings, disregarding written quality guidelines, and ignoring test data that showed this miscalibration. Corrective optics were installed on the telescope during the first Hubble service and repair mission STS-61. The correction, COSTAR, was applied entirely to the secondary mirror and replaced existing instrumentation: the primary mirror still has a significant aberration.