Lego deploys Hubble Space Telescope as detailed desktop model - Ars Technica
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For 35 years, the Hubble Space Telescope has looked out into the Universe. Now, Lego is inviting builders to look inward with its latest model of the orbiting observatory.
The new Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope (set no. 11382) was released on August 1 for $140 at the toy company’s stores and its online shop. The 1,252-piece kit builds a 15-inch-long (38-cm) desktop model that is about twice as large as the previously released Lego Hubble models.
The Icons Hubble is the first to be sized in comparison to a Lego minifigure, such that the included astronaut provides a sense of scale for the telescope.
Of the previous three Hubble models, two were scaled to their companion orbiters: Lego Discovery Space Shuttle—STS-31, set 7470, from 2003 and Lego Icons NASA Space Shuttle Discovery, 10283, released in 2021. The third was a desktop model for the minifigure tribute to astronomer Nancy Grace Roman, the “Mother of Hubble,” included with the Women of NASA set, no. 21312, in 2017.
Hubble Space Telescope Lego models, roughly to scale, including the new Lego Icons set (at right). Also pictured, the Hubble that came with the 2021 Lego Icons NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (at top left), Lego Discovery Space Shuttle – STS-31 (at bottom left) and Nancy Grace Roman desktop model from the 2017 “Women at NASA” minifigures set.
Credit:<br>LEGO/collectSPACE.com
Hubble Space Telescope Lego models, roughly to scale, including the new Lego Icons set (at right). Also pictured, the Hubble that came with the 2021 Lego Icons NASA Space Shuttle Discovery (at top left), Lego Discovery Space Shuttle – STS-31 (at bottom left) and Nancy Grace Roman desktop model from the 2017 “Women at NASA” minifigures set.
Credit:
LEGO/collectSPACE.com
The real Hubble Space Telescope was launched on the space shuttle Discovery and deployed by the STS-31 crew in 1990. It is 43.5 feet long (13.2 meters), making the new Lego desktop model about 1:35 scale. (Lego minifigure scale is generally accepted to be between 1:35 and 1:45 scale, as the minifigures are not proportionally accurate.)
Open wide (field camera)
According to the set’s instruction book, in addition to being faithful to the overall shape and exterior details of the Hubble Space Telescope, the new Lego Icons model is the first to build representations of the science instruments and interior components that enable Hubble to operate in Earth orbit.
“In close collaboration with our partners at NASA and ESA, we’ve recreated authentic engineering details inside and out,” reads the designers’ introduction to the set in the book. “Each section of your model corresponds to real instruments that helped discover remarkable new information about our universe.”
The aperture door at the top of the telescope opens, affording a view of the secondary mirror assembly inside. Two panels along the upper and lower body of the Hubble can also be removed to expose the mirrors, as well as the central baffle that directs the light from stars and galaxies to the observatory’s instruments and primary mirror.
Removable panels on the Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope provide a look at the instruments and equipment inside.
Credit:<br>LEGO
Removable panels on the Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope provide a look at the instruments and equipment inside.
Credit:
LEGO
As part of its storied history, the Hubble telescope was visited by astronauts five times, first to correct for an optical flaw and then to upgrade its capabilities. This Lego model is configured to reflect the Hubble’s current configuration, following its fifth servicing in 2009.
Included in the build are the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), which remain active on the real satellite today. Other details include the three gyroscopes and five guidance sensors, as well as, externally, its communications antennas and two solar array wings.
“Hubble’s solar array panels were changed twice. For this model, we chose the latest version installed,” reads a note in the instructions.
Labeled and unlabeled
The Lego designers included more details in their build than the instruction book identifies, using both brick parts and decals.
Diagram from the instruction book for the Lego Icons Hubble Space Telescope set labeling some of the science instruments and guidance equipment that are represented as...