Lego unveils detailed Hubble Space Telescope model
Lego's Icons line now includes a detailed model of the Hubble Space Telescope with removable panels revealing its internal instruments. The set reflects Hubble's configuration after its fifth servicing mission in 2009.
Lego has released a new Icons set featuring the Hubble Space Telescope, complete with removable panels that offer a glimpse of the instruments and hardware inside. The model represents Hubble's current state following its fifth and final servicing mission in 2009.
The build includes the Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph (STIS), Cosmic Origins Spectrograph (COS), Advanced Camera for Surveys (ACS), and Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS), all of which remain operational on the actual satellite. Also featured are three gyroscopes, five guidance sensors, communications antennas, and two solar array wings. According to the instructions, Hubble's solar arrays were replaced twice, and the model uses the latest version.
The designers incorporated more details than the instruction booklet explicitly identifies, using both brick elements and decals. On the telescope's base, a Lego steering wheel stands in for the capture mechanism that a future robotic or crewed vehicle might use to boost or deorbit the telescope. Adjacent stickers represent vents that relieve pressure inside Hubble's body while blocking stray sunlight from interfering with observations.
Decals also simulate the ports for three fixed-head star trackers, with dark circular openings on the aft body serving as the trackers' external light paths. The set includes a display stand with a plaque listing facts about the observatory, including the dates of its five space shuttle servicing missions. The stand also features three translucent pre-printed pieces depicting iconic Hubble images: the Eagle Nebula ("Pillars of Creation"), the Whirlpool Galaxy, and the Butterfly Nebula.
Built to minifigure scale, the set includes an astronaut minifigure dressed in an extravehicular mobility unit (EMU). While it omits NASA insignia and flight emblems, the back of the portable life support system backpack bears NASA's celebratory logo commemorating Hubble's first 35 years.
