From the lab to your inbox. Get the most recent science stories from CNET every week.
The Hubble Space Telescope has spent over three years providing marvelous images and information, however its revealing its age. The Hubble group is still repairing a problem with the telescopes payload computer– a piece of hardware constructed in the 1980s– that manages its science instruments. Up until now, the repairs havent worked, however the agency isnt providing up.The computer system issue surfaced on June 13. “After evaluating the information, the Hubble operations team is investigating whether a degrading memory module led to the computer system halt,” NASA stated in a declaration a few days later. Hubble is a joint task from NASA and the European Space Agency.
Hubbles time stuck in safe mode is extending. In a June 18 upgrade, NASA stated the telescope and science instruments are healthy. NASA revealed on June 22 the memory problem might in fact be a sign of an issue with a various piece of hardware. NASA ran extra tests that included turning on Hubbles backup payload computer for the first time since it was set up during a space shuttle bus servicing objective in 2009. ” The tests revealed that numerous mixes of these hardware pieces from both the backup and main payload computer system all experienced the exact same error– commands to compose into or check out from memory were not effective,” NASA said on June 25. As the examination continues, NASA is preparing to turn on backup hardware thats part of the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit where the payload computer system lives. The group is considering a power regulator element in addition to hardware that sends out and formats commands and information.” If among these systems is identified to be the most likely cause, the group should finish a more complex operations procedure to change to the backup units,” NASA stated in an update. “This treatment would be more complex and riskier than those the team carried out recently, which included changing to the backup payload hardware and memory modules.” This next step is set to occur over a minimum of the next week and will involve executing the procedure in a simulation prior to its attempted with the real telescope.
NASA unveils 30 amazing new Hubble space images for an impressive anniversary
The NASA/ESA Hubble Area Telescope throughout implementation in 1990.
NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed
See all photos
The Hubble Space Telescope has invested over 3 years providing marvelous images and information, but its revealing its age. The Hubble group is still repairing a problem with the telescopes payload computer– a piece of hardware developed in the 1980s– that manages its science instruments. “After evaluating the information, the Hubble operations group is examining whether a degrading memory module led to the computer system stop,” NASA stated in a statement a few days later. Hubble is a joint job from NASA and the European Space Agency.
The telescope has weathered a series of technical problems in current years. A software application error sent it into safe mode for a number of days in March.Hubble has actually been incredibly resilient as researchers wait for the much-delayed next-generation James Webb Space Telescope to launch, hopefully later on this year.
