The Crab Nebula– a six-light-year-wide residue of a stars supernova explosion– as imaged by Hubble.

The telescope and the scientific instruments on board remain in working condition.But the switch will be “risky,” according to NASA astrophysics division director Paul Hertz. NASA has successfully changed Hubble over to its back-up hardware prior to

Hubble is the worlds most effective space telescope; it orbits 353 miles above the Earth.

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has actually been offline for almost a month.The telescopes payload computer– a 1980s machine that manages and keeps an eye on all of the spacecrafts science instruments– unexpectedly quit working on June 13. Engineers have actually been fixing the problem ever since, however with little success. A recent NASA announcement suggests a glimmer of hope: The firm tweeted on Thursday that it had effectively evaluated a treatment that would change parts of the telescopes hardware to their back-up components.This could pave the method for the payload computer to come back online, leading to the reboot of Hubbles scientific observations.

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has been offline for almost a month.The telescopes payload computer system– a 1980s maker that controls and keeps an eye on all of the spacecrafts science instruments– all of a sudden stopped working on June 13. A recent NASA announcement suggests a glimmer of hope: The agency tweeted on Thursday that it had effectively evaluated a treatment that would switch parts of the telescopes hardware to their back-up components.This might pave the way for the payload computer system to come back online, leading to the reboot of Hubbles clinical observations.

” Hubble is one of NASAs most essential astrophysics objectives. Its been operating for over 31 years, and NASA is confident it will last for many more years,” a company spokesperson told Insider in June.Hubble, which launched into orbit in 1990, has recorded images of the births and deaths of stars, discovered brand-new moons around Pluto, and tracked two interstellar items as they zipped through our solar system.

The telescope and the clinical instruments on board stay in working condition.But the switch will be “dangerous,” according to NASA astrophysics division director Paul Hertz.” A few hardware pieces on the SI C&DH could be the perpetrator( s),” NASA said.Backup pieces of hardware are pre-installed on the telescope.

Seven astronauts on the Space Shuttle Endeavour replaced a malfunctioning mirror on the Hubble Space Telescope in December 1993.

On June 30, NASA revealed it had actually figured out that the source of the payload computer system issue was in Hubbles Science Instrument Command and Data Handling system (SI C&DH for brief), where the computer system lives.” A few hardware pieces on the SI C&DH might be the culprit( s),” NASA said.Backup pieces of hardware are pre-installed on the telescope. (NASA does not presently have a way to release astronauts to the space telescope.).

NASA

NASA, ESA, J. Hester and A. Loll (Arizona State University).