NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has actually been offline for a month.The telescopes payload computer– a 1980s machine that manages and keeps an eye on all of the spacecrafts science instruments– suddenly stopped working on June 13. They still do not know what exactly is causing the glitch.However, recent NASA announcements recommend a glimmer of hope: The Hubble team is preparing to switch malfunctioning parts of the telescopes hardware to their back-up elements.

” You cant see the spacecraft, you cant enjoy it happen. NASA engineers are checking and verifying their plans prior to sending any commands to the spacecraft. You dont want to accidentally swap a battery that isnt prepared to be swapped,” Hertz described.

NASA has actually effectively switched Hubble to back-up hardware prior to

” Hubble is among NASAs most essential astrophysics missions. Its been operating for over 31 years, and NASA is hopeful it will last for lots of more years,” an agency representative told Insider in June.This post has actually been upgraded with new information. It was initially released on July 9, 2021.

NASA.

Hubble is the worlds most powerful space telescope; it orbits 353 miles above the Earth.On June 30, NASA revealed it had actually figured out that the source of the payload computer problem wasnt the computer at all– it came from other hardware in Hubbles Science Instrument Command and Data Handling system, where the computer system resides. “The most crucial thing is to safely recuperate Hubble– not to recuperate Hubble as quickly as possible.

The very first servicing objective to the Hubble Space Telescope saw astronauts install a set of specialized lenses to correct the problematic main mirror in the telescope.

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

Hubble, which released into orbit in 1990, has caught images of the births and deaths of stars, found brand-new moons around Pluto, and tracked 2 interstellar items as they zipped through our solar system.” Could the cause of the problem have something to do with Hubbles age? Thats the most likely way the Hubble objective will end.

Hubble is the worlds most effective area telescope; it orbits 353 miles above the Earth.On June 30, NASA announced it had actually figured out that the source of the payload computer system issue wasnt the computer at all– it came from other hardware in Hubbles Science Instrument Command and Data Handling system, where the computer lives.” Engineers believe the issue could come from in a glitchy power regulator, or in a module that helps send out commands to the telescopes science instruments and prepare information from those instruments to beam back to Earth.

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

Hubbles hardware is aging.

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

Fortunately, nevertheless, is that each piece of hardware has a matching back-up piece pre-installed on the telescope. So its just a matter of changing to that redundant hardware.

NASA

The team has run simulations of the switch on Hubble-imitating computer systems on Earth, and NASA has done 2 reviews of the hardware-switching procedures. NASA said on Tuesday that it may command Hubble to switch over “later on this week.”” Ive informed the group: I am not in a rush,” Hertz said. “The most important thing is to safely recuperate Hubble– not to recuperate Hubble as rapidly as possible.” NASA has actually restarted Hubble utilizing this kind of operation in the past. In 2008, after a computer system crash took the telescope offline for 2 weeks, engineers changed over to redundant hardware. A year later, astronauts fixed 2 broken instruments while in orbit– that was Hubbles 5th and last reservicing operation. (NASA does not currently have a way to introduce astronauts to the space telescope.).

NASAs Hubble Space Telescope has actually been offline for a month.The telescopes payload computer system– a 1980s machine that manages and monitors all of the spacecrafts science instruments– unexpectedly stopped working on June 13. They still dont understand what exactly is causing the glitch.However, recent NASA statements suggest a twinkle of hope: The Hubble team is preparing to switch malfunctioning parts of the telescopes hardware to their back-up components. The switch could happen as soon as this week, paving the way for the payload computer to come back online and reboot Hubbles scientific observations.NASA has stated that although the telescope and its clinical instruments remain in working condition, the switch will be “riskier” than engineers expected after they initially evaluated the issue.