NASA.

On the first servicing mission to the Hubble Space Telescope, astronauts installed a set of specialized lenses to correct the problematic main mirror.

NASAs Hubble group has actually been fixing ever since. The group figured that even if they could not fix the computer, they might always change to Hubbles backup payload computer.

NASA.

This week, though, NASA found that the backup computer system was glitching, too. Now its searching for a new explanation for Hubbles strange problems.Hubble has taken NASA down a bunny hole of glitches.

NASA has been attempting to figure out whats incorrect with the Hubble Space Telescope for almost 2 weeks, but the secret simply deepened.Hubble, which introduced into orbit in 1990, is the worlds most powerful area telescope. The Hubble group now believes the offender could be a module that helps send commands to the telescopes science instruments and prepare data from those instruments to beam back to Earth. If the regulator is sending out the wrong voltages to Hubbles hardware, that could discuss the prevalent issues.NASA plans to continue evaluating other parts of the telescope over the next week, the companys upgrade said. (Hubble has a lot of backups, considering that NASA no longer has spaceships that can carry astronauts to it to replace defective parts.).

The Hubble Space Telescope hovers at the border of Earth and space in this picture, taken after Hubbles second servicing objective in 1997.

The Hubble team now believes the culprit could be a module that helps send commands to the telescopes science instruments and prepare information from those instruments to beam back to Earth. If the regulator is sending the wrong voltages to Hubbles hardware, that could describe the widespread issues.NASA strategies to continue assessing other parts of the telescope over the next week, the firms upgrade said. (Hubble has a lot of backups, since NASA no longer has spaceships that can carry astronauts to it to replace defective parts.).

” Hubble is one of NASAs most crucial astrophysics objectives.

NASA initially tried– unsuccessfully– to restart the payload computer. The team turned its attention to memory module that has actually been degrading, since it was registering mistakes. The Hubble group thought that could be the root of the problem, however no luck there, either. Both the memory module and among its 3 backups wouldnt work. That indicated the source of the problem was more upstream.The group began running diagnostic tests on other parts of the payload computer this week. They also chose to power up the backup payload computer– which hasnt been turned on since astronauts installed it on the telescope in 2009. The brand-new computer revealed the same mistakes, in the same hardware, as the original.That shows that the payload computer may not be the issue. Its most likely another system, still additional upstream.

” Hubble is one of NASAs most crucial astrophysics missions. “From a point of view of the worth of Hubble to the clinical neighborhood, it is still the most powerful telescope readily available, so age is not a decision-making factor.”.

” Since it is highly not likely that all individual hardware components have an issue, the team is now taking a look at other hardware as the possible offender,” NASA said in a blog upgrade on Friday.

NASA has actually been trying to figure out whats incorrect with the Hubble Space Telescope for almost two weeks, however the mystery simply deepened.Hubble, which released into orbit in 1990, is the worlds most effective space telescope. Hubbles observations have actually enabled astronomers to determine the age and growth of the universe and to peer at galaxies formed quickly after the Big Bang.But the Earth-orbiting observatory hasnt done any scientific work for 12 days.

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

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