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WASHINGTON – NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope resumed observations on March 11 after a software error put it into safe protection mode several days earlier, but the incident is reminiscent of the telescope’s mortality.
NASA said Hubble resumed observations at 8 p.m. on March 11 in the east, more than four and a half days after a software error forced the spacecraft to go into safe mode, suspending normal operations of the nearly 31-year-old space telescope.
The software error was attributed to what an agency statement called a recently uploaded “enhancement” to the spacecraft. This improvement was intended to compensate for fluctuations in one of the telescope’s gyroscopes, but a glitch in the software caused a larger issue with Hubble’s main computer, triggering Safe Mode in early March 7.
Controllers have fixed the issue for now by disabling this software enhancement, and plan to fix the flaw and test the new software before downloading it again.
This safe mode, however, caused two other issues with Hubble. The telescope opening door, a cover on top of the telescope, is designed to close automatically when the spacecraft enters Safe Mode to prevent sunlight from entering, which could damage instruments and optics. During this safe mode, however, the door did not close, an issue never seen before with Hubble.
Engineers troubleshooting the problem found that the door closed once they switched to a back-up engine. They have now set this engine as the primary engine as they continue to investigate the issue with the other engine.
One of Hubble’s instruments, the Wide Field Camera 3, “encountered an unexpected error” while recovering from Safe Mode. NASA did not elaborate on the error, but said observations using the instrument would remain on hold while engineers investigate the problem. The other instruments of the spacecraft, including a camera and two spectrographs, are functioning.
Safe Mode and the associated issues are reminiscent of the age of Hubble. The spacecraft was launched in April 1990 and serviced by the Space Shuttle five times, the last in May 2009. With the Shuttle being long retired, astronomers know that at some point Hubble will experience an irreparable failure that will put end of its historic mission.
“Right now we’re in the middle of what I think is very good news on Hubble,” Jennifer Wiseman, astronomer at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said at a telescope conference last year. spatial. She and others believe the telescope can remain operational for much of this decade, based on trends in the performance of key components, such as its gyroscopes and batteries.
Some have argued for a new maintenance mission in Hubble using a robotic or crewed spacecraft. John Grunsfeld, a former NASA astronaut who flew on three Hubble maintenance missions and later served as the agency’s associate administrator for science, presented a concept last year for a crewed maintenance mission using an Orion spacecraft and a module equipped with a robotic arm and an airlock. This spacecraft would be docked at Hubble, with the astronauts doing repairs as they did on past maintenance missions.
“We have the technology to return to Hubble,” he said during a presentation last June to the Space Transportation Association, noting that a commercial crew vehicle, like Crew Dragon, could be used at the Place d’Orion. “We could maintain Hubble for a few more decades.”
NASA, however, has shown no public interest in such a maintenance mission, which would cost hundreds of millions to billions of dollars. “It’s not currently on the books. Nobody really talks about it much, at least publicly, ”Grunsfeld admitted.
Without a maintenance mission, Hubble could last for many years, or fail tomorrow, admit astronomers like Wiseman. “We don’t know how long Hubble is going to last,” she said.
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