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In this April 25, 1990 photograph provided by NASA, most of the giant Hubble Space Telescope can be seen suspended in space by Discovery’s Remote Manipulator System (RMS) following the deployment of some of its solar panels and of its antennas. The Hubble Space Telescope is expected to resume service soon, Friday, July 16, 2021, following a delicate remote repair job from NASA. The orbiting observatory shut down in mid-June, and all astronomical observations were halted. Credit: NASA via AP
The Hubble Space Telescope is expected to be back soon, after some delicate remote repair work from NASA.
The orbiting observatory shut down in mid-June, and all astronomical observation was halted.
NASA initially suspected a computer from the 1980s to be the source of the problem. But after the standby payload computer also failed, flight controllers at Maryland’s Goddard Space Flight Center focused on the larger, more comprehensive science instrumentation control and data unit, installed by astronauts on a space trip in 2009.
Engineers successfully switched to backup equipment on Thursday, and the crucial payload computer started up. NASA said on Friday that scientific observations should resume quickly, if all goes well.
A similar change took place in 2008 after part of the old system failed.
“Congratulations to the team! NASA science mission chief Thomas Zurbuchen tweeted.
Launched in 1990, Hubble has made more than 1.5 million observations of the universe. NASA launched five telescope repair missions during the space shuttle program. The final development took place in 2009.
NASA plans to launch Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, by the end of the year.
Computer problems hit the Hubble Space Telescope, science stops
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Quote: Hubble Space Telescope corrected after month without science (2021, July 16) retrieved July 16, 2021 from https://phys.org/news/2021-07-hubble-space-telescope-month-science.html
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