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NASA brought back to life the seven-year-old Hubble telescope's seven-year-old emergency gyro (gyro), after the spacecraft pbaded into safe mode due to a failing gyroscope earlier this month. This, announced Tuesday the US Space Agency. The gyroscope is a device that measures the speed of rotation of the spacecraft and that is needed to help Hubble to turn and lock on new targets.
Hubble's auxiliary gyro, extinguished for more than 7.5 years, was mistakenly returned extremely high. Rotational speeds, NASA said in a statement.
This gyroscope was activated once the spacecraft entered safe mode due to a failed gyroscope on October 5th.
Additional tests will be done to ensure that Hubble can return to scientific operations with this
To correct high rotational speeds, the Hubble team restarted the gyro running on October 16th.
This procedure disabled the gyroscope for one second, then restarted it before the wheel spins.
However, the data indicate no improvement in gyroscope performance.
On October 18, the team then ordered a series of maneuvers of spacecraft, or turns in opposite directions, to try to remove obstructions that could have decentered the float. and produce extremely high rates.
During each maneuver, the gyro went from high mode to low mode to dislodge any blockage possibly accumulated around the float.
They found a significant reduction in high rates, allowing rates to be measured in low mode for brief periods.
On October 19, the team again ordered Hubble to perform additional maneuvers and switches in gyro mode, which seems to have solved the problem.
Rotational rates produced by the emergency gyroscope have since been reduced and are now within the expected range, NASA said.
The team plans to conduct a series of tests to evaluate the performance of the gyroscope in conditions similar to those encountered during routine scientific observations, including moving to targets, locking a target, and executing the target. A precision score.
Once these engineering tests are completed, Hubble is expected to resume normal scientific activities soon, NASA said.
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