NASA Hubble Space Telescope Issue: Troubleshooting Identifies Potential Solution

The Hubble Space Telescope is one of NASA’s most beloved projects. After more than 30 years of service, he now faces one of his greatest challenges, as a technical issue left it in safe mode for over a month. Wednesday, NASA said it may have traced the source of the question.

The Hubble team had viewed the payload computer – hardware dating from the 1980s – as the potential source of a memory problem. “A series of multi-day tests, which included attempts to restart and reconfigure the computer and the backup computer, were unsuccessful, but the information gathered from these activities led the team Hubble to determine that the possible cause of the problem is in the power control unit, ”said NASA.

As with the payload computer, the PCU is part of the control and data processing unit of Hubble’s scientific instruments. The PCU is responsible for providing a constant and stable source of electricity to the computer and its memory. This is where the possible problem lies.

“The team’s analysis suggests that either the voltage level of the regulator is outside acceptable levels (thus triggering the secondary protection circuit), or the secondary protection circuit has degraded over time and is stuck in this state of inhibition, “said NASA.

Hubble is equipped with a number of backup systems, including a backup PCU. On Thursday, NASA will attempt to switch to the other hardware in an attempt to restore the telescope to normal operation. Since the problem arose on June 13, Hubble’s scientific work has stalled.

If the plan works, it could take several more days to get the telescope back up and running. The aging telescope, which is a joint NASA-European Space Agency project, has raised concerns. Hubble’s successor, the very backward James Webb Space Telescope, is still here on Earth, awaiting a possible launch in October.

Hubble overcame many technical issues in its day, and it could still survive the latter. The good news is that NASA has a plan and is hoping to follow it.

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