NASA releases stunning first images of repaired Hubble Telescope

NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has had a rough start to the summer. After more than 30 years of observing the cosmos, the telescope suffered a major computer failure in June. NASA worked on the problem over the following weeks and came to a solution last week. Now the fully restored Hubble has started to do science again. NASA has now released the first new images since the failure.

The problems started on June 13 when the iconic spacecraft went into safe mode after the payload computer stopped communicating with the main computer. This system is supposed to handle all scientific instruments, so Hubble could not continue to operate without a patch. Initially, the team believed that a simple memory module swap would do the trick. The Hubble payload computer has three spare parts for such an eventuality. However, the problem turned out to be more difficult to pin down.

Last week, NASA finally determined that it was the Power Control Unit (PCU), which resides on the Command and Data Management Unit (SI C&DH) along with the computer. payload. This was a scenario on the bridge as retired Hubble engineers returned to help find a fix. NASA was able to get Hubble back up and running late last week thanks to these efforts. Fortunately, the SI C&DH is not the one Hubble was launched with in 1990. NASA encountered a similar failure of the original SI C&DH in 2008 and had to switch to backup hardware. This module was replaced in 2009 during Hubble’s last maintenance mission.

ARP-MADORE2115-273 (left) and ARP-MADORE0002-503 (right) as seen by resurrected Hubble.

Until the launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble was the only multi-purpose space observatory we have. So the scientists wasted no time getting back to work. NASA released some of the first new Hubble images (above) to show that everything is working normally again. These images are from a program led by Julianne Dalcanton at the University of Washington.

On the left, ARP-MADORE2115-273, a rare example of two galaxies merging. To the right is ARP-MADORE0002-503, a single galaxy with an unusual structure. It’s a spiral galaxy, but it has three arms. Most other spirals (like the Milky Way) have an even number of arms. Since these images have only just been captured, no color version is available at this time. It’s amazing to see this mission still producing incredible science after three decades. At this rate, it looks like Hubble will be sharing the skies with Webb, at least for a while.

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