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Hubble was built with six gyroscopes designed to keep the telescope in the same direction for long periods. These six gyroscopes were replaced during a telescope repair mission in 2009. But over the years, some of these gyroscopes failed and stopped working properly.
The problem with Hubble gyros
The space agency says that at least three gyroscopes are needed for "optimal operations". Nevertheless, the telescope can work with only two gyroscopes and can even continue to observe the universe.
"The plan has always been to switch to 1 gyroscope mode when there are still 2," Rachel Osten, Hubble Mission Assistant Manager, says on Twitter. "There is not much difference between 2 and 1, and that brings in a lot of extra observation time. What the astro community desperately wants. "
Hubble's official Twitter account echoed this sentiment, tweeting that the telescope was "built with multiple redundancies" and that even if there were only two gyroscopes left, it could only work with one .
"Not really scary"
Although this expected setback is certainly not positive news, it is not a death sentence for Hubble. Officials said they expect the telescope to last at least until 2020. The James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble's powerful successor (at least in the infrared regime), is expected to be launched in 2021. Even If Hubble goes on If you lose features or have problems such as gyro failure over the next two years, the James Webb should be able to detect where Hubble is stopping.
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