Launched in 1990, the space telescope Hubble accumulates damage. The Pot reported on June 16 the complete stop ofcomputer on board, observed on Sunday, June 13, shortly after 4 p.m. The on-board computer, which controls all the instruments of the telescope, has gone into idle mode, apparently due to a memory card defective. Control center staff Goddard Space Flight Center NASA tried to restart the computer on Monday, but soon ran into the same problem.

This computer is not new – it was built in the 1980s, and the memory card was replaced during the last mission of maintenance in 2009. This failure continues a host of other problems occurred in the various instruments in recent years, and illustrates the aging state of this telescope that can no longer be renewed. Unfortunately, the launch of the James Webb telescope, which would replace it in 2018, never stops lagging and it is almost ten years behind its initial schedule. We hope it will be reliable because, located 1.5 million kilometers from Earth (compared to 600 kilometers from Hubble), it will be inaccessible for maintenance operations.

Meanwhile, the team of Goddard Space Flight Center try restarting the computer in safe mode by switching to a backup memory card. If these efforts are successful, Hubble it will undergo tests for a day before restarting its science instruments. Otherwise, the observations of theuniverse it will mark a great void.

The Hubble telescope has been completely shut down for several days after a failure in the on-board computer. © NASA /Smithsonian Institution / Lockheed Corporation

Hubble: back to normal after gyroscope failure

Editorial article published on 10/24/2018

At NASA a ad that Hubble became operational again on Monday, October 22, and that it would soon resume its normal scientific activities. Everyone’s favorite space telescope had been closed since October 5 following a failure of gyroscope, a necessary instrument to guide you. The gyroscope was rebooted and repaired by NASA between October 16 and 19. Everything seems to return to normal, but the engineers will still put it through a series of tests before giving the fire green when observations are resumed.

The rotational speeds produced by the backup gyro have been reduced and are now within a normal range. Additional tests will be conducted to ensure that Hubble can return to science operations with this gyro. For more information: https://t.co/lT2Wpycqw2 – Hubble (@NASAHubble) Oct 22, 2018

Hubble stopped after one of its gyroscopes failed

Posted on 09/10/2018

The hubble space telescope It is stopped due to a failure of one of its gyros that occurred last Friday. These instruments allow you to orient yourself well and are essential for making accurate observations. Following the blackout, NASA placed Hubble in safe mode (” Safe Mode “) and stopped all observations while investigating.

The Hubble team is working to restart science after Hubble went into safe mode due to the failure of 1 of 3 gyroscopes. Analysis and testing is underway on the backup gyro to determine why it is not performing as expected. For more information: https://t.co/T72X4pjLPI – Hubble (@NASAHubble) Oct 8, 2018

Hubble he is quite familiar with gyroscope problems. In 2009, astronauts replaced its six gyros during a maintenance mission. Half are now unusable, two are working properly, and the last, the one Hubble just lost, had been showing end-of-life signs for a year. Therefore, the failure was not a surprise. The space telescope normally uses three gyroscopes, but you could continue your activities with one or two. The Pot indicates that this would have a relatively small impact on the quality of the observations, but would give you more limited coverage of the sky.