For nearly
two weeks now, NASA has been attempting to bring the Hubble Space Telescope
back online after it mysteriously stopped working on June 13.
But fixing
the 31-year-old telescope just got a lot more complicated.
After a
series of tests this week, researchers discovered that the Hubble’s backup
payload computer — the computer they planned to switch to in case their
attempts to fix the telescope failed — was also glitching, according to Insider.
The backup
payload computer was turned on “for the first time in space,” since astronauts
installed it in 2009, NASA said in a blog update. When it did, the agency found
that the backup computer was experiencing the same error as the primary computer.
This means
that neither the primary or backup payload hardware is the source of Hubble’s
problems. Rather, it might be hardware in separate modules such as the
regulator that powers the computers, or a data formatter that is causing
issues.
“Since it is highly unlikely that all individual hardware elements have a problem, the team is now looking at other hardware as the possible culprit,” NASA said in the update.
Since
launching into orbit in 1990, the iconic telescope has been responsible for
some of the most groundbreaking and captivating discoveries in modern
astronomical history including discovering new moons around Pluto, allowing
researchers to calculate the age of the universe, and showing astronomers
images of galaxies that formed after the Big Bang.
So the loss
of the Hubble Space Telescope would be the end of an era for modern space
exploration and science as we know it, not unlike the loss of Da Vinci or a
Picasso was to the art world.
If this does
signal the end of the Hubble, NASA will use a system installed in 2009 to guide
it back to Earth’s atmosphere where it’ll burn up on re-entry — giving the
telescope one last opportunity to allow us all to look up at it in wonder.
READ MORE:
Even the Hubble Space Telescope’s backup computer is glitching now — raisingnew questions about what’s gone wrong [Insider]
Awww
ReplyDeletewell thanks for all the awesome images
sad to hear it isn't fixable
Nasa and team should be proud of the achievements over a three decade span