The Hubble Space Telescope is broken, NASA has tried to fix it 3 times but failed

NASA is working to save its space telescope, Hubble, after a mysterious computer glitch sent it offline last week.

Hubble was launched into space in 1990 and immediately revolutionized when it began to take detailed pictures of the universe. This Earth-orbiting observatory has captured the birth and death of stars, discovered new moons around Pluto, and tracked two interstellar objects as they unfolded. runs through our solar system. It has allowed astronomers to calculate the age and expansion of the universe. It has also detected galaxies more than 13.4 billion light-years away, thus capturing light from the early years of the universe.

This image was created using 16 years of Hubble data – 7,500 photos – to capture some 265,000 galaxies.

But the telescope’s central computer suddenly stopped working on June 13. That computer, built in the 1980s, was like Hubble’s brain. It controls and monitors all the scientific instruments aboard this spacecraft. So NASA engineers rushed to analyze data from the telescope to pinpoint the problem.

But, they still haven’t figured out why the computer paused. NASA attempted to restart it on June 14. Early data indicated that the problem might have stemmed from a degraded computer memory module, so the Hubble team tried switching to one of three redundant modules on the telescope. But the command to start the new module is also not working.

On Thursday, June 17, the Hubble team attempted to bring both the current module and the backup online. Both attempts failed.

So now the Hubble operations team “will run tests and gather more information about the system to further isolate the problem,” NASA said in an update on Friday, June 18.

The Hubble Space Telescope was deployed on April 25, 1990 from the space shuttle Discovery.

Meanwhile, Hubble’s science tools are still in “safe mode” – like hibernation on a computer. NASA says they are all in good condition, like the telescopes themselves.

Hubble has a second computer that it can switch to, should NASA be unable to restore the current computer.

Hubble has been fixed and upgraded for the past 30 years

This isn’t the first time Hubble has had problems or needs an upgrade – not even the first time this year. In March, a software bug occurred. But within a week, NASA fixed the problem and brought the telescope back online.

Hubble was the first telescope designed to serve in orbit. Astronauts have visited the observatory to fix problems or replace old parts on five occasions. The last such Hubble maintenance mission, performed in 2009, repaired two malfunctioning instruments and provided the telescope with a new computer system, new batteries, new insulation, a camera. new and a spectrometer.

During the first maintenance mission for the Hubble Space Telescope, the astronauts installed a set of specialized lenses to correct its faulty main mirror.

By replacing or upgrading old parts in this way, the astronauts gave Hubble new capabilities throughout its life. That is why the telescope is still conducting scientific activities 30 years after its launch. However, it is unlikely that NASA will send an astronaut to solve the current problem because the backup computer will be able to fix the problem.

NASA also plans to launch a more sophisticated space telescope into orbit in November this year. The new observatory, called the James Webb Space Telescope, will have a field of view about 15 times larger than Hubble’s.

While it’s not intended to replace Hubble, the old space telescope can’t last forever. During the 2009 mission, the astronauts also installed an instrument that could propel Hubble into Earth’s atmosphere when it came to a point of decommissioning. As it falls towards Earth, the friction will heat the observatory until it ignites. It’s unclear when that might be deemed necessary.

Refer to BI