The legend is back! NASA revived the Hubble Telescope

NASA engineers repaired the Hubble Space Telescope from Earth, which stopped working five weeks ago. The device, which significantly contributed to the knowledge of the universe, again observes the universe and sends its images to Earth.

“Hubble is an icon that has given us incredible insights into space for three decades,” he said Press Release NASA Space Agency Director Bill Nelson. “I am proud of the team of people who take care of him. Thanks to their dedication, the telescope can continue its legacy and expand our horizons, “said Nelson.

The Hubble Space Telescope (Hubble Space Telescope) has been in Earth orbit since 1990, when it was launched by the Discovery space shuttle. He has a lot of extraordinary discoveries to his credit. He was able to capture the most distant objects in space. For example, he contributed to knowledge about the expansion of the universe, the evolution of galaxies, and explored the atmospheres of distant planets outside the solar system.

The telescope orbits the Earth at an altitude of 569 kilometers. On Earth, it sends sharp images of space unaffected by the Earth’s atmosphere. (You can see some of them in the photo gallery.)

The telescope went into emergency mode on June 13 – after one of the computers from the 1980s, which controls scientific instruments and which is the brain coordinating scientific instruments, failed.

The fault was in the unit that formatted the data and powered some systems.

Backup computer started

Restarting the computer did not work, so the technicians decided to revive the backup memory module. At first they didn’t succeed, but on June 16, the backup computer jumped in.

NASA anticipates that the Hubble Space Telescope will be operational for several more years, although it is already overdue. According to the original plans, NASA was to end its operation after 15 years.

Diagram of the Hubble Telescope and its equipment source:
Profimedia

Eventually, however, Hubble’s orbit activity is likely to intersect with James Webb’s mission, which NASA plans to launch into space later this year.

Heart up to the throat

The facility is being prepared by NASA in collaboration with the European Space Agency and the Canadian Space Agency. It is to be delivered to its destination by the Ariane 5 rocket. The launch is scheduled for October 2021.

It will be a risky mission. The telescope’s mirror and solar panels must develop as far as the solar orbit behind the Moon, where the telescope will fly. Everything has to click one hundred percent, there will be little chance of repair if something goes wrong.

“When James Webb goes upstairs, we’ll have a heart in our throats, everything has to go,” Richard Ellis of the University of London, who was involved in the preparation of the facility, told the Guardian.

The Hubble Space Telescope during its launch into orbit on April 25, 1990 from the Discovery space shuttle. | zdroj: Credit – NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation

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