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| Source: ioncmaste.ca |
The most basic instrument on the aging Hubble Space Telescope went silent over the weekend, ceasing to provide stunning images of distant galaxies and newborn stars. Engineers are investigating the reason behind this failure.
Project directors predict that Hubble’s advanced survey camera will remain inactive at least until the end of this month, though they hope it will ultimately be restored. In the meantime, two other cameras are functioning normally.
“I believe we have pinpointed the source of the malfunction,” said Edward Ruitberg, the program’s deputy director. If the engineers’ assessments of the issue are accurate, the problem will be resolved by activating a backup power system. It is believed that a circuit in the old system has failed.
This backup power system was tested before Hubble was launched into orbit in 1990 but has not been activated since then.
Hubble is in need of new batteries for operation and new gyroscopes to help it stabilize and aim at specific areas of the sky. Without maintenance, its operational efficiency could decline by 2007 or 2008.
NASA has indicated that another repair mission could help Hubble continue functioning after 2010. Ultimately, this observatory will be brought back to Earth.
In another development, NASA plans to launch the Space Shuttle Discovery on July 1.
T. An
