Hubble Telescope Broken: Why Did It Have to be Repaired? Is Its End Near?

The Hubble Telescope, which has been aiding astronomers and researchers on phenomena in cosmic space since its deployment in April 1990, has crashed. Experts are now questioning whether the end of the telescope's era is near or whether any repairs can be made.

What is the Hubble Telescope?

According to NASA, the Hubble Telescope was lifted from the planet during the Discovery mission. Released into the vast unknown, Hubble has reshaped many of our perceptions of space and uncovered unique phenomena across space that were, at the time, only alive in the imagination of scientists.

Hubble is tasked with taking high-definition pictures of celestial objects such as stars, galaxies, and planets. It has made over a million observations, including detailed images of births and deaths of stars in galaxies billions of light-years away. As the telescope orbits the Earth, a Fine Guidance Sensor is used to aim it and lock it onto stars.

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What Crashed the Hubble Telescope? And What are Experts Doing About it?

NASA has said that it will expand its efforts and investigate the Hubble Space Telescope's payload computer issue that first began on June 13, which has resulted in the suspension of several science observations. The agency has stated that in parallel with its investigations, they are preparing and testing additional procedures to turn on backup hardware aboard the spacecraft.

NASA reiterates that the telescope itself and other science instruments remain in good condition and safe configurations.

The source of the commotion lies in the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit, where the payload computer can be found. Experts suspect that some hardware pieces on Hubble's SIC&DH are to blame for the computer crash reports the DailyMail UK.

A team is currently scrubbing the Command Unit/ Science Data Formatter that sends formats of commands and data to the spacecraft. They are looking at the power regulator located within the Power Control Unit that is designed to ensure a smooth voltage supply to the payload computer. If one of the systems is determined to be the cause, the team must successfully complete a complex procedure to switch to the backup hardware units.

The procedure is riskier than those that team has executed in the previous week that involved a switch to the backup payload computer hardware and memory. To switch to the backup power regulator, several other hardware boxes aboard the craft must also be switched since they are connected to Hubble's SIC&DH unit.

Over the new week or more, the team will review and update all operation procedures, commands, and related items to perform the switch to the Hubble's backup hardware.

This type of procedure was once performed by the team in 2008 that allowed Hubble to continue its science operations after a CU/SFD module failed. Meanwhile, a servicing mission in 2009 replaced the entirety of the SIC&DH units, including a casualty CU/SDF module, with the currently in use SIC&DH.