Hubble Just Shut Down and Is Fighting for Its Survival

No doubt many others along with myself will regret hearing of the possible irrecoverable failure of Hubble as over the years Hubble has opened our eyes to the universe as no other telescope has been able to do. Yes some of the new scopes are awesome but Hubble seemed to be the leader of grabbing the headlines IMO..

All good things must come to an end.

And, while it's not quite finished, the Hubble Space Telescope has experienced serious computer issues, forcing all astronomical activities to shut down, according to a NASA announcement shared in a blog post. The orbital observatory has remained in idle mode since Sunday, when a computer from the 1980s that controls all science instruments automatically shut down, potentially due to a faulty memory board.

This is the latest in an increasingly frequent series of minor and major failures on the aging telescope, which has vastly expanded our grasp of the universe since it was launched in 1990.

Flight controllers flew into action on Sunday at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Maryland, in a collective attempt to restart the computer, but when they tried on Monday, Hubble shut down again. As of writing, the team is trying to switch the telescope's computer to a backup memory board. If these efforts prove successful, the orbital observatory will undergo tests for a full day before NASA attempts to restart its science instruments, and observations of the universe can continue.
Hubble's defunct memory board was last serviced in 2009

interestingengineering.com...

Aw, sad news definitely …..Rip Hubble … you were a true trail blazer , and huge part of my scientific childhood . Rest easy buddy !

a reply to: 727Sky

Damn.

It has been the best, without equal, for many years. I know new scopes are planned, but as an optical telescope, it allowed us to see further than anything before.

Edwin's namesake was a good little worker and continually pushed the best minds to further limits.

a reply to: 727Sky

Although the problem is of concern it doesn't seem to be a critical issue and NASA can switch to another onboard computer should they need to.

The payload computer is a NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) system built in the 1980s that is located on the Science Instrument Command and Data Handling unit. The computer’s purpose is to control and coordinate the science instruments and monitor them for health and safety purposes.

It is fully redundant in that a second computer, along with its associated hardware, exists on orbit that can be switched over to in the event of a problem. Both computers can access and use any of four independent memory modules, which each contain 64K of Complementary Metal-Oxide Semiconductor (CMOS) memory. The payload computer uses only one memory module operationally at a time, with the other three serving as backups.
www.nasa.gov...

There's still life in the old girl yet.

Will it come down as a blue star? Asking for a Hopi friend...

a reply to: gortex

But it appears they have not yet been able to successfully complete that switch over to the backup system.

When the operations team attempted to switch to a back-up memory module, however, the command to initiate the backup module failed to complete. Another attempt was conducted on both modules Thursday evening to obtain more diagnostic information while again trying to bring those memory modules online. However, those attempts were not successful.

www.nasa.gov...

a reply to: BrokenCircles

As far as I'm aware that's still a problem with the NSSC-1 payload computer , if they can't get it corrected they can still switch to the other computer.

knowing it lasted this long is pretty damn amazing in and of itself. I hate to see it end, but things have to wear out eventually.

I remember the NRO found they had 2 Hubble class telescopes sitting in a warehouse that they had forgotten about.

This was like 10 - 15 years ago, and they gave one to NASA.

The Hubble Space telescope presented an opportunity to make Galilean-like leaps in our understanding of the universe. I majored in Astronomy/Physics at the University of Wisconsin (Madison), graduating in 1991. The telescope was ALL the buzz while I was there. The Physics building known as Sterling Hall had two telescopes on its roof - to which I had the key - and many date nights (along with Point beer) were spent gazing at the stars.

When it was discovered that the perfect mirror had a flaw everybody was incredulous. I had a professor say during my freshman year that the primary mirror was SO perfect, it would only deviate 1cm if it were blown up to the scale of the United States. I believed it. Here's a link to an original article that describes that flaw. It provides for an interesting, though brief, read.

www.newscientist.com...

Whenever I contemplate the vastness of the universe, there's one Hubble shot that comes to mind, of countless galaxies floating in the blackness, bright stars in the foreground. I will try to locate it & post for posterity!

Here it is:

a reply to: 727Sky

If the World were to lose Hubble it would be a truly sad day indeed. However, a far darker milestone has already passed, and this occurred on July 21, 2011 with the touchdown of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the final mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program.

Hubble would have never been if it were not for the Space Shuttle program.

ETA - And now, the World has no way to go service the HST when it so dearly needs it.

originally posted by: FlyInTheOintment
Whenever I contemplate the vastness of the universe, there's one Hubble shot that comes to mind, of countless galaxies floating in the blackness, bright stars in the foreground. I will try to locate it & post for posterity!

Here it is:

Love that pic of the deep field scan, hell I used to have a version as my desktop pic for years. Use to sit there and be blown away by just trying to wrap my brain around how small and insignificant earth and its whole existence really is.

I don't suppose a maintenance trip by the "Space Dragon" capsule is possible, wasn't that something only the Space Shuttle was suited for?

originally posted by: Flyingclaydisk
a reply to: 727Sky

If the World were to lose Hubble it would be a truly sad day indeed. However, a far darker milestone has already passed, and this occurred on July 21, 2011 with the touchdown of the Space Shuttle Atlantis on the final mission of the NASA Space Shuttle program.

Hubble would have never been if it were not for the Space Shuttle program.

ETA - And now, the World has no way to go service the HST when it so dearly needs it.

Agreed. I am baffled as to how we are in 2021 and we have no re-usable, space plane vehicle system to fulfill mission needs that the shuttles offered. We are still using propulsion systems first developed 70-80 years ago to leave Earth's atmosphere. Something about this doesn't add up to me.

All the more reason to cheer on the JWST and it's launch date.

Hubble was never going to last forever. But it did make quite the attempt to reach into eternity.

a reply to: 727Sky
Hubble has been like the cat with 9 lives. I remember seeing threads over the past 10 years about its imminent demise.

a reply to: 727Sky

you know if they still flew the space shuttle they could go on a service call and fix it again.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

damn beat again.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

ETA - And now, the World has no way to go service the HST when it so dearly needs it.

There comes a time when you have to question the value of servicing 30 year old technology , with James Webb looking to come on stream next year it makes sense to leave Hubble as it is , this glitch is fixable from Earth but the next one may not be.

I think Hubble still has a few years left and its contribution to science is unquestioned but it's time for the next generation to take centre stage.

First arecibo, now huble...

Could it be that funds are rerouted to modern projects?

heard talks about using craters on the moon.