NASA HQ has approved taking the next step on getting Hubble back up to speed. Engineers are trying to get a backup system started to take over for a system that failed earlier. What failed was the hardware that controls the science instruments, so without this Hubble is seriously crippled. However, when trying to get everything back online, there were a couple of problems that made engineers suspend the repair.
First, the Advanced Camera for Surveys suspended when a software test violated a safety protocol. There was no actual safety issue, though! Basically, the software had been changed to support the upcoming servicing mission, and the test wound up stepping on some of the new code. This issue has been resolved.
Second, the entire science payload suspended due to "an electrical event", which tripped the hardware reset. This too was not a big deal, but the hardware is programmed to shut down in such an event so humans can take a look and see what happened. This too has been resolved.
So the good news is, while a few days were lost, engineers are ready to get Hubble back on its feet, so to speak. They’re hoping to have it up and running by this weekend!
Hopefully we’ll know more by tomorrow or Saturday. I’ll post more when I find out.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:12 pm
Teh Awesome.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:16 pm
Best of luck to the Hubble Team! Getting this wonderful telescope back in a healthy condition will be great news.
That said, even though I am an Embedded Software Engineer and have a pretty good understanding (in principle) of the details involved, it always amazes me when NASA, JPL, Etc does these kinds of remote maintenance tasks.
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:35 pm
Is there any reason why NASA didn’t schedule intermittent tests of the backup equipment throughout Hubble’s lifespan instead of waiting until the primary system broke before trying the backups for the first time?
October 23rd, 2008 at 2:47 pm
[...] BA Blog: Hubble is getting better Quote: [...]
October 23rd, 2008 at 3:58 pm
This is pretty basic, but exactly what sort of instruments are the science instruments? And don’t say “science ones”! Like, magnetometers, electric field meters?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:33 pm
If my memory serves me, Hubble was the first space telescope.
How many scopes are now in space?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:49 pm
@JSW:
I’m nowhere near an expert, but I would imagine that powering up the backup system would require powering down the primary system. What happens if you shut down Side A, find out that Side B is toast, then can’t power Side A back up?
October 23rd, 2008 at 4:59 pm
Actually, there have been many telescopes in space before Hubble. It’s not even the first optical ‘scope. Look up OAO.
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:02 pm
If it stays broken, can we get more astronometry measurements?
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:34 pm
Good news!
And, HST is not the first scope of its size to be orbited… look up Keyhole Satellites
October 23rd, 2008 at 5:40 pm
@ Crux:
The current science instruments include:
ACS (Advanced Camera for Surveys) – Currently “dead” except for its infrequently-used “Solar Blind Channel” UV photometer, and slated for repair on the final HST servicing mission (SM4)
FGS (Fine Guidance Sensors) – Primarily used for maintaining the telescope’s pointing, but also used for astrometry (high-precision star position measurements)
NICMOS (Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrograph) – Currently operational
STIS (Space Telescope Imaging Spectrograph) – Currently “dead” and awaiting repair in SM4
WFPC2 (Wide-Field/Planetary Camera 2) – Currently operational, occupies the “sweet spot” at the center of Hubble’s field of view. To be replaced by WFPC3 on SM4.
COSTAR (Corrective Optics Space Telescope Axial Replacement) – Not a science instrument per se, this is the device that contains mirrors used to correct for HST’s flawed primary mirror figure. Since it no longer needed (all other science instruments on board have their own internal corrective optics), it will be replaced by the COS (Cosmic Origins Spectrograph) on SM4.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:20 pm
Thanks Chris! I’d heard of all of those, but didn’t realize they were the ‘science instruments’.
October 23rd, 2008 at 7:59 pm
@Chris
One correction to that list — NICMOS is currently out of service, due to its cryogen circulation pump having failed to restart about a month ago (entirely unrelated to the current problems with the SI C&DH). However, the problem was (probably) resolved by letting NICMOS warm up to ambient, and so a restart of the cryogen system may well happen in the near future.
October 23rd, 2008 at 8:41 pm
[...] Phil Plait, of Bad Astronomy Blog gives us our first report on HST since it “safed” on Friday. [...]
October 24th, 2008 at 5:37 pm
I can just imagine the heartbreak that little unscheduled downtimes like this must cause.
I don’t know how time on the Hubble Space Telescope is apportioned out, but I could image that there was some astro graduate student, say, 2 years ago, who became *ecstatic* when she learned that her Dissertation project had been chosen for an HST experiment. The time was booked, the images the HST had to take were all chosen and progammed in, she crossed their fingers … and then, this software glitch comes along and takes the HST out of commission for a few days.
By the time the glitch is fixed, her reserved time-slot on the HST will be over with, and her lifetime opportunity will be lost.
December 4th, 2008 at 4:34 pm
[...] in September, right before a Shuttle was due to launch to service Hubble, a major hardware failure on Hubble forced NASA to delay the flight. NASA announced today that the delay be until May 12, 2009. On that [...]