Holy cow, how did I miss this? On Saturday, engineers sent commands to the Wide Field/Planetary Camera 2 (Hubble’s main camera since the Advanced Camera for Surveys suffered a short a while back) to wake it up:
Additional commanding allowed engineers on the ground to assess the instrument’s state of health and verify the contents of the camera’s microprocessor memory. All systems are poised to begin acquiring science data later today.
The first observations made will be for data calibration purposes. The team at the Space Telescope Science Institute, which manages Hubble science, expects to release an image late next week.
I’m glad I spotted this on Emily’s blog. Sadly, there’s no RSS feed on that page from NASA (sigh). But I’ll try to stay on top of this; I imagine NASA will send out a press notice when the new images are released.
We’re not all the way home yet — the Shuttle still needs to get up there and place out a lot of equipment, including installing a backup for the backup that’s now being used to control the cameras. Still…
Yay! Congrats to the engineers at Goddard Space Flight Center and NASA!
October 27th, 2008 at 6:14 pm
That’s great news! Hubble has always been a favorite of mine. Even though the JWST promises to be better, Hubble will always have the proverbial special place in my heart.
October 27th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
Darnit, Phil. I saw a headline about this, but then didn’t read it because I knew I’d get a more interesting version of the story over here. Took ya long enough!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:04 pm
I saw that Endeavour was moved from one pad to another in preparation for launch. I guess that means they figure they have enough turn around time to have a back-up for the TBD Atlantis mission to Hubble. Of Course Discovery has the Feb mission to the ISS… Eep, all this juggling schedules makes me nervous!
October 27th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
Excellent!
It still really bugs me that we’re going to have a transit gap with the decommissioning of the shuttle. *Sigh*
Now if only I could get a team of NASA engineers to fix my cell phone camera.
October 27th, 2008 at 7:39 pm
Nice! Did they give her a nice B slap?
October 27th, 2008 at 7:45 pm
HAHAHA, JUTU! You are nearly as funny as… something that’s really not funny.
Get over it. Sheesh.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:05 pm
Yabbity yeah PHIL! Dance my shizzle!
I’m gettin’ o’ver it sheesh….
slap ‘er down Phil, spank that nizzle!
(to anybody that cares, Phil’s and my comments – which are utterly stupid right here-carry over from earlier threads. I took a great exception to his careless use of the phrase “smack down” regarding a woman. I don’t think women should be “smacked down” (or refered to in that way), I don’t find it funny, I don’t find it arguable, I find it to be just plain offensively pig face b0ne headed. Yeah, I”ll get scorched by the Phil head’s. Just please read the earlier posts before you do.
You’re right Phil. I’m not funny. You are.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:11 pm
JUTU, the irony here is that in commenting on a post I wrote about my commenting policy — “don’t be a jerk” — you are violating that policy.
If you cannot understand the phrase “slap down” or “smackdown”, then go find someplace to be by yourself, please. I accept different viewpoints, but you are over the line here and I tire of repeating myself to someone who won’t listen. Go away.
October 27th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
After all the snark and boojum hunting of several recent threads, I find I have nothing to improve upon this: I’m glad to hear that the Hubble and NASA are on speaking terms again.
Here’s to a successful repair mission soon.
John B. Sandlin
October 27th, 2008 at 8:32 pm
Phil,
After this last shuttle mission, how much longer could Hubble last?
October 27th, 2008 at 9:00 pm
JUTU, you certainly lose all points for geek credibility. For example a “smackdown” is something like this. “Galactica V Enterprise. Discuss”.
But this comment of mine will look all quaint and isolated when the context has been deleted. KBAITHX.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:05 pm
OKAY…now for something COMPLETELY different…YAY HUBBLE! I hope they are able to fix it from the ground. wOOt for NASA on this one
October 27th, 2008 at 9:07 pm
Actually when they replace the backup will they switch it over to the new backup? I know in the past they couldn’t test the backup in case something went wrong but now they know the backup works does it remain the primary or does it go back to being the backup?
October 27th, 2008 at 9:08 pm
@JUTU, yawn.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:11 pm
Can anyone see the strawman, I can see the strawman.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:17 pm
Wow, and I thought I posted inane comments. I hand my crown of inanity to JUTU. Although, I do think JUTU demonstrated rudeness, incivility, and cluelessness totally by themselves.
And, um, Go Hubble!
October 27th, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Strawman? Maybe, but I can see the insufferable troll playing the persecution complex card.
Darn. *kicks self in behind*
Must not allow oneself to reply to trolls.
*turns back and whistles a happy tune*
October 27th, 2008 at 9:25 pm
Eek. I don’t mean you’re the troll Davidlpf.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:27 pm
@Shane
Just so they don’t have to fight with bugs in the system…I hope they keep it primary. HOWEVER when the new unit gets installed they should do a full run to work out the bugs just in case…YAY…another 10-20 years of Hubble images
October 27th, 2008 at 9:31 pm
Take this with the intended degree of respect, but yes, I think your continued insistence, including even crossing threads, that Phil is being offensive and/or sexist with the term “Slap Down” crosses the line.
Here’s a definition from the web for you:
slap someone/something down
to refuse to accept someone’s plan or idea. The judge slapped down every objection raised by the defense attorney. They applied for a permit and the building department slapped them down. (http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/slap+down)
This definition does not include any reference to violence or discrimination.
Some synonyms for slap down:
v.
rebuke, reprimand, worst; see defeat 1, hush 1, quiet 2.
(http://www.yourdictionary.com/slap-down)
No references to violence, once again.
John B. Sandlinl
October 27th, 2008 at 9:32 pm
Larian LeQuella, just had a peek at your webpage… talk about geek credibility. You win.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:34 pm
oops – my post with the definitions of slap down is directed toward JUTU.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
No problem shane I had feeling who you were talking about.
October 27th, 2008 at 9:36 pm
Daniel,
I was going to say, another 10-20 years of Hubble images? I thought that the orbit would have decayed well before then? Then I looked up STS-125. Looks like they’re going to boost her to a higher orbit. Cool. Decades of images it shall be. Fingers crossed.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:25 pm
You know, while I can’t believe anyone would be offended by “smack down” in reference to comment rebuttals, I do remember a time where someone was severely offended by being accused of “trolling” as it was too close to “troll” for them. He was sincerely offended no matter how much we explained the background and reasoning behind the terms.
So, eh, I dunno….is it worth using a different term to avoid the small chance that someone will actually be offended? Couldn’t tell ya.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:33 pm
The original offensive comment was “slap down”. The troll then somehow got hold of and had a problem with “smack down” too. Either way both terms are innocuous especially in the context they were originally used. Everything offends somebody eventually. I’m offended by attempts to sanitise language.
October 27th, 2008 at 10:37 pm
@shane,
Man, I know it sounds ridiculous, and I don’t know if Phil has to take a different approach now that his blog is hosted at Discover, but I just remember the sincerity in reading how this individual was offended. He wasn’t a JUTU troublemaker either, so I couldn’t write him off as easily.
…but I still use the word “troll” when needed.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:10 am
“Galactica V Enterprise. Discuss”
Nothing to discuss, people only die in few numbers in Star Trek and the Engineers of Enterprise can always just “reroute technobable to technobable and charge the technobable”.
October 28th, 2008 at 12:32 am
@ Thomas Siefert
Yeah, and it took “Scotty” and a team of engineers at least 30 minutes’ to get the Warp Engines going, but “Boy Wonder” Wesley always managed to save the Enterprise-D virtually single handed!
October 28th, 2008 at 4:41 am
The Hubble telescope exemplifies what human beings are capable of when they set their minds to something – a truly extraordinary effort. The images it produces give the everyday layman (such as myself) a view of the universe, which would have been inconceivable before. Absolutely wonderful.
October 28th, 2008 at 6:15 am
Does this mean they were able to flip the record over to Side B? Hooray!
October 28th, 2008 at 6:28 am
@shane; Thanks (I think).
I’m not here to win; and as far as geek credibility, I think I’m a little old for winning (although I can ride the 42 wave for a little while longer).
Thomas, you are right, BSG all the way!
I am wondering, with all the delays in the shuttle launch schedule due to this failure, will that possibly extend the shuttle service life? There are still missions slated for the fleet that really can’t be slapped on an Atlas. And what about rolling effects on other space based telescopes?
October 28th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Moving the childish troll aside so the adults can resume talking…
I kept checking all weekend to see if new updates on HST’s condition had been posted and ran across the tersely worded Update #7 and posted about it on Saturday. But, there wasn’t much more to it than “it’s coming back folk and we’re going to start science work again real soon now so look for a picture next week sometime”… which I posted.
Yes, HST’s got a place in my heart and always will. It helped get me through grad school and eventually I wrote a book about HST science… got to know the thing inside and out, although not to the level of some of the engineers I got to know, who are/were marvelous in their ability to make the telescope dance the way it need to dance.
So, waiting anxiously for the next picture.
October 28th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Great news! I knew Hubble would have it in her to keep going!
Hopefully the next Shuttle mission up there will go off without a hitch. World class job NASA!
October 28th, 2008 at 11:00 am
Question: Referring to your post of 9/29/08, Side B is up and running?
October 29th, 2008 at 8:19 am
Once again, HST lives. That’s fantastic news, because this one instrument has possibly made more discoveries than any other one single instrument in human history. Seriously — name a single tool that’s done as much. If HST isn’t on the top, it is on a very short and very exclusive list.
Anyway, I had the pleasure of seeing a fully stacked and darn-near launch-ready Atlantis last week as she rolled to storage in the VAB, where patiently, she waits. Even though the Shuttle system is the Flying Compromise, is early 70’s tech and was the Booby Prize instead of a Mars effort it is still a beautiful system up close and personal. Somehow I doubt The Stick (Ares-I) will be as interesting from a visual standpoint. I do hold out hope for Ares-V, if it is ever built.
Finally, a challenge to Dawkins and all of the other “human flight is a waste of time” crew. Please ’splain to us how a robot could fly up and repair Hubble cheaper and as effectively.
October 29th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Phil, it’s easy enough to create a feed for a site you’re interested in. Check out these resources: http://www.masternewmedia.org/news/2006/03/09/how_to_create_a_rss.htm
October 29th, 2008 at 3:27 pm
@Charles Boyer
I believe you are correct here. If you keep your eyes on all the space science blogs and websites, like Space.com, New Scientist, ScienceNOW, Alan Boyle’s Cosmic Log, Science News, Universe Today, not to mention here, it’s almost hard to go a week without some find that is related to the telescope. Spitzer also is producing a lot of news, BTW.
What’s even better about Hubble is even when it was “down” it was still working. Without the cameras it can still do astrometry using the guidance system. Usually these projects are done when the telescope is moving from one target to another, but now they’ve had weeks of dedicated measurements. Nothing is ever wasted.
October 30th, 2008 at 10:02 am
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