The Hubble Space Telescope is in ‘safe mode’ after its second closure in 2021: Digital photography review

Main image credit: NASA

American Astronomers want a new space-based telescope to search for exoplanets, and the project may not come anytime soon. NS Of the Hubble Space Telescope Scientific activities are paused for for the second time this year. After an extended offline period this summer, Hubble is in ‘Safe Mode’ when NASA scientists investigated what was wrong with the telescope.

NASA writes, ‘NASA is continuing to work to resolve an issue that caused scientific operations on the Hubble Space Telescope to be suspended. Scientific instruments entered safe mode configuration on October 25 after detecting the loss of a specific data sync message. ‘ The Hubble team is working to isolate the problem on the circuitry in the Controller hardware, part of Science Instrument’s Command and Data Processing. Device Control generates synchronization messages for built-in devices.

Hubble has assigned a side seat to a supernova in the earliest stages of an outburst, giving astronomers an unprecedented look at the first moments of a star’s spectacular death. star: https://t.co/wTho0yQUb1 pic.twitter.com/5uSG7dTjrT

– Hubble Space Telescope (@HubbleTelescope) October 21, 2021

In addition to analyzing the devices, the team is also working to find a solution to the problem, including possible ways to change the device’s flight software to check for lost messages and make up for them. is not required to go into safe mode. Possible alternatives will be tested using a ground simulator first.

‘Over the weekend of October 30, the team prepared to turn on parts of the Near Infrared Camera and Multi-Object Spectrometer (NICMOS) instrument to collect data on the matter, allowing the team to determine determine the frequency of this occurrence,” NASA wrote. ‘Installed in 1997, NICMOS has been dormant since 2010, when Wide Field Camera 3 started operating. NICMOS allows the team to use a tool to gather information about these lost messages while keeping active tools off as a safety precaution. Since NICMOS was restored on November 1, no additional sync messages have been lost. ‘

Hopefully the Hubble team can identify and resolve the issue. When the Hubble Space Telescope crashed earlier this year, it was out of service for a month. Although the problem was eventually resolved, it may have marked the end of the Hubble Space Telescope.

The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, has been an important research tool for astronomers and astrophysicists. The telescope has successfully completed its primary mission and has been serviced in orbit by astronauts five times, including its most recent maintenance mission (STS-125) in May 2009. Another space service mission seems highly unlikely, as NASA no longer uses the space shuttle needed for service missions. NASA will continue to work remotely to fix Hubble.

On November 5, the Hubble Space Telescope account tweeted that the NASA team investigating the matter hopes to turn one of the telescope’s instruments back on for science operations within the next week. However, it is still unclear when the telescope will be fully operational. We expect it to be out soon as the Hubble Space Telescope captures some amazing photos of our universe.