For more than 30 years, NASA’s iconic Hubble Space Telescope has been searching the universe for ancient galaxies and dazzling nebulae. The wear and tear of traveling through low Earth orbit is starting to show on the aging telescope, forcing it to use one of its three remaining gyroscopes to determine its orientation.
A series of problems with one of the Hubble Space Telescope’s three gyroscopes caused The telescope has suspended its science operations multiple times, the space agency announced on Tuesday. “We believe this is the best way we can support Hubble science in this decade and the next,” Mark Clapin, director of NASA’s astrophysics division, said in a news release. “Single gyroscope mode actually allows Hubble to resume consistent science operations, and it allows us to keep the other gyroscope working… for future use.”
Gyroscopes are used to determine the direction the telescope is pointing and maintain its direction. Hubble originally carried six gyroscopes, but only three are still operational today. The telescope only needs one to operate, but it uses three simultaneously for greater efficiency.
“While Hubble can continue scientific operations in single-gyro mode, there are some limitations compared to our normal three-gyro setup,” Hubble program manager Patrick Kraus said in the briefing. Kraus Si said that if a gyroscope is used, the telescope will need more time to move from one target attitude to the next and be able to lock on the new target, which will lead to reduced efficiency. In terms of the number of scientific observations scheduled per week, the team expects the number of observations to decrease by 12% (currently 85 per week).
Ongoing problems with Hubble’s gyroscope have caused the telescope to automatically enter safe mode four times in a row. Most recently, Hubble went into safe mode on May 24 after one of its three gyroscopes gave erroneous telemetry readings. The telescope did not resume operations until April 29, recovering from another failure. Earlier in November 2023, one of the gyroscopes returned similarly odd readings, Tips for Harper’s safe mode first. The telescope resumed operation the next day, but again went into safe mode.
Despite its downgraded status, NASA dismisses Proposal to lift Haber to initial heights 373 miles (600 km), allowing it to run for a few more years. The proposal, put forward by billionaire astronaut Jared Isaacman, suggests launching astronauts aboard SpaceX’s Crew Dragon spacecraft. “We are not planning to re-boost at this time,” Klepin said. “Our assessment raises a number of considerations, including potential risks such as material damage, fire and some technical challenges.”
“While renewed push is an option for the future, we believe we need to do some additional work to determine whether the long-term scientific returns will outweigh the short-term scientific returns,” he added.
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