NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope has been capturing and relaying beautiful shots of our universe to its depth. However, on June 13th, the telescope broke down citing some issues with the computer system. It took about a month and more than 50 researchers to find out the issue and fix it. Turns out, the Hubble Space Telescope is already working and sent two rare images for us to glance at.
As it goes, Hubble’s payload computer switched to safe mode after it failed to communicate with the main computer on June 13th. The problem was dire as Hubble cannot operate without a fix. Earlier, it was believed that a simple memory module swap would bring back Hubble to its original state but it didn’t.
A team of more than 50 researchers including retired Hubble engineers, some of which helped build Hubble back in the 1980s, were called for assistance along with the current team that handles Hubble’s operations. Turns out the Power Control Unit (PCU) with the payload computer broke down. PCU aids the payload computer to get a steady voltage supply. On July 15 at 11:30 pm ET, the researchers were successful in fixing the problem and Hubble was back into action merely two days after the fix.
Turns out Hubble Space Telescope already swung into action capturing two rare images. The ARP-MADORE2115-273 shows a rare occurrence of two galaxies that are in the process of merging into one. The ARP-MADORE0002-5503 shows a spiral galaxy although it is unusual as it has three arms. Most spiral galaxies have even arms such as the Milky Way galaxy. Both the images are in black and white as the colored versions weren’t available yet.
NASA’s next-gen James Webb Space Telescope will be the next general-purpose space observatory. However, it is yet to launch and until then, Hubble is the only one at work. Hubble is already in the 32nd year of serving as a space observatory that receives frequent servicing missions to keep it running. It seems like both Hubble and the James Webb Space Telescope will share the cosmos although the former has much more experience and has changed our outlook towards the universe.
