Not only is Hubble back online after outage, it's already taking photos of the cosmos
- Reference: 1626762248
- News link: https://www.theregister.co.uk/2021/07/20/hubble_first_pics/
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After activating redundant components within the orbiting observatory on Friday to [1]clear a hardware glitch, the telescope has been able to use its sensors again. NASA released two photos of oddball galaxies Hubble snapped over the weekend: one depicting two galaxies intersecting each other, and the other showing a large spiral galaxy with three arms.
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Left: ARP-MADORE2115-273 is a picture of two galaxies colliding in the southern hemisphere. Right: ARP-MADORE0002-503 is a large spiral galaxy with three arms ... Click to enlarge. Image Credit: NASA, ESA, STScI, Julianne Dalcanton (UW), Alyssa Pagan (STScI)
About a month ago, Hubble's onboard payload computer, which controls its instruments, mysteriously froze, forcing the main computer to put the observatory's sensors into an inactive safe mode. It was feared by some that ol’ Hubble was a goner after attempts to revive the machine failed.
NASA had to dig up 30 to 40-year-old documents to investigate the hardware lock-up, and engineers were even called out of retirement for advice. By [3]switching to backup power supply electronics as well as a backup payload computer, the US space agency was finally able to bring Hubble back online.
Now it's all systems go and now hopefully the Hubble controller's biggest headache will be dealing with the backlog of requested observations.
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“I’m thrilled to see that Hubble has its eye back on the universe, once again capturing the kind of images that have intrigued and inspired us for decades,” NASA Administrator Bill Nelson [5]said in a statement.
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“This is a moment to celebrate the success of a team truly dedicated to the mission. Through their efforts, Hubble will continue its 32nd year of discovery, and we will continue to learn from the observatory’s transformational vision.”
Tricky remote support
At first, NASA thought the problem was down to a [8]faulty memory module that had degraded over time from absorbing too much cosmic radiation. But [9]utilizing an alternative onboard module didn’t fix the issue. Further analysis suggested the glitch had something to do with an iffy [10]power control unit . When the team switched to a backup unit to power the backup payload computer, Hubble came roaring back to life.
“The switch required 15 hours of spacecraft commanding from the ground,” said Jim Jeletic, deputy project manager of the Hubble Space Telescope working at NASA’s Goddard Space Center.
“The main computer had to be turned off, and a backup safe mode computer temporarily took over the spacecraft. Several boxes also had to be powered on that were never turned on before in space, and other hardware needed their interfaces switched.
[11]NASA fixes Hubble Space Telescope using backup power supply unit, payload computer
[12]Iffy voltage: The plague of PC builders and Hubble space telescope controllers alike
[13]Wanna feel old? It is 10 years since the Space Shuttle left the launchpad for the last time
[14]The James Webb Space Telescope, a project dating back to the late 1900s, may launch this very century
This isn't Hubble's first outage. In 2008, its Science Instrument and Command & Data Handling unit failed and a four-person crew of astronauts repaired the machine in orbit in 2009. Backup components in that replacement hardware was booted up 12 years later to deal with this crisis.
The telescope was launched in 1990, and was designed to last 15 years. Over 30 years later, however, it’s still toiling away and observing the heavens.
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“Hubble is in good hands,” said Kenneth Sembach, director of the Space Telescope Science Institute, which helps conduct Hubble science operations. “The Hubble team has once again shown its resiliency and prowess in addressing the inevitable anomalies that arise from operating the world’s most famous telescope in the harshness of space.
“I am impressed by the team’s dedication and common purpose over the past month to return Hubble to service. Now that Hubble is once again providing unprecedented views of the universe, I fully expect it will continue to astound us with many more scientific discoveries ahead.” ®
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[1] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/hubble_telescope_fixed/
[2] https://www.nasa.gov/sites/default/files/thumbnails/image/stsci-01faxk0ed0mvrj76p55cbb66rh.png
[3] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/operations-underway-to-restore-payload-computer-on-nasas-hubble-space-telescope
[4] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=2&c=2YPaevqRomkANWa0ZFZ581AAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D2%26raptor%3Dcondor%26pos%3Dtop%26test%3D0
[5] https://www.nasa.gov/feature/goddard/2021/hubble-returns-to-full-science-observations-and-releases-new-images
[6] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPaevqRomkANWa0ZFZ581AAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[7] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=3&c=33YPaevqRomkANWa0ZFZ581AAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D3%26raptor%3Deagle%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[8] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/16/nasa_hubble_outage/
[9] https://www.theregister.com/2021/06/21/hubble_memory_fail/
[10] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/hubble_switch/
[11] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/16/hubble_telescope_fixed/
[12] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/15/hubble_switch/
[13] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/09/sts-135/
[14] https://www.theregister.com/2021/07/08/james_webb_launch/
[15] https://pubads.g.doubleclick.net/gampad/jump?co=1&iu=/6978/reg_offbeat/science&sz=300x50%7C300x100%7C300x250%7C300x251%7C300x252%7C300x600%7C300x601&tile=4&c=44YPaevqRomkANWa0ZFZ581AAAAM0&t=ct%3Dns%26unitnum%3D4%26raptor%3Dfalcon%26pos%3Dmid%26test%3D0
[16] https://whitepapers.theregister.com/
Re: Life without the shuttle
A replacement for the shuttle may be something that Musk or Bezos could think about.
Whoever comes up with a reuseable space runabout that can do work more or less anywhere it is needed will dominate the space business.
Re: Life without the shuttle
>Whoever comes up with a reuseable space runabout that can do work more or less anywhere it is needed will dominate the space business.
It's bucks, not Buck Rodgers, that drives this. The resuable space shuttles cost $209 billion/848 launches = $240 million per launch. It's a nice idea, but it isn't resuable that is needed, it is economically reusable .
Re: Life without the shuttle
According to Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_Shuttle), you're off by nearly an order of magnitude... 211 billion $ program cost / 135 missions makes a cool 1.56 billion $ per launch.
Re: Life without the shuttle
Lets's be honest, what more incentive do you need than Cmdr Deering ?
Re: Life without the shuttle
'Good hardware can do a lot without humans in the picture.'
You have an appointment with Lord Bender at 2.30 this afternoon.
Galaxies colliding in 'expanding space'....
Nice pics. Minor thing though.
A star can appear in multiple places in the sky at the same time. It is not one dot of light per physical star, it is many dots of light per physical star. You may be looking at the star at multiple times during its life each in a different place in the sky. The same star, multiple places. Even completely different directions.
Why?
Very simple: space is curved, light can follow muliple curved paths to reach your eye. Each path can take a different time to loop back. The same star producing specs of light heading out in different directions forming multiple curved paths back to you, arriving from multiple directions.
Since each ray of light you perceive as if it travelled in a straight line. So you perceive each dot of light as a *separate* star in a separate location in the sky, not as a single star, even though all the rays of light came from that star.
Space is curved, you've observed gravity lensing, you can see light follows a curve, and so it is curved. Any non-zero curve means the universe is finite, light cannot travel in a straight line forever without bending back as it does so, in a *finite* universe.
Ahh but you say, its very very nearly straight, so we can ignore the curve. Nope, you have an observation of a *finite* universe, "the observable universe".
I'm going to put it to you that the *observable* universe IS the *finite* universe. That the observation limit you're hitting is the same limit caused by bending of space. It is *observably* curved, and you've *observed* it. In other words, you cannot simply assume, it's 'for all practical purposes' straight with negligable bending, because the bend is enough to observe, and so the light bend is observable.
Hence you can observe the same star(s) appearing in multiple places in the sky at the same time.
Re: Galaxies colliding in 'expanding space'....
As Disaster Area's earnings require hypermathematics, their chief research accountant was named Professor of Neomathematics at the University of Maximegalon and in his Special Theories of Tax Returns he proves that space-time is "not merely curved, it is, in fact, totally bent."
Re: Galaxies colliding in 'expanding space'....
This is what happens when somebody gets a few facts and tries to extend them using the wrong kind of physics.
Yes, space/time is curved but not as curved as you seem to think.
Yes, if you go in a straight line you'll end up where you started - but - due to the degree of curvature you'd have to go a very long way, many multiplies of the diameter of the observable universe.
If what you said was true we would be unable to resolve any stars, they would all be smudged blurs and not the point sources we do see.
Re: Galaxies colliding in 'expanding space'....
As Mr Dunning said, 'This space stuff is easy peasy'.
Mr Kruger said, 'I have a theory about that.'
NASA Engineers are classic Engineers
NASA Engineers don't just design systems that work, they sit down and ask themselves what could go wrong and what can be done to make sure it doesn't happen, or if it does happen, how can it be fixed. Hubble's been running for 30 years now with only a few minor issues and Voyager 1 is still sending us information after 40 years and 14 billion miles.
Re: NASA Engineers are classic Engineers
Indeed! This is a mindset that is unfortunately becoming increasingly rare
Re: NASA Engineers are classic Engineers
Per my comment in an earlier thread: beancounters could never have allowed this; their mindset is if it didn't fail at the expected design lifetime, it was overengineered and therefore consumed too many beans.
---> for the engineers. The beancounters get nothing.
“This is a moment to celebrate the success of a team"
All hail the engineers at NASA, who were once again able to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat.
I hope that these celebratory words were followed by an actual something to drink. They most certainly deserve it.
Made my day
And there I was just congratulating myself on getting my laptop to reboot Win 10 after it froze a couple of times.
Life without the shuttle
The shuttle was justified by the needs of things like Hubble. No shuttle, but still got Hubble. Good hardware can do a lot without humans in the picture.