The Hubble Telescope Is Broken Again — Here’s How NASA’s Fixing It

NASA‘s Hubble telescope — one of the most critical tools for space exploration — is broken again. Since its launch in April 1990, Hubble has been an invaluable asset for scientists and astronomers all over the world. From determining the age of the universe to capturing heaps of mind-blowing photos, its importance in the science community is impossible to overstate.

As with any aging piece of technology, however, Hubble’s proven that it’s no spring chicken anymore. The telescope went offline for a full month earlier this year due to an issue with its payload computer. NASA took a risk switching to one of Hubble’s backup computers to get it working again, but the plan paid off and Hubble’s been fully operational since then. Until now.

On November 1, NASA confirmed that Hubble is once again experiencing issues. The telescope sent a series of error codes at 1:46 AM EDT on October 23, indicating that its instruments were no longer responding to data requests and commands sent by NASA. Additional error codes came in again at 2:38 AM EDT on October 25. Just like the first ones, they confirmed something was wrong with Hubble’s ability to sync important messages.

How NASA Is Fixing This Latest Hubble Issue

Before worrying too much, it’s important to note that NASA has the situation well under control. After the first error codes were received on October 23, members of the Hubble team reset the telescope’s instruments the following morning. When more error codes appeared on the 25th, Hubble put itself in ‘safe mode’ to protect its instruments from potentially being damaged by the faulty software.

According to NASA, “Mission team members are evaluating spacecraft data and system diagrams to better understand the synchronization issue and how to address it.” Team members are also “developing and testing procedures to collect additional data from the spacecraft.” It’s estimated that these tests will take at least a week to complete, but as of right now, there’s no ETA for when Hubble will be fully repaired. That said, NASA reassures all of the instruments are “healthy” and that the rest of Hubble is functioning normally.

While it can be troubling to see stories like this, it’s to be expected given Hubble’s age. The telescope is now over 31 years old and will soon be succeeded with the newer and much more capable James Webb Space Telescope. NASA will keep using Hubble to make groundbreaking discoveries even when James Webb is operational, but that likely won’t come without the occasional glitch here and there.

Source: NASA

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Joe Maring
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Joe has been actively writing and talking about consumer tech since 2012. His biggest passion lies with smartphones, but he’s happy to talk your ear off about just about anything with a CPU. He lives in Kalamazoo, MI with his wife, two cats, and pit bull/boxer mix.

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