We won’t be seeing new beautiful images from space, at least not coming from our good old friend the Hubble Space Telescope, until it gets patched up. The module responsible for data transmission, the Side A Science Data Formatter, has failed. While some technical issues can be resolved from Earth, this issue can not. NASA’s planned launch of space shuttle Atlantis will be delayed due to the glitch. The Atlantis crew are scheduled to perform a major overhaul of the Hubble Space Telescope, extending its lifetime by 5 years. The important maintenance mission has already been plagued by delays, including Hurricane Ike. Some are now beginning to question whether it is worth saving the space telescope. Most scientists, however, insist that fixing Hubble is still viable and scientifically important. The Hubble Space Telescope has been in operation since April 1990, outside the Earth’s protective atmosphere.
We have to survive on old images from Hubble:
“Of course it’s worth upgrading Hubble,” said Mario Livio, an astrophysicist at the Space Telescope Science Institute in Baltimore, Md. “The part that failed even has as redundant side to it. If all goes well, science operations could be up as early as the end of this week. So you shouldn’t worry about that. It’s definitely not the end of the world.”
The now-broken electronics box had been working steadily since the telescope launched in April 1990.
“These things happen. It’s been up there in orbit, outside the protective atmosphere of the Earth for 18 years,” said Heidi Hammel, an astronomer at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Co. “Glitches happen. It’s an incredibly robust instrument. Think about your computers — you don’t still use computers that are 18 years old.”
Full article : Is Hubble Worth Saving?
Tags: hubble, hubble space telescope, mission, NASA, space, telescope
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