Hubble still in safe mode
NASA released a new but relatively terse update on November 1st describing the status of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in safe mode since October 25th.
Hubble’s science instruments issued error codes at 1:46 a.m. EDT Oct. 23, indicating the loss of a specific synchronization message. This message provides timing information the instruments use to correctly respond to data requests and commands. The mission team reset the instruments, resuming science operations the following morning.
At 2:38 a.m. EDT, Oct. 25, the science instruments again issued error codes indicating multiple losses of synchronization messages. As a result, the science instruments autonomously entered safe mode states as programmed.
Mission team members are evaluating spacecraft data and system diagrams to better understand the synchronization issue and how to address it. They also are developing and testing procedures to collect additional data from the spacecraft. These activities are expected to take at least one week.
In other words, the engineers presently do not understand the problem, and are working at pinpointing its cause.
This is not a “glitch”. If used properly that word really refers to something that is akin to a short burp in operations. Hubble has been shut down now for ten days, and will remain so for at least one more week. This is a serious problem that remains unsolved.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
NASA released a new but relatively terse update on November 1st describing the status of the Hubble Space Telescope, which has been in safe mode since October 25th.
Hubble’s science instruments issued error codes at 1:46 a.m. EDT Oct. 23, indicating the loss of a specific synchronization message. This message provides timing information the instruments use to correctly respond to data requests and commands. The mission team reset the instruments, resuming science operations the following morning.
At 2:38 a.m. EDT, Oct. 25, the science instruments again issued error codes indicating multiple losses of synchronization messages. As a result, the science instruments autonomously entered safe mode states as programmed.
Mission team members are evaluating spacecraft data and system diagrams to better understand the synchronization issue and how to address it. They also are developing and testing procedures to collect additional data from the spacecraft. These activities are expected to take at least one week.
In other words, the engineers presently do not understand the problem, and are working at pinpointing its cause.
This is not a “glitch”. If used properly that word really refers to something that is akin to a short burp in operations. Hubble has been shut down now for ten days, and will remain so for at least one more week. This is a serious problem that remains unsolved.
On Christmas Eve 1968 three Americans became the first humans to visit another world. What they did to celebrate was unexpected and profound, and will be remembered throughout all human history. Genesis: the Story of Apollo 8, Robert Zimmerman's classic history of humanity's first journey to another world, tells that story, and it is now available as both an ebook and an audiobook, both with a foreword by Valerie Anders and a new introduction by Robert Zimmerman.
The ebook is available everywhere for $5.99 (before discount) at amazon, or direct from my ebook publisher, ebookit. If you buy it from ebookit you don't support the big tech companies and the author gets a bigger cut much sooner.
The audiobook is also available at all these vendors, and is also free with a 30-day trial membership to Audible.
"Not simply about one mission, [Genesis] is also the history of America's quest for the moon... Zimmerman has done a masterful job of tying disparate events together into a solid account of one of America's greatest human triumphs."--San Antonio Express-News
Bob– did you mean “If used properly,……” ?
concerned: Yes. My brain sometimes does not communicate with my fingers. Fixed. Thank you.
I’ve said that Hubble is well past its “Sell By” date. That machine is essentially, done. We’ve lost Arecibo, and are losing Hubble. Dark Ages are easier to implement, when you can’t see.
We have the James Webb Telescope w/c is slated for launch on Dec. 18, 2021 at 7:20 EST. It has arrived now in Kourou French Guiana….
Hopefully, the complicated unfurling of it will have no glitch…
Lemuel Vargas: Just in case you don’t know, Webb is NOT a replacement for Hubble. It is an infrared telescope, not optical, and was designed for deep space cosmology. It will do great work, but when Hubble goes, the U.S. will no longer have an orbital optical telescope.
The Chinese plan to launch one comparable (or even better than Hubble) in just a few years, and keep it relatively close to their space station so they can maintain it.
Imagine a telescope of roughly the SOFIA specifications, but instead of riding in a 747 hull, riding in the cargo bay of a Starship. The development investment could be focused less on minimum mass and high redundancy, and more on timely deployment (not -10 years but -2 years), and repairability / upgradability.
Instead of going to the Lagrange 4 or 5 points to reduce Earth’s interference, a lunar “halo” orbit might be a workable improvement to Hubble’s LEO orbit. The opportunity might exist to have human visits as required, or even periodic returns of the observatory to LEO for work.
SOFIA stands for Stratospheric Observatory for Infrared Astronomy, but the conceptual design could be adapted for visual use too.
It might be time for someone to reach out and fix it.
Sort of like an abandoned ship at sea,
Attach a propulsion system to it and start bringing it into a lower orbit of maintenance. A year later a ship could get close enough to fix it.
If you fix it you own it.
I bet a few private companies would go for this.
Charge the world half a billion a year for its use.