Update on attempts to bring Hubble back to life
Engineers have released an update on their attempts to bring Hubble out of safe mode that are indicating that they are honing in on the cause of the problem.
After performing tests on several of the computer’s memory modules, the results indicate that a different piece of computer hardware may have caused the problem, with the memory errors being only a symptom. The operations team is investigating whether the Standard Interface (STINT) hardware, which bridges communications between the computer’s Central Processing Module (CPM) and other components, or the CPM itself is responsible for the issue. The team is currently designing tests that will be run in the next few days to attempt to further isolate the problem and identify a potential solution.
This step is important for determining what hardware is still working properly for future reference. If the problem with the payload computer can’t be fixed, the operations team will be prepared to switch to the STINT and CPM hardware onboard the backup payload computer. The team has conducted ground tests and operations procedure reviews to verify all the commanding required to perform that switch on the spacecraft.
It appears that no matter what solution they arrive at, they will still require several days to test the solution to make sure it works. This update however is very hopeful, as it does appear they are locating the cause and have avenues for fixing it.
Hubble went into safe mode on June 13, which means it has now been out of operation for more than ten days.
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Engineers have released an update on their attempts to bring Hubble out of safe mode that are indicating that they are honing in on the cause of the problem.
After performing tests on several of the computer’s memory modules, the results indicate that a different piece of computer hardware may have caused the problem, with the memory errors being only a symptom. The operations team is investigating whether the Standard Interface (STINT) hardware, which bridges communications between the computer’s Central Processing Module (CPM) and other components, or the CPM itself is responsible for the issue. The team is currently designing tests that will be run in the next few days to attempt to further isolate the problem and identify a potential solution.
This step is important for determining what hardware is still working properly for future reference. If the problem with the payload computer can’t be fixed, the operations team will be prepared to switch to the STINT and CPM hardware onboard the backup payload computer. The team has conducted ground tests and operations procedure reviews to verify all the commanding required to perform that switch on the spacecraft.
It appears that no matter what solution they arrive at, they will still require several days to test the solution to make sure it works. This update however is very hopeful, as it does appear they are locating the cause and have avenues for fixing it.
Hubble went into safe mode on June 13, which means it has now been out of operation for more than ten days.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
C’mon Hubble! I know it has a 80486, a real-by-God microprocessor, in the backup computer.
Yeah, the next one was the 80586, AKA the “Pentium”!
Yep, I remember the first Pentiums well. There was that floating point error in the first run. I used the 486DX4 for three years before going over to the P5, by then the bugs were fixed.
“This update however is very hopeful, as it does appear they are locating the cause and have avenues for fixing it.:
Reminds me of cars I owned in my late teens/early twenties. Even if the current problem is fixed, or worked around, it’s an old piece of hardware, It seems with Hubble, we are fast approaching, if not already past, the point of inflection on the cost-benefit curve.
Jim Keller:
“Moore’s Law, Microprocessors, and First Principles”
Lex Fridman Podcast #70 (Feb, 2020)
https://youtu.be/Nb2tebYAaOA
1:34:43
Jay wrote: “I remember the first Pentiums well. There was that floating point error in the first run.”
I had a license plate frame made up that said “Pentium — When close is good enough.” At stop lights, over the next couple of years, I saw in my rear-view mirror three people laugh their heads off.
Edward-
You Engineer’s, kill me!
:)