The Hubble Space Telescope has been a godsend for astronomers across the globe, helping them understand the various aspects of the universe since it was first deployed in the orbit in 1990. Sadly, nearly 30 years later, it might be reaching the end of its lifespan.
Images courtesy: NASA
According to NASA¡¯s Twitter account for Hubble, the little space telescope is in trouble. The space agency announced on Friday that a gyroscope in the satellite¡¯s machinery failed, forcing it into safe mode. It may just be one part, but the gyroscope is part of a set used to point the satellite in a particular direction and stabilize its movement, so this is a big deal.
Altogether Hubble has six gyroscopes on board, though it was designed to work with five. Heck, it¡¯s even shown to be capable of working with four without going haywire. The problem with this particular gyroscope stems from the fact that Hubble was never expected to last this long. As such, it¡¯s been running on just three gyroscopes for a while now, the absolute minimum number it can work with.
Right now, NASA¡¯s plan is to attempt to revive one of the previously failed gyroscopes in order to restabilize the telescope, a task that could take weeks. Until then, Hubble will remain in safe mode. If the team fails to do this, they¡¯re going to attempt to run Hubble with a single gyroscope, seeing as it¡¯s not much worse than running on two. That way, if it works, they¡¯ll have a spare when that eventually fails, effectively prolonging Hubble¡¯s life some more.
The last time the Hubble Space Telescope was serviced was in 2009, when all six of its gyroscopes were replaced. At the time, NASA only expected it to survive until 2015, but it continued to work well beyond then. It¡¯s a good thing too considering the James Webb Space Telescope, Hubble¡¯s replacement, was already supposed to be in space. However, construction problems have delayed its launch until 2021. So hopefully, Hubble can at least hold on till then.