Hubble, bubble, toil and trouble

3d4life

https://www.eenewseurope.com/news/memory-module-halts-hubble

Based on 4k mag core memory modules & DTL logic.

This is the stuff of my salad days

Capt'n Midnight

orbit too different to the ISS where there's space suits and tools and a grab arm

Capt'n Midnight

Hubble Space Telescope may now depend on a computer that hasn't booted since 2009

NASA is confident the telescope will get back to normal. “There are many redundancies available to the team that have not yet been tried, and it is extremely likely that one of these will work,”

Backup computer was installed when last serviced in 2009

Beeker

All good things come to an end but fingers crossed for Hubble.
It would be nice if Starship could collect it and bring it down in a few years for display in the Smithsonian.

Capt'n Midnight

Beeker wrote: »

All good things come to an end but fingers crossed for Hubble.
It would be nice if Starship could collect it and bring it down in a few years for display in the Smithsonian.

Or dock it to a satellite with electric propulsion and some gyroscopes. Which could keep it pointing the right way.

Or replace it with one of those spare KH-11 spy satellites

Cookiemunster

When (if!) the JWST gets out to L2 then nobody's going to be too worried about Hubble any more. In fairness it's 31 years into an initial 15 year mission. They're highly unlikely to spend any more money to keep is serviceable.

Capt'n Midnight

Cookiemunster wrote: »

When (if!) the JWST gets out to L2 then nobody's going to be too worried about Hubble any more. In fairness it's 31 years into an initial 15 year mission. They're highly unlikely to spend any more money to keep is serviceable.

JWST is infra red, Hubble is visible so they complement each other rather than being a replacement.

JupiterKid

I would also like to see the Hubble taken back and put on display. It has revolutionised optical astronomy over the past 30 years and has more than lived up to its original promise.

I wouldn’t hold my breath for the JWST - with the endless delays, it might be 2123 by the time it is eventually launched! :eek::rolleyes:

Gregor Samsa

Capt'n Midnight wrote: »

JWST is infra red, Hubble is visible so they complement each other rather than being a replacement.

NASA describes JWST as the "successor" to Hubble. JWST will operate in (mainly) IR frequencies because Hubble has done pretty much all that can be done using the visible spectrum. IR is just more useful for the really distant stuff. NASA won't lose anything by not having the visible spectrum in their flagship space telescope, but will gain a lot with dedicated IR.

Bit more info here: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html

Capt'n Midnight

Gregor Samsa wrote: »

NASA won't lose anything by not having the visible spectrum in their flagship space telescope, but will gain a lot with dedicated IR.

Hubble is the biggest telescope who's view isn't blocked by swarms of internet satellites

Bit more info here: https://www.jwst.nasa.gov/content/about/comparisonWebbVsHubble.html

I never realised that Herschel had a 3.5m mirror, twice the area of Hubble.

The Helium has long gone , it would have been nice to have a fall back optical mode. But silicon carbide is black isn't it ?

Capt'n Midnight

The Hubble Space Telescope should be back in action soon, following a tricky, remote repair job by NASA

It's now working on the backup Power Control Unit :) :) :) :) :)