A Shutdown Computer Prevents NASA from Reactivating the Hubble Telescope

A Shutdown Computer Prevents NASA from Reactivating the Hubble Telescope

The Hubble telescope is one of the most famous in modern astronomy. It has been orbiting the Earth’s atmosphere since 1990, when it began to serve. However, this telescope has been experiencing problems in recent weeks, as NASA has turned on the telescope’s payload computer to realize that the spacecraft is in trouble.

This computer stopped on June 13, stopping collecting information from scientific data and putting the telescope in safe mode. But last week NASA engineers decided to turn on the payload computer that had not been started since the last mission that this spacecraft carried out in 2009.

Various system failures

After performing multiple combinations of both main and backup hardware, engineers realized that the failing commands are those that write or read memory.

The likelihood of all hardware items having a single problem is highly unlikely, so the team has extended system fault detection even further.

Hubble

The Command Unit and the Scientific Data Formatter are currently being analyzed as a power regulator. Other parts of the telescope such as the Central Processing Module, the interface bridge between the Central Processing Module and other components, a communications bus, and the memory modules have already been examined.

Excess voltage, the possible problem

The central processing module is responsible for formatting and sending commands and data around the telescope. It also has the function of formatting scientific data that will later be transmitted to Earth.

For its part, the Command Unit guarantees a constant voltage supply for the ship. According to NASA, it is suspected that the problem could be in this unit, since a voltage outside the limits can cause a malfunction of the system.

Hubble

The Command Unit and the Scientific Data Formatter as a power regulator have backup copies made in case one or both systems prove faulty. The NASA team continues to analyze the parts of the spacecraft where the payload computers and the Science Data Formatter and Command Unit modules are located in order to find other possible causes that are causing these microscope failures.

While evaluations of the hardware continue, scientists will continue at least another week without the telescope being able to provide services . Today the entire structure of the telescope and its instruments are in perfect condition and with a safe configuration.