NASA announces that the iconic Hubble telescope has stopped working

The Hubble Space Telescope, launched in 1990, has been observing the universe for more than 33 years. Hubble, which has made many important discoveries, is now going through a difficult time due to a gyroscope error. In its statement, NASA announced that the telescope stopped working due to the error and paused all scientific operations.

Hubble stopped working

NASA said in its blog post that the agency is working to reactivate science operations of the Hubble Space Telescope after it entered safe mode on November 23 due to an ongoing gyroscope issue. The agency underlined that Hubble’s instruments are stable and the telescope is healthy.

NASA stated that one of Hubble’s three gyroscopes entered safe mode because it gave erroneous measurements. For those who don’t know, Hubble’s gyroscopes measure the spin rate of the telescope, which is part of the system that determines which direction the telescope is pointing.

According to the statement, Hubble first went into safe mode on November 19. Although the operating team successfully recovered the spacecraft to continue observations the next day, the unstable gyroscope caused the observatory to suspend science activities once again on November 21. After a successful recovery, Hubble entered safe mode once again on November 23.

Three working gyroscopes left

The team is now running tests to identify the problem and develop a solution. If necessary, the spacecraft can be reconfigured to operate with a single gyroscope. Six new gyroscopes were installed on Hubble during its fifth and final space shuttle shuttle mission in 2009. To date, three of these gyroscopes have remained operational, including the one currently experiencing fluctuations. Hubble uses three gyroscopes to maximize efficiency, but it can still make scientific observations with just one gyroscope if necessary.

NASA predicts that Hubble will continue to make groundbreaking discoveries throughout this decade and possibly into the next, working with the agency’s other observatories, such as the James Webb Space Telescope. However, this is not the first time Hubble has gone offline. The space observatory went into safe mode in June due to a problem in its computer systems.