The Hubble Space Telescope seems to have aged quite a bit in recent years. The latest in a series of issues caused the telescope to shut down. “Hubble’s science instruments went into safe mode on Monday after experiencing synchronization issues with internal spacecraft communications. Science observations were temporarily suspended while the team investigated the matter. The instruments are reported to be in good condition,” NASA said in a statement on Twitter.
Safe mode is a mode of operation designed to keep the telescope stable and allow the crew to draw power from solar panels while working on technical issues. Earlier this year, the Hubble Space Telescope suffered a major technical issue that caused it to stay in safe mode for a month as NASA worked to switch it to backup hardware. The fix worked and Hubble started working again. However, this does not change the fact that the telescope is thirty years old and is now getting old.
Hubble is a joint project of NASA and the European Space Agency. Despite the faults, the telescope proved quite flexible in returning to service. NASA plans to launch the more powerful, next-generation James Webb Space Telescope into space in December. Despite this, Hubble is asked to keep working until the end.
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