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The Hubble Space Telescope will transition to a new way of operating that aims to prevent the space observatory from experiencing shortfalls in its ability to observe the universe, NASA officials said.
The legendary telescope, which has captured breathtaking images of the cosmos for 34 years, traditionally worked with six gyroscopes. These gyroscopes, or gyroscopes, are part of a system that monitors and determines the direction in which the telescope is pointed, Mark Clampin, director of the Astrophysics Division within NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, said during a press conference on Tuesday.
As Hubble changes direction to capture images of exoplanets, galaxies and other celestial phenomena, the gyroscopes measure the speed of the telescope’s motion so it arrives at the right place for the next science observation, Clampin said.
As the telescope aged, the gyroscopes needed to be replaced, and six new gyroscopes were installed during the last Hubble servicing mission that astronauts conducted aboard a NASA space shuttle in 2009.
NASA
NASA’s Hubble Space Telescope studies the universe in May 2009 after one of the Space Shuttle missions to the space observatory.
Over time, some of the gyroscopes have stopped functioning, but three are still operational, meaning there has been no change in the way the telescope works so far.
Over the past six months, one of the three remaining gyroscopes has returned erroneous readings, causing the telescope to enter “safe mode” several times and halt its observations of the universe, Clampin said.
The Hubble team was able to reset the gyro from the ground, but these fixes were temporary and the problem occurred more often, said Patrick Crouse, project manager of the Hubble Space Telescope at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland.
The telescope went into safe mode on May 24 after another glitch with the problematic gyro, and it remains that way, Crouse said.
After careful consideration, the Hubble team has decided to operate Hubble using a single gyro, and the other functioning gyro will be kept in reserve for future use, Clampin said.
The team has long considered moving the telescope to single-gyro mode to extend its lifespan, after developing the plan more than two decades ago.
“We believe this is our best approach to supporting Hubble science this decade and beyond, as most observations in space will be completely unaffected by this change,” Clampin said.
Hubble operated in dual-gyro mode from 2005 to 2009, and briefly in single-gyro mode in 2008, without impacting the quality of scientific observations, the agency said.
The change doesn’t come without limitations, Crouse said.
The telescope will take more time to shift and fix the objects it observes, reducing its efficiency and flexibility. It also won’t be able to track moving objects closer to Earth than Mars, but historically Hubble has rarely observed such targets, Crouse said.
Now the team will reconfigure both the telescope and the ground system that sends information to Hubble. The goal is to observe Hubble routinely again in mid-June.
Previously, a feasibility study was underway to assess how commercial partners could help Hubble move to a higher orbit to give the telescope more operational time so that Earth’s atmosphere doesn’t pull it down for a controlled return in the 2030s. The agency is reviewing the risks and requirements of such a maneuver but is not moving forward with plans for a “reboost” at this time, Clampin said.
Hubble is expected to be operational until the mid-2030s, with its cosmic observations complementing the work of the James Webb Space Telescope and future observatories not yet launched, Clampin said.
“We don’t see Hubble being on its last legs,” Crouse said, “and we think it’s a very capable observatory.”