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The Hubble Space Telescope was published on April 25, 1990 from the Space Shuttle Discovery. To avoid distortions of the atmosphere, Hubble has an unobstructed view of the planets, stars and galaxies, some of which are more than 13.4 billion light-years away. Credit: NASA/Smithsonian Institution/Lockheed Corporation
NASA is working to solve a computer payload issue on the Hubble Space Telescope. The computer shuts down on Sunday, June 13, shortly after 4 p.m. EST. After analyzing the data, the Hubble operations team investigates whether the degraded memory module has caused the computer to stop. The team is preparing to switch to one of several backup units on Wednesday, June 16. Then the computer will be allowed to run for about one day to check if the problem is resolved. The team will then restart all scientific instruments and return the telescope to normal science operations.
The Hubble Space Telescope was launched by the Space Shuttle Discovery on April 24, 1990. To avoid distortions of the atmosphere, Hubble has a viewpoint free of planets, stars, and galaxies, more than 13.4 billion light-years away. credit: NASA
NASA is working to solve a computer payload issue on the Hubble Space Telescope. The computer shuts down on Sunday, June 13, shortly after 4 p.m. EST. After analyzing the data, the Hubble operations team investigates whether the degraded memory module has caused the computer to stop. The team is preparing to switch to one of several backup units on Wednesday, June 16. Then the computer will be allowed to run for about one day to check if the problem is resolved. The team will then restart all scientific instruments and return the telescope to normal science operations.
The purpose of the payload computer is to control and coordinate the scientific instruments on board the spacecraft. After the shutdown on Sunday, the main computer stopped receiving the “stay alive” signal, a standard handshake between the payload and the spacecraft’s main computers to indicate that all was well. Then the main computer automatically put all scientific instruments into the safe mode configuration. Control Center staff at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, restarted the computer on Monday, June 14, but soon encountered the same problem.
The payload computer is the NASA Standard Spacecraft Computer-1 (NSSC-1) built in the 1980s. It is part of the Command and Data Processing module of the Science Instrument, which was replaced during the last astronaut service mission in 2009. The module has various levels of redundancy which can be turned on to serve as the platform when necessary.
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