Hubble Space Telescope fixed

Post Reply
Message
Author
PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8242
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Hubble Space Telescope fixed

#1 Post by PHXPhlyer » Fri Jul 16, 2021 7:48 pm

Hubble Space Telescope fixed #:-S :YMAPPLAUSE: :-bd

Hubble Space Telescope fixed after month of no science
Engineers successfully switched to the backup equipment Thursday, and the crucial payload computer kicked in.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/h ... e-rcna1443

Hubble Space Telescope fixed after month of no science
Engineers successfully switched to the backup equipment Thursday, and the crucial payload computer kicked in.

July 16, 2021, 11:15 AM MST
By The Associated Press
The Hubble Space Telescope should be back in action soon, following a tricky, remote repair job by NASA.

The orbiting observatory went dark in mid-June, with all astronomical viewing halted.

NASA initially suspected a 1980s-era computer as the source of the problem. But after the backup payload computer also failed, flight controllers at Maryland’s Goddard Space Flight Center focused on the science instruments’ bigger and more encompassing command and data unit, installed by spacewalking astronauts in 2009.

Engineers successfully switched to the backup equipment Thursday, and the crucial payload computer kicked in. NASA said Friday that science observations should resume quickly, if everything goes well.

A similar switch took place in 2008 after part of the older system failed.

“Congrats to the team!” NASA’s science mission chief Thomas Zurbuchen tweeted.

Launched in 1990, Hubble has made more than 1.5 million observations of the universe. NASA launched five repair missions to the telescope during the space shuttle program. The final tuneup was in 2009.

NASA plans to launch Hubble’s successor, the James Webb Space Telescope, by year’s end.

PP

Boac
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17208
Joined: Fri Aug 28, 2015 5:12 pm
Location: Here

Re: Hubble Space Telescope fixed

#2 Post by Boac » Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:34 pm

James Webb Scope due to launch 12:20Z 24/12

User avatar
TheGreenGoblin
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 17596
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2019 11:02 pm
Location: With the Water People near Trappist-1

Re: Hubble Space Telescope fixed

#3 Post by TheGreenGoblin » Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:41 am

Boac wrote:
Sun Dec 19, 2021 9:34 pm
James Webb Scope due to launch 12:20Z 24/12
Parking a huge $9.7 billion Origami piece 1,000,000 miles away at a LaGrange Point is not for the faint-hearted. This is a launch that I will watch.
Though you remain
Convinced
"To be alive
You must have somewhere
To go
Your destination remains
Elusive."

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8242
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: Hubble Space Telescope fixed

#4 Post by PHXPhlyer » Mon Dec 20, 2021 3:47 am

Data glitch delays James Webb Space Telescope launch to at least Christmas Eve

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/data-glitc ... stmas-eve/
https://webbtelescope.org/

The long-awaited launch of the James Webb Space Telescope, the $10 billion successor to the iconic Hubble, has been delayed at least two days. The launch will now take place no earlier than the morning of Christmas Eve as NASA works to troubleshoot a data glitch that cropped up during a pre-launch test.

Folded up to fit inside the nose cone of a European Space Agency Ariane 5 rocket at ESA's launch site in Kourou, French Guiana, the telescope was mounted atop its booster on Saturday to set the stage for blastoff.

Engineers were preparing to attach the protective nose cone fairing around the observatory when "a communications issue between the observatory and the launch vehicle system" was observed, NASA said in a blog post.

No other details were provided other than a promise to "provide more information about the new launch date no later than" December 17.


But Thomas Zurbuchen, NASA's science chief, told Spaceflight Now that the issue is "kind of an interface problem between the spacecraft and the launch system. It is a ground support equipment thing. Basically the data cables are dropping some frames (of telemetry)."

That is not unusual during spacecraft testing, he said, but given Webb's astronomical price tag and its enormous value to science, "we're going to figure it out. We're not going to let anything (unexpected) stand."

As a result, the Ariane 5's nose cone fairing cannot be attached before Friday, delaying launch to at least the morning of Christmas Eve, at 7:20 a.m. EST.

"Tomorrow we're going up there with the ground support equipment and just really (make) sure we can flush out where the issue is," Zurbuchen told Spaceflight Now. "We've tried a bunch of things and we just haven't been successful.

"This is a 100-meter cable that goes all the way from the top of the rocket to somebody's computer. Somewhere in there (is the problem) is our guess. But it's too early to say."

After more than 20 years in development, multiple delays and climbing costs, NASA had hoped to launch the infrared telescope on December 18. But the flight was delayed to December 22 after a high-tension "clamp band" fitting used to attach the observatory to the Ariane 5's upper stage unexpectedly released, jostling the sensitive instrument.

An engineering review found no problems and launch was reset for December 22. Engineers were testing the telescope's connections to the Ariane 5 when the latest problem was observed.

The James Webb Space Telescope is the most expensive and complex science spacecraft ever built. Designed to detect the infrared glow of the first galaxies to light up after the big bang, the telescope will be launched to a parking place 1 million miles from Earth.

Using a five-layer shade the size of a tennis court to block out the heat of the sun, the telescope will operate at a few degrees above absolute zero to register the faint infrared radiation left over from the initial burst of star formation.

In so doing, astronomers will be able to monitor the evolution of galaxies and the role of mysterious dark matter, along with learning more about the formation of supermassive black holes like the one that resides at the heart of the Milky Way.

Webb also will be used to study the atmospheres of planets orbiting nearby stars, seeking signs of habitability, while observing planets in our own solar system with unprecedented power.

PP

PHXPhlyer
Chief Pilot
Chief Pilot
Posts: 8242
Joined: Sun Jun 17, 2018 2:56 pm
Location: PHX
Gender:
Age: 69

Re: Hubble Space Telescope fixed

#5 Post by PHXPhlyer » Wed Dec 22, 2021 3:06 am

Launch of NASA’s newest space telescope postponed because of wind
Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.

https://www.nbcnews.com/science/space/l ... d-rcna9604

CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. — Dangerously high wind will keep NASA’s newest space telescope on the ground for at least an extra day, with the launch now targeted for Saturday — Christmas Day — at the earliest.

NASA announced the latest delay Tuesday. Upper-level high wind could force a rocket off-course or even damage or destroy it.

The James Webb Space Telescope will soar from French Guiana on South America’s northeastern coast, aboard a European Ariane rocket. Launch managers will meet again Wednesday to assess the weather.

The $10 billion infrared observatory is considered the successor to the Hubble Space Telescope, in orbit since 1990.

During a news conference Tuesday, NASA officials said the rocket and telescope were in good shape, and that the only lingering, though tolerable problem was an intermittent communication relay between the two. The issue earlier forced a two-day delay; a clamp that inadvertently jolted the telescope at the launch site had prompted a four-day slip.

These last-minute snags come after years of delays and cost overruns for Webb, the biggest and most powerful science observatory ever built for space.

NASA is partnering with the European and Canadian space agencies on the project.

PP

Post Reply